More than 1 in 10 patients with lung cancer do not know what type of tumor they have, according to data from a 17-country study carried out by the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC) presented by Beattie et al at the European Lung Cancer Virtual Congress 2021 (Abstract 209P_PR). Nearly one in five...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with physician-scientist Brian J. Druker, MD, Director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. In 2009, Dr. Druker won the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research ...
A novel strategy of combining a drive-by flu vaccination clinic with an opportunity for participants to use a take-home fecal immunochemical test (FIT) increased access to colorectal screening among Black Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results related to access to colorectal cancer...
There are many relationships we build at work in our entire lifetime. Some are good, a few are not, and many are somewhere in between. But of all the relationships we are fortunate enough to build, there is no relationship more valuable and gratifying than the one between a physician and a ...
One in six men being treated for advanced prostate cancer reported experiencing a reduced sense of smell and taste, according to a study published by Alonzi et al in the journal Supportive Care in Cancer. The study authors noted that a reduced sense of smell and taste among some patients with...
The holistic benefits derived from exercise in preventing and ameliorating chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes are well documented. However, less is known about the salutary effects exercise may have across the cancer setting, especially during treatment....
On February 22, President Joseph R. Biden issued remarks to proclaim that over 500,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19 infection. He and Vice President Kamala Harris held a moment of silence and ordered flags be lowered to half-mast at federal buildings for the next 5 days to honor those who...
The keynote speaker did not mince words. “I tell everyone, do not use the term age-appropriate therapy,” said Jan White, a cancer survivor and patient advocate who described her own experience with stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “Patients with cancer,” she said, “are more than their age, gender,...
In November, ASCO announced that Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, will succeed Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Society. Dr. Gralow will begin her new position on February 15, 2021. Dr. Gralow’s long relationship with ASCO dates back to 1995, when...
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has improved survival rates for several hematologic malignancies, but as the number of transplants continues to rise, community oncologists are evaluating more posttransplant complications in the clinics. The ASCO Post spoke with two of the principals...
According to findings published by Kressin et al in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, women living in states where dense breast notifications are legislatively mandated had higher rates of being informed about personal breast density and of having had breast density discussions with ...
In an Italian single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Merz et al evaluated the use of electronic medical record–assisted telephone follow-up (E-TFU) of breast cancer survivors to minimize hospital exposure over a 3-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy was...
Although efforts have been made by various medical societies, including ASCO, over the past decade to address the needs of sexual and gender minorities in the cancer care setting, research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) patients continue to face...
To improve long-term survival odds, individuals with early-stage colon cancer should have their surgery performed by highly skilled surgeons. In a study that used video assessment, surgeons with highly ranked skills gave their patients a 69% lower risk of dying at 5 years as compared with their...
The prevention of infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), and its related cancers, has become a focus of the European Cancer Organisation. At the group’s 2020 European Cancer Summit, held virtually, members of the organization’s HPV Action Network convened with other experts to share...
It has become a familiar theme of late: Inequities exist in all aspects of cancer care. Although study after study documents problems with access to care and poorer cancer outcomes among underrepresented groups, less is heard about organized efforts to address these issues. This critical topic was...
Moderator of the session, Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance in Nashville, underscored the importance of approaching patient survivorship holistically. “As radiation oncologists,...
The ASH Research Collaborative COVID-19 Registry for Hematology provides up-to-date information on outcomes and the course of illness for a group of patients with hematologic malignancies and COVID-19.1 In general, registry data showed that hematologic malignancies increase the risk of severity of...
Here we discuss a complex and often emotionally wrenching challenge related to informed consent in the provision of pediatric cancer care. For example, what legal and ethical claims do young patients have to information about their cancer diagnosis and treatment recommendations? What are the...
Prostate cancer has lagged behind other solid tumors with regard to molecularly targeted therapy and precision medicine, with no targeted therapies approved specifically in prostate cancer, but that has changed with the recent approval in 2020 of a PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor for...
Editor’s Note: The following essay was first published in 2011. It is being reprinted here with permission from the author and publisher. In 2020, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) now includes more than 5,000 members; the annual meeting convenes more than 3,200...
The ASH Research Collaborative COVID-19 Registry for Hematology provides up-to-date information on outcomes and the course of illness for a group of patients with hematologic malignancies and COVID-19. In general, registry data showed that hematologic malignancies increase the risk of severity of...
Job loss is stressful no matter the circumstances. Recently, millions of people have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. To make matters more difficult, job loss in the United States can often mean a loss of health insurance. For people with cancer, losing a job is especially challenging...
Global Cancer Institute (GCI), which is focused on improving survival rates for underserved patients with cancer worldwide, recently announced it has extended its programs to Bangladesh. The extension begins with the launch of monthly tumor boards, which help physicians and oncologists in...
One of Lebanon’s highest national awards, the National Cedar Medal (Commander Rank), was recently bestowed upon Nagi S. El Saghir, MD, FACP, FASCO, in recognition of his extensive contributions to the fields of medicine, education, and science—and most particularly, for his efforts in the fight...
Fatigue could be an important baseline stratification factor for cancer treatment, according to data presented during the 2020 ASCO Quality Care Symposium.1 An analysis of four SWOG treatment trials has found an association between patient fatigue and outcomes in advanced cancer. Data from the...
Medical memoir dramas, especially those centered in the emergency room (ER), are often met with the anticipation of top-rated medical shows portrayed on TV, in which there is nonstop blood-and-guts action and sizzling tensions between shouting doctors and nurses. In her recently published memoir,...
Randall A. Oyer, MD, President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), released a statement regarding the rise in mortality rates of specific cancers and the rise in the occurrence of advanced metastatic cancers in 2020. New research presented at the United European Gastroenterology ...
A new study points to a need for oncologists to ask their patients about sexual health after chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer treatments. In a survey of nearly 400 cancer survivors, 87% said they experienced sexual side effects, but most also said their oncologist had not formally asked...
A large cohort study1 finding that the risk of dying of breast cancer was increased threefold after a DCIS diagnosis may cause patients diagnosed with DCIS to ask what they can do to reduce that risk. Currently, there is little that most patients can do. “The lifetime risk of death following DCIS...
Over the past decade, a prolific number of cancer memoirs have been published, and some have been award-winning bestsellers. When entering a crowded genre, it is best to have something that sets your story apart. Judith Dwyer Fugate did just that with a memoir about a rare tumor that has rarely if...
In 2020, health-care providers from all disciplines are facing challenges never before encountered in the modern era of medicine. Advanced practitioners (APs) are playing critical roles in developing protocols, managing health-care teams, and delivering hands-on patient care. JADPRO Live, the...
Pain is one of the most common byproducts of cancer and its treatment. Tumors, surgery, intravenous chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, supportive care therapies (such as bisphosphonates), and diagnostic procedures can all cause pain in patients and may contribute to symptoms of...
My father died of thymic cancer when I was 14, and that’s when I decided to become an oncologist. Ironically, the first patient I diagnosed with cancer was me. In 2009, during my first week of training in hematology/oncology at the Mayo Clinic, I began having severe abdominal pain, which had...
Five years ago, as Rachel B. Issaka, MD, MAS, was beginning her second year as a gastroenterology fellow and feeling proud of the progress she was making in her training, she was suddenly confronted with an all-too-familiar slight that underrepresented minority providers may often experience. As...
Cancer in My Community is a Cancer.Net Blog series that shows the global impact of cancer and how providers work to care for people with cancer in their region. Why I Care for People With Cancer When you tell someone that you are a pediatric oncologist and treat children with cancer, the first...
Delays and cancellation of cancer treatments and other safety measures undertaken to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19 have generated a huge backlog in oncology care and research. The threat of delayed diagnoses looms while oncology professionals face burnout, according to new studies...
The first half of 2016 was arguably the most exciting of my life. My wife, Jaione, and I had decided to leave the United Kingdom and move with our two children, Andrew, then 14, and Alba, then 10, to Denver, where I was taking on a leadership role in corporate affairs for a brewery company. By the...
She was elderly, slightly confused, and very, very worried. I was not quite sure why. It was a minor procedure—a routine angiogram, one of a dozen to be performed that morning. The risks were so small that the job of admitting her had been handed to me, then a final-year medical student, with a...
As a young girl growing up in central New Jersey, Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist specializing in gynecologic cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, dreamed of becoming an astronaut. However, she realized her fear of heights and propensity for motion sickness didn’t jive with...
“Good morning! I’m Dr. Saksena. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I wave my introduction as I enter the room. Two women sit beside each other. One of them wears a mask that reads “lipstick optional,” and the other dons a surgical mask. This is a new visit for breast cancer, but I haven’t yet deciphered ...
Delays and cancellation of cancer treatments and other safety measures undertaken to minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus have generated a backlog in oncology care and research. The threat of delayed diagnoses looms while oncology professionals face burnout, according to new studies...
“Ask any doctor why he or she enters medicine and the answer will likely be the same,” said Marc L. Citron, MD. “People become doctors to help patients...but to deliver the moments that matter to patients—to extend their lives and give quality to their days—doctors rely on new research.” In 2003,...
Earlier this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading across the United States, federal health officials and cancer societies urged Americans to delay routine cancer screenings and other elective procedures to keep them out of clinics to avoid potential exposure to the coronavirus and to...
Based on multiple phase III prospective trials, there is evidence that both poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors and antiangiogenic therapies such as bevacizumab provide benefit when utilized in a maintenance strategy in the first-line treatment of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (GOG...
The message still needs to get out that metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer should be treated with both androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and either docetaxel or an androgen receptor pathway inhibitor. In spite of “overwhelming” support for ADT plus abiraterone/prednisone,...
Given the rising costs of cancer care, many patients with cancer and cancer survivors are challenged by financial toxicity, the burden of care costs. Many struggle to choose a health insurance plan that best meets their needs. Moreover, these challenges are often exacerbated by limited health...
The ASCO Answers Guide to Survivorship has the tools and resources your patients need to prepare for their lives after treatment. This vital resource will inform your patients and their caregivers about topics like the importance of follow-up care, concerns about recurrence, and managing long-term...
I’m very pleased to be joined by Piyush Srivastava, MD, Past Chair of ASCO’s Clinical Practice Committee. Dr. Srivastava is a practicing gastrointestinal oncologist, Regional Medical Director of the End of Life Options Program, and Director of Outpatient Palliative Care at Kaiser Permanente Walnut...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved record numbers of new cancer drugs recently. This is extraordinarily good news for physicians, patients, and drug companies, but it raises important questions as to how effective these drugs are, whether...