The Association of Northern California Oncologists (ANCO), an ASCO Affiliate, is among the newest nonprofit supporters of the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (CCF). ANCO is generously funding a 2018 Young Investigator Award (YIA) for a qualified northern...
Would you rather explain the benefits of three cycles of bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin to a hostile crowd of bored teenagers than talk to your program director, supervisor, or colleagues about feeling burned out? It is an understandable feeling. Professional burnout is a difficult concept to...
Over the past several decades, widespread cancer screening has saved lives from various cancer types. However, despite advances in early-detection technologies, many cancers still remain undetected until they become symptomatic, conferring poor prognoses and outcomes. Moreover, some methods of...
Palliative care provided soon after a patient is diagnosed with incurable cancer not only helps improve the patient’s overall quality of life but also improves communication about the patient’s wishes for end-of-life care, according to a study by Jennifer S. Temel, MD, Clinical Director of Thoracic ...
ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab-awwb (Mvasi) as a biosimilar to bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of multiple types of cancer. Bevacizumab-awwb is the first biosimilar approved in the United States for the treatment of cancer....
DOES COMPLETE lymph node dissection for sentinel node–positive melanoma still have a role in the management of this disease? That’s debatable. Although it does not improve overall survival over observation alone, complete lymphadenectomy may have other benefits, according to a dialogue at the...
AMYLOIDOSIS REMAINS a challenging and nuanced diagnosis. At the 2017 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference, held in Sea Island, Georgia, Jonathan L. Kaufman, MD, discussed his approach to diagnosing amyloid light-chain amyloidosis. Dr. Kaufman is Associate Professor of...
Despite the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation that women between the ages of 50 and 74 undergo mammography every 2 years, only about 50% of American Muslim women do so, compared with 67% of all American women. A study by Padela et al investigating the mammography-related barrier...
Clinical trials are fundamental to the development of new treatments for cancer, yet the annual accrual to cancer clinical trials worldwide is low, estimated at 3%–5%. A nationwide study in Ireland, the preliminary results of which were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved bevacizumab-awwb (Mvasi) as a biosimilar to bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of multiple types of cancer. Bevacizumab-awwb is the first biosimilar approved in the U.S. for the treatment of cancer. “Bringing new biosimilars to...
Due to DNA sequencing, patients with rare cancers for which no standard treatment is available could receive existing therapies that work in patients treated for different cancers but who carry the same genetic mutations. The first results of a multidrug and multitumor clinical trial (Abstract...
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cancer-related cause of death worldwide, accounting for 774,000 deaths in 2015, according to the World Health Organization. Now, a study presented at the third CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science Into Survival, ...
Applications Being Accepted Through October 31, 2017 THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION AWARD (IDEA) provides support for early-career oncologists in low-and middle-income countries and facilitates the sharing of knowledge between these oncologists and ASCO members. The program pairs IDEA ...
Two scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will receive the 2017 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for their significant research leading to the development of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. The award is the country’s most prestigious biomedical research prize,...
I always knew cancer was a real possibility for me. Both my mother and father died of the disease—my mother of lung cancer and my father of bone cancer—so when I started having chronic throat and chest infections, I was diligent about seeking immediate medical attention and felt relieved each time ...
It was 2:15 PM, and my afternoon clinic had not yet begun. The morning had been particularly trying as a result of disastrous clinical developments for two of my long-standing patients. Jessica had metastatic breast cancer, and I had been taking care of her for 7 years. Multiple lines of...
The literature has documented the stress and damage that intimacy problems cause among women undergoing cancer treatment and during survivorship. A new book, Sex and Cancer: Intimacy, Romance, and Love After Diagnosis and Treatment, by Saketh R. Guntupalli, MD, and Maryann Karinch tackles the...
CARING FOR sick children brings with it a set of emotional and physical challeneges that differ from those with the adult patient population. In a new book, Healing Children: A Surgeon’s Stories From the Frontiers of Pediatric Medicine, Kurt Newman, MD, draws on more than 30 years of his...
Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, began her term as ASCO President-Elect in June 2017; she will serve as 2018–2019 ASCO President. An active ASCO member since 1995, Dr. Bertagnolli is Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s...
By contributing a monthly gift to the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF), you can make a dramatic difference as we work to build a world free from the fear of cancer. An automatic charge to your credit card each month is the easiest way to complete your monthly donation. Secure and convenient, a...
Institution: Postgraduate trainee and PhD candidate in medical oncology, Department of Clinical Oncology and Chemotherapy, Nagoya University Graduate School of MedicineMember since: 2014ASCO activities: Virtual Mentors, Journal of Global Oncology editorial fellow Of the many activities ASCO...
BIOLOGICS PLAY A KEY ROLE in cancer treatment and are the principal components of many therapeutic regimens.1 However, they require complex manufacturing processes, resulting in high cost and occasional shortages in supply, limiting the accessibility of cancer treatment for many patients, more so ...
Most discussions about “financial toxicity” center on the cancer patient, but there is also a societal toxicity, which has far-reaching consequences. Coming up with answers to this growing problem has vexed health-care experts over the past decade. In an effort to gather opinions on this vital...
The results of the phase III NETTER-1 trial, recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 have been met with great interest by clinicians who treat neuroendocrine tumors. In patients with advanced midgut lesions, treatment with the radiopharmaceutical lutetium Lu-177 dotatate...
Rates of obesity have been steadily rising over the past 3 decades in both adults and children. Today, more than one-third of American adults and about 17% of children and adolescents, ages 6 to 19, have obesity.1 Cancer rates have risen in tandem with obesity rates, making obesity the second...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) is launching a new integrated research center to prevent and find cures for cancers caused by infectious agents. It will be led by Denise Galloway, PhD, a Fred Hutch microbiologist whose research paved the way for the human papillomavirus (HPV)...
Despite a flurry of treatment advances in multiple myeloma over the past decade that have increased overall survival from just 2 to 3 years in the 1990s to between 5 and 7 years today—with some data suggesting an extended life expectancy of between 7 and 10 years1—the cancer remains stubbornly...
In the August 25, 2017, issue of The ASCO Post, in the Patient's Corner column “On My Way to Hospice Care, Immunotherapy Saved My Life” (page 52), the combination regimen cited is not correct. Instead, the report should have noted only that the patient was participating in a phase I clinical trial...
Novel targeted treatment strategies and new trial endpoints in recurrent, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer were highlighted in a gynecologic cancer session at the Best of ASCO New Orleans. At the meeting, Karen McLean, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, presented...
Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and the global burden is on an inexorably upward trajectory. For the year 2012, there were 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths worldwide.1 It is predicted that by the year 2035, there will be 23.9 million new...
On September 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the first 2D digital mammography system that allows patients to increase or decrease the amount of compression applied to their own breast before the mammogram x-ray is taken. “Regular mammograms are an important tool in...
Two years ago, I was on my way to hospice care after numerous treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy failed to stop the progression of my stage IV castration-resistant prostate cancer. A last-minute call from my oncologist about a phase I trial of combination...
On August 29, Daiichi Sankyo announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to DS-8201, an investigational HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer...
In a bid to detect cancers early and in a noninvasive way, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, reported they have developed a test that spots tiny amounts of cancer-specific DNA in blood, and have used it to accurately identify more than half of 138 people with...
BRACHYTHERAPY HAS a long track record in treating cancer, dating back to the first reported use of an implanted radioactive source in 1901, and brachytherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer dates back to 1914, when Pasteu and Degrais used a radium source inserted through a urethral catheter. ...
PRIMARY LIVER CANCER is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for 90% of liver cancer, with around 800,000 new cases diagnosed globally each year.1 In contrast to the stable or declining trends observed for most neoplasms, the incidence and...
ALTHOUGH THE National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) strongly influence the management of advanced prostate cancer, they do not always reflect actual clinical practice. It turns out that in the real world, there are multiple areas ...
FAKE NEWS, junk science, and alternative facts seem pervasive in our current culture, to the detriment of important, verified scientific advancements. One area where this is quite evident is the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV). Although we have had a safe, effective vaccine since 2006...
Salk Institute for Biological Studies Professor Reuben Shaw, PhD, has received the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Award, which encourages cancer research with breakthrough potential. Dr. Shaw, a member of Salk’s Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and holder of the...
Angela H. Brodie, PhD, a pioneer in breast cancer research, passed away on June 7, 2017, from complications of Parkinson’s disease and pancreatic cancer. An obituary for Dr. Brodie was published previously in the June 25, 2017, issue of The ASCO Post. Here, Dr. Balkees Abderrahman shares a...
Two years ago, I was on my way to hospice care after numerous treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy failed to stop the progression of my stage IV castration-resistant prostate cancer. A last-minute call from my oncologist about a phase I combination trial of the...
Administering a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and a blood test to patients with metastatic colorectal cancer may help to select those who would benefit from a targeted cancer treatment, a new study published by Khan et al in Gutreported. Researchers found that after only 2 weeks on the...
When a woman has an abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) smear, she usually undergoes colposcopy—a procedure physicians use to closely examine the cervix, vagina, and vulva for signs of disease. Typically, a metal instrument is used to obtain a small sampling of cells inside the cervix, which is...
Dedicating one’s career and livelihood to the pursuit of treating and possibly curing cancer is, for many, a decision that stems from deeply personal and, often, tragic experience. For 2017–2018 ASCO President Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, the event that greatly influenced his decision was the...
THYROID CANCER diagnoses are increasing at a rate faster than any other malignancy in the United States. In 2017, there will be 56,870 new cases, accounting for 3.4% of all cancers, and 2,010 people will die of thyroid cancer.1 This represents a more than 200% increase in incidence since the...
Virtually every region and country in the world are experiencing population aging. Although developed regions still have the largest proportion of older persons, the absolute number of older adults is higher in developing regions of the world. Globally, more than 60% of all persons aged 65 now...
The seemingly impossible-to-cure maladies of our $3 trillion per year health-care system have been hyperanalyzed, fiercely debated, and voluminously written about by the country’s leading public health experts, opinionated doctors, and policymakers on Capitol Hill. The Affordable Care Act extended ...
This is the story, told through their own photographs, of a group of adolescent patients with cancer in their search for happiness. Their images relay their hopes and fears, their desire to be normal, and their urge to escape. These photographs are the outcome of a creative arts–based support...
“THE CONVERGENCE of two very hot and interesting topics—precision medicine and immuno-oncology”—is being advanced by next-generation sequencing, Douglas B. Johnson, MD, MSCI, made clear at the inaugural OncoSET Symposium: Emerging Approaches to Precision Medicine,” sponsored by the Robert H. Lurie ...
IN MAY, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with solid tumors that have the microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) biomarker, which disrupts the ability of cells to repair DNA. The...