As reported by Betty R. Ferrell, PhD, of the City of Hope Medical Center, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline update on the integration of palliative care into standard oncology care. This update of a 2012 ASCO provisional clinical...
In a Dutch trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rutten et al found that initial diagnostic laparoscopy can prevent futile primary cytoreductive surgery in patients with suspected advanced-stage ovarian cancer. Study Details In the trial, 201 women who were qualified for primary...
As more cost pressures are placed on the health-care system, and the transition to value-based care gains momentum, the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ (ACCC) 7th annual Trends in Cancer Programs survey revealed critical challenges and emerging trends in U.S. cancer programs. The...
New research from the University of Wisconsin (UW) Carbone Cancer Center has clarified the mechanisms involved in a common growth pathway implicated in many solid tumor types and could lead to better outcomes for patients with head and neck, lung, and triple-negative breast cancer,...
Findings from the National Institutes of Health Pediatric and Wildtype Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GISTs) Clinic, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Weldon et al, indicate that more extensive or serial resections are not associated with improvement in event-free survival in...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Temel et al found that early integration of palliative care resulted in better quality of life and reduced depression in patients with newly diagnosed incurable lung or noncolorectal gastrointestinal cancer. Outcomes differed by cancer type. ...
Mutations that have been linked to endometrial cancer can be found in the uterine lavage fluid of pre- and postmenopausal women both with and without detectable cancer, according to a study published by Nair et al in PLOS Medicine. “Today, there are no effective screening methods for...
On January 4, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review status for the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for regorafenib (Stivarga) tablets for the second-line systemic treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States. “Liver cancer is ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Pearlman et al found that 16% of patients with early-onset colorectal cancer had germline cancer susceptibility mutations, with a wide array of such mutations being identified. The study involved 450 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age < 50...
In a new study published by Jagsi et al in JAMA Surgery, nearly half of patients with early-stage breast cancer considered having double mastectomy, and one in six received it—including many who were at low risk of developing a second breast cancer. Many patients who chose double...
Despite many successes in treating pediatric cancer, young children remain at high risk for developing severe, long-lasting impairments in their brain, heart, and other vital organs from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. In adults, however, these tissues are relatively spared. This disparity, ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Knight et al of the Children’s Oncology Group found that the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Ototoxicity (SIOP) scale may be more sensitive than other classification systems in detecting ototoxicity in children...
In a retrospective cohort–based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Scott et al found that individual patient genomic-adjusted radiation dose was associated with outcomes across different cancer types. Study Details In the study, gene-expression–based radiation-sensitivity index...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gray et al found that most people receiving cancer-related data through direct-to-consumer personal genomic testing tended not to change health or screening behaviors when an elevated risk was identified. The study involved baseline and...
In a European phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Azzouzi et al found that padeliporfin vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy was associated with a reduced rate of disease progression vs active surveillance in men with low-risk prostate cancer. Study Details In the open-label trial, ...
One of the main reasons cancer remains difficult to treat is that cancer cells have developed a multitude of mechanisms that allow them to evade destruction by the immune system. One of these escape mechanisms involves a type of immune cell called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). A recent...
Venous thromboembolism is a serious—and sometimes fatal—complication of cancer and chemotherapy treatment. Since breast cancer is one of the most common cancers, it accounts for a large number of cancer-related cases of venous thromboembolism. Routine thromboprophylaxis, however, is not recommended ...
Maintenance olaparib (Lynparza) appeared to be associated with an overall survival benefit vs placebo in women with platinum-sensitive serous ovarian cancer and BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, according to an updated analysis of a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology by Jonathan A. Ledermann,...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Glenwood Goss, MD, of The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, University of Ottawa, and colleagues found that osimertinib produced a high response rate in EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor–pretreated EGFR Thr790Met (T790M)–positive advanced non–small...
A large population-based observational study by Xabier García-Albéniz, MD, PhD, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues evaluating the effectiveness and safety of screening colonoscopy for the prevention of colorectal cancer in people aged 70 to 74 and 75 to 79 has found...
In a phase II Canadian Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lassaletta et al found that vinblastine monotherapy was associated with response or stable disease in most children with chemotherapy-naive low-grade glioma. Vinblastine monotherapy has shown ...
Twenty-five years ago, I was a physically fit woman of 45 in training to run a marathon, which had been a lifelong goal. I was feeling fine and had no hint of the illness that would nearly take my life and has forever changed it. While ramping up to go the 26.2-mile distance, I decided to have a...
R. Daniel Beauchamp, MD, Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and the John Clinton Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has been selected to receive the 2016 Dr. Rodman E. and Thomas G. Sheen Award from the New Jersey American College of Surgeons...
A study finding that there is no clear cutoff age to stop breast cancer screening has received national coverage in newspapers and CNN as well as in health and medical publications. “I am glad this is catching fire, because it really needs to be out there,” Cindy S. Lee, MD, the study’s lead...
An analysis of data from nearly 6 million screening mammograms found no evidence for a clear cutoff age to stop breast cancer screening. Screening mammography among women aged 75 years was associated with higher cancer detection and lower recall rates than among younger women in the study. These...
The global biopharmaceutical company AbbVie has announced collaborations with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. These 5-year partnerships to advance cancer research and discovery in oncology will focus on...
One of the featured “Big Debates” at the 2016 World Cancer Congress in Paris addressed this question: Are scarce resources best applied to prevention rather than treatment? Many experts do not see prevention vs treatment in such stark terms or even as a realistic scenario. It’s a false dichotomy,...
The prevalence of both cancer and cognitive impairment increases with age.1-3 Based upon Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare studies, it is estimated that 3% to 7% of patients with cancer aged ≥ 65 also suffer from dementia, although the true prevalence of dementia in this...
The following five abstracts were chosen as the best submitted studies presented at this year’s International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO). They represent a diverse group of integrative therapies and interventions in the care of patients with cancer, including an...
The 13th International Conference of the Society of Integrative Oncology (SIO) held in Miami, Florida, in November, drew its largest audience yet, with nearly 400 clinicians, researchers, patients, and patient advocates in integrative oncology care from 25 countries in attendance with large...
Press conference moderator Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee, said that buparlisib will probably not be clinically useful, partly because it crosses the blood-brain barrier , thus causing mood disorders, and is not an ideal phosphoinositide 3-kinase...
The pan-phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor buparlisib combined with fulvestrant (Faslodex) prolonged progression-free survival compared with placebo and fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer previously treated with an...
Myles Brown, MD, Director of the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, suggested the failure of the endocrine therapy to increase the pathologic complete response rates “may be related to the fact that the aromatase inhibitor was not the optimal...
The addition of estrogen deprivation to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and HER2 blockade did not enhance the achievement of pathologic complete responses in women with early-stage breast cancer, according to the results of the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-52 trial reported at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer...
Press conference moderator Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, said: “This drug is not necessarily the same as palbociclib [Ibrance] or ribociclib. There are subtle differences among these three [cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6] inhibitors. The tissue analysis provides us with an enormous opportunity to...
As neoadjuvant therapy, abemaciclib alone or in combination with anastrozole achieved strong signals of anticancer activity in postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer in the neoMONARCH phase II study.1 Abemaciclib alone or in combination with anastrozole...
Results of this trial have been anticipated for a long time. Women were enrolled between 2000 and 2008,” said Leif Ellisen, MD, PhD, Program Director of Breast Medical Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Regarding the survival advantage in triple-negative...
Young women who carry the BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutation and develop breast cancer seem to have similar survival compared with young women who have BRCA-negative breast cancer. However, women with BRCA-positive triple-negative breast cancer have an 11% survival advantage compared with those with...
Researchers working on whole-exome and transciptome sequencing of endocrine-resistant estrogen receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer have shown that the mutational landscape differs from that of estrogen receptor–positive primary breast cancer, and these differences have the potential to...
How can the results of this trial be applied to clinical practice? Press conference moderator, Virginia Kaklamani, MD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, said: “The landscape has changed. Now we treat postmenopausal hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic...
The addition of everolimus (Afinitor) to fulvestrant (Faslodex) doubled progression-free survival in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer resistant to aromatase inhibitor therapy compared with fulvestrant plus placebo, according to the...
On Tuesday, December 13, President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, landmark legislation designed to improve and accelerate the pace of biomedical research in the United States. ASCO Chief Executive Officer Clifford Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, attended the White House signing ceremony ...
ASCO announced that Gilberto de Lima Lopes, Jr, MD, MBA, FAMS, will become Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s Journal of Global Oncology (JGO) in early 2017. Dr. Lopes will direct the editorial scope of JGO, an online-only, open-access journal addressing the unique challenges of cancer care and...
On December 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed marketing of a new tissue-expander system for soft-tissue expansion in two-stage breast reconstruction following mastectomy and in the treatment of underdeveloped breasts and soft-tissue deformities. A patient uses a dose...
“This study shows that a great deal of innovation can come from existing knowledge. The 7+3 regimen has been around since I was an intern,” admitted Armand Keating, MD, of the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “Using the liposomal formulation of...
Induction therapy with the experimental chemotherapy called CPX-351—a liposomal formulation of cytarabine and daunorubicin—outperformed standard “7+3” cytarabine plus daunorubicin by extending survival in older high-risk patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who subsequently underwent...
Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, MS, Director of the Leukemia Program at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center in Ohio, commented on vadastuximab talirine in newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He noted that the drug is similar to gemtuzumab ozogamicin, another antibody-drug conjugate that...
The American Cancer Society announced the election of three new members—Amit Kumar, PhD, Joseph M. Naylor, and William D. Novelli—to the 2017 American Cancer Society Board of Directors. In addition, the new key officer leadership positions were announced, which include Arnold M. Baskies,...
The investigational CD33-directed antibody-drug conjugate vadastuximab talirine yielded high overall and complete response rates when combined with standard “7+3” chemotherapy for patients newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.1 Results from this phase Ib study were presented at the 2016...
The following essay by Jeremy K. Hon, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. As physicians, ...