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Showing 20851 - 20900Chemoradiation with Fluorouracil and Mitomycin Reduces Recurrence of Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer
Radiotherapy is an alternative to surgery in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, particularly in less-fit patients. However, it is associated with high rates of incomplete response or recurrence, with salvage surgery often being required. Although synchronous chemoradiotherapy has improved local...
New Research Shows Promise in Cachexia, a Persistent Clinical Challenge
In the late 1980s, researchers led by Alfred L. Goldberg, PhD, first isolated the large protein complexes now called 26S proteasomes, which are the sites where most cellular proteins are degraded back to amino acids. Protein degradation by the proteasome pathway is critical in regulating many...
Expert Point of View: More New Data Support Use of Daily Aspirin to Prevent Cancers
Is it time to recommend aspirin for cancer prevention? “It’s the question we are asking,” said Andrew T. Chan, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who wrote a commentary accompanying three new studies in The Lancet and Lancet Oncology. The studies, by Peter M. Rothwell,...
More New Data Support Use of Daily Aspirin to Prevent Cancers
Three new studies have added data to the growing evidence that low-dose, daily aspirin helps prevent colorectal cancer and other malignancies and may be useful in preventing metastases as well.1-3 Coming on the heels of other recent studies, the results appear to strengthen the case for using...
FDA Strengthens Monitoring of Postapproval Drug Safety
A strengthened and modernized postmarket drug safety program has resulted in a substantial improvement in the FDA’s oversight of drugs once they reach the American public, according to a new report released by the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). The report, Advances in...
JAMA Highlights New Comparative Effectiveness Studies
A recent press briefing moderated by Phil B. Fontanarosa, MD, MBA, Executive Editor, JAMA, presented new findings on comparative effectiveness research, and two of the studies discussed focused on cancer. Dr. Fontanarosa started by defining comparative effectiveness research, which gained...
Important Information Regarding Abstract Distribution for the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting
ASCO has implemented a new abstract distribution model for its 2012 Annual Meeting to ensure simultaneous electronic and print release of important scientific information to attendees and the public. Plenary, Late-Breaking, and Clinical Review Abstracts (or Newly Released Abstracts, as they will be ...
Cancer.Net, ASCO’s Patient Education Website: Celebrating 10 Years of Trusted Cancer Education
“For 10 years, Cancer.Net has reflected the voice of the physician and given people with cancer and their loved ones the tools they need to actively participate in their cancer care. ASCO has used all the technological advances of the past decade to make information more accessible, interactive,...
ASCO Past President Highlights QOPI® Efforts to Improve Care in Michigan
ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) can be used to assess the quality of care in a statewide consortium of oncology practices and ultimately can lead to better care for patients with cancer, said ASCO Past President Douglas W. Blayney, MD, at a recent briefing on cancer care value...
ASCO Launches First Annual Quality Care Symposium November 30
So much health services research is underway in oncology that, rather than relegating it to just a portion of the Annual Meeting, ASCO has decided to launch a meeting devoted entirely to the emerging discipline. The first annual Quality Care Symposium will take place November 30 through December 1...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Board Member Tom Roberts Cites Need to Grow Research Capacity as Opportunity for Discovery Accelerates
Thomas G. Roberts, MD, dedicates a shelf in his home to memories of patients—photographs, notes, expressions of gratitude, traces of lives linked with his through cancer treatment. He looks at it every day, he says, and the memories inform his mission. “In oncology, you become part of people’s...
Vandetanib: New Drug for Unresectable Medullary Thyroid Cancer
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication The oral kinase inhibitor vandetanib (Caprelsa) was...
Analysis Suggests CT Screening Could Save Lives at Relatively Low Cost
Results of an actuarial analysis suggest that offering lung cancer screening with low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT) as a commercial insurance benefit to individuals who are 50 to 64 years old and have a smoking history of 30 pack-years or more could save lives at relatively low cost....
Expert Point of View: Biomarker Analysis of the TORCH Study: First-line Erlotinib Only in Patients with EGFR-positive Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Tetsuya Mitsudomi, MD, PhD, of Aichi Cancer Center Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, discussed the study presented by Tsao and colleagues1 and said that many previous trials have already shown that EGFR mutation is the most reliable predictive marker for treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors....
Biomarker Analysis of the TORCH Study: First-line Erlotinib Only in Patients with EGFR-positive Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) should receive treatment with erlotinib (Tarceva) before receiving standard chemotherapy only if their tumor is known to harbor EGFR mutations, researchers reported at the 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.1 The...
Study Reports on New Potential Biomarker of Response in Lung Cancer Chemoprevention Studies
MiRNAs, negative post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, are involved in bronchial carcinogenesis from the very early steps of this process. Endobronchial histology is currently considered as the best intermediate endpoint for chemoprevention studies. However, no intermediate biomarker...
New Genetic Signature May Help Identify Risk of Relapse in Patients with Completely Resected Early Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
A new genetic signature identified by Spanish researchers may provide robust and objective information about which patients with completely resected early stage non-small cell lung cancer are at low or high risk of relapse following surgery, according to Florentino Hernando, MD, who presented the...
Untreated Cancer Pain Remains a Significant Global Problem
“Physicians are afraid of morphine … Doctors [in Kenya] are so used to patients dying in pain … they think that this is how you must die. They are suspicious if you don’t die this way — [and feel] that you died prematurely.” —Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. John Weru of Nairobi Hospice,...
Cancer Care in India: Complex Challenges in a Populous Nation
With 1.22 billion people, India is the second most populous country in the world. Experts project that cancer incidence in India will increase by more than two-thirds over the next 20 years, to approximately 1.7 million new cases per year. Due to a range of economic and social issues, most of...
Progress in Treating Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Has Led to Across-the-board Improvements in Survival
Four decades ago, Kanti R. Rai, MD, was determined to figure out why some of his patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) died within 2 years after their diagnosis, while others lived for 20 or even 30 years. At the time, Dr. Rai was a young scientist doing research in leukemia at...
Expert Point of View: Study Shows Continued Benefit of PSA Screening in Reducing Prostate Cancer Mortality
Many of the almost 100 reports in various journals and newspapers refer to the lack of effect on overall mortality with screening in ERSPC in a very critical fashion. Clarification is necessary. Our trial did not intend to and is not powered to study the effect of screening on overall mortality....
Study Shows Continued Benefit of PSA Screening in Reducing Prostate Cancer Mortality
Studies assessing the effect of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing on prostate cancer mortality have produced conflicting results, and recommendations regarding PSA screening vary among authorities. The recently published 11-year follow-up of the European Randomized Study of Screening for...
Inhibition of SFRP2 Found to Inhibit Growth of Triple-negative Breast Tumors
Secreted frizzled related protein 2 (SFRP2), a protein that modulates the Wnt signaling pathway and is involved in embryonic development, has been thought to exert a tumor-suppressive effect via inhibition of β-catenin activation. However, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
Regional Infusion of Designer T Cells to Treat Intrahepatic Metastases
Designer T cells are modified from normal T cells to express specific immune receptors that allow them, via antibody-directed recognition or other mechanisms, to kill malignant cells bearing particular antigens. The Surgical Immunotherapy Lab at the Roger Williams Medical Center, Providence, Rhode...
Immunotherapy Clinical Trials Show Benefits for Patients with Advanced Cancers
Immunotherapeutic approaches, including vaccines, a monoclonal antibody, and a combination of low-dose interleukin (IL)-2 (Proleukin) and retinoic acid, are showing some success in clinical trials investigating the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in women at high risk, the treatment of...
FDA Approves Pazopanib for Advanced Soft-tissue Sarcoma
The FDA has approved pazopanib (Votrient) to treat patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma who have previously received chemotherapy. Pazopanib is an oral agent that works by interfering with angiogenesis. Soft-tissue sarcoma occurs in about 10,000 cases annually in the United States. More than ...
Advances in Prostate Cancer Accompanied by Ongoing Debates
Scientific advances have markedly improved prostate cancer survival, but this clinical success story is not without its share of controversy. From screening through treatment, a growing array of options offer an admixture of promise and confusion for clinicians and patients. Moreover, today’s...
Scoring System Based on DNA Repair Pathways Predicts Outcomes and Response to Platinum Therapy
A potentially important tool to identify patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer likely to benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy and redirect those with poor predicted outcomes to alternative treatments was developed using gene-expression data and validated in two independent datasets. While ...
Pediatric ALL with Induction Failure Is Highly Heterogeneous with Varying Outcomes
While failure of remission-induction therapy is rare in children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), when it does occur it is highly adverse and heterogeneous, according to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine. “Patients who have T-cell leukemia appear to have a...
Panobinostat Produces Objective Responses in Patients Refractory to Autologous Transplant
Panobinostat produced objective responses in 27% and tumor reductions in 74% of 129 patients enrolled in “the largest, prospective, multicenter, international trial conducted in heavily pretreated patients” with Hodgkin lymphoma who relapsed or were refractory to autologous stem cell...
Low-dose Radioiodine as Effective as High-dose in Thyroid Ablation
Two studies in The New England Journal of Medicine found that low-dose radioiodine is as effective as a high-dose strategy in treating patients with thyroid cancer and that recombinant human thyrotropin (thyrotropin alfa [Thyrogen]) and thyroid hormone withdrawal had similar efficacy in preparing...
Regional Disparities in Cancer Mortality
I was interested to see an article about the continuing declines in cancer death rates featured in the April 15 issue of The ASCO Post (page 94), as I have just published a paper on breast cancer mortality rates.1 Although overall breast cancer mortality rates have decreased significantly, a much...
Physicians Need to Be Involved in Reducing Costs
I am so proud of ASCO for participating in the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign (see The ASCO Post, May 1, page 19; and page 75 of this issue). I am the Associate Medical Director for a 280-physician multispecialty group in the Hudson Valley of New York,...
The Semantics of Palliative Care
The interview with Thomas J. Smith, MD (The ASCO Post, April 15, 2012), the lead author of the ASCO Palliative Care Provisional Clinical Opinion, was timely. However, it left many clinical terms and issues unclear. A significant percentage of modern medicine, including cancer care, is palliative....
Anti-EpCAM Antibody-Drug Conjugate Shows High Activity against Pancreatic Cancer
Human epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is overexpressed in many cancers. Although anti-EpCAM antibodies have shown promise in preclinical studies, early-phase clinical evaluation of these antibodies has been disappointing. To determine whether the antitumor activity of anti-EpCAM antibody...
Complex Relationship between Metformin and BRAF-mutant Tumors
The antidiabetic drug metformin appears to lower cancer risk in diabetic patients and has shown antitumor activity in preclinical studies. Suppression of mTOR signaling via AMP kinase (AMPK)-dependent TOR complex 1 (TORC1) inhibition is one of the proposed mechanisms by which metformin appears to...
Pretreatment Tumor Hypoxia Predicts Biochemical Failure after Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
Hypoxia often occurs early in solid tumor development as a result of imbalances between oxygen supply and consumption and may lead to genetic and molecular signaling that influences the biology and clinical behavior of tumors and response to treatment. Milosevic and colleagues from Princess...
Surviving the Aftermath of Cancer
With medical information now just a click away, it’s difficult to imagine a time before the Internet existed, when finding answers to questions about serious diseases was nearly impossible. When I was diagnosed with liposarcoma 33 years ago, there was only one oncologist in my hometown of Tyler,...
Pain Remains Prevalent and Often Inadequately Treated among Cancer Outpatients
“Pain is as prevalent in ambulatory oncology patients with common solid tumors as it was more than 20 years ago, despite the fact that opioid prescribing in the United States has increased more than 10-fold since 1990,” according to results of a study among 3,023 ambulatory patients with cancer...
Acai Berry
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has risen significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and the...
Studies Report Findings in Patient-centered Care
New studies highlighting findings that will lead to improvements in the patient experience and identifying potential risks for development of cancers in the future were reported at a press briefing held during the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. “In this era of sophisticated research advances, ...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
“Our study provides critical interim companion data to awaited randomized trials and may help clinicians and patients quantify the risk-benefit ratio of brachytherapy compared with standard therapy,” Benjamin D. Smith, MD, said of a study comparing lumpectomy and either whole-breast irradiation or...
Will Study Showing Increased Complications Compared to Whole-breast Irradiation Put the Brakes on Brachytherapy?
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Older women treated for invasive...
What You Need to Know About Glucarpidase Injection for Toxic Methotrexate Levels in Renal Impairment
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication In January 2012, glucarpidase injection (Voraxaze) was...
Newest Indication for Rituximab as Maintenance Treatment in Non‑Hodgkin Lymphoma
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication The CD20-directed monoclonal antibody rituximab...
ASCO Reexamines the Oncology Workforce Shortage
A study commissioned by ASCO in 2006 predicted a significant shortage of medical and gynecologic oncologists in the United States by 2020. As a result, the organization created the Workforce Implementation Group to develop recommendations to stem the projected workforce shortfall and ensure ongoing ...
New Drug Application Submitted for Regorafenib for the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Bayer HealthCare announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA seeking approval for the oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib for the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The submission is based on the results of the pivotal, global phase III CORRECT...
Denosumab Delays Time to First Bone Metastasis in Men with Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer
Denosumab (Xgeva) significantly delayed time to first bone metastases among men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer enrolled in a phase III randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The time to first bone metastasis was 33.2 months among the 716 patients randomly assigned to receive ...
Aflibercept Granted Priority Review for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, recently announced that the FDA has granted Priority Review of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for the investigational agent aflibercept (Zaltrap) concentrate for solution for infusion in combination with irinotecan/fluoropyrimidine–based...
Drug Safety Communication Issued Regarding Lenalidomide and Risk of New Malignancies
The FDA recently released a safety announcement about an increased risk of second primary malignancies in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who received treatment with lenalidomide (Revlimid). Clinical trials conducted after lenalidomide was approved showed that newly diagnosed...
