Laura A. Dawson, MD, of Canada’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, discusses phase III findings showing that compared with best supportive care alone, single-fraction whole-liver radiation therapy appears to improve hepatic pain in the majority of patients with treatment-refractory or -ineligible...
Filippo Pietrantonio, MD, of Italy’s Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, discusses phase II results from the INFINITY trial of tremelimumab and durvalumab as neoadjuvant treatment of patients with microsatellite instability–high (MSI) resectable gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma...
Julien Taïeb, MD, PhD, of Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Université Paris-Cité, discusses the clinical implications of new phase III findings from the SUNLIGHT study, which showed that trifluridine and tipiracil (FTD/TPI) plus bevacizumab resulted in improved outcomes compared with FTD/TPI...
Utilizing chronochemotherapy—a method aimed at delivering chemotherapy at a time when the body is least vulnerable to its harmful effects and when the cancer cells are at their most vulnerable—may improve the outcomes of some patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to a novel ...
Emily C. Daugherty, MD, of the University of Cincinnati, discusses results from the FAST-01 study, which showed that FLASH proton radiotherapy, delivered at ultra-high–dose rates, may be efficacious, with adverse events comparable to conventional dose-rate treatment of patients with cancer....
Soon after my marriage, in 2003, I noticed swelling in the glands around my throat. Although I otherwise felt fine, I went to see my primary care physician for a checkup and a blood test. The results of the test showed that I had an abnormally high number of lymphocytes circulating in my...
Atrium Health recently announced that Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP, has been named President and Executive Director of its cancer service line—which includes both Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center—and Vice Dean for Cancer Programs at...
Most of us have felt our stomachs sink as we opened a patient’s radiology or laboratory report and realized the patient faced a grave situation. If we’re lucky, we have a couple of days before a scheduled patient appointment to prepare ourselves to deliver that bad news. Other times, we may have...
The four inaugural recipients of the Lubin Family Foundation Scholar Award have been announced by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation. Lubin Scholars are among the most promising physician-scientists pursuing cancer-relevant basic or translational...
Nancy Chan, MD, Director of Breast Cancer Clinical Research at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York, commented on the monarchE analysis for The ASCO Post. She noted that the study investigated the addition of adjuvant abemaciclib (an oral CDK4/6 inhibitor) to endocrine therapy in a...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will award the 19th AACR–Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship to Andrea Schietinger, PhD, during the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting, held April 14–19, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Schietinger, an associate member of the Immunology Program...
Precision medicine has revolutionized cancer treatment—but only for patients who have access to treatments. Nearly 2 million people in the United States are diagnosed each year with cancer, but access to targeted treatments varies widely, and only about half of the eligible people receive them,...
Northwell Health recently announced a gift from longtime trustee Roy J. Zuckerberg to create the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Hospital at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center—Long Island’s first cancer hospital—and to establish the R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center, Northwell’s largest ambulatory cancer...
Options are growing in the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma after complete response. At the 2022 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference,1 the use of these newer strategies in older patients was discussed by Brad S. Kahl, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Lymphoma Service at Washington...
NRG Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NTCN) group focused on improving outcomes for adults with cancer through international clinical research, recently announced the appointed leadership of the organization’s new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)...
Urvi A. Shah, MD, Assistant Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, moderated the session where the MagnetisMM trial updates1,2 were reported and was interviewed by The ASCO Post. Elranatamab vs Teclistamab Dr. Shah noted...
The Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center at The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, has announced the appointment of the Ira Brind Endowed Professor, Maureen Murphy, PhD, as Deputy Director. Dr. Murphy will guide the growth of the Cancer Center through expanding research initiatives and collaboration, ...
Manik A. Amin, MD, of Dartmouth Cancer Center, discusses the future of immunotherapy in gastrointestinal cancers, the challenges of creating effective adoptive cell therapies, and the next generation of immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Nick Pavlakis, PhD, MBBS, of Australia’s Royal North Shore Hospital, discusses phase III findings from the INTEGRATE IIa study of regorafenib vs placebo in refractory advanced gastroesophageal cancer. The trial provides a platform for the investigation of combination therapy with an immune...
Richard S. Finn, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses findings from the RATIONALE-301 study, which showed that patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with first-line tislelizumab had better health-related...
OCE Insights is an occasional column developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, Julie A. Schneider, PhD, Associate Director for Research Strategy and Partnerships, OCE; Jennifer J. Gao, MD,...
Many individuals considering screening for colorectal cancer may want information on their personal risk when making decisions about screening—such as whether to select an at-home stool-based test or colonoscopy. Investigators evaluated five online colorectal cancer risk calculators to determine...
Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, of Spain’s Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, discusses phase III findings from the SUNLIGHT study, which showed that trifluridine and tipiracil (FTD/TPI) plus bevacizumab resulted in improved outcomes compared with FTD/TPI alone in patients with refractory metastatic...
Rachna T. Shroff, MD, of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the SWOG 1815 study, which compared gemcitabine, cisplatin, and nab-paclitaxel vs gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with newly diagnosed, advanced biliary tract cancers. Although adding...
A combination of the next-generation immunotherapies botensilimab and balstilimab showed clinical activity in treating patients with refractory metastatic microsatellite-stable (MSS) colorectal cancer, according to new findings presented by El-Khoueiry et al at the 2023 ASCO Gastrointestinal...
Northwell Health recently appointed Douglas Gladstone, MD, a leader in hematology and medical oncology, as Chief of Hematologic Malignancies at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute. Prior to joining Northwell, Dr. Gladstone served for 14 years as Clinical Director of the outpatient bone marrow...
Yale Cancer Center’s Annual Conclave, held on January 5, recognized the scientific and clinical accomplishments of the Center’s faculty and staff in 2022. Eric Winer, MD, hosted the event and presented research awards in four categories: The Yale Cancer Center Population Science Research Prizes...
Initial data from the global phase III SPOTLIGHT trial could herald the use of a new targeted agent for a subset of patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. First-line treatment with zolbetuximab, which targets the transmembrane protein claudin 18.2...
According to a large new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society, the risk of suicide for individuals diagnosed with cancer in the United States is 26% higher compared with the general population. Geographic, racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and clinical characteristics contributed to...
Tolerability and efficacy results—including the first overall survival data—from a phase II trial examining first-line zanidatamab, an investigational HER2-targeted bispecific antibody, in combination with chemotherapy for patients with HER2-expressing metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma...
On January 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the kinase inhibitor zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). SEQUOIA Trial: Treatment-Naive Patients Efficacy in treatment-naive patients...
Moderator of the session on the CLL2-GIVe regimen, Bita Fakhri, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford Medicine, California, said that findings from the ongoing, phase III CLL13 trial will ultimately determine which regimen is appropriate for patients with high-risk chronic...
On January 19, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the kinase inhibitor tucatinib (Tukysa) in combination with the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab for RAS wild-type, HER2-positive, unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed following...
Neil J. Shah, MBBS, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, called the cohort study “one of a kind” because of the ability to match baseline cohorts of people living with and without HIV and metastatic non–small cell lung cancer. “These findings should be very...
Renata Ferrarotto, MD, Associate Professor, and Director of Head and Neck Clinical Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, called the efficacy results with cabozantinib plus atezolizumab in recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma “encouraging”...
The 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition was full of interesting abstracts in multiple myeloma. In addition to full coverage of several important presentations, The ASCO Post offers readers quick takes on some studies that could be practice-changing and others...
The opportunity to write this commentary on cancer disparities comes at a sorrowful time for me. Despite practicing as a surgical oncologist for more than 20 years and understanding the unequal burden that cancer visits on the Black community, I was woefully unprepared for the premature death of my ...
For more than 2 decades, Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, has devoted his medical career to the care of women’s cancers and the sexual health of cancer survivors of all genders and sexual identities. Early in his career, Dr. Dizon founded the Center for Sexuality, Intimacy, and Fertility at Women...
Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and caregivers have helped secure medical coverage and financial compensation for individuals who were exposed to Ground Zero and consequently developed uterine cancer, including endometrial cancer—according to a new, final rule added to...
Investigators revealed that approximately one out of every two patients on Medicare who have non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may not receive the appropriate imaging prior to receiving radiation therapy, according to a new study published by Sterbis et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine....
A specific colonization of pathogenic microbes in the reproductive tract may be commonly found in patients with ovarian cancer, according to a new study published by Asangba et al in Scientific Reports. The discovery strengthens evidence that the bacterial component of the microbiome may be an...
According to a new study published by Ben-Arye et al in Cancer, preoperative acupressure may help patients undergoing surgery for ovarian and endometrial cancers reduce anxiety. In addition, the researchers found that following up acupressure with perioperative acupuncture may reduce severe pain....
Electronic nudges delivered to health-care clinicians based on a machine-learning algorithm capable of predicting mortality risk quadrupled rates of conversations with patients about their end-of-life care preferences, according to a new study published by Manz et al in JAMA Oncology. The study...
The field of precision oncology has become so complex that even experienced oncologists can find it challenging to decipher the molecular test results of tumor tissue and navigate treatment options for patients. Investigators revealed that a new program may aid gastrointestinal cancer physicians in ...
Researchers have developed and tested an artificial intelligence (AI) tool known as Sybil, which may accurately predict the risk of lung cancer for individuals with or without a significant smoking history using data from low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) scans, according to a new study...
Researchers discovered that simple laser treatments to the skin may help prevent the development of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, according to a new study published by Benson et al in Dermatologic Surgery. Background Collectively known as keratinocyte carcinomas, basal cell...
In recognition of continuing issues with the process of melanocytic pathology assessments, an expert panel of three dermatopathologists—with assistance from an expert team of researchers—has developed and now revised the Melanocytic Pathology Assessment Tool and Hierarchy for Diagnosis schema...
Investigators discovered that PD-1 inhibition prior to surgery may be effective for patients with localized mismatch repair–deficient or microsatellite instability–high (dMMR/MSI-H) colorectal cancer, according to a study published by Xiao et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer ...
Researchers have discovered that severe inflammation may weaken the body’s ability to kill cancerous blood cells in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a new study published by Lasry et al in Nature Cancer. With bone marrow samples from 20 adults and 22 children with AML, the...
Fewer cases of melanoma were observed among individuals who regularly took vitamin D supplements than among those who did not take the supplements, according to a new study published by Kanasuo et al in Melanoma Research. Researchers also found that individuals taking vitamin D supplements...