Women enrolled in California's Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) who have been diagnosed with severe mental illness have been screened for cervical cancer at much lower rates than other women, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), published by...
New research indicates that testing for variants in seven cancer-associated genes (instead of the usual process of testing in just two genes) followed by risk-reduction management could cost-effectively improve life expectancy for women at risk of hereditary breast cancer. The findings were...
As reported by Blum et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the efficacy analysis of the combined adjuvant Anthracyclines in Early Breast Cancer (ABC) Trials showed better invasive disease-free survival with taxane plus doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (TaxAC) regimens vs six cycles of...
As reported by Chandran et al in The Lancet Oncology, a single-center study has shown that adoptive transfer of autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes produces tumor responses in metastatic uveal melanoma. Study Details The study involved 21 consecutive patients treated at the Surgery Branch...
In the largest-known study on bone metastases in thyroid cancer, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients with follicular and medullary thyroid cancer had the highest rate of cancer-related bone lesions and fractures and an increased risk of death....
In contrast to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States, Asian Americans have experienced steadily increasing breast cancer rates over the past 15 years, according to findings published by Gomez et al in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. To better understand potential contributors to...
In a single-center study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Jacobs et al found that improved satisfaction with clinician communication and treatment was the strongest predictor of treatment adherence in patients receiving oral anticancer medication. Study Details The prospective study...
Nevus Vasculaire Albumen Print, Paris, 1869 Published in 1869, Revue Photographique des Hôpitaux de Paris was the world’s first medical journal to contain real photographs. In the seven issues produced between 1869 and 1875, 245 images were used. Dr. A. de Montméja, a Parisian ophthalmologist and...
The 21-gene recurrence score assay, Oncotype DX, determines a score that estimates the likelihood of distant recurrence of disease in women with early-stage estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer; this score is used to assess the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy. Testing with this assay is...
Research from epidemiologists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, published by Minlikeeva et al in Cancer Causes & Control, suggests that hypertension and diabetes and the use of medications to treat these comorbidities may have an effect on survival outcomes in women with ovarian cancer. Study...
Casali et al have reported 10-year progression-free and overall survival rates among patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) receiving imatinib at 400 or 800 mg/d in the phase III European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer,...
An ASCO clinical practice guideline update, reported by Khorana et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, includes the recommendation of gemcitabine-capecitabine doublet therapy as an adjuvant therapy option in potentially curable pancreatic cancer. The updated recommendation (4.1) modifies the...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recently announced the appointment of Keith T. Flaherty, MD, as Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Flaherty is Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies and Director of Clinical Research at the Massachusetts General...
Chemotherapy-associated cognitive dysfunction, often referred to as “chemobrain” or “chemofog,” is a common occurrence during active cancer treatment and may continue after treatment is completed. However, since treatment other than chemotherapy, including radiation therapy, surgery, and hormonal...
In the March 25, 2017, issue of The ASCO Post, Steven H. Lin, MD, PhD, shared his thoughts on the role of positron-emission tomography (PET) in assessing response to induction chemotherapy in patients with resectable esophageal or gastroesophageal junction cancer. He noted that complete pathologic...
An article that appeared in the April 10 issue of The ASCO Post (“Olaparib Maintenance Prolongs Progression-Free Survival in Ovarian Cancer”) suggests unwarranted conclusions from the phase III SOLO2 trial of olaparib (Lynparza) in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer and...
In the phase II BERIL-1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Soulières et al found that adding the pan-PI3K (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase) inhibitor buparlisib to paclitaxel improved outcomes in patients with platinum-pretreated recurrent metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck....
In an Italian phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Marcello Tiseo, MD, of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Parma, Italy, and colleagues found that adding first-line bevacizumab (Avastin) to cisplatin/etoposide did not prolong overall survival in patients with...
In a population-based cohort study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Su-Hsin Chang, PhD, of the Washington University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that overweight and obesity were associated with an increased risk of transformation of monoclonal gammopathy of...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) awarded the 13th AACR–Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship to Leonard I. Zon, MD, Grousbeck Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a Howard Hughes...
Survivors of melanoma are more likely to limit their exposure to ultraviolet radiation than those who have not had the disease, but more than 10% continue to intentionally tan, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.1 The study surveyed 724 people diagnosed ...
Long-term survivors of melanoma are more likely than those who have not been diagnosed with the disease to use sunscreen, protective clothing, and other means to limit exposure to the sun, according to a survey of melanoma survivors and controls about ultraviolet radiation exposure and protective...
Better vision function seems to be related to better quality of life after treatment for head and neck cancer, particularly among patients who have had surgery, according to Hsiao-Lan Wang, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Head and neck...
Just 32 when I first felt a lump in the top of my left breast, I never expected it to be cancer or my life would irrevocably change in that instant. With no history of breast cancer in my family, I initially shook off any thoughts that I could have a serious disease and instead consoled myself...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honored Roger S. Lo, MD, PhD, with the first AACR–Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research during the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The AACR established this award in recognition of AACR President...
Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) has translated its Metastatic Breast Cancer Series: Guide for the Newly Diagnosed into the five most-often-spoken languages in the United States after English: Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and French. Jointly created by LBBC and the Metastatic Breast...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recognized Carlo M. Croce, MD, FAACR, with the 11th Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research during the AACR Annual Meeting 2017 in Washington, DC. The Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and...
The human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family consists of four members—epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), HER2, HER3, and HER4—all transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases, which regulate cell growth and survival, differentiation, and migration, as well as other cellular responses.1 ...
End-of-life care in any patient with cancer is challenging for the patient, family, and physician. Issues faced at the end of life include pain, depression, loss of dignity, and hopelessness. In the geriatric patient, additional complexities are present in the form of comorbid conditions,...
In part 1 of the Heritage study, a phase III equivalence trial reported in JAMA, Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, and colleagues found that treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) or a proposed trastuzumab biosimilar...
Development of pediatric cancer drugs has long lagged behind adult drug development for two major reasons: The process is more difficult, and childhood cancer is rarer by far than adult cancer. These and other phenomena in pediatric oncology were the subject of a workshop held by the Friends of...
The advent of successful monoclonal antibody therapy in the treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma has dramatically improved the prognosis of patients for whom currently approved novel therapies have failed. In 2015, the approval of the combination of elotuzumab (Empliciti) with lenalidomide...
Susan O’Brien, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Science, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine Health, put the venetoclax (Venclexta) monotherapy study in context. “The study by Jones et al is impressive. Patients who fail on a prior kinase...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Meletios A. Dimopoulos, MD, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and colleagues, the phase III POLLUX trial has shown that the addition of the CD38-targeted antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to lenalidomide...
Long-term follow-up of treatment with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in patients with previously untreated and treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL) has shown high response rates that are durable. At 5 years, 89% of patients with treatment-naive and relapsed or...
The total number of cancer cases diagnosed among people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is projected to decline in coming years, due mostly to declines in non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Certain other cancers, such as prostate and lung, are expected to rise, according to ...
Alexandra Levine, MD, MACP, is Professor in the Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, Duarte, California, and has been on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic from the beginning—before the disease even had a name. Dr. Levine spoke with The ASCO Post about ...
Although the prognosis of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has improved with R-CHOP—the addition of rituximab (Rituxan) to the cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone chemotherapy regimen—one-third of patients still relapse after therapy, and patients with the ...
Judy E. Garber, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been honored by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) for outstanding achievement in clinical cancer research. Dr. Garber, a medical oncologist and clinical cancer...
The NCCN Foundation® has named Gena Cook, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Navigating Cancer, as Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Foundation Board of Directors. Ms. Cook, who was elected to the Board in 2010, succeeds Ellen O. Tauscher, former U.S....
On February 2, 2017, nivolumab (Opdivo) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who have disease progression during or after platinum-containing chemotherapy or have disease progression within 12 months of neoadjuvant...
Eric Jonasch, MD, Professor in the Department of Genitourinary Cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, commented on this phase II study. “This is an important study, since we have, for the first time, randomized, prospective data comparing the combination of a checkpoint antibody with an...
The combination of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and bevacizumab (Avastin) appears to be promising in the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, according to results of a phase II trial presented at the 2017 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.1 Despite the failure of the...
Read more in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP). Visit ASCOPubs.org/journal/jop Patients with stage I lung cancer are achieving excellent local tumor control, thanks to an evolution in radiotherapy and surgical approaches. Jeffrey A. Bogart, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of...
Momentum around immunotherapies for cancer continues to build, but the high cost of these therapies places them at the center of debate about how best to define and measure value in cancer care. As these therapies are increasingly integrated into practice, all stakeholders—providers, patients,...
Medical oncologist Ophira Ginsburg, MD, has joined New York University (NYU) Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center as Director of its new High Risk Program, which identifies, studies, and cares for patients with hereditary syndromes that increase cancer risk. Dr. Ginsburg also holds a faculty...
Researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle reported early results from a small study of their chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product (JCAR014) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the 2016 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition....
David M. Livingston, MD, a cancer biologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has won a major award for discoveries in cancer research from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). He received the Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award at the AACR Annual Meeting in Washington,...
Formal discussant of the 111 trial, Prof. Noel Clarke, MBBS, FRCS, ChM, The Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK, had some concerns, but overall felt that the study could be practice-changing. “In this paper, single-cycle treatment is safe and effective, and two cycles of adjuvant BEP (bleomycin,...
The approach to treatment of high-risk, clinical stage I, nonseminomatous or combined germ cell tumors of the testis is not written in stone. Orchiectomy followed by surveillance or chemotherapy with two cycles of bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin (BEP) is a favored approach by most experts. A...