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Showing 2151 - 2200Expert Point of View: Dan L. Longo, MD
The term “abscopal” is from Greek roots that mean “away from the target.” Coined by R.H. Mole in 1953, it was used to label observed effects of radiation at a distance from the volume irradiated. Mounting evidence suggests an immunologic basis for the effect, but it should also be remembered that...
Management of a Patient with Relapsed and Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma
Case Summary presented by Andreas Engert, MD, Chairman, German Hodgkin Study Group, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany This is a case report of a 23-year-old female patient who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in January 2009. She received two cycles of ABVD (doxorubicin,...
Faculty Q&A Discussion: Communicating with Patients
Dr. Armitage: As oncologists, we face many challenges. I think the most difficult is when you say to a patient with a disease everybody expects will be cured, and every patient expects to be cured, “It is not worth trying to do that. It is time to worry about keeping you as well as possible for as ...
Exciting New Agents Offer Further Treatment Options for Metastatic Melanoma
“This is a very exciting time in melanoma,” said Michael Sabel, MD, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “For years, we chugged along with few options for systemic therapy. Then in 2010 and 2011, we saw melanoma data presented at ASCO plenary sessions. At ASCO 2012, we expanded in these areas...
SIDEBAR: How Should SWOG 9346 Be Interpreted?
The findings of Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 9346 sparked controversy at the ASCO Annual Meeting, and the interpretations were debated at an official postpresentation discussion. At the Best of ASCO Boston meeting, William K. Oh, MD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York—who also served as ...
Will Carfilzomib Add Value to Multiple Myeloma Treatment?
Carfilzomib (Kyprolis), the next-generation proteasome inhibitor recently approved by the FDA for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, showed strong activity in the front-line setting when paired with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and low-dose dexamethasone (CRd).1 The study evaluated stringent complete ...
Radiotherapy Not Helpful in Early-stage Parotid Acinic Cell Cancer
Adjuvant radiotherapy for patients with parotid acinic cell carcinoma “does not confer a therapeutic advantage in low-grade and early-stage tumors if resection is complete,” but the benefit for patients with higher-grade or higher-stage disease is uncertain because there were few of these patients...
Link Found between Aspirin and Reduced Risk of Death Due to Prostate Cancer
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. Over the past few weeks, Stanley L....
Antioxidant Supplementation in Patients with Cancer: Is It Safe and Effective?
Antioxidant supplements are widely used by healthy individuals as a preventive measure against cancer and heart disease and by patients with cancer to promote healing and prevent recurrence. Studies suggest that dietary supplements are used by up to 81% of cancer survivors, and that 14% to 32%...
SIDEBAR: From Small Centers to Academic Centers
The use of cytoreduction plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to treat carcinomatosis “came from the smaller centers,” noted Nita Ahuja, MD, Director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancies Program at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “A lot of things in medicine come from academia and move...
Breast Cancer Symposium Features Surgical Data, Updated Results from BOLERO-2, and Other Important News
The annual Breast Cancer Symposium, held September 13 to 15 in San Francisco, is jointly sponsored by ASCO, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the National Consortium of Breast Cancers, and the Society of...
Major Strides Seen in Treatment of Gynecologic Cancers
Research reported at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting shows major strides in treating ovarian and cervical cancers, suggesting the potential of new agents and adding evidence in areas where optimal management is unclear, according to Jonathan S. Berek, MD, of the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center,...
Novel Drug Combinations Present New Hope for Effective Treatments in Multiple Myeloma
Developing early-phase clinical trials that incorporate combinations of novel agents targeting different pathways in the hematologic cancer multiple myeloma is a leading focus of the work of Sagar Lonial, MD, Professor of Hematology and Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs in the Department of Hematology ...
Karnofsky Award Winner Honors Mentors through Gift to Conquer Cancer Foundation
Kanti R. Rai, MD, and his wife Susan have been loyal donors to the Conquer Cancer Foundation for the past 9 years, but in 2012, a momentous occasion in his career inspired Dr. Rai to make a unique gift. A Moment of Reflection In the spring of 2012, Dr. Rai, an internationally recognized expert on ...
Expert Point of View: Tim Eisen, MD, and Robert Figlin, MD
Over the past few years, we have gone from famine to feast.… We now have sorafenib [Nexavar] and sunitinib [Sutent], temsirolimus [Torisel], and everolimus [Afinitor], and interferon plus bevacizumab [Avastin] for treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. If these drugs [in COMPARZ] are...
Study Reveals Global Picture of Obstacles to Pain Control in Patients with Cancer
Hundreds of millions of patients with cancer around the world are suffering from unrelieved cancer pain, despite the availability of morphine and other drugs that could alleviate that suffering. The major barriers are twofold: governments failing to ensure an adequate supply of morphine and other...
Challenging Times: A Day in the Life of a Community Oncologist
Community oncologists man the front line of cancer care, treating upward of 85% of our nation’s patients. Over the past 2 decades, regulatory and economic changes have left many practices in a state of flux and uncertainty, some struggling to keep their doors open. To shed light on the community...
Nobel Laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, Dies at 92
In his 1990 Nobel Prize Lecture, Eduard Donnall Thomas, MD, with characteristic humility, acknowledged that the success he celebrated “was made possible by the work of many others in this and related fields.” Dr. Thomas, whose groundbreaking work in bone marrow transplantation marked a new era in...
Strong Association Increasingly Recognized Between Obesity and Cancer Incidence/Poor Prognosis
The rise in obesity in the United States coincides with greater recognition of the role of obesity in cancer and other diseases.1 While decades of research have indicated a strong association between obesity and cancer, “several forces have made that association increasingly recognized,” according...
Risk Reduction for Patients with Multiple Primary Cancers
The number of patients with multiple primary cancers is increasing so that second malignant neoplasms now represent approximately 16%, or 1 in 6 cancers reported to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. While some second malignant neoplasms are treatment-related, others...
Options Shifting for First-line Treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma
Trials with pazopanib (Votrient) have “provided significant efficacy, toxicity, and tolerability data for pazopanib to be established as a first-line standard of care” for renal cell carcinoma,” Tim Eisen, PhD, of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, stated at the 11th International Kidney...
Novel Agents for Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer Impressive in Early Trials
Several sessions at the 2012 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Vienna focused on novel targeted therapies in various stages of development. Summarized here are data on two promising drugs for breast cancer and two for prostate cancer. E-3810 in Breast Cancer Two experimental...
Beyond Molecular Monitoring: Cytogenetic Testing and Mutational Analysis in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
Cytogenetic analysis remains an important component of patient monitoring until a complete cytogenetic response is achieved. In addition, the ability of conventional cytogenetics to identify additional chromosomal abnormalities not detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization is noteworthy. Jorge ...
Interval-compressed Chemotherapy More Effective with No Increase in Toxicity
A randomized controlled trial among patients with newly diagnosed localized Ewing sarcoma found that “chemotherapy administered every 2 weeks is more effective than chemotherapy administered every 3 weeks, with no increase in toxicity,” investigators from the Children’s Oncology Group reported in...
Study Explores Use of Radiotherapy in Last 30 Days of Life
While few patients receive radiation for cancer treatment in the last 30 days of life, almost 1 in 5 patients who do spend more than 10 of those days in treatment and more than half spend more than 5 days, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 The investigators used...
The Ethics of Rationing Cancer Care
Should cost be a consideration when deciding on treatment for patients with cancer, and if so, what kind of ethical dilemma does that pose for oncologists? With U.S. spending on oncology drugs expected to climb more than 20% annually over the next decade—reaching $173 billion by 2020, according to...
Research of Three Conquer Cancer Foundation Grantees Featured among Top Cancer Advances of the Year
Every year, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology funds research grants that provide critical start-up funding for young physician-scientists, with the goal of enabling them to develop successful careers in cancer research so that they can bring new treatments...
Genetic Variation in Vitamin D Pathway Is Tied to Colorectal Cancer Risk among African Americans
African Americans’ risk of colorectal cancer varies according to whether they have certain genetic variants that affect vitamin D metabolism, according to a study presented at the Fifth American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held...
Significant Reduction in Cancer Risk Seen with Daily Multivitamin Use in Middle-aged and Older Men
Large-scale trials over the past several years have shown a general lack of effect of single vitamins or small numbers of vitamins given at high doses in preventing cancer. However, as recently reported in JAMA by Gaziano and colleagues, the Physicians’ Health Study II has found a modest but...
Fox Chase Researchers Find Most Medicare Patients Wait Weeks before Breast Cancer Surgery
Although patients may feel anxious waiting weeks from the time of their first doctor visit to evaluate their breast until they have breast cancer surgery, new findings from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia show that these waits are typical in the United States. Results were published...
Plenary Session Included Findings on Partial- vs Whole-breast Techniques and Patient Beliefs about Radiotherapy
When the dates were picked for the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), no one could have anticipated that the meeting would coincide with Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of parts of the northeast. As the storm approached on Monday and Boston shut down its...
Screening for Ovarian Cancer: A Gynecologic Oncologist’s Perspective
The recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Reaffirmation Recommendation Statement concluded that in the population of asymptomatic women without known genetic mutations that increase risk for ovarian cancer, clinicians should not screen for ovarian cancer using transvaginal ultrasound...
Green Tea
The use of dietary supplements by cancer patients 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...
The Rise of the Vintage Readers Book Club
Providing care beyond medical treatment, the multidisciplinary field of psychosocial oncology addresses the psychological, social, and emotional health of the patient with cancer. On an occasional basis, The ASCO Post will explore the realm of psychosocial oncology with a column guest edited by...
Expert Point of View: Martin Dreyling, MD and Joshua Brody, MD
Martin Dreyling, MD, Professor at the University of Munich in Germany, said the most important lymphoma studies presented at the 2012 ASH Annual Meeting focused on ibrutinib, the first-in-class Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor. “Basic science has gone mainstream. We will see a revolution during...
FDA Approves Ponatinib to Treat CML and Philadelphia Chromosome–positive ALL
In December, the FDA granted accelerated approval to ponatinib (Iclusig) for the treatment of adult patients with chronic-, accelerated-, or blast-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that is resistant or intolerant to prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy or Philadelphia chromosome–positive...
ASCO's CancerProgress.Net: Where We've Come From, Where We Are, and Where We're Going
The British science historian James Burke once wrote, “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you are.” To tell the story of where we are in the treatment of people with cancer and how we got there, ASCO launched an ambitious history project in 2011 with a new website,...
ACS Releases Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines
As reported online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians,1 based on results from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the American Cancer Society (ACS) has released lung cancer screening guidelines recommending that select clinicians should...
Important Messages about Palliative Care and Hospice at the Heart of New End-of-life Memoir
The illness memoir’s appeal proves enduring in a very crowded genre, perhaps because illness is a tie that binds us all. As Susan Sontag wrote in her classic work, Illness as a Metaphor, “Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in...
Turmeric
The use of dietary supplements by cancer patients 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...
As Computers Learn to 'Talk' to Each Other, Patient Care Will Improve
Last fall, Edward P. Ambinder, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and a member of ASCO’s Health Information Technology Work Group, spoke about “The Information Age: Cyberspace and Cancer,” at the...
International Members Cite Networking, Enhanced Patient Care Among Benefits of ASCO Membership
Thanks to the membership category ASCO designed for physicians in developing countries, Brazilian oncologist Milena Mak, MD, can greatly enhance the care she delivers in the very busy 580-bed Instituto do Cancer do Estado de Sao Paulo. And radiation oncologist Pooja Nandwani Patel, MD, can use the...
ASH Highlights Included New Data in Myeloma, Lymphoma, and Leukemia, plus Studies of Mucositis and Graft-vs-Host Disease
The 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) featured about 5,000 abstracts, including oral sessions and posters, as well as named lectures and symposia. In addition to our regular news coverage from the meeting, below are capsule summaries of a few news highlights that we...
Selumetinib/Docetaxel Shows Promising Activity in Previously Treated KRAS-mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Currently, there are no approved therapies for KRAS-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and few clinical trials have been performed specifically in this setting. In a recent article in Lancet Oncology, Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, Scientific Director, Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science,...
We Need Gemtuzumab Available Again to Treat AML
The word “revival” signifies a renewed use or acceptance after a period of inactivity; similarly, the word “resurrection” refers to the concept of an entity coming back to life after death. In the past year, these terms have been used frequently by us (and others) in articles calling for the return ...
Integration across the Spectrum: Community Perspective on the Medical Oncology Home Model
The term “patient-centered cancer care” has become ingrained in today’s health-care vernacular. However, no matter what modifications occur in clinical oncology practice, the terms value and cost-effectiveness are now a solid part of the equation. At ASCO’s Quality Care Symposium, Linda D....
Nab-paclitaxel/Gemcitabine Combination Improves Overall Survival in Pancreatic Cancer
In patients with treatment-naive metastatic pancreatic cancer, the addition of nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel (Abraxane) to gemcitabine improved overall survival vs gemcitabine alone, in an international study presented at the 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 New Standard “We...
Global Women’s Cancer Summit: Collaboration Aims to Reduce Breast, Cervical Cancers
World leaders from governments, cancer organizations, and the private sector joined together recently for the first Global Women’s Cancer Summit to address the challenge of reducing the global burden of women’s cancers. The summit was hosted by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and underwritten by GE...
Make a Lasting Difference: Choose the Giving Option that Works for You
If you are like the many supporters of the Conquer Cancer Foundation, you may have reached a point where you would welcome the opportunity to influence not only the future ownership of your possessions, but the meaning that others assign to your life. One way to accomplish this is by considering...
On Radiation and Cancer Risk
We owe our life to radiation. The universe was created in a thermonuclear explosion, and continued existence of life on Earth depends on plants using chlorophyll to capture light energy emitted by the sun (and exploding supernovas) and converting it into chemical energy, with the subsequent...
