If Anand P. Jillella, MD, has his way, no future patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) will experience a delay in treatment or lack for an expert consult—and few, if any, will die of this condition. Mortality from APL is much higher than most oncologists think, especially during the first ...
Healthy men participating in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial who actively participate in all steps of the clinical trial are most likely to undergo an end-of-study biopsy, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.1 The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial...
Two former Chancellors, Charles LeMaistre, MD, and Hans Mark, PhD, were recently given the honorific title Chancellors Emeritus by the University of Texas System Board of Regents. “Charles LeMaistre and Hans Mark were visionary chancellors who expanded the UT System into new directions that...
John “Jack” Harris Saiki, MD, Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Division, lived the history of modern day oncology with a career spanning 44 years. In the early days of his career, with the support of a grant from the federally funded New ...
The Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO) has honored 57 educators with the 2014 Educator of the Year Award. The award, presented annually, recognizes outstanding teachers and mentors of radiation oncology residents. Each radiation oncology residency program may nominate one faculty ...
The combination of bendamustine (Treanda), fludarabine, and rituximab (Rituxan), or BFR, was shown to be safe and effective conditioning for patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia/lymphoma receiving allogeneic stem cell transplantation from related or unrelated donors. “Remarkably,...
While genome sequencing is not currently recommended or widely used because of its high cost and paucity of meaningful, actionable results, some patients wouldn’t want it even if it were free and useful, Theodora Ross, MD, PhD, Director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the University of Texas...
Conscientious doctors are unlikely to say yes to a patient’s request for full genome sequencing,” Theodora Ross, MD, PhD, wrote in The New York Times.1 Dr. Ross, Director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, was writing about the current...
The response among patients to news reports about mutations in a gene known as PALB2 raising the risk of breast cancer “has been predictable,” Theodora Ross, MD, PhD, wrote in The New York Times.1 As an example, Dr. Ross, Director of the Cancer Genetics Program at The University of Texas...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) presented seven physicians a total of $675,000 in awards and grants to advance radiation oncology research. The awards will fund studies in radiation and cancer biology, radiation physics, translational research, outcomes/health services research, ...
Cancer seems to have an endless supply of people who want to write about it. Why not? It’s an intriguing subject of life and death and struggle and hope, one that touches virtually every person of a certain age. However, the bookshelves are filled with cancer survivorship books, so to stand out, an ...
Clinicians may argue that electronic health records (EHRs) interfere with the patient-physician relationship, and patients may complain about “distracted doctors,” too busy with computer screens to make eye contact, but according to Thomas W. LeBlanc, MD, MA, of Duke University School of Medicine...
James P. Allison, PhD, has been bucking the status quo since he was a teenager growing up in the small agricultural town of Alice, Texas, in the 1950s and 1960s. He first butted heads with authority figures when he was in high school and learned that his biology class had omitted the teaching of...
In a study reported in JAMA and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Friedewald and colleagues1 showed that the addition of tomosynthesis to digital mammography2 resulted in a decrease in the screening recall rate3 and an increase in the cancer detection rate.4,5 This retrospective analysis of...
Despite its acceptance as standard of care for early-stage breast cancer almost 25 years ago, barriers still exist that preclude patients from receiving breast-conserving therapy, with some patients still opting for a mastectomy, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer ...
On September 11, 2001, the devastating terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center left in its wake a unique toxic site in both mass and quantity of hazardous materials. It took 9 months to remove approximately 2 million tons of wreckage from Ground Zero, during which thousands of...
Newly launched in 2014 by LIVESTRONG, “The Big C” is a one-of-a-kind global competition to generate innovations that improve the daily quality of life for the 32.5 million people around the world living with cancer now. The competition was open to entrepreneurs, trailblazers, technology whizzes,...
Parents of twins often tell them apart through subtle differences such as facial expression, moles, voice tone, and gait. Similarly, physicians treating women with endometrial cancer must be able to distinguish between different versions of this disease form that, on the surface, appear the same....
Stephen Hahn, MD, has been named as the Division Head of Radiation Oncology and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He joins MD Anderson on January 1, 2015. Dr. Hahn comes to MD Anderson from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman...
Fourteen distinguished ASCO members have been selected by the ASCO Nominating Committee as candidates for open leadership positions within the Society for the 2015 ASCO Election. Biographical information and interviews with each candidate, as well as instructions for casting a proxy ballot, will be ...
Hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation was associated with much less acute toxicity during radiation therapy compared with conventionally fractionated whole-breast irradiation and also led to improved physical well-being and less physician-reported and patient-reported fatigue 6 months later,...
The door is open for expanded use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with inoperable early-stage lung cancer and for patients with oligometastatic stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results of two studies presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the...
On the face of it, the idea that a code of professional conduct dating to the ancient Iron Age could possibly retain any relevance in the current era of “Big Data,” religious and cultural pluralism, trillion-dollar government budgets, and nanotechnology seems preposterous. Yet the well-publicized...
Use of cisplatin or cetuximab (Erbitux) with radiotherapy improves overall survival in stage III or IV head and neck carcinoma, and adding cetuximab to platinum therapy improves overall survival in metastatic disease. In the phase III Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0522 trial reported in...
The Broach Foundation for Brain Cancer Research has made a $5 million commitment to support glioblastoma multiforme research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. James and Jamie Broach established the Broach Foundation in 2011, just months after Mr. Broach was diagnosed...
BRCA mutations may occur in nearly one-third of breast cancer patients who would have been described as having triple-negative cancer except that their tumors express low levels of estrogen receptor, so the tumors are described as ER–low positive, according to researchers from The University of...
Richard C. Zellars, MD, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been named Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, pending approval by the Indiana Univerity trustees. He will begin his new duties in January. A breast cancer...
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has announced the names of 70 new members and 10 foreign associates during its 44th Annual Meeting held in October. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated...
Maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer refers to a cohort of women achieving response to initial adjuvant chemotherapy who then go on to additional therapy in the hopes of extending time to recurrence or inducing a lasting remission. The concept is not new and retains its scientific and clinical...
While the incidence of colorectal cancer in people 50 years or older has declined, the incidence among people 20 to 49 years has increased, according to a report published online recently by JAMA Surgery.1 From 1998 through 2006, the incidence of colorectal cancer declined 3% per year in men and...
As part of ASCO’s 50th anniversary, the Society has published a weekly series on special moments in its history. In this edition of The ASCO Post, we revisit a unique time when ASCO’s history intersected with major world events. To read the entire series, visit the “News and Views” page on...
Since 2003, the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO has recognized more than 100 high-quality, community-based clinical research sites through the Clinical Trial Participation Award (CTPA). The program has been generously supported by the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups for the past decade....
Final results from the RADIANT-3 trial showed a 6-month difference in overall survival favoring everolimus (Afinitor) plus best supportive care over placebo plus best supportive care in patients with well-differentiated advanced and progressive pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.1 Although the...
More than 150 oral and poster presentations were featured at the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium, held September 4–6 in San Francisco. The multidisciplinary meeting is sponsored by ASCO, the American Society of Breast Disease, American Society of Breast Surgeons, American Society for Radiation...
The use of targeted therapies in indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a burgeoning area. New targeted therapies directed at the cell surface, intracellular pathways, and the microenvironment are being studied for relapsed indolent NHL. These treatments, if validated in large randomized trials,...
A surveillance strategy for patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma treated with chemoradiation and surgery (trimodality therapy) can potentially be customized based on surgical pathology stage, according to an analysis of 518 patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma who underwent trimodality...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes clinical studies actively recruiting people with Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), including AIDS-related NHL, as well as studies that are also recruiting patients with multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma....
The overriding consensus from the 2014 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium: Patient-Centered Care Across the Cancer Continuum held in Boston was that achieving optimal high-quality cancer care requires both state-of-the-art cancer therapy and the integration of palliative care principles...
A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, led by Mong-Hong Lee, PhD, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, has demonstrated the significance of CSN6 in regulating Myc which may well open up a new pathway for treating and killing tumors. The study results are...
A large, population-based, observational study suggests that participation in weekly tumor boards can improve outcomes in oncologic care. Specifically, oncologist participation in weekly tumor board meetings was associated with improved survival in patients with stage IV small cell lung cancer and...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the 20 hematologists and other medical professionals selected to participate in the 2014 ASH Visitor Training Program. This program provides talented hematologists, scientists, and laboratory staff from developing countries the opportunity ...
The second annual JADPRO Live: Transforming Oncology Practice was held October 30 to November 2 in Orlando, Florida. The conference drew nearly 400 nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists, advanced-degree nurses, hematology/oncology nurses, pharmacists, and...
ASCO recognizes that an array of efforts are needed to fully integrate palliative care into the cancer care continuum, and the Society is committed to facilitating the integration of palliative cancer care into existing health-care systems worldwide in order to realize the vision of comprehensive...
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2011 on the basis of an improvement in overall survival compared with gp100 vaccine in patients with advanced melanoma.1 Response rates with ipilimumab have been modest at best—10% to 15% using 3 mg/kg and 15%...
Although patients who relapse within 3 years of front-line fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (Rituxan; FCR) therapy have poor survival when treated with conventional salvage regimens, these patients may be candidates for novel noncytotoxic therapies, according to an analysis of extended...
When classifying response to chemoradiation among patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual (7th edition) system “is most accurate and should be adopted as the standard,” Attaphorn Trakarnsanga, MD, and colleagues at Memorial...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of children and young adult cancer survivors. The studies include phase I, I/II, III, observational, and interventional trials investigating genomic profiling to personalize treatment;...
There were several aspects of the 11th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), held October 26-28, 2014, in Houston, that distinguished it from past years. One major change was that this year’s conference was held in collaboration with The University of Texas MD...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and UnitedHealthcare have launched a pilot to explore a new cancer care payment model for head and neck cancers that focuses on quality patient care and outcomes. The collaboration is among the first using bundled payments in a large, comprehensive...
Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas, wife and research partner to 1990 Nobel laureate E. Donnall Thomas, MD, died Friday, January 9, at her home near Seattle. She was 92. Dr. Donnall Thomas, Pioneer of the Bone Marrow Transplant and former Director of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer...