In the TOPARP-A phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Joaquin Mateo, MD, of the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden in London, and colleagues, found that the PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) produced a high response rate in patients with previously treated ...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Adam Ivey, MSc, from Guy’s Hospital, London, and colleagues found that a leukemia-specific marker consisting of mutation in the gene encoding nucleophosmin (NPM1) can be used to identify minimal residual disease in peripheral blood in...
“New!” “Improved!” “Throw out that old [fill in the blank] and go buy a new [fill in the blank]!” Sound familiar? The key to marketing is to convince customers that they need a product without which they had previously been quite happy. All too often, this strategy is accompanied by a caveat emptor ...
In an analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shi-Yi Wang, MD, PhD, of Yale School of Public Health, and colleagues found that the use of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was associated with...
The benefits of rehabilitation in traumatic spinal injuries are well established. Recently, studies have shown similarly positive results in cancer-related spinal injuries, indicating that rehabilitation can play a complementary role in the care management of this patient population....
Increased travel distance to a cancer treatment facility negatively impacts the likelihood that patients with stage II/III rectal cancer will receive radiation therapy to treat their disease, according to a study analyzing 26,845 patient records from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) published...
Adding a genetically engineered “switch receptor” to second-generation CAR T cells blocked PD-1–mediated immune suppression, and made the immunotherapy effective against solid tumors in preclinical models, according to a study published by Liu et al in Cancer Research....
Chan et al found that 1 year of treatment with the HER1, 2, and 4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib improved invasive disease–free survival vs placebo after trastuzumab (Herceptin)-based adjuvant therapy in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, in the phase III ExteNET...
In an analysis of the PETACC-8 trial reported by Taieb et al in JAMA Oncology, BRAF V600 and KRAS mutations were associated with shorter disease-free and overall survival in patients with microsatellite-stable colon cancer—but not in those with tumors with microsatellite instability—in...
Mature results of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B 9761/Alliance study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Martin et al, indicate that occult metastases detected by immunohistochemistry in N2 lymph nodes may be associated with poorer overall survival after resection in clinical stage I...
Hypofractionated radiotherapy was not noninferior to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy in late genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity in patients with prostate cancer in the Dutch phase III HYPRO trial. These findings were reported by Aluwini et al in The Lancet Oncology. An earlier...
Although overall survival rates for patients with cancer continue to soar—with 14.5 million cancer survivors today1—most of that gain is among pediatric and older adult patients. For adolescents and young adults with cancer—defined by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as those in the 15- to...
Northwestern Medical Group recently announced that Lauren Streicher, MD, will be joining Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Streicher is a clinical leader in gynecology, a published author, and a trusted medical contributor for many local and national media outlets. In her new role, Dr....
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently welcomed Stephanie Quinn as its Assistant Director of Congressional Relations, a key position on the Society’s government relations and advocacy team. As ASTRO’s chief liaison to Capitol Hill, Ms. Quinn will lead efforts to educate...
Myeloma is a disease of aging, with a median age at diagnosis in the United States of 69 years.1 As the population ages, forecasts estimate that, within 20 years, 3 of every 4 people diagnosed with multiple myeloma in the United States will be between the ages of 64 and 84 years.2 In anticipation...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is pleased to announce that Natasha Archer, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, and Rayne Rouce, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine, have been selected to participate in the American Society of Hematology-Harold Amos...
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, did more than make it possible for millions of Americans to afford health care; it also established an abbreviated approval pathway for biologic products that are “biosimilar” to, or shown to be “interchangeable” with, a U.S....
On February 26, 2016, obinutuzumab (Gazyva) was approved for use in combination with bendamustine (Bendeka, Treanda) followed by obinutuzumab monotherapy for treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma who have relapsed after or are refractory to a rituximab (Rituxan)-containing regimen.1,2...
Intravenous pegylated (PEG) Escherichia coli (E coli) asparaginase was associated with similar toxicity and efficacy compared with intramuscular native E coli L-asparaginase in children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to the results of a phase III trial (DFCI 05-001).1 ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Heikki Joensuu, MD, PhD, of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues, the second planned analysis in the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group XVIII/AIO trial showed a recurrence-free survival benefit and a continued overall survival ...
In a phase III trial (SWOG S9005) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 YongLi Ji, MD, PhD, and Claire Verschraegen, MD, of the University of Vermont Cancer Center; and colleagues found no benefit of treatment with the antiprogestin agent mifepristone vs placebo in patients with...
Astudy published in the Journal of Oncology Practice1 found that individual drugs with fewer suppliers were associated with an increased likelihood of shortages compared to drugs with a large number of suppliers. The article titled, “Association between the Number of Suppliers for Critical...
There are many different ways to treat cancer: surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and more, sometimes used alone and sometimes in combination. But, in certain circumstances, the best treatment option for a patient may not look much like treatment at all. Instead of attempting to eliminate...
The role of advanced practitioners in oncology is growing as the demand for team-based care increases—and with that growth comes a need for training materials specifically tailored to this group. ASCO University®, ASCO’s home for lifelong learning, has collaborated with the Association of Physician ...
Check out some of the newest Cancer.Net patient-friendly videos produced by ASCO. New topics include an introduction to sarcoma, brain tumors, and managing the side effects of chemotherapy. These videos give people with cancer and their families and friends an additional option for receiving...
For oncology professionals looking to maximize their learning and networking opportunities, ASCO will be offering two types of Pre–Annual Meeting Educational Programs ahead of its 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago this summer. Offered since 2012, Pre–Annual Meeting Seminars are a series of in-depth...
On February 19, 2016, palbociclib (Ibrance) was approved for use in combination with fulvestrant (Faslodex) for treatment of hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer with disease progression following endocrine therapy.1,2 In February 2015, palbociclib in...
Soon after effective therapies for some childhood malignancies were first identified, early leaders in our field had concerns about what would happen to surviving patients as they aged. In 1975, Giulio D’Angio, MD, one of the founders of modern pediatric radiation oncology, presciently called for...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gregory T. Armstrong, MD, MSCE, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, and colleagues found that late mortality has decreased over time among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study cohort.1...
ASCO has announced the two physicians selected for its new Health Policy Fellowship, which kicked off this past October. Robert M. Daly, MD, and Steve Y. Lee, MD, will be the fellows for the inaugural class, which runs from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017. The program, aimed at oncologists in the...
Douglas A. Levine, MD, FACOG, FACS, will join the faculty of NYU Langone Medical Center as Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, effective May 15, 2016. Dr. Levine brings an exceptional...
Robert Seeger, MD, Division Head for Basic and Translational Research of the Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), has been selected for the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium (PBMTC). As the eighth...
Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, an internationally recognized immunologist, has been named the next president and CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Glimcher is currently the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of the Medical College at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, where she is also Professor...
On February 26, 2016, everolimus (Afinitor) was approved for treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal or lung origin that are unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic.1,2 The drug was previously approved for...
“Proton therapy may very well offer reduced late toxicities. Reflecting back on past reirradiation studies both within and outside of the cooperative groups, it seems that the late toxicities in this retrospective study were somewhat similar,” said David Raben, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology...
Proton-beam radiation therapy may be an attractive option for reirradiation of recurrent head and neck cancer, with encouraging disease control and survival rates and improved toxicity rates compared to photon reirradiation, according to John Han-Chih Chang, MD. Most head and neck cancers present...
“As radiation oncologists, we have pushed some important envelopes to try to mitigate long-term toxicity,” said David Raben, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado. “We’ve been able to utilize intensity-modulated radiation techniques to...
Efforts to reduce the late toxicity associated with chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell cancer have focused on radiation therapy dose de-escalation in select populations, according to James Melotek, MD, a radiation oncologist at the University of Chicago. “Patients...
Definitive radiation, with or without chemotherapy, induces a combination of immune-stimulating and inhibitory effects in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, according to research presented by Jonathan Schoenfeld, MD, MPhil, MPH, at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck...
Smokers whose oropharyngeal tumors are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) might need more aggressive treatment for their disease, according to research presented by Jose Zevallos, MD, at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona.1 Over time,...
Earlier this month, experts from four major institutions issued the annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer (1975–2012). This year’s report showed that death rates continued to decline for all cancers combined, as well as for most cancer sites for men and women of all major racial and...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved obinutuzumab (Gazyva), an anti-CD-20 monoclonal antibody, for use in combination with bendamustine (Bendeka, Treanda) followed by obinutuzumab monotherapy for the treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma who relapsed after, or are...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved everolimus (Afinitor), an mTOR inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal (GI) or lung origin with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the tyrosine kinase inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors are ROS1-positive. Crizotinib was first approved in 2011 for the treatment of patients whose tumors are ...
The Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium is not only the largest surgical oncology conference in the world, but the 69th meeting, recently held in Boston, is the group’s largest ever, according to SSO Past President Jeffrey A. Drebin, MD, PhD, the John Rhea Barton Professor...
Surgeons are clearly more comfortable in the operating room than the laboratory, but there is a place for them in translational cancer research as well, according to one surgeon who has led cutting-edge research in pancreatic cancer. “Translational studies require access to patients, to tissue, and ...
A quality improvement initiative to reduce the reliance of patients on visits to the emergency department for treatment of side effects related to cancer treatment was reported to be highly effective, according to early findings from a new study. 1 The strategy, involving a telephone triage...
On March 26, 2013, ASCO announced that it had completed a prototype of CancerLinQ™, the Society’s groundbreaking health information–technology initiative to achieve higher quality, higher value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. At this year’s 2016 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Robert S. ...
The Cancer Drug Development Forum exists to provide, as the name implies, a meeting place to bring together academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and most important regulators for full and frank discussions to facilitate anticancer drug development. In the recent past, the Cancer Drug Development...
Venous thromboembolic events are more prevalent in patients with cancer than in persons without it. Cancer is associated with a high rate of venous thromboembolism recurrence, bleeding, requirement for long-term anticoagulation, and reduced quality of life. Moreover, thrombosis is the second most...