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Showing 23851 - 23900NIH Panel Endorses Active Surveillance in Low-risk Prostate Cancer
Active surveillance of localized prostate cancer is a viable management option that should be offered to low-risk patients in place of immediate treatment, said a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health. A fairly new concept, active surveillance takes a more proactive...
Package Inserts Revised for IV Methotrexate Products
The FDA has approved changes to the package inserts for methotrexate products for intravenous administration. Additional information regarding concomitant proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy has been added to the Warning section of the label. Specifically, the new text includes the following...
Investigational New Drug Application Filed for ONT-10
Oncothyreon Inc announced the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA for ONT-10, a therapeutic vaccine directed at cancers expressing MUC1. Upon completion of the FDA’s review of the IND, Oncothyreon expects to initiate a phase I trial. ONT-10 is a therapeutic vaccine...
New System for Cervical Cancer Screening Approved
Hologic announced that the FDA has approved its Cervista HTA (high throughput automation) system for use with its previously approved Cervista human papillomavirus (HPV) HR test. The Company’s Cervista HTA system automates the DNA extraction and detection steps of the Hologic Cervista HPV HR test,...
ODAC Backs Axitinib for Kidney Cancer
The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 13-0 that Pfizer’s drug axitinib (Inlyta) had a favorable benefit-risk profile for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma after initial treatment has failed. The FDA is due to make a final decision in the first half of 2012. Panelists said the ...
Further Individualizing Staging Offers Benefits in Patients with Colon Cancer
Supplementing the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM classification system with additional information available from tumor registries can assist in personalizing treatment and follow-up care for patients with colon cancer, according to a collaborative study by investigators at Memorial...
Resection of Metastatic Lesions Extends Survival in Multiple Tumor Types
Surgical oncologists urged other cancer providers to appreciate the potentially curative role that surgery can play in the management of many stage IV solid tumors, in a session during the American College of Surgeons 97th Annual Clinical Congress in San Francisco. Pulmonary Metastases Stephen G....
Oncology Research a Strong Presence at the American College of Surgeons Meeting: New Data in Pancreatic, Rectal, Thyroid, and Breast Cancers
Research in cancer staging, surgical procedures, outcomes, and medical treatment was included among the 2,000 abstracts presented at the 97th Annual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Francisco. The ASCO Post was there to capture the latest findings. Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in...
Gene Classifier Spots Different Recurrence Patterns in Patients with ER-positive Breast Cancer
A new gene classifier differentiates between women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer who go on to develop metastases early vs late, possibly paving the way for tailored adjuvant therapy. Using pretreatment tumor biopsies, a team led by Minetta C. Liu, MD, of the Georgetown...
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy for Thin Melanomas?
When sentinel lymph node biopsy for the regional staging of melanoma was first introduced, it was recommended for any patient with a melanoma 1.0 mm in Breslow thickness or greater. Patients with thin melanomas were not thought to have a sufficiently high risk to warrant the additional cost and...
SIDEBAR: Bevacizumab in Breast Cancer: Additional Perspective
A recent poll by MDoutlook1 concluded that payer coverage would have a significant role in bevacizumab’s use in metastatic breast cancer. Usage of the drug could be cut by two-thirds in the United States and by one-third outside the United States. The NCCN has kept its recommendation of bevacizumab ...
Bevacizumab Breast Cancer Indication Rescinded: What Are the Downstream Implications?
Leading up to FDA’s resolution to revoke the breast cancer indication for bevacizumab (Avastin), the debate over the drug’s clinical value was imbued with contentious ideologic overtones, which culminated in a 2-day public hearing that exposed deep divisions not only in the scientific community,...
Favorable Early-stage Hodgkin Lymphoma and HD.6: The Take-Home and Don’t–Take-Home Messages
The Canadian HD.6 randomized study in patients with nonbulky early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma is mostly of historic interest.1,2 It has little relevance to current treatment standards or questions, and the risk for its inappropriate interpretation is of great concern. Radical Radiation Approach Long...
Expert Point of View: Improved Survival with Chemotherapy Alone in Limited-stage Hodgkin Lymphoma
A criticism of the HD.6 trial is that current radiation techniques are probably less toxic than subtotal nodal radiation therapy, which was used in this investigation. Responding to this in an accompanying editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 David J. Straus, MD, of the lymphoma...
Improved Survival with Chemotherapy Alone in Limited-stage Hodgkin Lymphoma
An important study suggests that radiotherapy may not be a necessary addition to chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma, sparing patients the risks of late radiation-induced cardiac effects and second cancers. These data were based on 12 years of follow-up ...
Vandetanib Demonstrates Therapeutic Efficacy in Patients with Advanced Medullary Thyroid Cancer
A phase III trial among patients with locally advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer met its primary objective of progression-free survival prolongation among patients receiving vandetanib compared to placebo. The secondary efficacy endpoints of objective response rate, disease control...
High EGFR Expression Can Predict Survival Benefit from Cetuximab plus First-line Chemotherapy in NSCLC
High expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can predict survival benefit from cetuximab (Erbitux) added to first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The identification of high EGFR expression as a tumor biomarker follows findings from the...
Risk of Sexual and Continence Problems No Lower with Robotic than with Open Surgery
Although robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy “is eclipsing open radical prostatectomy among men with clinically localized prostate cancer,” the risks of problems with sexual functioning and continence are no lower with robotic than open surgery, according to a study in the Journal...
Overexpression of p16 Does Not Indicate Increased Risk of Breast Cancer in Women with Atypical Hyperplasia
Women diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia have a substantial risk of subsequent development of breast cancer, with a cumulative incidence of approximately 30% at 25 years. Atypical hyperplasia is considered to be a precursor to ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). p16 (a nuclear protein encoded by the...
Impact of p53 Status on Cancer Treatment Selection
Wild-type p53 emerges from a latent state and becomes stabilized and activated in response to genotoxic and cellular stress signals, resulting in the transcriptional modulation of multiple genes involved in regulating cell-cycle progression, senescence, and apoptosis. More than 50% of human tumors...
Targeting AKT/mTOR May Improve Response to Monoclonal Antibodies in Some Cancers
The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) network plays a central role in regulating tumor cell growth and differentiation, tumor angiogenesis, metastasis, apoptosis, and multidrug resistance. Increased IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) expression and circulating IGF-1 are associated with increased risk for...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
When patients and family members have concerns about depression, they often bring them up with the staff, not with the treating oncologist. “I think that people with cancer don’t want to distract their medical oncologist or their surgeon by talking about their mood,” Dr. Massie noted. “Some people ...
Depression Is Dangerous among Patients with Cancer, but Talking and Pharmacologic Treatments Can Be Effective
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. “Depression is a very dangerous...
Oncologists Examine Promise vs Reality of Personalized Medicine
Personalized medicine: It’s a phrase that reverberates across all cancer meetings. “Matching the right drug to the right patient” will be accomplished, in the not too distant future, through genomic sequencing of the tumor and targeted, less toxic therapy. This much has been established—or has it?...
CancerConnect Offers Online Alternative Networking for Patients
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are rapidly growing, giving patients with cancer a place to connect with others. But an alternative networking website claims to be a more comprehensive, responsible, “commercial-free” alternative. Over 10,000 patients with cancer have registered at ...
JAK2 and MPL Mutation Screening: What Are the Indications and How to Interpret the Results
The World Health Organization system organizes myeloid malignancies into five major categories, which are subsequently further subclassified using a combination of bone marrow morphology and cytogenetic/molecular information (Table 1).1 JAK2 and MPL mutations are not disease-specific and occur...
Partial Breast Irradiation with Brachytherapy in Early Breast Cancer: Retrospective Analysis Looks at Trends and Guidelines
Accelerated partial breast irradiation using brachytherapy (APBIb) as an alternative to whole-breast irradiation (WBI) after breast-conserving surgery has been rapidly adopted in the United States, but the majority of patients receiving APBIb may not be considered suitable for it. A retrospective...
Surgical Oncology: Advances and Challenges in Breast Cancer Surgery
Mortality rates for breast cancer have declined steadily in the United States since 1990, resulting in an improvement in survival. Multiple factors have contributed to this positive trend, one of which is the combination of earlier detection and more sophisticated surgical techniques. The ASCO Post ...
FDA Approves Imatinib for Expanded Use in GIST
The FDA has granted imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) regular approval for use in adult patients following surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The new approval also highlights an increase in overall patient survival when the drug is taken for 36 months rather than...
Abiraterone: New Drug in the Treatment of Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication Abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) (an oral agent that...
Laparoscopic Liver Resections Can Be Safe and Oncologically Efficient
Laparoscopic resection of primary and metastatic liver cancers can be safe and oncologically efficient and reduce postoperative length of stay, a single-center study from the United Kingdom found.1 The investigators cautioned, however, that “adequate patient selection and extensive experience in...
Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy Yields Complete Remission in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
Targeted therapies have markedly improved outcomes in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, with median overall survival of greater than 2 years having been observed with sunitinib (Sutent) treatment. Objective responses, consisting mostly of partial responses, are observed in approximately...
Cancer Survivors at Greater Risk for Cutaneous Melanoma
Patients with a previously diagnosed cancer have an increased risk of developing cutaneous melanoma, with the highest risk among patients who have had a prior diagnosis of melanoma, according to a report published in the Archives of Dermatology.1 Key Findings Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and...
Show Your Patients the Latest Research on Genitourinary Cancers
The 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium takes place February 2–4 in San Francisco. Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/GUsymposium to find written summaries for patients and a podcast that highlights the research presented at the meeting, on prostate, bladder, kidney, testicular, and other...
ASCO Membership Categories Offer a Place for Everyone
If your work touches those who have cancer, you have a place within ASCO. That’s the message that the organization, during its 48 years, has gotten across in many ways, not the least of which is its membership categories, which have expanded right along with the field of cancer care. “ASCO is...
Integration of QOPI® Helps Michigan Insurer Earn ‘Best of Blue’ Award
By working to improve oncology care in practices in Michigan through integration of ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) into its Physician Group Incentive Program, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) has been selected as a 2011 “Best of Blue Clinical Distinction Award” winner...
QOPI® Certifies 100th Practice for Delivering High-quality Cancer Care
Less than 2 years since launching the first national program to help oncology practices deliver the highest quality of cancer care, ASCO and its affiliate, the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program, announced that more than 100 practices have achieved QOPI...
Epigenetic Therapy Shows Positive Results in Late-stage Lung Cancer
A small phase I/II clinical study from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that epigenetic therapy with a combination of azacitidine (Vidaza) and entinostat (an investigational agent) produced responses in some patients with refractory advanced non–small cell lung cancer. The study results, ...
Lung Cancer Advocates Seek to Raise Awareness (and Research Funding)
Although lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women—nearly 157,000 deaths from lung cancer occurred in 2011, according to the American Cancer Society—survey results from the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF) show that 60% of Americans are...
I Never Expected to Get Lung Cancer
When intermittent chest pains sent me to the emergency room nearly a decade ago, I worried that I was having some kind of cardiac event. The ER doctor wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a pulmonary embolism, so in addition to ordering a complete cardiac workup, she also ordered a chest x-ray to ...
Ablation of Small Primary Breast Tumors: The Next Step in Local Therapy?
Local treatment of breast cancer is trending toward less invasive procedures that achieve comparable outcomes to standard interventions. What will the next step along this continuum be? According to Michael S. Sabel, MD, a surgical oncologist at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer...
Is Gemtuzumab a Therapeutic Option in Older Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia?
Previous studies of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) had variable results in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Before trials reported at the 2011 ASH Annual Meeting, two major studies had compared chemotherapy with or without gemtuzumab in patients with AML, said Martin Tallman, MD, Chief of the...
Is Gemtuzumab a Therapeutic Option in Older Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia?
A study presented at the Plenary Session of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) breathes new life into an older drug for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that is no longer available in the United States.1 Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) appears to be a promising...
New Anti-CD20 Monoclonal Antibody Studied in B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
The new anti-CD20 monocolonal antibody obinutuzumab is being studied in the treatment of patients with relapsed CD20-positive indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. GAUSS is the first clinical trial to compare obinutuzumab head-to-head against rituximab (Rituxan) induction therapy. “In this first...
Study Questions Use of Partial Breast Brachytherapy in Older Women
Partial breast brachytherapy is less effective and more toxic than whole-breast irradiation when used after lumpectomy, suggests an analysis of Medicare claims data. In the 2000–2007 study of more than 130,000 older women with breast cancer—the largest of its kind to date—the rate of mastectomy in...
AVEREL Trial Shows Benefit of Bevacizumab in HER2-positive Locally Recurrent or Metastatic Breast Cancer
In findings likely to intensify the debate about the role of bevacizumab (Avastin) in advanced breast cancer, the AVEREL trial concludes that adding this antiangiogenic antibody to standard therapy prolongs progression-free survival by about 3 months in women with HER2-positive locally recurrent...
Subcutaneous Bortezomib Approved
The FDA has approved a supplemental new drug application for bortezomib (Velcade), updating the label to include the subcutaneous administration in all indications approved for intravenous administration, ie, multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma after at least one prior therapy. The approval...
FDA Completes Work on Three Drug User Fee Programs
The FDA recently completed its recommendations for three user fee programs that will help speed safe and effective drugs and lower-cost generic drug and biosimilar biologic products to patients, according to FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD. The programs include the fifth authorization of...
Shared REMS Approved for all Transmucosal Immediate-release Fentanyl Products
The FDA has approved a new transmucosal immediate-release fentanyl Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) access program. The REMS is a single shared system for all transmucosal immediate-release fentanyl products. Among the goals of the REMS access program are to mitigate the risk of...
Glucarpidase Approved to Treat Methotrexate Toxicity
The FDA has approved intravenous glucarpidase (Voraxaze) to treat patients with toxic levels of methotrexate in their blood due to kidney failure. Glucarpidase is an enzyme that rapidly reduces methotrexate levels by breaking down the chemotherapy drug to a form that can be eliminated from the...
