On June 20, 2023, the PARP inhibitor talazoparib was approved for use with enzalutamide in homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene–mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.1 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the multicohort, double-blind TALAPRO-2 trial...
Formal discussant Daniel G. Stover, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the SONIA and PALMIRA trials raised several questions. Can CDK4/6 inhibitors be personalized and differentiated? Can patients delay treatment with these agents? Should all patients receive a...
Two studies presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting challenge the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors as part of upfront treatment of advanced hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The first, the SONIA trial, found that first-line treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors led to greater toxicity...
Preparing and running a medical conference is usually a complex but rewarding mission. It is a demanding job that is typically done voluntarily by physicians and educators who are dedicated to professional and community service; advancement of research and education; as well as the dissemination of ...
As we detailed in our Special Report “Surviving, but Not Always Thriving, After Cancer,” in the May 25, 2023, issue of The ASCO Post, the combination of advances in more effective therapies to treat cancer, gains in early detection, and sharp declines in tobacco use have led to a staggering 33%...
The probability of obtaining a HER2-low test result increases with the number of biopsies performed, according to a study of more than 500 biopsy samples in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. For patients originally labeled as having no HER2 expression (HER2 0), each successive biopsy...
Chronic exposure to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5, particulate matter 2.5 µm in diameter) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may increase non-lung cancer risk in older adults, according to a study published by Yaguang et al in Environmental Epidemiology. In a cohort study of millions of Medicare...
In a new study published by Hyuna Sung, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open, non-Hispanic Black individuals diagnosed with a second primary cancer experienced 21% higher cancer-related death rates and 41% higher cardiovascular-related death rates compared with non-Hispanic White individuals;...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ehrlich et al estimated rates of treatment-related mortality among children with cancer in low- and middle-income countries. According to the study authors, approximately 90% of children with cancer globally live in these...
Cancer research centers conducting clinical trials could potentially enroll more patients from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups by placing a greater emphasis on relieving investigators of the costs of translating consent documents into languages other than English, according to a study...
A study covering the northeast region of Colombia found nearly 12% of patients with a high body mass index (BMI) being treated for breast cancer at a regional center experienced cardiotoxicity during chemotherapy. The study will be presented at the upcoming American College of Cardiology Latin...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Elizabeth A. Raetz, MD, and colleagues found that outcomes in children and young adults with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who do not achieve remission at the end of induction therapy have improved in contemporary...
Presented here are summaries of three abstracts from the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting that are pertinent for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The first two focus on men with homologous recombinant repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/2. In the first study,...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Swinton et al found that bladder-sparing trimodal therapy with radical-dose radiotherapy was an effective alternative to radical cystectomy in patients with clinically node-positive nonmetastatic bladder cancer. As stated by the ...
Investigators have found that monthly U.S. adult cancer diagnoses decreased by 50% early in April 2020 and that the largest decreases were observed for stage I tumors, resulting in a higher proportion of late-stage cancer diagnoses, according to a recent study published by Han et al in The Lancet...
The American College of Physicians (ACP) suggested screening asymptomatic, average-risk adults for colorectal cancer at age 50 years, according to updated clinical guidelines published by Qaseem et al in the Annals of Internal Medicine. New ACP Clinical Guidelines Colorectal cancer has the fourth...
Paolo Corradini, MD, of Italy’s Istituto Nazionale Dei Tumori, discusses findings from the CART-SIE Real Life Italian Study, which compared treatment outcomes for patients with relapsed or refractory primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), all of whom...
About 80% of geriatric female colorectal cancer survivors may experience a range of gastrointestinal symptoms years after receiving a diagnosis and treatment for their tumors, according to a recent study published by Han et al in PLOS ONE. Background While depression, anxiety, and fatigue are...
With an estimated 4.8 million new cases and 3.4 million deaths worldwide recorded in 2018, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract account for over one-quarter (26%) of global cancer incidence and over one-third (35%) of all cancer-related deaths. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)...
A new therapeutic option is under study for use in a difficult-to-treat subset of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a presentation during the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2023 Hybrid Congress.1 Exploratory results of the phase III MORPHO trial showed a benefit to the ...
As presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, the phase III IMerge trial of imetelstat1 and the phase III COMMANDS trial of luspatercept2 met their primary endpoints of transfusion independence. The findings suggest that lower-risk patients with transfusion-dependent, non-del(5q) myelodysplastic...
Patients who reside in lower-income communities may be less likely to undergo colorectal cancer screenings with computed tomography (CT) colonography than those who reside in higher-income communities, according to a new study published by Christensen et al in the American Journal of ...
In the phase III CARTITUDE-4 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, San-Miguel et al found that receipt of ciltacabtagene autoleucel following bridging therapy significantly improved progression-free survival vs standard care in patients with lenalidomide-refractory multiple...
Discussing this study in her Highlights of the Day at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting was Barbara Burtness, MD, the Anthony N. Brady Professor of Medicine and Chief Translational Research Officer at Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut. She noted that the premise of the FRAIL-IMMUNE trial...
In a recent study (Dutch Childhood Oncology Group [DCOG] ALL11) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pieters et al found that modifications in therapy appeared to improve outcomes and reduce drug exposure in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) compared with treatment ...
In a modeling study reported in JAMA Oncology, Kalyta et al found that reducing the starting age for colorectal cancer screening with the biennial fecal immunochemical test (FIT) in Canada would result in reduction in colorectal cancer burden at a “modest cost.” As stated by the investigators:...
Investigators have proposed that cancer centers may be uniquely positioned to protect communities and patients with cancer from climate-driven disasters by bolstering climate change–associated emergency preparedness, according to a recent study published by Espinel et al in the Journal of the...
A novel artificial intelligence (AI) model may be able to accurately predict the risk of death from lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other causes by using data from low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans of the lungs, according to a recent study published by Xu et al in Radiology....
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, KC et al identified factors involved with primary cancer mortality vs noncancer mortality among long-term survivors of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Study Details The study included data on 627,702 patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology,...
In a Chinese phase III study reported in JAMA Oncology, Li et al found that niraparib maintenance therapy given with an individualized starting dose improved progression-free survival vs placebo in newly diagnosed patients with advanced ovarian cancer. Study Details In the double-blind multicenter...
Syrian migrants, including refugees, may be more likely to be diagnosed with a more advanced stage of breast cancer at a younger age when compared with individuals from Jordan, according to a recent study published by Hazra et al in JAMA Network Open. The new findings suggest the trauma associated...
Investigators have found that overall survival rates may not vary significantly among patients with gallbladder cancer who have had different volumes of their livers resected, as long as the cancer is completely removed, according to a study published by Vega et al in the Annals of Surgical...
The statistics are chilling. According to estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in the fields of health care and social services are five times more likely to suffer from a workplace violence injury than workers overall.1 The Bureau statistics show that the rate of injuries...
My patient threatened to kill me. I was in the middle of a busy medical oncology clinic. I was seeing her to discuss test results 1 week after I told her I was concerned that her cancer had returned. As I suspected, the test confirmed recurrent cancer, and this time, it was incurable. I walked into ...
ASCO issued a statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action on June 29. A statement from ASCO Chief Executive Officer, Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FASCO, FACP, follows: “[The] U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action threatens to reverse hard-won gains in diversity...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has released its first-ever Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Blueprint Report, highlighting ASCO’s 2022 advancements in the EDI space. The report provides information on 22 initiatives that ASCO launched across the mission pillars of research,...
After direct advocacy from the Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and its members, in December 2019, Congress enacted the CLINICAL TREATMENT Act, which requires all states and territories to cover and reimburse routine costs of care for treating a Medicaid enrollee who is participating in a...
In partnership with the College of American Pathologists (CAP), ASCO has affirmed findings from its 2018 practice guideline on the use of HER2 testing in breast cancer. Notably, the ASCO/CAP expert panel found there is currently no justification for a new designation of HER2 test results for...
Investigators reported that patients with head and neck cancer who had an overweight body mass index (BMI) may have had better outcomes, longer overall and progression-free survival, and lower rates of locoregional failure than those patients with a normal or obese BMI, according to a recent study...
The 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting featured thousands of abstracts. In addition to our in-depth coverage of pivotal research from the meeting, The ASCO Post highlights the following studies of novel therapies for gastrointestinal cancers. Addition of Anti-TIGIT Agent in Unresectable Liver Cancer In the...
“Clinically, the implications [of the THOR trial] are clear in that all metastatic urothelial cancers should be tested for FGFR mutations,” stated invited discussant Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, of Yale School of Medicine. “This should be done at the beginning of treatment for metastatic disease, as it...
Targeted treatment with the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor erdafitinib significantly improved overall survival, progression-free survival, and objective response rates compared with investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with advanced urothelial cancers and FGFR2/3...
In the largest prospective study of patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, radiation therapy was omitted in complete responders to immunochemotherapy without compromising outcomes. These findings were presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “Mediastinal radiotherapy may be safely...
A recent study published in Gastroenterology by Wani et al found that at least a quarter of all esophageal adenocarcinomas may be detected within a year of a negative upper endoscopy in patients with newly diagnosed Barrett's esophagus. The investigators proposed methods for improving the efficacy...
In a phase II trial (NCI Protocol 10250) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ingham et al found that the combination of olaparib and temozolomide showed activity in previously treated patients with advanced uterine leiomyosarcoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 22 evaluable...
The 6-year follow-up of a landmark study has revealed significant treatment-free remissions and safety findings in elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and coexisting medical conditions.1 Long-term results of the CLL14 trial, presented during the European Hematology Association...
A meta-analysis of randomized trials has revealed a benefit to ovarian ablation or suppression in preventing breast cancer recurrence in premenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive tumors.1 The findings, based on almost 15,000 women in studies spanning several decades, were presented at the ...
In the final overall survival analysis of the phase III JUPITER-02 trial, first-line treatment with toripalimab plus gemcitabine and cisplatin resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival and progression-free survival vs chemotherapy alone in...
Some patients who have received treatment for breast cancer may experience increased biological aging compared with those who have never been diagnosed with breast cancer, according to a new study published by Kresovich et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The findings showed that ...
In the phase III DARS study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nutting et al found that dysphagia-optimized intensity-modulated radiotherapy (DO-IMRT) was associated with improved patient-reported swallowing function vs standard IMRT in newly diagnosed patients with head and neck cancer. Study...