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Showing 24401 - 24450Telotristat Etiprate Added to Standard Therapy for Carcinoid Syndrome Shows Clinical Benefit in Patients With Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
The investigational drug telotristat etiprate was shown to have clinical benefit when added to somatostatin analog therapy for carcinoid syndrome not adequately controlled by long-acting somatostatin analog therapy, the current standard of care, in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors....
Geriatric Oncology in Europe: A Commitment to Improving Cancer Care for Older Patients
In Europe, the field of geriatric oncology has a long history of development, and its organization and implementation continue to improve every day. This would not have happened without the strong commitment of national authorities to health policies, a critical success factor. Four Missions In...
Why Melanoma Rates Are Increasing in Adolescents and Young Adults, Especially Among Females
The incidence of melanoma among children, adolescents, and young adults has reached epidemic proportions, increasing more than 250% over the past 4 decades, with young females at highest risk for the deadly cancer, according to a study1 by researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo,...
Survival and Bevacizumab in Early Breast Cancer: Time to Reconsider?
In metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer, several trials have shown that the addition of the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin) to different chemotherapy regimens significantly improved response rates and progression-free survival by various...
Improved Overall Survival With Neoadjuvant Plus Adjuvant Bevacizumab in Early HER2-Negative Breast Cancer
The phase III National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B-40 (NRG Oncology) trial showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to docetaxel + anthracycline-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy improved pathologic complete response rate, the primary endpoint, in patients with early...
ASCO Recommendations for Use of White Blood Cell Growth Factors: What Remains the Same and What Has Been Modified
Neutropenic complications remain the main dose-limiting toxicity of cancer chemotherapy treatment and are associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs.1 Although patients who have experienced a prior neutropenic event are at increased risk of subsequent events, several studies have...
ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline Update: Recommendations for the Use of White Blood Cell Growth Factors
ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on use of hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Thomas J. Smith, MD, FACP, FASCO, FAAHMP, and colleagues.1 This update to the ASCO 2006 guideline was based on a systematic review of...
Maciej Lesniak, MD, Named Chair of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern
Maciej (Matt) Lesniak, MD, has been named the Michael J. Marchese Professor and Chair of the Departments of Neurological Surgery at Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Prior to joining Northwestern, Dr. Lesniak was a Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and...
Victoria Seewaldt, MD, Joins City of Hope
Breast cancer and ovarian cancer specialist, Victoria L. Seewaldt, MD, has joined City of Hope as the Ruth Ziegler Chair in Population Sciences. Dr. Seewaldt, who is a specialist in developing risk models for aggressive cancers, will also serve as the Associate Director of the Comprehensive Cancer...
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation Names Marc Hurlbert, PhD, as Chief Mission Officer
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) announced that it has appointed Marc Hurlbert, PhD, as its new Chief Mission Officer (CMO). Formerly the Executive Director of the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, Dr. Hurlbert succeeds Margaret (Peg) Mastrianni, who will retire in January 2016 after serving...
End-of-Life Clinical Decisions Still Need Conversations About Improving Care
In 2014, the Institute of Medicine report Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life called for more conversations about improving care for those who are dying. Improving the care of the imminently dying is an important issue in the oncology...
NCCN Unveils Graphic Evidence Blocks to Guide Decision-Making
Treatment decision-making for oncologists and their patients may become simpler through the use of graphic NCCN Evidence Blocks™, which were unveiled at the NCCN 10th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™ sponsored by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN¨). The first of the NCCN...
Study Finds Quality of Physician Recommendation to Parents Key to Encourage/Discourage HPV Vaccination of Adolescents
A nationwide online survey of 776 pediatricians and family physicians assessing the quality of their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine recommendations to parents has found that approximately 27% of respondents said they do not strongly endorse HPV vaccination; further, 26% and 39% of respondents...
Ovarian Cancer Trialists Forming Work Group to Standardize Definition of Pathologic Complete Response
Ovarian cancer clinical trialists are forming a working group to develop a standard definition of pathologic complete response in ovarian cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Such agreement within the field potentially would enable the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider...
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship Honors Richard Pazdur, MD, and Ellen Goodman
On October 21 in Washington, DC, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) hosted a reception to honor Richard Pazdur, MD, and Ellen Goodman. NCCS Chief Executive Officer, Shelly Fuld Nasso, welcomed attendees to the special awards reception. NCCS Public Service Leadership Award The...
NYU Langone Appoints Alec Kimmelman, MD, PhD, as Chair of Radiation Oncology
Renowned clinician-scientist Alec Kimmelman, MD, PhD, has been named Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at NYU Langone Medical Center. His appointment is effective February 1, 2016. Dr. Kimmelman joins the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone following a distinguished...
Functional Subtyping With 80-Gene Assay Identifies Distinct Triple-Positive Subtypes in Breast Cancer Patients
Molecular categorization of tumors with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has become a critical component in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, improving outcomes by assigning the most appropriate therapy to specific tumor pathways. According to a...
Antibody-Drug Conjugate Makes Strong Showing in Small Cell Lung Cancer
The antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine has shown strong clinical activity as second- and third-line treatment for small cell lung cancer in a phase I/Ib multicenter study,1 especially in the subset with high expression of the delta-like protein 3 (DLL3), which the drug targets. This...
Expert Point of View: Martin Reck, MD, PhD
Martin Reck, MD, PhD, Head of the Department of Thoracic Oncology at the Lung Clinic Grosshansdorf in Germany, discussed the study at the Presidential Session, calling it “very important work.” This study shows that, with more sensitive assays, T790M mutations are much more frequent than previously ...
Combined EGFR and VEGF Inhibition Ameliorates the Impact of the EGFR T790M Mutation in NSCLC
Treatment with erlotinib and bevacizumab (Avastin) may help overcome the poor prognosis associated with T790M mutations present at diagnosis in advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the results of the phase II BELIEF trial.1 At the 2015 European Cancer Congress, Rolf A. Stahel,...
Expert Point of View: Fabrice André, MD, PhD, and Peter Naredi, MD, PhD
In discussing the findings of this study on genetic sequencing of breast cancer tissue, Fabrice André, MD, PhD, of the Gustave Roussy Institute, in Villejuif, France, questioned whether all the genes that were found to be enriched in the relapsed samples were driving the relapse and whether any...
Primary vs Metastatic Breast Cancer: The Genetic Landscape Varies
Breast tumors that recur appear to have a different genetic profile than those that do not, and they often demonstrate targetable mutations, according to the largest study of genetic sequencing of breast cancer tissue to date.1 This finding was presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress. “We...
FDA Approves Ipilimumab in Adjuvant Treatment of Stage III Melanoma
On October 28, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the monoclonal antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) for the adjuvant treatment of patients with cutaneous melanoma with pathologic involvement of regional lymph nodes of more than 1 mm who have undergone complete resection, including ...
PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors Show Promise in Additional Tumor Types
While inhibitors of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or its ligand (PD-L1) are becoming established in melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma, their efficacy is also being evaluated in numerous other tumor types, with promising results, according to studies presented...
Survival Benefit in Metastatic Melanoma Grows Larger in COMBI-v Update
Combined BRAF and MEK inhibition was superior to BRAF inhibition alone in unresectable metastatic melanoma, according to the updated survival analysis of the large randomized COMBI-v trial.1 These findings were reported at the 2015 European Cancer Congress recently held in Vienna, Austria....
Expert Point of View: Bertrand Tombal, MD, PhD
We have made major progress by moving docetaxel forward, and now the largest pool of patients who become hormone resistant have received local therapy and then progressed. We have a lot of drugs for castration-resistant prostate cancer, and we are studying them earlier in the course of disease, but ...
Update on Clinical Trials in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Despite the proliferation of new drugs to treat prostate cancer, further progress is proving somewhat elusive, according to three trials presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress. One study had positive results with orteronel maintenance therapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant ...
Meta-analysis Evaluates Benefit of Docetaxel and Bisphosphonates in Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer
The results of a meta-analysis conducted in the United Kingdom may guide clinicians in the use of docetaxel and bisphosphonates in patients with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.1 Claire L. Vale, PhD, Senior Research Scientist at the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at University...
FDA Approves Liposomal Irinotecan for Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde), in combination with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin, to treat patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who have been previously treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. The effectiveness of...
Cooperative Group Study Finds Radiation May Benefit Patients With Atypical Meningiomas
Management of the vast majority of meningiomas is straightforward, but treatment of atypical meningiomas has been controversial. Should radiation be part of therapy or not has been the question. The first analysis of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0539 suggested that patients will have...
Dexamethasone to Preempt Radiation-Induced Pain
Bone is a common site of metastasis for prostate, breast, and lung cancers, and palliative radiotherapy is often used to treat these metastases. Although it is an effective therapy, severe pain flare following radiation occurs in about one-third of patients. It usually resolves within 10 days, but...
Debate Over Physician-Assisted Suicide Continues, State by State
In 1997, after surviving a storm of high-court legal challenges, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act went into effect, making Oregon the first American state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Supreme Court ruled that there was no right to assisted suicide in the Constitution but implied that...
Is Health Care in the United States a Basic Human Right or an Entitlement?
Mercy Killers is a one-man show that details the consequences of a medical health-care catastrophe (breast cancer) in a family.1 This disturbing fictional account is actually a daily event in cancer centers: losing insurance for technicalities, losing a home because of an inability to pay the...
Expert Point of View: Brian D. Kavanagh, MD, MPH, FASTRO
At a press conference held during the ASTRO Annual Meeting, ASTRO President-Elect Brian D. Kavanagh, MD, MPH, FASTRO, interim Chair of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver, said, “This study provides an important lesson for the field. We are lucky to...
Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy Gains Ground for Treatment of Stage III Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy appears to be preferable to three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiation therapy as part of treatment for patients with locally advanced (stage III) non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Compared with 3D conformal radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy...
William Dameshek, MD, Helped Take Hematology From a Minor Medical Discipline to a Major Scientific Field
Although William Dameshek, MD, is renowned for his work in hematology, especially in advancing the understanding of myeloproliferative disorders and their interrelatedness, his early interest in medicine was instead focused on such diverse diseases as hyperthyroidism and typhus fever. Born on May...
Increased Lifetime Risk of Developing Cancer in Patients With HIV
The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy has enabled patients with HIV to live long enough to have high lifetime risks for several types of cancer. The finding has important clinical implications for cancer screening, as well as primary prevention, according to the results of a study funded by...
Falls Experienced by Older Patients Are Often Not Recorded or Responded to by Oncology Providers
A study comparing self-reported falls by older patients with cancer with the history and physical and/or clinic notes completed by their oncology providers “found that oncology providers rarely recorded or responded to falls in their older patients.” There was minimal evidence of documentation of...
Aggressive End-of-Life Care More Frequent Among Black Men With End-Stage Prostate Cancer
A study to examine end-of-life care among black and white patients dying of prostate cancer found that “significant racial disparities in end-of-life care” do exist. “Although diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are less frequent in black patients with end-stage prostate cancer, the rate of...
Irinotecan Liposome Injection Plus Fluorouracil/Leucovorin to Treat Patients With Metastatic Pancreatic 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. On October 22, 2015, irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde)...
Updated ACS Breast Cancer Screening Guideline Recognizes Greater Role for Individual’s Values and Preferences
The reactions to the updated breast cancer screening guideline from the American Cancer Society (ACS) have been many, varied, and not consistently favorable but not surprising to Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, who chaired the ACS panel that issued the guideline. Breast cancer screening “is an area that...
ASH Recognizes Curt Civin, MD, and Craig Kitchens, MD, MACP, for Outstanding Mentorship
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will honor Curt Civin, MD, and Craig Kitchens, MD, MACP, with 2015 Mentor Awards at the 57th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, for their sustained, outstanding commitment to the training and career development of early-career...
Stepping Back in Medical History: A Groundbreaking Surgeon’s Battle With the Establishment
Bookmark Title: Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern MedicineAuthor: Cristin O’Keefe AptowiczPublisher: Gotham BooksPublication date: September 8, 2015Price: $17.00, paperback; 384 pages In the late 1740s, John Wesley—a British evangelist and...
CAR T-Cell Immunotherapy Saved My Life
I have always prided myself on being healthy and fit, so when I started experiencing a chronic cough, difficulty breathing, and pain in my ribs and back, I thought they were the inevitable symptoms of a severe cold. At 42 and the mother of three children, it was inconceivable to me that I could...
FDA Approves Cobimetinib in Combination With Vemurafenib for Metastatic Melanoma
On November 10, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib (Cotellic) in combination with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) to treat metastatic or unresectable melanoma in patients whose tumors express the BRAF V600E or V600K mutation. Approval...
A Selfless Act
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Cancer Cured My Life
The following essay by Richard M. Levine, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which is coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and the bigcasino.org. I’m a...
Engaging Clinicians in the Collection of Cancer Registry Data to Improve Clinical Research
In June, the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons published a revision of its Facility Oncology Registry Data Standards (FORDS) manual, which contains all the data items, codes, and rules to abstract data into cancer registries at the more than 1,500 Commission on...
The Importance of Supporting the Role of Women Leaders in Oncology
I am honored to be the 52nd President of ASCO and thrilled to have followed in the steps of six remarkable women to hold this important leadership position in a professional Society that represents nearly 40,000 oncologists around the world caring for people with cancer. My six female predecessors...
ASCO Launches TAPUR to Assess the Off-Label Use of Targeted Therapies for Patients With Advanced Cancers
Two years ago, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer of ASCO, proposed a unique clinical trial concept during an educational session on the challenges of delivering precision medicine services in a community setting at ASCO’s Annual Meeting. The idea was to design a clinical...
