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Showing 2451 - 2500Patient-Reported Outcomes, a Central Component to Value and Rapid-Learning Systems
With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, value became the operative word in assessing the success of health care, from outcomes to cost. To drive more value, the Affordable Care Act seeks to implement initiatives such as comparative effectiveness research that...
Expert Point of View: Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO
Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, the Stuart B. Padnos Professor of Breast Cancer Research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, wrote an accompanying editorial on the value of these newly developed omics-related criteria.1 Dr. Hayes pointed out that since the cloning of the human genome, there has...
NCI-Led Scientists Develop Criteria for 'Omics' Tests Used in Clinical Investigations
High-throughput “omics” technologies that generate molecular profiles on tumor specimens are increasingly being incorporated into clinical trials, but some of these assays have not been well validated, leading many in the research community to question their fitness for use in patient-care...
Breast Cancer Vaccines for Primary Prevention Move Toward Clinical Use
The first candidate vaccine to prevent recurrence of breast cancer entered clinical trials about 8 years ago, and since then, the idea of a vaccine for secondary prevention has gained traction; more such vaccines are now in development. But this fall, it was vaccines for primary prevention that had ...
Radiotherapy Benefit in Young Women With Node-Positive Breast Cancer May Vary by Intrinsic Subtypes
Radiation therapy appears to significantly decrease local recurrence in premenopausal women with node-positive and luminal A tumors, based on an analysis of two small but independent randomized series reported at the 2013 European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam.1 “Though not definitive, our study...
Transplant Now or Later for High-Risk Aggressive Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma?
The use of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic blood or marrow transplantation for high-risk aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma has been extensively evaluated over the past few decades. This treatment was originally used only for patients with relapsed aggressive lymphoma. However, as...
S9704 Trial: Autologous Transplantation as Consolidation in Aggressive Lymphoma
Autologous bone marrow or stem cell transplantation has had an important role in the treatment of aggressive lymphoma for several decades. The important results of the PARMA study1 demonstrated that patients in first relapse who remained chemosensitive had improved progression-free and overall...
Praise for The ASCO Post
There is so much “stuff” to read and remember—just to get through a day or a week—that it can be difficult to find time to surf the Web and search information sites, even if you select only a few to review routinely. For those of us who focus on one oncology specialty, The ASCO Post is an...
African Americans Report Receiving Few Positive Recommendations by Physicians About Joining Clinical Trial
A study among African American patients with cancer who had declined to participate in a therapeutic clinical trial found that few patients reported receiving a positive recommendation from their physician to participate in the trial. “Patients gave multiple refusal reasons,” researchers led by...
Increased Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure May Protect Against HL, Particularly in Those With EBV-Positive Disease
Increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation may offer protection against Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), particularly against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive HL, according to a pooled analysis of studies involving 1,320 HL patients and 6.381 controls. “Our pooled analysis of 7,701 participants from 4...
January Is National Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials Awareness Month
January marks the annual observance of National Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials Awareness Month. The 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is just 6%. In the effort to highlight the urgent need to improve the survival rate for this disease, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is educating...
Using Hyperthermia for Cancer Treatment: Proofs, Promises, and Uncertainties
With the headline, “Rare Cancer Treatments, Cleared by F.D.A. but Not Subject to Scrutiny,” a recent article in The New York Times reported that several medical centers were treating patients with cancer using a hyperthermia system that had received a Humanitarian Use Device approval from the U.S....
With the Goal of Curing Cancer, Ezra M. Greenspan, MD, Helped Usher in the Modern Era of Chemotherapy
Two events in Ezra M. Greenspan’s early adult life convinced him to pursue a career in medicine: the death of a college friend from pneumonia when the two were students at Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and his own bout with the disease soon after. Saved by a local physician who...
Science Magazine Names Cancer Immunotherapy as Scientific Breakthrough of the Year
While acknowledging that the full potential of cancer immunotherapy remains unclear, the editors of the journal Science said that the approach of using the immune system to attack tumors marks a turning point in the treatment of cancer.1 The successes of cancer immunotherapy in clinical trials in...
Developing Intermediate Endpoints in Immunotherapy
“The immune system holds tremendous potential for long-term sustained antitumor activity,” said James P. Allison, PhD, Immunology Chair, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, as he opened a panel discussion at a meeting cosponsored by the Friends of Cancer Research and the...
Activation of Innovative Lung Cancer Master Protocol Officially Announced, Enrollment to Begin in March
At a recent meeting in Washington, DC, Friends of Cancer Research and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution officially announced activation of the Lung Cancer Master Protocol, a new research strategy that has the potential to hurdle or bypass known clinical trial...
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, Elected ASCO President for 2015–2016 Term
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, has been elected President of ASCO for a 1-year term beginning in June 2015. She will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2014. “ASCO is a very diverse and multifaceted organization with so much to offer its membership. The ...
Inhibition of LAT Transporters and Leucine Uptake: A Step Forward for Therapeutic Strategies in Prostate Cancer
The seminal study by Wang and colleagues reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post suggests a potential new therapeutic option in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. The authors draw attention to the reliance of cancer cells on...
Molecularly Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column offering insight into the FDA and its policies and procedures. This installment addresses a changing paradigm in the treatment of lung cancer, exemplified by concurrent approval of a companion diagnostic with each of several new targeted agents or new...
Expert Point of View: Debu Tripathy, MD
Debu Tripathy, MD, Professor of Medicine, Co-Leader of the Women’s Cancer Program, and the Priscilla and Art Ulene Chair in Women’s Cancer at the University of Southern California Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles, commented on the APT study for The ASCO Post. “In treating early-stage...
HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patients With Small Tumors Benefit From Low-Toxicity Regimen
There may be a benefit for treating small HER2-positive tumors—a breast cancer subset for whom treatment recommendations have not been established but for whom there is still risk of recurrence—and this can be done with little toxicity, according to a multicenter study presented at the 2013 San...
Seven Studies at SABCS Make Dr. Jame Abraham's List of 'Practice-Changing' Talks
From December 10 to 14, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, and Baylor College of Medicine once again hosted the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), presenting...
Addressing the Challenges of an Aging Population
We have an aging population, which is a good thing since people are living longer. [But] cancer is a disease that tends to occur most frequently in older people, so the combination of those two events will lead to many more older people with cancer, a larger cancer population in general, and a...
Evaluating and Screening Geriatric Patients for Treatment
One of the key questions in geriatric oncology is: How can we use all of the work geriatricians have done over the years in general geriatrics and apply that to the field of oncology? One-quarter to one-third of us are going to develop cancer throughout our lifetime, and half of the time it is...
Expert Point of View: Prashant Kapoor, MD
At the recent American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting, Prashant Kapoor, MD, Assistant Professor of Hematology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, agreed that CTL019 is a promising, exciting, and novel approach to treating patients with advanced B-cell hematologic malignancies. “Although...
Expert Point of View: Peter Ravdin, MD
These results are striking in postmenopausal women. The survival advantage in postmenopausal women leaves no room for interpretation. If survival is improved, you have done something good,” stated Peter Ravdin, MD, commenting on the EBCTCG meta-analysis presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer...
Leukemia Pioneer John M. Goldman, DM, Dies at 75
“He gave his honours to the world again,his blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.” —William Shakespeare, Henry VIII In 1971, John M. Goldman, DM, FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, began research in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a uniformly fatal disease at the time. Over the ensuing decades, Dr....
Bosutinib Shows 'Acceptable Safety' in Philadelphia Chromosome–Positive Leukemia
Bosutinib (Bosulif) demonstrated “acceptable safety with manageable toxicities” in a phase I/II study among patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or advanced Philadelphia chromosome–positive leukemia (accelerated-phase/blast-phase CML or acute lymphoblastic leukemia). Patients...
ASCO Member Helps to Strengthen Cancer Care Internationally Through Philanthropy and Volunteer Service
Ian F. Tannock, MD, PhD, DSc, FASCO, Professor of Medical Oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital and University of Toronto, has long been an advocate for ASCO as a truly global society and a leader in cancer care worldwide. It’s something he encouraged during his time on ASCO’s Board of Directors,...
Common Mutations May Impact Neoadjuvant Treatment Outcomes in Breast Cancer
Emerging research is suggesting that outcomes from neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be correlated with two genetic mutations that are common in breast cancer—PIK3CA and TP53. Their presence may affect response to treatment, and mutational shift after treatment may affect survival, according to studies...
Kava
Kava Scientific Name: Piper methysticum Common Names: Kava-kava, kawa, kavain, rauschpfeffer, intoxicating long pepper, tonga, yagona, and yaqona. Overview Kava, a perennial shrub indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Rim, is known for its relaxant effects and used for social and...
An Early Chemotherapy Innovator, Franco M. Muggia, MD, Now Focuses on Advancing Therapies for Ovarian Cancer
Looking over an illustrious career in medical oncology that spans 5 decades, Franco M. Muggia, MD, told The ASCO Post that he is excited about the future and hopes to continue making contributions to the field of oncology in years to come. At the forefront of the early clinical development of...
HER2 Testing: The Next Chapter
Late last year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and College of American Pathologists published a comprehensive update of guidelines for HER2 testing,1 the first such update since their initial landmark publication in 2007.2 This new report, summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post,...
Longer-Term Follow-up of Breast Implant–Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma: More Certainty About Certain Uncertainties
When what is now called breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma was first recognized and initially described, a number of uncertainties prevailed—mainly, was the association with breast implants real, and was this a true lymphoma? Through the significant efforts of those who...
Expert Point of View: Manish Shah, MD
Manish Shah, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology and Associate Professor of Medicine at New York–Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, discussed the findings of the RAINBOW trial at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Dr. Shah noted that in this “well sized” study,...
Ramucirumab Plus Paclitaxel Improves Overall Survival After First Progression in Metastatic Gastric Cancer
In the global phase III RAINBOW trial in patients with metastatic gastric cancer, the investigational monoclonal antibody ramucirumab significantly improved both progression-free and overall survival, when added to paclitaxel in second-line therapy, as reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers...
City of Hope’s New Chief Scientific Officer and Cancer Center Director Reflects on His Career Path and the Future of Cancer Care
City of Hope in Duarte, California, has named Steven T. Rosen, MD, as its first Provost and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Rosen will guide the scientific direction of the center’s medical research, treatment, and education. He will also assume directorship of the comprehensive cancer institute,...
Overdiagnosis of Breast Cancer: New Research Directions
Currently, one of the most challenging problems in oncology is to accurately predict whether neoplastic lesions detected by screening tests will progress. The focus on developing ever-more sensitive cancer screening tests has produced the clinical dilemma of overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis occurs when ...
Encouraging Early Results With Novel Agents in CLL
Two novel agents have shown promising activity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), including poor-risk patients: the Bcl-2 inhibitor ABT-199 and the small-molecule PI3K inhibitor IPI-145. Both drugs achieved excellent response rates in heavily pretreated relapsed/refractory patients including...
HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patients With Small Tumors Benefit From Low-Toxicity Regimen
There may be a benefit for treating small HER2-positive tumors—a breast cancer subset for whom treatment recommendations have not been established but for whom there is still risk of recurrence—and this can be done with little toxicity, according to a multicenter study presented at the 2013 San...
Dermatologists Defend Mohs Surgery as Effective and Cost-Efficient With Low Rate of Recurrence
The headline, “Patients’ Costs Skyrocket, Specialists’ Incomes Soar,” aptly encapsulates the theme of a recent article in The New York Times,1 part of a series entitled, “Paying Till It Hurts.” “Oncologists benefit from the ability to mark up (and profit from) each dose of chemotherapy they...
The Ketogenic Diet in Cancer Control
Ketogenic (or very-low-carbohydrate) diets have been employed since the 1920s as nonpharmacologic therapies for epilepsy and, in some instances, have obviated the need for medication for that disease. Since the 1960s, the ketogenic diet has become better known as a means of managing obesity. This...
Radiopharmaceutical Receives Orphan Drug Designation
The radiopharmaceutical gallium-68 dotatate has been given orphan drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for use as a diagnostic agent for the management of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Gallium-68 dotatate is owned by...
How Decoding the Genomes of Exceptional Responders Is Leading to More Effective Treatment for All Patients With Cancer
In 2012, David B. Solit, MD, Geoffrey Beene Chair and Director of the Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, and his colleagues published the results of a phase II study1 of 45 patients with advanced bladder cancer. The purpose of the clinical...
Impact of Delayed Initiation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Varies by Tumor Subtype
The optimal time interval between surgery and initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer is not well established. Although most physicians aim to initiate adjuvant chemotherapy within a few weeks of surgery, clinical factors may cause delay. The influence of delay on relapse...
History of Prostate Cancer Increases Risk of Melanoma in White Men
History of severe acne, which is a surrogate for high androgen activity, has been associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, and recent data suggest that severe teenage acne is a risk factor for melanoma. Such findings suggest a role of androgens in etiology for both prostate cancer and...
Idelalisib Achieves High Response Rates in ‘Double-Refractory’ Indolent NHL
In patients with indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) refractory to both rituximab (Rituxan) and an alkylating agent, monotherapy with the selective oral PI3K-delta inhibitor idelalisib produced a high response rate, with responses persisting for 1 year in the average patient, according to...
Role of Immunotherapy Explored in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) failed to meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival in the randomized, phase III CA184-043 trial. However, the immunotherapy did improve progression-free survival and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response compared with placebo in postdocetaxel metastatic...
The Evolution of U.S. Cooperative Group Trials: Publicly Funded Cancer Research at a Crossroads
Over the past 5 decades, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups have played an enormous role in the fight against cancer, tackling a broad social agenda, including cancer prevention, quality-of-life issues for patients with cancer, and comparison of benefits among...
Transition From Busy Oncologist to Retiree: Challenges and Opportunities
Oncology is a demanding field that requires special qualities to care for very sick patients, many of whom will die prematurely of their disease. Research indicates that years of facing life-and-death decisions in the clinic can be associated with oncology burnout syndrome, which effects physician...
