The ASCO Post interviewed Irvin M. Modlin, MD, Emeritus Professor of Gastroenterological Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, regarding his thoughts on the NETTER-1 results and peptide receptor radionuclide therapies for neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Modlin led the first study of a peptide...
Although nevi are considered among the strongest risk factors for melanoma, most patients with melanoma had few total and no atypical nevi, according to a study of 566 patients with invasive cutaneous melanoma. “Three notable findings emerged from this case study,” Alan C. Geller, MPH, ...
A radiolabeled somatostatin analog compound, 177Lu-DOTA0-Tyr3-Octreotate (Lu-177 dotatate), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 79% in the international phase III NETTER-1 population of previously treated, advanced neuroendocrine tumors of midgut origin.1 Lu-177 dotatate belongs to...
It was December 9, 1975—a cold morning in the tribal village in Mahuadanr in Bihar, India. The valley was filled with an eerie mist coming down from the hills surrounding the village. Champa, a 5-year-old malnourished girl with sunken eyes, an emaciated face, and a huge ascites, was carried by her...
Anamorelin (a ghrelin-receptor agonist) increased lean body mass but had no beneficial effect on handgrip strength vs placebo in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and cachexia, according to two international phase III trials (ROMANA 1 and 2) reported in The Lancet...
In the phase III SIRFLOX trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Hazel et al found that adding selective internal radiation therapy with yttrium-90 resin microspheres to FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin) with or without bevacizumab (Avastin) did not improve any-site...
Although President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971, essentially declaring a war on cancer, the genesis of the idea had actually been born 2 years earlier, after the first landing on the moon set off a new era of scientific exploration and sparked a belief that any scientific...
In the phase II Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) 022 study, reported by Freedman et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the erbB1, HER2, erbB4 inhibitor neratinib showed some activity in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer brain metastases. Study Details In the...
Two neuroendocrine tumor experts had slightly different reactions to the latest RADIANT-4 data. Irvin M. Modlin, MD, Emeritus Professor of Gastroenterological Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, said in an interview that he essentially restricts his use of...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by O’Sullivan et al, a new staging system for human papillomavirus–related oropharyngeal cancer has been developed based on findings from the International Collaboration on Oropharyngeal Cancer Network for Staging (ICON-S) study. Study Details The...
In a subgroup analysis of the phase III RADIANT-4 trial, focusing on neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal origin, the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) essentially doubled the median progression-free survival time, compared with placebo, researchers reported at the 2016 Gastrointestinal...
In a retrospective case-controlled study conducted in patients with colorectal cancer who had received primary tumor resection with or without preoperative radiofrequency ablation for liver metastases, the electrical procedure was found to induce antitumor immune responses in the...
A study that revealed new findings about prostate cells may point to future strategies for treating aggressive and therapy-resistant forms of prostate cancer. The study proved that the prostate basal cell layer contains adult stem cells, which possess a unique gene-expression profile resembling the ...
Among uveal melanomas categorized as class 1, those with high levels of PRAME mRNA were more likely to metastasize than those with low levels of PRAME mRNA, suggesting that patients who have class 1 uveal melanoma with high levels of PRAME mRNA should be monitored more closely for metastatic...
Metabolic phenotyping of blood plasma by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) identified unique metabolic biomarkers specific to lung cancer patients and allowed for the accurate identification of a cohort of patients with early and late-stage lung cancer. These findings were published by...
As reported by Patel et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, analysis of lung cancer incidence and mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative Study cohort of postmenopausal women showed a marginally significant lower risk of cancer in Hispanic women vs white women and no difference in...
Weekly dose-dense paclitaxel did not provide a progression-free survival benefit over every-3-week paclitaxel in combination with carboplatin and with or without elective bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with previously untreated ovarian cancer, according to the results of the phase III GOG-0262...
The 69th Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium, being held March 2–5 in Boston, will include featured lecturers with ties to the recently announced White House “moonshot” initiative to cure cancer—a proposed $1 billion in spending on cancer research over ...
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that light reflectance spectroscopy can differentiate between malignant and benign prostate tissue with 85% accuracy, a finding that may lead to real-time tissue analysis during prostate cancer surgery. These findings were reported...
In women undergoing breast reconstruction using autologous tissue, newer muscle-sparing abdominal flaps can reduce complications while improving some aspects of quality of life, according to a study by Macadem et al in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Comparison of four types of abdominal flaps ...
In the Asian phase III REGATTA trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fujitani et al found that the addition of gastrectomy to chemotherapy did not improve overall survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer with a single noncurable factor. Study Details In this open-label trial conducted...
The number of men smoking tobacco in India rose by more than one third to 108 million between 1998 and 2015, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Global Health. The study also found that cigarettes were replacing the traditional bidi, a small, inexpensive Indian cigarette,...
A new report published by Ostrom et al in the journal Neuro-Oncology sponsored by the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) found that malignant brain tumors are the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 39, and the most common cancer occurring...
In an analysis of the ACCENT (Adjuvant Colon Cancer Endpoints) database reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cheung et al found that factors associated with early mortality in patients in trials of adjuvant systemic therapy included age, performance status, tumor grade, stage, and ratio of ...
Adjuvant chemotherapy and chemotherapy plus prophylactic cranial irradiation were associated with significantly improved survival vs surgery alone in patients with early-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) undergoing complete resection, according to an analysis of National Cancer Data Base data...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology by Yock et al, use of proton radiotherapy for pediatric medulloblastoma was associated with acceptable long-term toxic effects and good survival outcomes. Study Details In the study, 59 patients aged 3 to 21 years were treated at...
Steven Shak, MD, of Genomic Health, discusses mortality among patients with early-stage hormone receptor–positive invasive breast cancer in the SEER database who were treated based on the 21-gene Recurrence Score results (Abstract 176).
Ethan Basch, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, summarizes a session he chaired on the burgeoning use of patient-reported outcomes and wearable sensors in clinical practice and research.
Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, summarizes a session that she co-chaired on this key topic.
Randall F. Holcombe, MD, of the Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine, discusses the challenges of delivering quality care in an academic setting at a large hospital.
Lee N. Newcomer, MD, of the UnitedHealth Group, gives his perspective on how to assess quality in the age of precision medicine.
Robert Miller, MD, ASCO’S Vice President of Quality and Guidelines, discusses CancerLinQ, the “big data” technology platform, and implementation of a rapid learning system for oncology based on Institute of Medicine principles.
Allison Kurian, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses pressing questions about the clinical utility and value of extended genomic testing and other forms of precision medicine.
Joseph O. Jacobson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a session he co-chaired on the thorny questions of how best to improve cancer care.
Sandra L. Wong, MD, of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, summarizes three abstracts for which she was the discussant. The topics were rates of surgical site infections, an online resource for hospital cancer surgery volumes, and barriers to oncology appointments at comprehensive cancer...
Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses his paper, which explores lessons learned from analyses of the National Cancer Data Base. (Abstract 173)
Patricia A. Ganz, MD, of the University of California at Los Angeles, the 2016 winner of the Joseph V. Simone Award, summarizes her “Lecture for Excellence in Quality and Safety in the Care of Patients With Cancer.”
Sarina Isenberg, PhD Candidate, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, discusses the cost savings of a comprehensive hospital-based palliative care program. (Abstract 2)
Joseph V. Simone, MD, of the Simone Consulting Company, reflects on the prospects for the future of safety and quality.
Craig Earle, MD, of Canada’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, summarizes abstracts discussed in a ticketed session that he co-chaired on this key topic. (Abstracts 173, 174, 175)
Kerin B. Adelson, MD, of the Yale Cancer Center, discusses an electronic decision support tool to capture staging data. This information allows automated reports for clinical trial screening, outcomes analysis, quality comparisons, and reporting. (Abstract 151)
Kerin B. Adelson, MD, of the Yale Cancer Center, discusses the major healthcare cost drivers at the end of life—aggressive treatments, emergency room visits, and futile care—and strategies for improving value. (Abstract 3)
Dawn L. Hershman, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center, summarizes a joint ASCO/NCI session on this important topic, including the challenges and solutions.
A quality improvement initiative to reduce patients’ reliance on emergency room (ER) visits to treat cancer treatment side effects has shown to be highly effective, according to early findings from a new study. The strategy, involving a telephone triage service coupled with patient education, ...
To facilitate doctor/patient conversations about costs of cancer care, researchers developed and piloted an online tool for oncologists. The innovative resource lists prices for the 50 most commonly prescribed cancer treatment regimens. A survey of the pilot users at four clinics in Washington...
A new study suggests that up to 60% of the computed tomography (CT) scans, bone scans, and positron-emission tomography (PET) scans performed for more than 29,000 Michigan women diagnosed with early breast cancer between 2008 and 2014 could not be medically justified based on retrospective record...
Use of minimally invasive hysterectomy did not seem to have an adverse impact on long-term survival in women with endometrial cancer, according to an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Wright et al. Study Details The study involved Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result...
In the phase III LUX-Breast 1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Harbeck et al found no benefit of afatinib (Gilotrif)/vinorelbine vs trastuzumab (Herceptin)/vinorelbine after previous trastuzumab treatment in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Broader inhibition of ErbB...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved everolimus (Afinitor) for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal or lung origin with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic disease. ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved obinutuzumab (Gazyva) 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 refractory to, a rituximab...