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Showing 251 - 300ASCO Endorses Active Surveillance Guideline for Low-Risk Prostate Cancer
ASCO ENDORSES and reinforces the evidence-based American Urological Association (AUA), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Guideline published in 2018 in the Journal of Urology. ASCO’s endorsement of a guideline on clinically localized...
Effect of Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion on Colorectal Cancer Screening and Survival in Kentucky
Kentucky has been one of the most successful states in reducing its uninsured rate, which happened in part through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion that took effect on January 1, 2014. In the past, Kentucky has reported low rates of colorectal cancer screening, and has ranked ...
Expert Point of View: Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH
Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Precision Medicine at the Center for Breast Cancer, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, found the PALLET study noteworthy in light of heightened interest in cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6)...
Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer Expands, but Concerns Persist About Patient Selection and Toxicities
SOME PATIENTS with advanced head and neck cancer may achieve durable responses with immunotherapy, and recent trial results suggest first-line immunotherapy may increase survival among patients with recurrent or metastatic disease. However, concerns remain about selecting patients most likely to...
Former JAMA Editor Offers Perspective on Challenges Past and Present in American Health Care
BOOKMARK Title: Severed Trust: Why American Medicine Hasn’t Been FixedAuthor: George D. Lundberg, MD, With James StaceyPublisher: Basic BooksPublication date: March 2001Price: $28.00, hardcover, 336 pages Pathologist George D. Lundberg, MD, served as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of the American...
Living My Best Life
Five years ago, I was living my dream life. I was under contract as a commentator on Fox News, which necessitated commuting weekly from my home in Los Angeles to New York, and was building a new home in Palm Springs with my partner, Matt Lashey. Not only was my career and personal life going well,...
Expert Point of View: Ravi Vij, MD and Saad Usmani, MD
Ravi Vij, MD, Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and Saad Usmani, MD, Director of Plasma Cell Disorders at Levine Cancer Institute, Charlotte, North Carolina, spoke to The ASCO Post about the studies presented on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell...
Expert Point of View: Virginia G. Kaklamani, MD; Monica Morrow, MD; and John Cole, MD
AT THE SAN ANTONIO Breast Cancer Symposium, several breast cancer experts interviewed by The ASCO Post noted that the approved dose of tamoxifen was arbitrarily set, and the optimal dose is actually unknown. Studies of lower-dose tamoxifen, therefore, are welcomed. Virginia G. Kaklamani, MD,...
Pembrolizumab Plus Chemoradiotherapy in HPV-Positive Head and Neck Cancer
The addition of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to a chemoradiotherapy regimen yielded complete response rates of 85% in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. These findings from a phase Ib study were presented at the 2018 Society for...
Overscreening for Prostate Cancer in Older Men Remains an Issue
Although most major cancer organizations agree on the guidelines for prostate cancer screening, there is still uneven application of the test, such as in the older patient population, resulting in overdiagnosis and waste in an already fiscally challenged health-care system. Researchers from the...
Has Scalp Cooling Reached the Level of Standard of Care?
Does evidence of the effectiveness and safety of scalp cooling to reduce hair loss among women being treated for breast cancer mean that scalp cooling is a new standard of care? “I would suggest that it is,” stated Mikel Ross, MSN, RN, AGNP-BC, of the Breast Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan...
Expert Point of View: Eric P. Winer, MD, and Jame Abraham, MD
Commenting on the findings of the KATHERINE trial were Eric P. Winer, MD, Director of the Breast Oncology Program in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Thompson Senior Investigator in Breast Cancer Research andProfessor of Medicine at Harvard...
Should Oncologists Recommend Cannabis?
A RECENT survey of 400 clinical oncologists found that 80% discuss the use of medical cannabis with their patients, and although nearly 50% recommend it, fewer than 30% consider themselves knowledgeable enough to make such recommendations.1 Oncologists are perhaps among the most evidence-demanding ...
A Battle With Leukemia: Part Memoir, Part Oncology History
BOOKMARK Title: Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors, and the Quest for a Cure to Childhood LeukemiaAuthor: Tim WendelPublisher: ILR PressPublication date: April 2018Price: $24.95, hardcover, 256 pages Tim Wendel is a journalist and author of several noted books, mostly concerning sports. In...
Neurologic Knowledge to Enhance Well-Being and Happiness
BOOKMARK Title: Your Happy Brain: Why and How to Hug ItAuthors: Philomena Lawrence, BA, BEd, and Gilbert Lawrence, MD, FRCRPublisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing PlatformPublication date: June 2018Price: $16.00, paperback, 390 pages Some 2,400 years ago, the ancient Greeks were among the...
Denial’s Many Faces
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Palliative Care in the Pediatric Oncology Setting
Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related childhood death. To better serve the special needs of this highly vulnerable patient population, pediatric palliative care teams use a personalized, holistic, and interdisciplinary approach tailored to relieve the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual ...
Focus on the Rocky Mountain Oncology Society
Formed in 1991, the Rocky Mountain Oncology Society (RMOS), a Chapter Member of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) and State Affiliate of ASCO, serves as the voice for Colorado’s multidisciplinary cancer care teams and the patients they serve. Representing the common interests of...
Electronic ‘Datarrhea’ and Wellness
THE INTRODUCTION of the electronic health record (EHR) was supposed to lead us to a utopian world for health-care delivery in America. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23, 2010, promoted its implementation by providing financial incentives.1 The Centers for...
Thank You From Conquer Cancer
When you give to ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation, your donation provides grants to researchers around the world. Research fuels the breakthroughs in cancer prevention and treatment needed for every cancer, every patient, everywhere. “Year after year, we meet patients who credit their successful...
Inflammation, DNA Damage, and Cancer
The link between inflammation and cancer is a field of growing interest in the oncology community. Biologists have theorized that simultaneous DNA damage and cell division during inflammation could lead to cancer. To shed light on this important issue, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Jennifer...
ME STRONG Joins With ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation to Support Research for Men’s Cancers and Neuroblastoma
ME STRONG, a nonprofit public charity in Deland, Florida, is one of the newest supporters of Conquer Cancer. Linda Ryan, ME STRONG co-founder and 16-year cancer survivor, understands the importance of research: it saved her life decades ago, and she’s relying on experimental treatment as she...
Without Genomic Sequencing, I Would Not Be Alive Today
The extreme fatigue I experienced during the winter of my fourth year in medical school, in 2003, was easily attributable to the rigors of my medical training and the lack of sleep that comes from trying to keep up with an intensely busy schedule. I was looking forward to resting and recuperating...
Never a Doubt About a Career in Medicine for Anne S. Tsao, MD
There was no epiphany or family influences, as long as she can remember; Anne S. Tsao, MD, always wanted to be a doctor or, because of her love for caring for sick animals, a veterinarian. Dr. Tsao was born in Fountain Creek, Pennsylvania, but her parents moved to a suburb just outside of Chicago...
The Persephone Trial Reconsidered
The Persephone presentation by Helena Margaret Earl, MBBS, PhD, got a lot of publicity after a pre–ASCO Annual Meeting press release, suggesting that 6 months of adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin) is enough. The advice of experts has been that the evidence is inconclusive, but I have not heard a...
Quality Improvement: Worth the Effort but Not Always Easy to Execute
According to Kaveh Shojania, MD, the keynote speaker at the 2018 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, dedicated quality improvement work can help repair a fragmented health-care delivery system, but it’s challenging, and there are multiple things that can go wrong during the process.1 “I’ve developed this ...
New Techniques in Intraoperative-Guided Imagery May Enhance Outcomes in Patients With Cancer
Primary treatment of most solid tumors includes surgical excision or radiation therapy, both of which require precise anatomic localization of the tumor as well as surrounding tissue and organs. If the targeting is too broad, unnecessary morbidity may occur to nearby structures, along with the...
A Journey Through the Immune System
Although the basic concept of using the body’s immune defense mechanisms to fight cancer has been around for centuries, the idea of using immunotherapy in cancer, in general, returned to prominence when Dr. Thomas Burnet first proposed the theory of cancer immunosurveillance in 1957. Despite...
Understanding the Different Perspectives on Cost and Value in Cancer Care
The estimated cost of cancer care in the United States was $125 billion in 2010 and is expected to rise to $175 billion by 2020.1 In an effort to reign in spiraling costs and deliver better care, the term “value” has become part of the new oncology lexicon, as providers, patients, and payers seek...
2018 Quality Care: Nationwide Survey Reveals Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer Face Major Financial Stress Due to Treatment Costs
A new nationwide analysis of more than 1,000 people living with metastatic breast cancer from 41 states reveals significant cancer-related financial burden known as financial toxicity, particularly for uninsured patients. The study will be presented by Wheeler et al at the upcoming 2018 ASCO...
Lung Cancer Expert Leora Horn, MD, Recalls Her Journey to a Career in Oncology and a Home in Nashville
The tumultuous history of modern South Africa has numerous stories that lie beneath the surface of the sociopolitical headlines, such as the story of lung cancer expert Leora Horn, MD. “I was born and reared in Johannesburg, South Africa, a second-generation African family. In 1987, because of the...
Adding Nimotuzumab to Chemoradiation Improved Survival in Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer
IN PATIENTS with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, nimotuzumab—a humanized monoclonal antibody against the epidermal growth factor receptor—in combination with cisplatin and radiotherapy was superior to cisplatin and radiotherapy alone in improving progression-free...
A Story of a Mother and Daughter and Cancer
BOOKMARK Title: The Cookie Cure: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of Cookies and CancerAuthors: Susan Stachler With Laura StachlerPublisher: SourcebooksPublication date: February 2018Price: $19.95, paperback, 320 pages Cancer memoirs vary in their voice and message. Some are slapstick humorous attempts to ...
A Firsthand Account of Cancer and Mental Illness
Brain tumors are among the most challenging clinical scenarios faced by the oncology community. Along with devastating physiologic damage, brain tumors often have a dramatic effect on the patient’s cognitive, neurologic, and psychological functions. However, the body of literature focusing on...
Psycho-oncology: After Decades of Acceptance, Still an Emerging Field
As the field of psycho-oncology continues to mature, new studies are being conducted to evaluate ways to better address the needs of patients with cancer and their families. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Michael Hoerger, PhD, MSCR, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Oncology at ...
Stakeholders Agree: ‘Value’ in Cancer Care Depends on Perspective
In a roundtable discussion moderated by Clifford Goodman, PhD, of The Lewin Group, Falls Church, Virginia, representatives of the patient advocacy community, public and private payers, large and small clinics, and the pharmaceutical industry did not always see eye to eye on what “value” means nor ...
Ensuring Quality With Patient-Reported Outcomes and Electronic Health Records
Accurately assessing the quality of cancer care over the continuum of treatment requires a special set of metrics and data-gathering methods. Moreover, with a growing number of cancer survivors, the post-treatment care involves primary care providers who are adept at managing the comorbidities...
Is Some DNA Worthless?
BOOKMARK Title: Junk DNA: A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the GenomeAuthor: Nessa CareyPublisher: Columbia University PressOriginal publication date: April 2015Price: $22.95, paperback, 360 pages When biologists first delved into the human wonder of genes in the 1970s, they eventually...
Medical Preparedness for Nuclear Disaster
ROBERT PETER GALE, MD, PhD, DSc (hc), was on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine for 20 years and has served as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. In 1986, he was asked by the...
Academic Oncology and Industry Offer the Best of Both Worlds for Mace L. Rothenberg, MD
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, interviewed Mace L. Rothenberg, MD,...
A Humble Beginning Built on Commitment: The Life and Times of Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, FACP
In this edition of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, interviewed medical oncologist Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, Executive Director at the West Cancer Center, Memphis. Dr. Schwartzberg’s major research interests are new therapeutic approaches to breast cancer,...
A Conversation With the Author: Mark Scholz, MD
To dig a bit deeper into some of the issues touched upon in the new book, The Key to Prostate Cancer: 30 Experts Explain 15 Stages of Prostate Cancer, The ASCO Post recently spoke with the author, Mark Scholz, MD. Dr. Scholz is a medical oncologist who exclusively treats men with prostate cancer....
Resources to Help You Understand What Right-to-Try Legislation Means for Practices, Patients
WITH CONGRESS having recently passed federal “right-to-try” (RTT) legislation, ASCO has developed a suite of educational resources that will help members understand the impact of this law on cancer care and individuals with cancer. Educational resources include: Podcast THE LATEST ASCO in Action...
TAILORx: Endocrine Therapy Alone Is Sufficient for Most Patients With ‘Intermediate-Risk’ Breast Cancer
THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED results of the phase III TAILORx study are in—and they indicate that the vast majority of patients with “intermediate-risk” early-stage breast cancer can forgo chemotherapy. “Our study shows that chemotherapy may be avoided in about 70% of women with hormone...
Education Came First for Breast Cancer Expert Beverly Moy, MD, MPH, Daughter of Chinese Immigrants
Beverly Moy, MD, MPH, grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a modest working-class home. Both her parents were immigrants from China. “Education is highly prized in Chinese culture, and my home life was no exception. I didn’t speak any English when I began kindergarten, so that was a bit challenging,...
Husband and Wife Leave a Giant Legacy in Oncology
The remarkable careers of Jimmie C. Holland, MD, and James F. Holland, MD, spanned collectively for more than a century, leaving an indelible footprint in oncology clinical care and research. Synonymous with cancer care itself, the Hollands were a living documentary of the rich and dramatic history ...
For James Allison, PhD, Perseverance and Hard Science Are Paramount in Cancer Research
For this installment in the Living a Full Life series of articles, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, interviewed immunology pioneer James Allison, PhD, Chair of the Department of Immunology, the Vivian L. Smith Distinguished Chair in Immunology, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Research,...
Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FASCO, a Cattle Rancher’s Daughter, Becomes ASCO President
ASCO President-Elect Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FASCO, was born and reared in Wyoming, where her family ran a cattle ranch in the foothills of the snow-topped peaks of the Wind River Range (or “Winds” for short), a place of breathtakingly uncluttered vistas where the chief feature is the air...
Curbing Financial Toxicity: What Might Work, and What Won’t Work
To stem the rising tide of financial toxicity in cancer care, creative physician reimbursement strategies, by themselves, will not work, according to a thought leader in the field who advocated for elimination of the federal mandate against price negotiation, curbing the power of monopolies, and...
For Adjuvant Trastuzumab, 6 Months Is Noninferior to 12 Months
The noninferiority phase III Persephone trial could shake up the standard of care for adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin), showing that patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer derived as much benefit from 6 months of trastuzumab as 12 months, according to research from the United Kingdom ...
