A study using data from the Michigan state cancer registry, reported in JCO Oncology Practice by Paniagua Cruz et al, found that a higher proportion of white vs black patients with esophageal cancer were married; that single patients were less likely to receive esophagectomy and chemotherapy; and...
In a single-institution retrospective study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Lynch et al found that routine laboratory surveillance testing had limited value in detecting relapse in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma in first remission. Study Details The study involved 235 patients at...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Shi et al found that use of higher-than-currently-recommended severity thresholds for symptom alerts for patients receiving outpatient chemotherapy would result in failure to identify and treat many patients requiring clinical intervention for ...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Bickell et al found that providing oncologists with communication skills training did not improve the frequency or quality of goals-of-care discussions for patients with advanced cancer. Study Details In the study, 22 oncologists were randomly assigned...
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,...
An article by Waterhouse et al in JCO Oncology Practice presented results of a recent ASCO survey of clinical programs exploring the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of oncology clinical trials. Results highlighted the numerous issues faced by the programs, steps that are...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Todd A. Yezefski, MD, and colleagues found that the cost of first-line systemic therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer was higher in Western Washington state compared with British Columbia and that survival outcomes were similar. A stated by the...
First results from the TERAVOLT (Thoracic cancERs international coVid 19 cOLlaboraTion) registry for thoracic cancers—presented by Marina C. Garassino, MD, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting in the COVID-19 and Cancer Session—indicate a high mortality rate ...
ASCO (the Society) and its affiliate organization the Association for Clinical Oncology (the Association) recently announced the results of a survey that tracked the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer clinical trials, highlighted a new research initiative to address the data gap on...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Narek Shaverdian, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues found that most patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer reported that anticipated adverse effects did not occur or were no worse than expected.1 However, ...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Holmes et al found that a program instituted at the University of Vermont Medical Center was successful in improving venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment, patient education, and rates of prophylaxis use in patients initiating anticancer...
In a meta-analysis reported in JCO Global Oncology, Desai et al found a pooled prevalence of cancer of 2.0% among patients with COVID-19 infection. Key Findings A literature search identified 11 reports providing data on prevalence of cancer in patients with COVID-19 infection. The overall...
Routine use of extended-fraction radiation therapy—defined as more than 10 fractions—for the palliative treatment of bone metastases is considered a low-value intervention by the American Society for Radiation Oncology. In a retrospective cohort study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Gupta et al...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Villano et al found that increased hospital surgical volume was associated with overall improved survival in patients undergoing surgery for retroperitoneal soft-tissue sarcoma. However, increased volume was associated with poorer survival in patients...
A recently published article by Schatz et al offers new clarity around the use of prescription opioids in pain management for people with a diagnosis or history of cancer and chronic pain. The joint publication, which appeared in both JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and...
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,...
ASCO has released a new guideline for clinicians and policymakers in resource-constrained settings on treating patients with late-stage colorectal cancer.1 “Around the world, there is a huge variation in resources, and what is available to clinicians may change week to week,” said Mary D....
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Zibelli et al found that patients with cancer readmitted to hospital within 30 days from index admission often made the decision to return to hospital themselves, without input from their care teams. Study Details The study included 33 patients...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Fishman et al found no significant difference in the use of optimal evidence-based anticancer drug regimens in physician offices vs hospital-based outpatient departments. However, the investigators found significantly higher costs of treatment in the...
In the novel Blindness, Portuguese author José Saramago describes an epidemic that quickly and inexorably causes nearly all inhabitants of an unnamed city to lose their sight. The Nobel Laureate writes in long uninterrupted sentences, making the reader experience the fears and anxieties of the...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Chambers et al found that use of molecular testing across tumor types often varied widely in several countries, sometimes reflecting regional differences in the incidence of cancer types. Study Details The study involved the use of aggregated results of ...
A new study in JCO Oncology Practice (JCO OP) highlights an effective effort to increase the use of evidence-based state smoking cessation programs among patients with cancer and survivors who use tobacco. In Michigan, state agencies and the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium partnered to create...
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Kiser et al found that implementation of a quality improvement plan significantly reduced the frequency of positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) radiotracer infiltration among a team of technologists....
As reported in JCO Oncology Practice by Omar Abdel-Rahman, MD, of the Cross Cancer Institute, University of Alberta, a study using U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data indicated that patients with cancer were not more likely to have depressive disorders—but were more...
Sponsors of clinical trials conducted under investigational new drug applications are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to report serious adverse events that are unexpected and suspected to be related to the drug. However, contrary to FDA guidance, investigators often send...
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,...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Failing et al found that influenza vaccination did not increase the incidence of immune-related adverse events among patients receiving pembrolizumab for various cancers. On multivariate analysis, influenza vaccination was associated with a...
As reported by James L. Mulshine, MD, and colleagues in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is developing the Early Lung Imaging Confederation (ELIC) “to serve as an open-source, international, universally accessible environment to...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Kerrigan et al found that patient-reported outcomes (PROs), obtained by using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System–Cancer (PROMIS-Ca) Bank, may be prognostic for outcomes in patients with advanced...
ASCO has elected Everett E. Vokes, MD, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, to serve as its President for the term beginning in June 2021. Dr. Vokes will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2020. Six members were also elected to open positions on...
In a study reported in JCO Precision Oncology, Gutierrez et al found that most patients in a U.S. sample diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer between 2013 and 2017 did not receive guideline-aligned genomic testing for RAS, BRAF, and microsatellite instability/mismatch repair–deficiency (MSI/dMMR) ...
A new JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics (JCO CCI) article highlights the challenges in—and need for—obtaining real-world evidence for assessing the effectiveness of precision medicine on areas such as survival, quality of life, cost, and health disparities. The paper, titled “Clinical Molecular...
Unplanned hospitalizations may be common among patients with cancer, but they diminish quality of care while racking up high costs for patients and the health-care system alike. According to data presented at the 2019 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, however, a new predictive model may help providers...
New results from ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study demonstrated that single-agent palbociclib has no meaningful clinical activity in patients with CDKN2A-mutated or -deleted advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. The results, based on data...
In the POLO trial, which is discussed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Golan and colleagues evaluated the potential benefit of maintenance olaparib after disease stability or response to a minimum of 4 months of platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and a...
A prospective cohort study within the phase III Cancer and Leukemia Group B (Alliance)/SWOG 80405 trial found that increased physical activity at baseline was associated with nonsignificant improvement in overall survival, a significant improvement in progression-free survival, and a reduced risk...
ASCO has released an ethical framework for researchers on incorporating research biopsies in cancer clinical trials. The framework, published in a statement in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on July 25, provides guidance on when to include optional and mandatory biopsies based on both participant ...
New results from ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study have demonstrated that single-agent palbociclib has no meaningful clinical activity in patients with CDKN2A-mutated or -deleted advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. These findings were...
In an Indian single-center phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Noronha et al found that the addition of pemetrexed/carboplatin to gefitinib improved progression-free and overall survival in first-line treatment of advanced EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer...
In the final analysis from a phase II California Cancer Consortium trial (NCI-9653) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sadeghi et al found the combination of gemcitabine and eribulin showed activity in cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Study Details...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chera et al found that deintensified chemoradiotherapy produced favorable outcomes in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Study Details In the multicenter trial, 114 patients were recruited...
In a phase I dose-escalation trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cuneo et al established the phase II dose of the Wee1 kinase inhibitor adavosertib in combination with gemcitabine and radiotherapy in locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Wee1 inhibition impedes DNA damage response and ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Zinzani et al, findings in a phase II expansion cohort of the CheckMate 436 study indicated high levels of activity with the combination of nivolumab and brentuximab vedotin in relapsed or refractory primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. As...
In a first-in-human phase I/II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Doran et al found that autologous genetically engineered T cells expressing a T-cell receptor directed against the human papillomavirus (HPV)16 E6 oncoprotein were capable of inducing tumor regression in metastatic,...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who engaged in moderate exercise while undergoing chemotherapy tended to have delayed progression of their disease and fewer severe side effects from treatment, according to the results of a new study published by Guercio et al in the Journal of Clinical...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hamilton et al found that relapses of clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) during postorchiectomy active surveillance most frequently occurred in the retroperitoneum and were cured by single-modality...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cespedes Feliciano et al found that increased visceral and intramuscular adiposity were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease among breast cancer survivors, independent of baseline risk factors and cancer treatment. Study...
In the phase II SWOG S0905 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tsao et al found that the addition of the epidermal growth factor receptor and platelet-derived growth factor receptor inhibitor cediranib to cisplatin/pemetrexed was associated with limited benefit and greater toxicity...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Twist et al, use of reduced therapy for subsets of pediatric patients with intermediate-risk neuroblastoma in the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) study ANBL0531 did not affect the excellent overall survival rates observed in prior COG studies ...
ASCO published its first statement on genetic testing and its impact on oncology practice over 2 decades ago. Since then, ASCO has revised the statement three times, the most recent in 2015, in response to advances propelled by the sequencing and mapping of the human genome and the identification...