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Showing 2501 - 2550Cancer Memoir Provides Inspiration for Those with Terminal Illness and Their Caregivers
“It almost always begins in darkness, my memory’s trip back to China where Terrence and I meet.” So begins Amanda Bennett’s moving new memoir, The Cost of Hope, the story of an intensely devoted marriage, cruelly shortened by the cancer that killed her husband. The word “darkness” in Ms. Bennett’s...
The Language of Cancer
For more than a year, Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, has been blogging at ASCO Connection (connection.asco.org) about such diverse topics as cancer survivorship, the redesign of clinical studies based on patients’ molecular characteristics, and the power of laughter. Last May, Dr. Dizon tackled the impact ...
For Advanced Sarcomas, New Agents Prolong Remission but Not Survival
“We are beginning to understand the molecular biology underlying a portion of the 80 or so subtypes of sarcomas, and we hope this will lead to subtype-specific treatments,” said William D. Tap, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, at the Best of ASCO Boston meeting. “And in...
ASCO Achieves Highest Level of Accreditation for Continuing Medical Education Program
In July, ASCO was awarded “Accreditation with Commendation” (the highest level achievable) by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). Fewer than 25% of continuing medical education (CME) providers carry the “Commendation” status distinction, which signifies an...
Progress, Slow but Sure, Seen for Current Lung Cancer Therapies
This year, we have some abstracts that help move things forward in lung cancer, maybe at a little bit slower pace than in previous years. But there are important points that we can learn from some of these abstracts,” commented Karen L. Reckamp, MD, of the City of Hope, who presented findings on...
Anthracycline Use Steadily Declining in Early Breast Cancer Population
Anthracycline use in early-stage breast cancer has been steadily declining, especially for patients with stage I/II or HER2-positive disease, according to an analysis of patients treated at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine.1 Treatment Alternatives Lead author...
Developments in Hematologic Cancers Include New Considerations in Treating Challenging Leukemias and Multiple Myelomas
Speakers at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 7th Annual Congress on Hematologic Malignancies reviewed the current standard of care for various hematologic cancers and explored new concepts in treatment. Below are highlights from presentations on chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML),...
Breast Cancer Symposium Features Surgical Data, Updated Results from BOLERO-2, and Other Important News
The annual Breast Cancer Symposium, held September 13 to 15 in San Francisco, is jointly sponsored by ASCO, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the National Consortium of Breast Cancers, and the Society of...
Feminist Author Babette Rosmond Helped Propel the Adoption of Patients’ Rights to Choose Their Cancer Treatment
Then writer and editor Babette Rosmond was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1971, the second wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement that began in the mid-1960s was in its infancy. Still, when told by her doctor that she would need a radical mastectomy—a procedure developed by William Stewart...
Novel Drug Combinations Present New Hope for Effective Treatments in Multiple Myeloma
Developing early-phase clinical trials that incorporate combinations of novel agents targeting different pathways in the hematologic cancer multiple myeloma is a leading focus of the work of Sagar Lonial, MD, Professor of Hematology and Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs in the Department of Hematology ...
Will mTOR Inhibitors Change the Treatment of Endocrine-sensitive HER2-negative Breast Cancer?
For the treatment of endocrine-sensitive metastatic breast cancer, the combination of an mTOR inhibitor and an endocrine agent represents a promising new option. At the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium, the 18-month update of BOLERO-2, which tested therapy with everolimus (Afinitor) plus exemestane,...
Ignoring Level 1 Evidence in Invasive Bladder Cancer: Is Ignorance Bliss?
I’ve been part of the uro-oncology community for more than 30 years and have been proud to be involved in a good number of well-powered, enthusiastically subscribed randomized clinical trials. These have dated back to a time before randomization was necessarily the fashion. I have had the pleasure...
Explaining Research to Patients
Everyone understands the need for medical research, especially regarding cancer. However, only a minority of the public understand what is actually involved in taking part in a clinical trial. As professionals, we are responsible for designing relevant studies, for their conduct and analysis, and...
Defining a Cure for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and Strategies to Achieve this Goal
In chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), continued long-term therapy that prevents both progression to accelerated-phase disease and the emergence of resistance may be thought of as an “operational” or “functional” cure. However, long-term disease control without the requirement for continuous treatment...
Small Increase in Cardiac Events for Trastuzumab plus Anthracycline in HER2-positive Disease
A 7-year follow-up of the phase III National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) protocol B-31 found that the cumulative difference in the rate of cardiac events was 3.1% between patients with HER2-positive, node-positive breast cancer who received trastuzumab (Herceptin) in addition ...
Dr. Lewis C. Cantley to Lead New Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Leading cancer researcher Lewis C. Cantley, PhD, has been named Director of the newly established Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. According to Weill Cornell Medical College’s new Dean, Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s CEO, ...
I Am Not a Victim
Six years ago, at age 62, I was feeling in great shape. The year before, I had taken over custody of my 2- and 3-year-old great-grandchildren and decided to change the course of my career from motivational speaker to motivational coach to be home more often with the kids. It was during one of our...
Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, Named New Editor-in-Chief of AACR Journal Molecular Cancer Research
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recently announced that Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, Professor and Hilary Koprowski Chair in the Departments of Cancer Biology, Urology, and Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and Deputy Director for Basic Science of the...
Genetic Variation in Vitamin D Pathway Is Tied to Colorectal Cancer Risk among African Americans
African Americans’ risk of colorectal cancer varies according to whether they have certain genetic variants that affect vitamin D metabolism, according to a study presented at the Fifth American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held...
Recognizing and Managing Physician Burnout in Oncology
Although job burnout occurs in all professions, it is more common among physicians, according to a study published recently in Archives of Internal Medicine.1 Physicians on the front line of care, such as those working in emergency rooms or in family medicine, experience the highest rates of...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Patients
A study finding that a diet high in total carbohydrates can increase the risk of cancer recurrence and mortality doesn’t mean that patients need to totally avoid carbohydrates, any more than previous findings about increased risk from a Western pattern diet means patients can’t eat any red meat....
Physician-Scientist Judah Folkman, MD, Faced Years of Skepticism Before His Theory of Angiogenesis Was Proven
That Moses Judah Folkman would buck tradition, breaking his family’s long line of rabbinical succession and pursuing a career in science and medicine instead, was evident from the time he was a young child. Born in Cleveland on February 24, 1933, the first child of Rabbi Jerome and Bessie Folkman,...
Teens and Young Adults with Cancer Want a Voice in End-of-life Care
A top the list of concerns of adolescents and young adults with a life-threatening cancer are these two considerations: being able to choose the kind of medical treatment they want (or do not want) and expressing their wishes to family and friends about how they want to be remembered, according to...
New ASCO Statement Outlines Agenda to Advance Cancer Survivorship Care
In response to the needs of a growing population of cancer survivors, ASCO has released a position statement, recently published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Developed through the work of the ASCO Cancer Survivorship Committee, the statement outlines a comprehensive agenda for...
Management of Brain Metastases
Pearls in Neuro-oncology is guest edited by Tracy Batchelor, MD, Director, Division of Neuro-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston. The series is intended to provide the practicing oncologist with guidance in managing...
Does Health-care Quality Translate to Value?
On March 23rd, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, enacting sweeping change in our health-care system. An underlying theme of the legislation is the realignment of our payment system so that it places value over volume of services. At ASCO’s first...
Helping Patients Prepare for Cancer Treatment Decisions
Under the stress of a cancer diagnosis and overwhelmed with the influx of information, patients often report that they feel unprepared to engage fully in the discussion with their health-care provider around a critical treatment decision. Consequently, the Cancer Support Community—an international...
Cost of Cancer Drugs: What Price for What Benefit?
In 2011, national health-care spending in the United States was about $2.7 trillion, larger than the entire French national budget.1 U.S. national health-care spending is about 17% of the national gross domestic product. Total Medicare expenditures in 2011 were $549 million.2 In the debate about...
Expert Point of View: Neal J. Meropol, MD
A critical component of informed consent is an understanding of the potential risks and benefits of investigational treatments. In the context of early-phase oncology trials, concern has been raised about whether this understanding is adequate, since patients tend to express high expectations about ...
Expert Point of View: Kevin P. Weinfurt, PhD
Our work suggests three specific recommendations for researchers and care providers who are discussing with patients the possibility of enrolling in a phase I clinical trial. First, we should always communicate the likelihood of benefit in terms of the number of participants expected to derive...
Oncology Meetings
February Scripps Cancer Center’s 33rd Annual Clinical Hematology and Oncology ConferenceFebruary 16-19 • San Diego, CaliforniaFor more information:www.scripps.org/events/clinical-hematology-and-oncology-february-16-2013 2013 Translational Research Cancer Centers Consortium: The Power of Negative...
Treatment of HER2-positive Disease in 2013
From the initial discovery of the HER2 family of receptors in the mid-1980s to the present, a “wealth of riches” has been uncovered in terms of agents that can target pathways relevant to this aggressive breast cancer type, notes Hope S. Rugo, MD, Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials...
ASH International Clinical Collaboration Replicates High Cure Rate of APL in Developing Countries
The work of an American Society of Hematology (ASH) international clinical network collaborative focused on modernizing treatment protocols for patients in the developing world with acute promyeloctyic leukemia (APL) has drastically improved cure rates in patients in Central and South America. In...
ASH Highlights Included New Data in Myeloma, Lymphoma, and Leukemia, plus Studies of Mucositis and Graft-vs-Host Disease
The 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) featured about 5,000 abstracts, including oral sessions and posters, as well as named lectures and symposia. In addition to our regular news coverage from the meeting, below are capsule summaries of a few news highlights that we...
Expert Point of View: Sarah B. Goldberg, MD, MPH
In a commentary accompanying reporting of the phase II study of the MEK inhibitor selumetinib by Dr. Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, and colleagues, Sarah B. Goldberg, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, and colleagues at Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut, noted that KRAS, a member of the...
Expert Point of View: William G. Woods, MD
Press conference moderator William G. Woods, MD, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Director and the Daniel P. Amos Children’s Chair, Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, called the phase III FRALLE trial “an important confirmatory step regarding the front-line...
Expert Point of View: Michel Ducreux, MD, PhD
Michel Ducreux, MD, PhD, of the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France, discussed the findings at the ESMO meeting. He said that TH-302 represents a “new drug and new concept, the microenvironment.” He noted, “Pancreatic cancers are frequently hypovascularized, at least the primary tumor, and ...
Nab-paclitaxel/Gemcitabine Combination Improves Overall Survival in Pancreatic Cancer
In patients with treatment-naive metastatic pancreatic cancer, the addition of nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel (Abraxane) to gemcitabine improved overall survival vs gemcitabine alone, in an international study presented at the 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 New Standard “We...
Oncology Meetings
March Hematology and Medical Oncology Board Review: Contemporary Practice from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer CenterMarch 1-5, 2013 • New York, New YorkFor more information: www.mskcc.org/hemoncreviewcourse International Congress on Targeted Anticancer TherapiesMarch 4-6 • Paris, FranceFor more...
Genetics, Mathematics, and Colorectal Cancer
Two recent study reports in colorectal cancer explored new data on genetic precursors to the disease and outcome predictors once treatment is initiated. New Genetic Links to Colorectal Cancer Are Identified Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, and colleagues in China,...
The Challenges and Rewards of Neuro-oncology
Despite the extremely difficult clinical challenges posed by brain tumors, mortality rates in this disease have decreased somewhat over the past several decades due, in part, to advances in surgical techniques and therapies. The ASCO Post recently discussed contemporary issues in neuro-oncology...
Expert Point of View: Jordan D. Berlin, MD
Jordan D. Berlin, MD, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and Clinical Director of the GI Oncology Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, commented on the findings of TRIBE. “This study is outstanding, and while we don’t have overall survival data yet the findings suggest that we...
Focus on the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California
For more than 2 decades, the guiding principle of the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California (MOASC) has been to ensure the continuation of the private practice of medical oncology and to provide the highest quality care to cancer patients. Founded in 1990, MOASC is the largest...
Oncology Meetings
March Emerging Trends Conference: Reactivation of Hepatitis BMarch 21-22 • Arlington, VirginiaFor more information: www.aasld.org/additionalmeetings/Pages/emergingtrends.aspx 5th Thyroid Neoplasms ConferenceMarch 21-23 • Houston, TexasFor more information: www.mdanderson.org/conferences Community...
City of Hope Names Robert Stone, JD, as New Chief Executive Officer
After 10 years at City of Hope, in Duarte, California, former FDA acting Commissioner Michael A. Friedman, MD, has decided to retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board of Directors has selected current President Robert Stone, JD, to assume the dual role of President and...
Expert Point of View: William M. Grady, MD and Jordan Berlin, MD
William M. Grady, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, a member of the news planning team for the symposium, commented, “There has been considerable interest in determining whether molecular alterations in primary colorectal cancer are more accurate prognostic indicators than ...
Expert Point of View: Nasser H. Hanna, MD
In an accompanying editorial, Nasser H. Hanna, MD, of Indiana University, Indianapolis, suggested that although the question of two chemotherapy drugs vs one in this setting made sense at the time GOIRC 02-2006 was initiated, advances in understanding of the heterogeneity of non–small cell lung...
Ibrutinib Receives Two Oncology Breakthrough Therapy Designations from FDA
Janssen Research & Development, LLC, and Pharmacyclics, LLC, announced that the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designations for the investigational oral agent ibrutinib as a monotherapy for two B-cell malignancies: in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma who have...
Colorectal Cancer: A Decade of Progress
The 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium marked the 10th anniversary of the meeting. Richard M. Goldberg, MD, the Klotz Family Chair in Cancer Research, Professor of Medicine, and James Cancer Hospital Physician-in-Chief at The Ohio State University, looked back over the decade to highlight the...
Cancer Has Made Me A Better Doctor
After six recurrences of colorectal cancer, the chances it will recur again are high. But if I concentrate on that, I couldn’t live my life. In retrospect, I should have paid attention sooner to the abdominal pain I was experiencing and not dismiss it as a simple case of gas. But at age 47 and with ...
