In a single-institution study conducted in New Zealand reported in JAMA Surgery, Goh et al found that microdoses of incisional antibiotics may reduce the risk of surgical site infections during surgery for skin cancer, as well as reduce the risk of infections requiring postoperative systemic...
ASCO has issued new clinical guidance for treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers amid a nationwide shortage of carboplatin and cisplatin. The two chemotherapy agents, in extremely short supply, are essential to treating an array of gastrointestinal cancers—such as esophageal cancer,...
Results from the largest prospective study of patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) showed that radiation therapy may be omitted in patients who have a complete metabolic response after chemoimmunotherapy. The IELSG37 international study found that these patients may be spared...
Investigators have found that race and ethnicity may affect the 21-gene recurrence score in patients with early-stage, estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, according to new findings presented by Gill et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 511). Background The 21-gene recurrence...
Researchers have found that exercise may be effective at strengthening the immune system in patients with multiple myeloma, providing them with a nonpharmaceutical method of managing the disease, according to new findings presented by Joseph et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 8060)....
Patients with early relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma had significantly improved overall survival when treated with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel when compared to the current standard-of-care chemoimmunotherapy, according to results of the...
Three clinical trials demonstrated positive results from the targeted therapy erdafitinib for patients with multiple tumor types harboring FGFR alterations. The data were presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting. Erdafitinib is an oral medication that blocks the activity of FGFR signaling...
Cathy Eng, MD, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and Lars Henrik Jensen, MD, PhD, of the Danish Colorectal Cancer Center South and the University Hospital of Southern Denmark, discuss phase III results from the Scandinavian NeoCol trial, which showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not superior...
Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD, and Ingo K. Mellinghoff, MD, both of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss findings from the INDIGO trial showing that the IDH1/2 inhibitor vorasidenib improves progression-free survival for patients with residual or recurrent grade 2 glioma with an IDH1/2 mutation. ...
Ciltacabtagene autoleucel, a B-cell maturation antigen–targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, significantly slows or stops progression of multiple myeloma when compared with standard-of-care treatments among patients with lenalidomide-refractory disease. Results from the...
According to the findings of the international phase II DESTINY-PanTumor02 study presented by Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, and colleagues at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) is an effective treatment option for people with difficult-to-treat, HER2-expressing solid...
A novel study is shedding light on factors that may affect treatment response in patients with young-onset colorectal cancer. Researchers uncovered differences in transcriptional metabolic profiles and other drivers of disease, as well as immune profiles, between younger and older patients with...
Researchers have found that patients who have breast cancer who undergo treatment with taxanes show a pattern of clinically meaningful, persistent sensory and motor symptoms associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, according to new findings presented by Trivedi et al at the 2023...
The combination of apalutamide and abiraterone acetate plus prednisone, which previously demonstrated little overall survival benefit in White patients with metastatic prostate cancer, may yield better survival outcomes in Black patients with the disease, according to new findings presented by...
Amer Methqal Zeidan, MBBS, MHS, of Yale University and Yale Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings on the first-in-class telomerase inhibitor imetelstat, which was given to patients with heavily transfusion-dependent non-del(5q) lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes that are resistant to...
Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer with tumors that respond to chemotherapy may safely forgo radiation therapy before surgery, based on the findings of the PROSPECT trial. These data were presented by Deborah Schrag, MD, FASCO, MPH, at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA2) and...
Vorasidenib, an oral dual inhibitor of mutant IDH1/2 enzymes, significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with grade 2 gliomas. This treatment delayed disease progression and was well tolerated. These findings from the INDIGO trial represent a significant step forward in the...
Treatment with osimertinib after surgery significantly lowered the risk of death in adults with completely resected EGFR-mutated stage IB, II, or IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the findings of the international ADAURA study. The research was presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual...
The international phase III MIRASOL randomized clinical trial found that mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx, an antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate, significantly improved progression-free and overall survival for patients with platinum-resistant, advanced high-grade epithelial ovarian,...
Eunice S. Wang, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Gregory Roloff, MD, of the University of Chicago, discuss data that are the first to demonstrate post–FDA approval efficacy and toxicity rates of brexucabtagene autoleucel in adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute...
The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), used in many clinical trials to evaluate changes in tumor burden over time, classify objective tumor response into one of four categories—complete response, partial response, stable disease, or progressive disease—based on the percent of...
In a phase II clinical trial, investigators found that 42% of patients with brain metastases benefited from treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab, with 7 of the 57 patients in the trial surviving for longer than 2 years. The study authors cautioned that these benefits must be ...
A population-based study using information from a database of veterans found that those who had been exposed to Agent Orange may be at an increased risk of developing myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Agent Orange is a herbicide that was used by the U.S. military in Korea and Vietnam to clear...
Despite the common use of opioids in clinical settings, new and persistent opioid prescriptions have declined among patients both with and without cancer, according to new findings presented by Baum et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 1592). However, the declines in opioid use among...
Patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer who receive fewer than three cycles of chemotherapy prior to cystectomy may have an increased risk of cancer recurrence and worse survival outcomes, according to the findings of a retrospective study presented by Chakraborty et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual ...
The HER2-targeted bispecific antibody zanidatamab demonstrated durable responses in patients with treatment-refractory HER2-positive biliary tract cancer, according to research presented by Shubham Pant, MD, and colleagues at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 4008). The results were also...
Patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer without a BRCA mutation who received durvalumab and olaparib in addition to the standard of care had improved progression-free survival compared with those who received the standard of care alone, according to the interim analysis of DUO-O, an...
Simple hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection may be a safe treatment option for patients with early-stage, low-risk cervical cancer and may help improve quality of life, according to results from the large, international phase III SHAPE clinical trial. The research was presented by Plante...
Researchers have found that the bacteria, fungi, and viruses within the tumors of patients with colorectal cancer varied significantly depending on whether they were diagnosed with early-onset or late-onset disease, according to new findings presented by Weinberg et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual...
A new global health initiative, the Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition, may be capable of reducing the burden of suffering and death from cancer in low- and middle-income countries by improving patient access to essential cancer medicine. Gilberto Lopes, MD, FASCO, MBA, will highlight...
The FASCO distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. Recipients will be recognized during the Opening Session of the Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 3. The following members are being recognized in 2023: Kerin Adelson, MD,...
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, Deputy Director of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in a place and time she found exhilarating during her early years. “We didn’t have a lot of money—actually, we were poor. But I had a lot of freedom walking around...
In the era of genomics and precision medicine, the role of pathology in diagnosis and cancer management is rapidly evolving. For the past 50 years, from her office at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute (NCI), pathologist Elaine S. Jaffe, MD, has been at the forefront of that...
In a population-based cohort study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Abdel-Qadir et al found that receipt of sodium glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization for heart failure—but not risk for heart failure—among patients aged ≥ 65 years with...
In a small study reported in JAMA Network Open, D’Andrea et al found that diffusing alpha-emitter radiation therapy—a novel solid tumor management strategy using alpha-particle interstitial brachytherapy—appeared to be safe and showed activity in patients with recurrent or unresectable skin...
ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, will recognize researchers, patient advocates, philanthropists, teachers, and global oncology leaders who have reshaped cancer care with the Society’s highest honors at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Hear from select award recipients at the...
According to Sunil R. Hingorani, MD, PhD, his parents figured heavily on who he became as a person and on his career choices, which ultimately led to his current position as Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, Omaha. “My father...
Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, MMSc, Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute, grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. While his school friends were attending camp, he spent his summers working on the family farm. “Perhaps the hardest work I’ve ever done was haying on a hot, humid night in July,...
Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, FASCO, Director of Pelvic Malignancies Program at Lifespan Cancer Institute and Director of Medical Oncology at Rhode Island Hospital was born and reared in Guam. He also is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Surgery at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. “I am...
George D. Demetri, MD, FASCO, Director of the Sarcoma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard, was born in Hyde Park, a town along the Hudson River in New York. When Dr. Demetri was growing up there, it was known for three...
Researchers have identified 116 genes as key molecular vulnerabilities for multiple myeloma, according to a novel study published by de Matos Simoes et al in Nature Cancer. The findings demonstrated the potential for these genes to act as leads and help researchers discover new therapeutic options...
Researchers have found that patients with cancer-related fatigue who practiced qigong may have demonstrated clinically significant improvements in their fatigue burden after 10 weeks, according to a new study published by Zimmerman et al in Integrative Cancer Therapies. The findings revealed that...
Early-phase data from the SOLTI TOT-HER3 and ICARUS-BREAST01 trials suggest that the novel HER3-directed antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan may have beneficial activity in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative and triple-negative breast cancer subtypes, according to...
The respected members of the oncology community listed here are among some of those who passed away in 2022–2023. The ASCO Post remembers them, their lives, and their contributions to cancer research and treatment. Robert J. Gillies, PhD Moffitt Cancer Center and the global research community lost ...
In December 2019, Robert A. Winn, MD, became the second Black physician to lead a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center when he took the helm of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center. Dr. Winn’s basic science research, which has been...
Caroline Robert, MD, PhD, Head of the Dermatology Unit at Gustave Roussy and Co-Director of the Melanoma Research Unit at INSERM 981 Paris-Sud University, was born and reared in Paris. “I didn’t have a vocation for medicine when I was a kid; I wanted to be an archeologist. I’m not from a medical...
Today is the era of the multidisciplinary oncology care approach, cancer staging facilitates precision in documenting disease extent, all of which improved the quality of patient care. However, in the United States, the Rai staging system is still the most commonly used clinical staging system for...
Manali Patel, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at Stanford University, grew up in Shelby, a small town in the textile and farming community of Western North Carolina, among mill workers and other blue-collar laborers. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Dr. Patel’s early life was...
Susan K. Parsons, MD, MRP, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine and Founding Director of the Reid R. Sacco Adolescent and Young Adult Program for Cancer and Hereditary Blood Disorders at Tufts Medical Center, grew up on a working dairy farm in Sharon Springs,...
On May 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the optimized, high-affinity radiohybrid prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging agent flotufolastat fluorine-18 (Posluma). Flotufolastat F-18 is indicated for PET imaging of...