Women who live in urban areas and those residing in rural areas are screened for breast cancer at similar rates, but rural women are screened for colorectal cancer at significantly lower rates than their urban counterparts, research published by Shete et al in JAMA Network Open showed. The...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three Choosing Wisely Champions—individuals working to tackle the overuse of hematology tests and treatments—at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition, held December 11–14 in Atlanta. Choosing Wisely is an initiative that seeks to advance a...
The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed some aspects of health care forever. At the 2021 JADPRO Live Virtual event, a panel discussion focused on how several cancer centers faced challenges, and what changes the participants view as positive.1 JADPRO Live is an annual educational conference for...
In an updated analysis of the pivotal phase III CANDOR trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saad Z. Usmani, MD, and colleagues found that the addition of daratumumab to carfilzomib and dexamethasone (KdD) continued to show a large progression-free survival benefit in patients with relapsed or...
Michael R. Bishop, MD, of the University of Chicago, discusses insights from findings of the phase III BELINDA study, which may inform the design of future CAR T-cell trials, as well as the use of second-line tisagenlecleucel therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell...
In a Finnish study reported in JAMA Oncology, Vettenranta et al found that statin use did not appear to markedly affect the benefits of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer. As stated by the investigators, “PSA screening for prostate cancer has resulted in a slight...
On December 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved abatacept (Orencia) for the prophylaxis of acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor and methotrexate, in adults and pediatric patients aged 2 years and older undergoing hematopoietic stem...
In an analysis of the phase III BELINDA trial presented by Bishop et al during the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract LBA-6), the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel was not found to improve event-free survival over the...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zhao et al found that the addition of an immune checkpoint inhibitor to chemotherapy in trials of first-line treatment of advanced gastric or esophageal adenocarcinoma was not associated with benefit in low PD-L1–expressing subgroups not...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Jang et al found that women with advanced melanoma receiving combination immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy with nivolumab/ipilimumab as their most recent immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (all with prior ipilimumab treatment) had a poorer survival...
For the first-line treatment of newly diagnosed, transplant-eligible patients with multiple myeloma, the achievement of measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity was significantly greater when the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody isatuximab was added to the standard three-drug induction regimen of...
On December 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law. At that time, cancer was the nation’s second leading cause of death; only about one of two people diagnosed with cancer survived at least 5 years—compared with two of three people diagnosed with the disease...
On October 1, 2021, the CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy brexucabtagene autoleucel was approved for adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).1 The product is available only through a restricted program under a Risk Evaluation ...
Following a review of new data and additional analyses of previous data concerning colorectal cancer, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) “concluded the evidence is inadequate that low-dose aspirin use reduces colorectal cancer incidence or mortality.”1 Consequently, a draft...
Updating its 2016 recommendation on the use of aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a draft recommendation statement. It noted the potential harms of daily aspirin, with the most serious being bleeding in the...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from 1999 to 2019, nearly 247,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids in the United States. According to the CDC, the problem can be broken into three waves. The first began with an increase in prescribing...
The Nobel Laureate Otto Warburg was regarded as one of the most significant biochemists of the 20th century, whose exhaustive research led to an understanding of cancer that remains significant to this day. Warburg was also one of the most despised figures in his homeland of Nazi Germany. As a...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Anesthesia Era 1845–1875 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
In part 1 of this two-part review, we looked at early pioneers in the field of medical oncology in Europe, as well as the development of international cooperative trials and the formation of European oncology societies (see related articles below). In part 2, we explore how the field of medical...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is proud to announce three recipients of this year’s Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. The prize recognizes a new generation of leaders in cancer research who are making significant contributions to the understanding of cancer or are improving the...
On October 12, 2021, abemaciclib was approved for use with endocrine therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) for adjuvant treatment of adults with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, node-positive, early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence and a Ki67 score ≥ 20%, as determined by...
On October 29, 2021, the oral kinase inhibitor asciminib was granted accelerated approval for adults with Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase previously treated with at least two tyrosine kinase inhibitors and regular approval for adults with...
Since many different chemotherapeutic agents have been linked with cardiac adverse events, there is a growing need for strategies for the assessment and mitigation of treatment-induced cardiotoxicity. Moreover, the rapid rise of immunotherapies has added a new dimension to this clinical setting....
In a single-institution study reported in the journal Cancer, and reviewed in the September 10, 2021, issue of The ASCO Post, Bei Hu, MD, and colleagues from Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health found that the use of a dedicated nurse navigation program aided in producing similar patterns of...
Our goal with this review of the pivotal years of oncology in Europe is to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the early leaders in the field and to help young investigators learn from the past to better cope with the inevitable challenges of today and tomorrow. “On ne connaît pas...
ASCO is currently recruiting practices to participate in measures testing for a variety of efforts, including re-endorsing existing measures by the National Quality Forum (NQF). In addition to ensuring the highest level of quality care for individuals with cancer and advancing the specialty of...
On November 4, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule requiring COVID-19 vaccination of eligible staff at health-care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)...
ASCO has released new recommendations for the management of adverse events related to two immunotherapy modalities with increasing application in cancer care—immune checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The recommendations were published as two separate...
Among patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer treated with an aromatase inhibitor plus palbociclib, those who displayed a rising ESR1 mutation detected in their blood before disease progression doubled their median progression-free survival following a switch to fulvestrant plus...
In a French single-center retrospective cohort study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Rémy Duléry, MD, of Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, and colleagues found that posttransplantation cyclophosphamide was associated with a significantly increased risk of early cardiac toxicity among patients...
Recent articles in JAMA Oncology focused on lung cancer and screening strategies. Apar Kishor Ganti, MD, MS, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, and colleagues provided updated data on non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) incidence, prevalence, and stage through 2017.1 Sylvia K....
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Mehtsun et al found patterns of increasing use of adjuvant chemotherapy over time among patients aged ≥ 80 years undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In addition, they found that use of adjuvant chemotherapy was associated...
On November 17, 2021, the immunotherapeutic agent pembrolizumab was granted approval for adjuvant treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma at intermediate-high or high risk of recurrence following nephrectomy or nephrectomy and resection of metastatic lesions.1 Supporting Efficacy Data...
Recent advances in medical imaging have led to more accurate detection and management of early thoracic diseases such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cardiovascular disease—three of the top four leading causes of death in the United States. Unfortunately, if not...
“It’s becoming more and more clear that increasing the cytotoxic effect of treatment and expecting to get a better outcome is an approach of the past,” said Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, the Lynne and Howard Halpern Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Research, Professor and Vice Chair ofHematology and...
In the treatment of patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, neither cancer outcomes nor measurable quality of life have yet been shown to differ between surgery- and radiotherapy-based approaches, according to Sue S. Yom, MD, PhD, FASTRO, Professor of ...
“Immunotherapy is now the standard of care in the recurrent metastatic setting,” said Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, Director of Head and Neck Oncology at Emory University and a specialist in immunotherapy for head and neck cancer. “However, we’re still struggling with the question of which immunotherapy ...
The management of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer is complex. Historically, patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with local or regional recurrence were considered for salvage surgery or reirradiation (in high-volume centers or centers of expertise), with an...
The 2021 Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University Symposium: Updates in the Management of Head and Neck Cancer explored current paradigms for the multidisciplinary treatment of head and neck cancer.1 Moderated by Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, the Lynne and Howard Halpern Chair in Head and Neck...
Advances intreating breast cancer “increasingly create opportunities to consider where radiation therapy might safely be omitted,” Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, told participants at the 2021 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “But, I would encourage us,” she continued, “not to assume that women who...
For many, the way things are when you learn about them is assumed to be the way things have always been. For example, antibiotics are wonderful—but if you were practicing medicine when penicillin was discovered, it would have seemed like a miracle. For most of us, there have always been chemical...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Katz et al found that higher socioeconomic status was associated with greater use of telemedicine among patients with newly diagnosed cancers in the United States between January and August 2020. As stated by the investigators, “The...
The use of multigene sequencing and SNP array as a therapeutic decision tool improved the outcomes of patients with metastatic breast cancer if the patients carried alterations classified in the I/II tiers of the ESMO Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets (ESCAT), according to...
Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center, commented on the KEYNOTE-355 final analysis1 for The ASCO Post. “We now have a drug with full approval of the U.S. Food and Drug...
Patients with multiple myeloma lacking an antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination may also fail to mount a T-cell response, researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have reported. This scenario seemed to be most common among patients actively treated with anti-CD38 and...
Sean Khozin, MD, MPH, of CancerLinQ, discusses the therapeutic advances that have made cancer care more targeted, even as real-world patient outcomes lag behind those reported in clinical trials. Dr. Khozin makes the case for the use of digital decision support tools to advance precision at the...
Advances in treating breast cancer “increasingly create opportunities to consider where radiation therapy might safely be omitted,” Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, told participants at the 2021 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “But, I would encourage us,” she continued, “not to assume that women who...
In a substudy of the ECOG-ACRIN E4112 cohort trial reported in JAMA Network Open, Fazeli et al found that approximately half of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for pretreatment planning experienced fear or anxiety before and during the...
The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemoradiation has failed to overcome the immunosuppressive microenvironment of pancreatic cancer, according to data presented by Osama E. Rahma, MD, and colleagues at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2021 Annual...
The invited discussant of monarchE,1 Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, Director, Breast Cancer Research, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, commented: “Based on a hazard ratio of 0.69 for invasive disease–free survival, the results are statistically significant and clinically...