I was just 31 and about to give birth to my fourth child, Yitzchok, when I received a diagnosis of primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. The news was terrifying and crippling. For months, I had been experiencing shortness of breath, coughing, and a pain in my left shoulder, all of which were...
The numbers are dizzying. The costs of cancer care in the United States are rising so fast that by 2030, it is projected the national cancer-attributable costs will total more than $246 billion, up from $183 billion in 2015—a 34% increase.1 And although the total global economic burden of cancer is ...
A recent study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) reported that nearly 123,000 cancer deaths, or close to 30% of all cancer deaths, were from cigarette smoking in the United States in 2019, leading to more than 2 million person-years of lost life and nearly $21 billion in...
The James P. Allison Institute at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, recently announced the establishment of its scientific advisory board to provide strategic guidance and evaluation of its research portfolio and programs. The 11-person advisory board will be co-chaired by ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) recently announced that Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans is a recipient of a 2022 ACCC Innovator Award. The award recognizes Ochsner Cancer Institute’s Chemotherapy Care Companion program—a digital technology system that allows the cancer...
Three thoracic oncologists were named co-chairs of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), which will take place September 9–12 in Singapore. Co-chairs work with IASLC to plan the annual research meeting, select program track...
Ashish Shah, MD, has assumed the newly created position of Director of Clinical Trials and Translational Research and principal investigator in the Section of Virology and Immunotherapy at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Brain Tumor Initiative (BTI) at the University of Miami Miller School ...
ASCO has issued a new practice guideline update on the use of biomarkers in the management of metastatic breast cancer.1 The updated guideline revisits recommendations from the 2015 guideline and addresses topics that have emerged since then in the move toward personalized medicine in metastatic...
Pebbles Fagan, PhD, MPH, has been named Director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Dr. Fagan will serve as Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education in the...
The GOG Foundation, Inc (GOG-F), Board of Directors recently announced the election of Thomas J. Herzog, MD, as its next President, succeeding Larry J. Copeland, MD, who has served in this role since 2017. Under Dr. Copeland’s leadership, the GOG-F has experienced unprecedented growth in its...
On August 11, 2022, Roche announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a label expansion for the Ventana MMR RxDx Panel. The Ventana MMR RxDx Panel is the first immunohistochemistry companion diagnostic test to aid in identifying patients whose solid tumors are deficient in DNA ...
People with light skin tones are far more likely to develop melanoma than people with darker skin tones. This large disparity results from far more than can be explained by the ultraviolet (UV) protective effects of melanin pigment, owing in large part to the melanin precursor...
Over recent decades, more and more adults under the age of 50 are developing cancer. A recently published study revealed that the incidence of early-onset cancers (those diagnosed before age 50)—including breast, colon, esophageal, kidney, liver, and pancreatic cancers, among others—has...
Mount Sinai researchers have published results that show alternate therapeutic options for patients with multiple myeloma after first-line treatment with bispecific antibodies fails. While new T cell–based immunotherapies, or “T-cell redirection” therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)...
Researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have received a $9.5 million National Cancer Institute Program Project (P01) grant to investigate esophageal adenocarcinoma. “People with chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease can develop a...
The randomized phase II GRIFFIN study evaluated the investigational use of daratumumab in combination with lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (RVd), followed by maintenance therapy with daratumumab and lenalidomide, compared to RVd followed by maintenance therapy with lenalidomide alone,...
Nipple-sparing techniques can provide better outcomes for women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy, but due to complication risks, these approaches are often not offered to women with sagging or larger breasts. For this group of patients, a “batwing” incision may provide a safer...
On September 2, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved durvalumab (Imfinzi) in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin for adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer. TOPAZ-1 Efficacy was evaluated in TOPAZ-1 (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:...
Two studies published simultaneously by Jaratlerdsiri et al in Nature and Gong et al in Genome Medicine have identified genetic signatures explaining ethnic differences in the severity of prostate cancer, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Through genetic sequencing of prostate cancer tumors from...
A team of researchers from the University of Rochester discovered how certain genetic mutations fuel the growth of cholangiocarcinoma, a rare but aggressive type of malignancy that has been on the rise in the United States. Their work, published by Guo et al in Cell Reports this week, details the...
Ryan B. Corcoran, MD, PhD, commented on the C-800 study for The ASCO Post. Dr. Corcoran is the Mark J. Kusek Endowed Chair in Colorectal Cancer, Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center Program and Scientific Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy, Massachusetts General Hospital...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations on the use of radiation therapy to treat patients with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant grade 2 and grade 3 diffuse glioma. Evidence-based recommendations outline the multidisciplinary...
On September 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cabozantinib (Cabometyx) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed following prior vascular endothelial growth...
Alexander T. Pearson, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, commended the artificial intelligence (AI)-augmented, ultrasound-based platform for screening and staging of thyroid cancer. “In this study, Dr. Chan and colleagues processed high-resolution ultrasound...
Women with a breast cancer diagnosis undergoing procedures for fertility preservation are not at an increased risk for recurrence of the disease or disease-specific mortality, according to the results of a study from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that followed participants for 5 years on...
In an interview with The ASCO Post, Quynh-Thu Le, MD, FACR, FASTRO, Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at Stanford Cancer Center, called this phase II de-escalation trial an “intriguing study” that heads in the right direction for treatment de-escalation. However, Dr. Le noted, the...
According to Quynh-Thu Le, MD, FACR, FASTRO, Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology at Stanford, these results suggest that monitoring circulating human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA may lead to the detection of relapse prior to imaging. In an interview with The ASCO Post, Dr. Le also noted that...
Gary Walker, MD, MPH, MS, a head and neck radiation oncologist at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, Arizona, expressed concern about the disparities identified in the adoption of advanced radiation therapy techniques for patients with head and neck cancer. “Despite widespread availability of...
Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the world, with 1.1 million new diagnoses reported annually.1 In the United States, the incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancers is over 54,000 cases per year, resulting in over 11,000 yearly deaths.2 Although smoking and alcohol consumption ...
In a multinational study using artificial intelligence (AI), investigators developed an algorithm to improve the prediction of colorectal cancer recurrence. Study results were published by Pai et al in Gastroenterology. QuantCRC Rish K. Pai, MD, PhD, a pathologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and...
A new study published by Birhiray et al in Blood Advances outlines practical strategies for promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in cancer clinical research. The study highlights significant racial disparities in cancer research, citing that between 2008 and 2018, only 7.8% of...
On August 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pemigatinib (Pemazyre), a selective fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with FGFR1 rearrangement. Myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with...
Lung cancer, the most common cancer worldwide, is targeted with radiation therapy in nearly one-half of cases. Radiation therapy planning is a manual, resource-intensive process that can take days to weeks to complete, and even highly trained physicians vary in their determinations of how much...
Researchers have identified biological markers in patients with triple-negative breast cancer that are associated with resistance to chemotherapy. The study was published by Anurag et al in the journal Cancer Discovery and was funded by the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomics Tumor...
In our continuing effort to connect and learn more about our international oncology colleagues, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Rossana Berardi, MD, Professor in Medical Oncology and Director of the Postgraduate School of Oncology at the Università Politecnica Marche, Ancona, Italy, where she is...
“I now think of prostate cancer as a story of success for many men, given the advancements in both research and treatment options over the past decade,” Behfar Ehdaie, MD, MPH, told The ASCO Post. Dr. Ehdaie is lead author of a study that found MRI-guided focused ultrasound focal therapy is safe...
MRI-guided focused ultrasound focal therapy produced “a high degree of success” and “a low rate of genitourinary adverse events” when used to treat select patients with intermediate-grade prostate cancer, Behfar Ehdaie, MD, MPH, and colleagues reported in The Lancet Oncology.1 Dr. Ehdaie is...
African Americans have been underrepresented in tobacco treatment research, including the clinical trials that led to the 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of varenicline (Chantix), the leading pharmacologic treatment for smoking cessation. Meanwhile, African Americans suffer higher...
My diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer 3 years ago was filled with irony. As an interventional radiologist, I have treated hundreds of patients with advanced prostate cancer, and I knew my prognosis wasn’t good. After experiencing some of the common symptoms of the cancer, including voiding...
Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, FASCO, an internationally acclaimed medical oncologist whose innovations in immunotherapy have revolutionized melanoma treatment, has been chosen as the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Wolchok played a pivotal role...
"This e-mail is different from my usual. No smiley faces or funny cartoons, for I have moved on to another location…. My place in the long line of life has suddenly been jumped up to the head of the queue, and now I have a boarding pass,” notes Harry, a patient with end-stage lung cancer who has...
On August 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for pediatric patients aged at least 1 year with chronic graft-vs-host disease after failure of one or more lines of systemic therapy. Formulations include capsules, tablets, and oral suspension. iMAGINE Trial...
Radiotherapy to the prostate in addition to standard treatment may improve survival for some men with advanced prostate cancer without detriment to quality of life, long-term study results from the STAMPEDE trial confirmed. These findings were published by Chris C. Parker, MD, and colleagues in...
Recent research published by Xuesong Han, PhD, and colleagues in the journal Cancer indicated that during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of working-aged U.S. adults without health insurance did not change despite increases in unemployment. The prevalence of unhealthy...
Anna Sureda, MD, PhD, of the University of Barcelona and the Catalan Institute of Oncology, discusses phase III clinical and patient-reported outcomes from the ZUMA-7 trial, which showed that axicabtagene ciloleucel was superior to second-line standard-of-care treatment in patients 65 years or...
Harry P. Erba, MD, PhD, of Duke Cancer Institute, discusses potentially practice-changing phase III results from the QuANTUM-First trial, which showed that adding quizartinib to standard chemotherapy and up to 3 years of continuation therapy led to improvement in overall survival for adults aged 18 ...
In a recently published study by Needle et al in JAMA Network Open, University of Minnesota researchers and colleagues say adolescents with cancer deserve a voice in medical decisions made for and about them. “Adolescents with cancer should be given the opportunity to participate in their own...
Children in Pennsylvania living near unconventional oil and gas developments at birth were two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia between the ages of 2 and 7 years than children who did not live near this oil and gas activity, after accounting for other factors that could...
For many patients who have received chemotherapy for breast cancer, cancer-related fatigue is a persistent side effect—and one that contributes to ongoing balance problems, suggests a recent paper published by Weschler et al in Rehabilitation Oncology. The new research by Stephen Wechsler, PT, DPT, ...
On June 27, 2022, the Biden Administration, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced a new model aimed at improving cancer care for Medicare patients and lowering health-care costs. CMS’ Center for Medicare...