As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Joseph A. Unger, PhD, and colleagues, a large retrospective observational study investigating the association between socioeconomic deprivation and outcomes among patients with cancer enrolled in clinical trials has found that compared to patients...
With inhibitors of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion and other genetic alterations now in clinical trials for cholangiocarcinoma, there is interest in better understanding what FGFR2 genetic alterations mean for patients. In particular, little is known about the effects of FGFR2...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Richard S. Finn, MD, of Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues, the phase III IMbrave150 trial has shown that anti–PD-L1 plus anti-VEGF therapy with...
Excluding skin cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent and lethal cancer among both men and women in the United States.1 Although the risk of developing colorectal cancer increases with age—more than 90% of cases occur in people aged 50 or older2—recent research shows that the...
In the treatment of resectable, locally advanced rectal cancer, researchers are trying to identify the most effective chemotherapy regimens, the best radiotherapy approaches, and the optimal sequence of these modalities. Two phase III trials presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program...
The treatment of colorectal cancer has always been something of an art—but never more so than during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2020, The ASCO Post asked three experts in this malignancy to share their concerns and their approaches to achieving good patient outcomes while minimizing...
In a Dutch study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Leerink et al found that the addition of ejection fraction measurement at the time of first surveillance echocardiogram improved prediction of 10-year risk of left-ventricular systolic dysfunction vs prediction based on cumulative anthracycline and ...
Younger women with breast cancer differ from their older counterparts in ways that should be appreciated by their clinicians, according to Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, FASCO, Vice Chair of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At PER’s...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has compiled a selection of resources for radiation oncology professionals. The resources were developed by clinical teams and based on the best available information at the time they were posted. Physicians and their patients must make the...
With the widespread use of multigene panels for germline genetic testing, understanding the cancer risks associated with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (ie, mutations) has become increasingly necessary. To identify which genes are breast cancer susceptibility genes, population studies...
In a U.S. population–based, case-control study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chunling Hu, MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues identified the prevalence of and breast cancer risk associated with germline pathogenic variants in established and...
Egypt is a country of 1,010,408 km2 located on the northeast corner of Africa with a population exceeding 100 million. In 2018, there were about 134,632 new cancer cases and 89,042 cancer-related deaths in Egypt. Liver and breast cancers are the most common tumors in terms of incidence and...
The Prevent Cancer Foundation has announced funding for nine scientists who are researching cancer prevention and early detection. Each scientist is being awarded $100,000 for 2 years. Areas of focus include the pancreas, esophagus, liver, lungs, skin, prostate, colon-rectum, and blood/bone ...
United in their commitment to eliminate human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancer, the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) and the Foundation for Women’s Cancer (FWC) recently endorsed a series of vaccine recommendations. HPV vaccines are among the most effective vaccines available worldwide,...
A science-focused organization dedicated to ending gastric cancer, the Sara Schottenstein Foundation recently announced its launch and its new website, http://www.saraschottensteinfoundation.org. Founded by Jeff Schottenstein, MBA, a wealth management professional in San Francisco, the Sara...
On January 22, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib as first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.1-3 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the findings of the phase III, open-label CheckMate 9ER trial...
A novel strategy of combining a drive-by flu vaccination clinic with an opportunity for participants to use a take-home fecal immunochemical test (FIT) increased access to colorectal screening among Black Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results related to access to colorectal cancer...
Joseph Alvarnas, MD, a hematologist/oncologist and Vice President of Government Affairs at City of Hope, Duarte, California, commented on the Reboot Rx meta-analysis. “What has been striking about SARS-CoV-2 has been the variability of clinical symptoms among affected patients,” Dr. Alvarnas said. ...
Patients with cancer are at an increased risk of death due to COVID-19 compared with the general population. And hematologic cancers carry an even greater risk than solid tumors, according to a comprehensive meta-analysis from the Reboot: COVID-Cancer Project presented at the 2021 AACR Virtual...
The phase III ACIS trial met its primary endpoint at 6 months showing that apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone (AAP) extended radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone acetate/prednisone alone in patients with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate...
Cabozantinib achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful extension in progression-free survival compared with sunitinib in patients with metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma, a relatively uncommon type of renal cell carcinoma, according to the randomized phase II SWOG 1500...
Following disease progression on docetaxel, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radionuclide therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 37% vs cabazitaxel in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the TheraP phase II trial reported at the 2021...
Enfortumab vedotin-ejfv continues to move the needle forward as a validated treatment option for advanced urothelial carcinoma. At the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, results from the phase III EV-301 study1 and EV-201 Cohort 22 provided support for the use of this agent in both patients...
In an updated analysis of the European phase III MINDACT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Martine Piccart, MD, and colleagues found confirmatory evidence of the initial finding of a high rate of distant metastasis–free survival among patients with high–clinical-risk but low–genomic-risk...
Most people with cancer who are infected with COVID-19 produce antibodies at a rate comparable to the rest of the population—but their ability to do so depends on the type of malignancy and the treatments they’ve received, according to a new study published by Thakkar et al in Nature Cancer. The...
Although cancers of the gallbladder or bile ducts are rare, their rates of occurrence are increasing. A recent study published by Ouyang et al in the journal Cancer provided details on the burden of gallbladder and biliary tract cancer across 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017....
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Hawrot et al found that there was no increase in time to treatment initiation after histologic diagnosis in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, they did find...
Updated findings from a cohort of patients with cancer infected with COVID-19 included in the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) were published by Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, and colleagues in Annals of Oncology. Authors identified factors associated with a more severe viral infection among...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bersanelli et al reported that researchers in the EuroMDS Project found that patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) could be classified into eight distinct subtypes based on genomic characteristics. They also developed a new prognostic ...
In an analysis of a modern cohort of patients with metastatic seminoma reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Beyer et al, members of the International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group (IGCCCG) Update Consortium, found that progression-free and overall survival have improved compared...
KRAS mutational status in patients with unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer predicts a worse response to hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) pump chemotherapy, according to research presented by Kolbeinsson et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference on...
The combination of lenalidomide plus the steroid dexamethasone (together called Rd) is considered standard treatment for elderly patients with multiple myeloma. However, prolonged steroid use can be harmful for some older adults. A new study published by Larocca et al in the journal Blood found...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Dee et al found that the rate of refusal of provider-recommended locoregional treatment for localized prostate adenocarcinoma has increased over time, with Black and Asian men with intermediate- or higher-risk disease being more likely to refuse such...
Frailty may be a better predictor of poor surgical outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer than age, according to two studies reported at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. Researchers found that frail patients are less likely to undergo...
Although some studies show that patients with cancer have a greater risk of health complications from COVID-19, a new study has found that recent chemotherapy or immunotherapy for gynecologic cancer does not raise the risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19. The study results were...
In the first report from the pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-775/Study 309 trial, the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab significantly improved multiple outcomes compared to standard single-agent chemotherapy in patients with advanced, metastatic, or recurrent endometrial cancer that had...
An examination of the online nomogram Sarculator demonstrated it is as effective at predicting overall survival of certain patients with sarcoma in the United States as it is in Europe, according to research presented by Voss et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference...
An observational study of 10,592 patients from the National Cancer Database with stage IIB/IIC melanoma who had undergone surgical resection demonstrated a significant survival advantage with immunotherapy. The research was presented by Wong et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021...
In a study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Emily S. Lau, MD, and colleagues found that the presence of cardiovascular disease risk factors was significantly associated with an increased risk of future cancer, although no increased risk was observed among individuals who had a history of...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Akushevich et al found that receipt of chemotherapy was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease in colorectal cancer survivors. As stated by the investigators, “Evidence on the nature of the relationship between...
Vaccinating adults aged 26 and older against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may not be cost-effective, according to a new study published by Kim et al in PLOS Medicine. “Our study found that the added health benefit of increasing the vaccination age limit beyond 26 years is minimal, and that the...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Wang et al found persistent use of low-value breast cancer surgeries designated for deimplementation by the Choosing Wisely program, with a wide interfacility variation in use of these procedures. Study Details The study used National Cancer ...
Newly issued mammography screening guidelines for breast cancer survivors aged 75 and older recommend discontinuing routine mammography for those with a life expectancy of less than 5 years and considering discontinuation of routine screening for those with a life expectancy between 5 and 10 years. ...
A survey of more than 6,500 U.S. patients with blood cancer and survivors revealed that only half are very likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine, while one in three is either unlikely or unsure about it. The nationwide survey was a collaboration between The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), Boston...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Lalani et al found that higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with better overall survival among patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma receiving anti–PD-1/PD-L1–based immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. No association of...
In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Schaik et al found that significant weight gain and being overweight and/or obese are common in childhood brain tumor survivors and may be associated with hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. Study Details The study involved data...
New data from the prospective Neoadjuvant Breast Symphony Trial (NBRST), which demonstrated the predictive and prognostic abilities of the MammaPrint and BluePrint assays and underpinned their preoperative utility in pre-and postmenopausal patients with breast cancer, were presented at PER’s Miami...
In an Italian study reported in Leukemia, Mauro et al found that only a small minority of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) developed an adequate immune response to pneumococcal vaccination, with response being more likely in patients who were younger, had previously untreated and...
In an analysis from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, and colleagues found that adoption of risk-adapted therapy in the 1990s was associated with reduced risk of serious chronic health conditions in pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma...
A recent ASCO guideline update, prompted by data from several phase III randomized controlled trials, summarizes the evidence supporting the best initial treatment options for the management of noncastrate advanced, recurrent, or metastatic prostate cancer. The hope is that the guideline will help...