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Showing 2701 - 2750For Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients, It Ain’t Over
With less than 10,000 patients diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma each year and a cure rate of approximately 75% to 80%, drug development for this disease was never a priority for pharmaceutical companies. So when the antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) was approved by the U.S. Food ...
Targeting Biliary Tract Cancers Through Genomic Profiling
Biliary tract cancers are challenging, but a large genomic profiling study has identified potentially clinically relevant genomic alterations in up to two-thirds of patients.1 “The diverse landscape of clinically relevant genomic alterations in biliary tract cancers can serve as targets for...
Big Data and the Promise of Precision Medicine in Cancer
Precision medicine—and its promise to revolutionize how we understand disease and care for our patients—is a concept that oncology has understood and embraced for well over a decade. But millions of Americans recently heard about the concept for the first time when President Obama announced a...
Nearly Half of Women Taking Tamoxifen for Primary Prevention Discontinue Its Use Before 5 Years
After 4.5 years of taking tamoxifen for primary prevention of breast cancer, 46% of women discontinued its use, according to research conducted within the Sister Study, a prospective cohort of women who had a sister diagnosed with breast cancer but did not have breast cancer themselves. Eligible...
Caregivers May Want to Know About a Patient’s Impending Death but May Be Afraid to Ask
The likelihood of impending death of patients with advanced cancer “is one of those questions that many people want to know about, but they are too afraid to ask,” David Hui, MD, MSc, said in an interview with The ASCO Post. Dr. Hui is lead author of a study, published in Cancer, on clinical signs...
Ongoing Controversies in Allocating Our Health‑Care Resources
Disparities of care that result in poorer outcomes among certain populations have long been an issue addressed by the cancer community and its major organizations such as ASCO. While ethnicity and race play key roles in this ongoing debate over equitable allocation of our precious health-care...
Antiangiogenesis Plus Chemotherapy Pursued in Advanced Bladder Cancer
Two separate phase II studies lend support to the concept of antiangiogenesis in advanced bladder cancer. The combination of an antiangiogenic agent and chemotherapy may fulfill an unmet need in this disease, the studies suggest. Both studies were presented at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers...
Our Aging Population: Challenges in Caring for Older Patients With Cancer
Managing older-aged cancer patients represents one of the major challenges to our health-care system. Caring for older cancer patients, with their frequent multiple morbidities and a variable health status, requires special integration of an oncologic and geriatric approach. Moreover, our aging...
Shining a Spotlight on Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma
In the winter of 2013, my son, Dmitriy, now 26, had a cough that wouldn’t go away. After several rounds of antibiotics failed to halt the persistent problem, a pulmonologist we consulted ordered a chest x-ray, which showed a large tumor lodged between Dmitriy’s lungs. Although the doctor said the...
A Surgeon Cuts to the Chase
BookmarkTitle: The Cost of Cutting: A Surgeon Reveals the Truth Behind a Multibillion-Dollar IndustryAuthor: Paul A. Ruggieri, MDPublisher: Berkley BooksPublication date: September 2014Price: $16.00; paperback, 320 pages The woman seated on the exam table was lean and fit and seemed perfectly at...
The Ongoing Struggle Against Tobacco: Past Accomplishments, Future Steps
In 1913, 10 doctors and 5 laypersons in New York founded the American Cancer Society (ACS). At that time, a cancer diagnosis was almost always fatal and was rarely discussed in public. The Society’s original charter was to raise awareness about cancer, and although that mission has remained firm,...
Why Just Having ‘Good’ Communication Skills Is Not Enough for Talking With Seriously Ill Patients
In the Institute of Medicine’s 2014 report Dying in America,1 the report’s authors found that while frequent clinician-patient conversations about end-of-life care, goals, and preferences are necessary to avoid unwanted treatment, most patients do not have those conversations with their physicians. ...
Current Progress Against Cancer and What Lies Ahead in the Next Decade
In January, ASCO released its report, Clinical Cancer Advances 2015: An Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer,1 which details research advances over the past decade that have led to longer survival and better quality of life for the more than half-a-million people diagnosed with cancer each...
Too Early to Use Genome Sequencing for Breast Cancers in the Clinic
The role of next-generation sequencing (high-throughput technologies that allow DNA and RNA to be analyzed more quickly and inexpensively than earlier techniques) in breast cancer remains unclear and at present is primarily a research tool. Therefore, clinicians should be cautious in using genetic...
Clinical Trial Participation: ‘Is It All Worth It?’
Clinical trials have become increasingly complex over the past several years, and unfortunately, this has resulted in the typical scenario described below. We are fortunate that there are so many promising agents available for patients, and we want to encourage their participation in clinical...
Scalp Cooling Caps Offer Option to Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy
Hair loss remains one of the most dreaded side effects of chemotherapy, particularly for women. Scalp cooling caps worn by patients during chemotherapy infusion and for brief periods of time before and after offer these patients an option to preserve 50% or more of the hair on their heads. Although ...
Too Young to Have Cancer
The first inkling I had that something could be seriously wrong occurred just over a year ago, when I was suddenly inflicted with such severe heartburn it kept me awake at night. Prescriptions from my doctor for ranitidine (Zantac) and meloxicam (Mobic) not only failed to tamp down the fiery pain,...
20 Years of NCCN: The Best Is Yet to Come
As the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) celebrates its 20th year, The ASCO Post asked its Chief Executive Officer, Robert W. Carlson, MD, to reflect on the organization’s accomplishments, mission, and future and on the role he may have played in its success. The Early Years You became...
How the International Innovation Grant Is Improving Cancer Care for Women in Myanmar
In 2014, the Conquer Cancer Foundation awarded four inaugural International Innovation Grants to aid novel research projects in Colombia, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The program, which supports a 1-year research grant of up to $20,000 to a nonprofit organization or governmental agency in a low- ...
Heal Thy Patient … Reflections on the Human Side of Medicine
The first time I met Mrs. X and her husband was to discuss the surgical treatment options for pancreatic cancer. She had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at her local hospital and was being referred to a tertiary care center for operative management. Mrs. X and her husband were no...
Cancer Has Left an Indelible Mark on Me
Even though today I’m cancer-free, the experience of getting a cancer diagnosis and going through treatment leaves an indelible mark on your psyche—as well as your body—that time doesn’t erase. Once you have cancer, you become a cancer survivor, and that status doesn’t change. I’ve known many...
Researchers Discuss Pilot Study on Hallucinogenic Therapies for Cancer Anxiety
Although varying levels of existential distress are near-ubiquitous among patients with cancer, evidence-based interventions in this clinical area remain somewhat elusive. Seeking to explore novel approaches in the palliative care environment, New York University (NYU) School of Medicine principal...
Childhood Cancers: Significant Medical Success but Many Psychosocial Needs Still Unmet
Treatment of childhood cancer is remarkably successful, but still, 2,000 children die of it each year, and for some forms of the disease, no progress has been made at all, said Otis Brawley, MD, Chief Medical Officer, American Cancer Society (ACS). “At least half of all pediatric cancer survivors...
Informing Decision-Making About Mammography Screening
Overdiagnosis associated with breast cancer screening has been the subject of much attention in recent years. The notion that cancer screening—largely believed to be beneficial—could actually be harmful is simultaneously fascinating and difficult to believe. With the publication of multiple studies ...
NCCN Posters of Interest Included Studies in Kidney, Breast, and Endometrial Cancers, Melanoma, and Cost Issues
The quality and quantity of original research presented at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference continue to grow since poster sessions debuted a few years ago. The ASCO Post offers summaries for just a few that caught our eye, out of more than 65 presented this year....
After Decades of Uncertainty, the Sustainable Growth Rate Formula Is Repealed by Congress
The U.S. Congress recently did something remarkable: both parties reached across the aisle and overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2, a bill that will permanently repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR), the problematic formula for Medicare reimbursement. It just needed the President’s signature, which it...
p53 Takes Center Stage
BOOKMARKTitle: p53: The Gene That Cracked the Cancer CodeAuthor: Sue ArmstrongPublisher: Bloomsbury PublishingPublication date: November 20, 2014Price: $19.98; hardcover, 288 pages Completed in April 2003, the Human Genome Project was one of the greatest feats of scientific exploration, an inward ...
Prior Cancer Does Not Affect Outcomes Among Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer, Suggesting They Be Included in Clinical Trials
Analysis of data from 102,929 patients with stage IV lung cancer found that “prior cancer does not convey an adverse effect on clinical outcomes, regardless of prior cancer stage, type, or timing.” Based on these findings, investigators from the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, University of Texas...
Remembering Mark R. Green, MD, a Leader in Lung Cancer Research and Treatment
Few people have impacted cancer clinical research in the past quarter century as much as Mark Green. His expertise in lung cancer and clinical trial design led to the successful completion of seminal studies combining radiation and chemotherapy that forever changed the management of patients with...
Remembering Multiple Myeloma Patient Advocate Michael S. Katz, MBA
I first met Michael Katz, MBA, in 2004, 3 years after my brother, Dom, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and we were at a crossroads in his care and needed advice. Although an experimental regimen of thalidomide (Thalomid) and dexamethasone had successfully put Dom in remission for a year (the...
The Paradox of Positive Thinking
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Living With a Rare Cancer—My Dr. Seuss World
No one ever expects to hear the words “you have cancer,” but over the course of the day, over 5,000 people in the United States are given that news.1 I first heard those words in the summer of 2007 and have been living with cancer ever since. At the time of my diagnosis, I knew this would forever...
Sarcoma of the Arm, Circa 1874
The text and photographs on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology Tumors & Treatment: A Photographic History, by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS. The photos below are from the volume titled “The Anesthesia Era: 1845–1875.” To view additional photos from this...
Optimizing Treatment for Small, Lymph Node–Negative, HER2-Overexpressing Breast Cancers
Large, randomized phase III clinical trials showed that the addition of HER2-targeted therapy to chemotherapy for patients with early-stage, HER2-overexpressing breast cancers substantially decreased the risk of recurrence and improved survival. The chemotherapy given in these trials varied, but it ...
Increased Risk of Secondary Bone Marrow Neoplasia After Adjuvant Breast Cancer Treatment: Risk/Benefit Analysis and Biologic Insights
Ever since the early application of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer decades ago, it has been recognized that there is always a price to pay for its success in reducing breast cancer mortality. Most of that “cost” is commonly considered in terms of the potential morbid short- and long-term...
ASCO’s Train the Trainer Program Extends the Reach of Multidisciplinary Cancer Management Education
Multidisciplinary Cancer Management Courses (MCMCs) offered by ASCO International, in collaboration with other organizations, seek to improve cancer care globally through the promotion of interdisciplinary cancer management. Attendees of select MCMCs have the option to attend a 1- to 2-day training ...
Exploring the History and Psychology of Pain: Beyond the Clinical Setting
BOOKMARKTitle: The Story of Pain: From Prayer to PainkillersAuthor: Joanna BourkePublisher: Oxford University PressPublication date: 2014Price: $34.95: hardcover, 416 page “Pain may even kill. It may overwhelm the nervous system by its mere magnitude & duration.” —Peter Mere Latham, 1871...
Will the PVS-RIPO Poliovirus Be a Game Changer in the Treatment of Recurrent Glioblastoma?
Although the idea of using viruses to target cancer cells dates back more than 100 years, technologic advances in the genetic engineering of viruses are now making it possible to safely test oncolytic virotherapy as a valid strategy against cancer cells. One type of genetically engineered virus...
MAINSAIL Trial: Worse Outcomes With Addition of Lenalidomide to Docetaxel-Prednisone in Prostate Cancer
The combination of docetaxel plus prednisone has been a standard therapy in advanced prostate cancer since 2004.1 Since then, there have been multiple randomized phase III trials comparing this standard of care with additional drug therapy. None has demonstrated improvement in outcome. Lenalidomide ...
Prostate Cancer Survivorship: Identifying Opportunities for Improvement
Prostate cancer survivors currently approach 3 million in number and comprise 43% of all male cancer survivors in the United States.1 These men face myriad unique oncologic, functional, emotional, and psychological issues that require evaluation and management throughout the survivorship phase of...
Managing Breast Cancer in 2015
Since 1990, we have seen an approximate 35% reduction in breast cancer mortality among women in the United States. Three protagonists can share this clinical success story: prevention, early detection, and better therapies. To shed light on the current state of breast cancer research and therapy,...
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®): 2015 Updates
For 2 decades, the NCCN Guidelines® have been recognized as the standard of cancer care in the United States, combining evidence, experience, and choice, so that multidisciplinary cancer treatment teams—including patients—are empowered to make informed decisions about cancer care,” said Robert W....
A Tribute to James F. Holland, MD, in Celebration of His 90th Birthday
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. —Theodore Roosevelt Longevity, in and of itself, is not an accomplishment. Luck and good genes are just human lottery tickets. Most people fortunate enough to live long lives have a productive sweet ...
After a Long and Distinguished Career, Robert C. Young, MD, Shows No Sign of Slowing Down
Robert C. Young, MD, ASCO Past President, longtime leader of Fox Chase Cancer Center, and an internationally recognized expert in lymphoma and ovarian cancer, is a forward-looking doctor who is confident about something not in his future: retirement. “I’ll never quit working; I’m just not wired...
Wyndham H. Wilson, MD, PhD: Shedding Light on the Complexity of Lymphoma Through a Lifetime of Illuminating Research
Dear Dr. Wilson: I am writing to express our family’s deepest and heartfelt appreciation for the lifesaving care you and your team provided for our son, Patrick…. I don’t know how widely it is known that you save lives at the National Cancer Institute—offering hope to people like Patrick, who have...
Global Leader in Drug Development John L. Marshall, MD, Calls for a Smarter War on Cancer
John L. Marshall, MD, a global leader in the research and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, in a family that put high value on education. As a young boy, science was already on his mind; he enjoyed the explorative nature that chemistry and biology offered....
Nationally Recognized Leader in Myeloid Malignancies, Alan F. List, MD, Has High Hopes for the Future of Oncology
The Tampa Bay area of Florida is a haven for golfers and fishermen looking to unwind under the warm tropical skies. And the clean highways stretching through the scenic west coast of Florida are also a perfect excuse for weekend motorcycle enthusiasts, such as Alan F. List, MD, the President and...
Pioneer in Combination Chemotherapy, Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, Changed the Face of Modern Oncology
As a young boy growing up in the Bronx, Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, admired the local iceman, a thick-muscled guy known as Nunzi, who used to carry a big block of ice on his shoulder with a set of tongs, and effortlessly slide it into the DeVitas’ icebox. “A friend once asked me what I wanted to be...
Bruce A. Chabner, MD, and His Innovative Pharmacology Research Led to the Development of Practice-Changing Therapies
Numerous challenges and milestones mark the course of an oncology career. Community doctors remember special patients, often speaking about a singular bond that is unique among a profession that deals with life and death daily. Researchers recount long hours of seeming futility and then the...
‘Father of Geriatric Oncology’ Lodovico Balducci, MD, Unearthed a New Understanding of Aging’s Effect on Cancer Treatment
At the 2007 ASCO Annual Meeting, Lodovico Balducci, MD, received the inaugural B.J. Kennedy Award and Lecture for Scientific Excellence in Geriatric Oncology. Called the “patriarch of geriatric oncology,” Dr. Balducci is widely known in the oncology community for his warm humor and thick Italian...
