In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, researchers working collectively as the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Collaborators identified cancer incidence and mortality rates in 2019 among individual aged 15 to 39 years globally and according to country...
Although there is a biomarker that predicts response to the one approved immunotherapy agent for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, “it is important to note there are no biomarkers of response to neoadjuvant immunotherapy in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer,” Elizabeth A....
The POLARIX study found patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) had a significantly higher likelihood of survival without disease progression 2 years after receiving a new drug combination known as pola-R-CHP (polatuzumab vedotin-piiq with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and...
In the primary analysis of the phase III ZUMA-7 trial, the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel led to a fourfold increase in event-free survival over the standard of care in the second-line treatment of relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, according to...
In separate analyses of 257 patients with acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who developed COVID-19 and are part of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) RC COVID-19 Registry for Hematology, both neutropenia and having active MDS or leukemia (vs being in remission) were found to...
Oncologists and health-care professionals who treat patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are missing important opportunities to have end-of-life discussions at earlier stages in the disease course, when patients are best able to discuss their options and preferences. These findings...
According to a German study by Rotterdam et al presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 218), about 15% of people with blood cancers and other blood disorders had no vaccination-related antibodies after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine....
In one of the largest studies to date of the antibody response to vaccination against COVID-19 in people who had been treated for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), patients responded well to two doses of the Moderna mRNA vaccine and saw a pronounced increase in levels ...
A study of U.S. adolescent and young adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) found that Hispanic patients were significantly underrepresented in a large clinical trial compared with the general patient population. The study, presented by Muffly et al at the 2021 American Society of...
A study of nearly 25,000 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) aged up to 30 years old revealed significant gaps in survival rates between White, Hispanic, and Black patients, as well as worse outcomes among those of lower socioeconomic status. Biologic or genetic factors accounted for...
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...
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...
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...
A little after noon on December 23, 1971, President Richard Nixon entered the White House state dining room. Before 137 esteemed guests from government, science, and industry, he signed the landmark National Cancer Act. It was, in short, a national commitment to conquer cancer. President Nixon...
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...
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 this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with bone marrow transplant expert Mammen Chandy, MD, FRACP, FRACPA, Director of Tata Medical Center, in Kolkata, India. Dr. Chandy was instrumental in establishing the first sustained bone marrow...
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)...
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...
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan honored recipients of the 2021 King Hussein Award for Cancer Research during ceremony held on November 14 by the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF). The event was conducted under the patronage of Their Majesties King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al...
Lung health in adults has traditionally been defined as the absence of disease, but it may be time to rethink this paradigm, according to Ravi Kalhan, MD, MS, Director of the Northwestern Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of...
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 ...
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...
Guest Editor’s Note: With the easing of some COVID-19 restrictions, the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) held its 2021 international conference in a hybrid format. It focused on the science of living well with cancer, challenges in designing integrative oncology research, and the role of...
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...
Although enormous progress over the past 50 years in every aspect of cancer care, including prevention, screening, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, surgery, radiation therapy, and supportive care, has resulted in increases in lives saved—from 3 million in 1971 to 16.9 million in 2019—the burden of...
A next-generation technology that allows the study of protein expression at the single-cell level and the location of the cells within the tumor microenvironment was feasible and provided information on the benefit of adding the immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab to chemotherapy as...
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...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gibson et al identified significant associations of donor clonal hematopoiesis with outcomes in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT). As stated by the investigators, “Clonal hematopoiesis can be...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized the treatment of metastatic melanoma, but a significant number of patients still fail to respond to anti–PD-1 therapy. The novel combination of sotigalimab, an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody, and the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab could help address this...
A novel vaccine platform administered in combination with pembrolizumab appears to be safe and effective in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to data presented by Mark Yarchoan, MD, and colleagues at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2021 Annual Meeting...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Montminy et al found that the incidence of colorectal adenocarcinoma in people aged 40 to 49 years in the United States has increased in White individuals and remained stable in Black individuals between 2000 and 2017, with incidence rates being equivalent...
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...
Invited discussant of the phase III DREAMseq trial, Keith T. Flaherty, MD, said the findings still leave room for nuanced decision-making.1 Dr. Flaherty is Professor of Medicine at Harvard and Director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy at the Massachusetts General...
Significant decreases in computed tomography (CT) imaging for cancer persisted even after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020—delaying diagnosis and treatment and raising the possibility of more advanced cancers and poorer outcomes for patients, according to a study presented at the...
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...
Longer-term follow-up of the global phase III monarchE trial showed an increasing benefit for adding abemaciclib to endocrine therapy in the adjuvant treatment of early high-risk hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, regardless of Ki67 index. The latest findings were reported at a ...
New research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that treatment with antihistamines was associated with improved responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors. The preclinical study, published by Li et al in Cancer Cell, demonstrated that the histamine receptor H1 (HRH1) acts...
A diagnosis of prostate cancer may translate to approximately a 30% increase in the incidence of depression and anxiety, a fourfold higher risk of heart attack, and a twofold higher risk of suicide. A study published by Kaushik et al in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases aimed to evaluate the...
On November 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pafolacianine (Cytalux), a targeted fluorescent imaging agent intended to assist surgeons in identifying ovarian cancer lesions. The drug, which is indicated for use in adult patients with ovarian cancer and is administered in the ...
Moles and melanomas both originate from the same type of cell—melanocytes. A study published by McNeal et al in eLife Magazine aimed to explain how common moles and melanomas form and why moles can subsequently change into melanoma. Melanocytes are cells that give color to the skin to protect it...
In a prospective cohort study (CEASAR) reported in JAMA Oncology, Wallis et al found that patient expectations of treatment efficacy and adverse effects were associated with treatment-related regret at 5 years after diagnosis in men with localized prostate cancer. As stated by the investigators,...
On November 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the antiviral maribavir (Livtencity) for adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older (and weighing at least 35 kg) with posttransplant cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection or disease that is not responsive (with or without...
In a single-institution study reported in Cancer, Bei Hu, MD, of the Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Levine Cancer Institute/Atrium Health in Charlotte, and colleagues found that use of a dedicated nurse navigation program contributed to redressing the recognized inequities...