The optimal use of bevacizumab (Avastin) in ovarian cancer appears to be in high-risk subgroups and in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, according to results of two phase III trials presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC) in Amsterdam. AURELIA investigated the safety and ...
Formal discussant of the TRINOVA-1 presentation, Antonio Casado, MD, Hospital Universitario San Carlos, Madrid, said that the study showed a clinically meaningful benefit with the addition of trebananib in this pretreated group of patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. Also, the drug...
Trebananib, an investigational antiangiogenesis inhibitor with a different mechanism of action than bevacizumab (Avastin), significantly improved progression-free survival in recurrent platinum-resistant and partially platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer in the phase III TRINOVA-1 trial. The addition...
Press conference moderator Cora N. Sternberg, MD, Chief of Medical Oncology at San Camillo and Forlanini Hospitals, Rome, called the 2- to 3-month improvement in overall survival “worthwhile, and clinically meaningful.” She said this should be viewed in the context of manageable toxicity....
The investigational oral vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor cediranib extended progression-free survival when given with platinum-based chemotherapy and improved overall survival when given as maintenance therapy in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. Experts are hopeful that...
Formal discussant Clifford Hudis, MD, ASCO President and Chief of the Breast Cancer Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, commented that the findings were not surprising. “The results of TH3RESA nicely reflect the EMILIA trial and are consistent with those of anti-HER2...
Results of the phase III TH3RESA trial show that the antibody-conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla), formerly known as T-DM1, extends progression-free survival in women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer that progressed on two or more previous HER2-directed therapies including...
Since its introduction, the positron-emission tomography (PET) scan has shown great potential to improve our ability to care for patients with lymphoma. By demonstrating which masses seen on a computed tomography (CT) scan represent viable tumor, and by identifying viable tumor in places that were...
In September, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies issued its report, Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis,1 published more than a decade after its first study on the quality of cancer care in the United States. The authors of the...
In the treatment of metastatic or locally advanced unresectable melanoma, the anti–CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) conveys long-term survival benefits, with some patients alive out to 10 years, according to the largest survival analysis of the immunomodulating agent, presented at the ...
Analysis of data from 58,172 patients identified from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries as having stage I or II endometrial adenocarcinoma found that pelvic radiotherapy and lymphadenectomy were associated with statistically significantly reduced noncancer mortality,...
Only nodal status and tumor size provided statistically significant prognostic information for predicting recurrences 5 to 10 years after diagnosis for postmenopausal women with early estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer enrolled in the monotherapy arms of the ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone...
The percentage of American adults aged 50 to 75 who are up-to-date with recommended screening for colorectal cancer “increased from 54% in 2002 to 65% in 2010, primarily driven by increased use of colonoscopy,” according to data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey....
I was diagnosed with stage IVB squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue in 2007, when I was just 33 years old, but the cancer had started to show itself long before then. I first noticed a white dot on the left side of my tongue in 2002, and as time went on, the sore became annoying and hurt when it...
A new report recently released and supported by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) details the crippling effects of sequestration on programs that rely on discretionary federal funding, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In “Faces of Austerity: How Budget Cuts Have Made Us...
Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy “is an important strategy for reducing both breast and gynecologic cancer risk for women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations and is proven to improve life expectancy,” Noah D. Kauff, MD, told The ASCO Post. Questions persist, however, about whether women undergoing...
For women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations who choose to have salpingo-oophorectomy to reduce their risks of ovarian and breast cancer, also choosing to have a hysterectomy is “reasonable but not required,” noted Noah D. Kauff, MD, Director of the Ovarian Cancer Screening and Prevention Program and...
Recent years have witnessed much heated debate about the benefits of breast cancer screening and optimal screening strategies. Unlike with mammography, no randomized data are available to determine whether screening with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reduces mortality from breast cancer....
Annual screening for breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been found to be cost-effective in women aged 30 to 60 years who are BRCA1 or BRCA2 carriers or who have a 50% chance of being a carrier, and such screening is recommended in these women by many authorities. It is unclear...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Moschetta and colleagues characterized the involvement of the cMet oncogene in drug resistance and the activity of a novel selective inhibitor of cMET/phospho-cMET (SU11274) in multiple myeloma cells sensitive (RPMI-8226 and MM.1S) and resistant (R5...
Formal discussant of the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group (DAHANCA) 19 trial at the European Cancer Congress, Daniel Zips, MD, University Hospital for Radiation Oncology, Tübingen, Germany, said that the DAHANCA trial program is impressive and conducted with stringent quality assurance....
The addition of zalutumumab, an investigational epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, to primary chemoradiotherapy did not increase locoregional control or improve survival at 3 years in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck compared with chemoradiotherapy alone,...
Five recent articles in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery1-5 span a spectrum of issues related to head and neck cancers. These include risk factors, concentration of care to teaching hospitals, avoiding venous thromboembolism, and encouraging patients to eat and do swallowing exercises to ...
December Sixth AACR International Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically UnderservedDecember 6-9 • Atlanta, GeorgiaFor more information: www.aacr.org 55th ASH Annual MeetingDecember 7-10 • New Orleans, LouisianaFor more information:...
Quality measurement—how we assess cost and effectiveness of cancer care—cannot be separated from policy decisions that have a profound influence on the overall health-care system. At the recent ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Jennifer L. Malin, MD, PhD, Medical Director for Oncology at WellPoint, Inc, ...
Max S. Wicha, MD, has announced he will step down as Director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center where he has served for the past 27 years. Dr. Wicha founded University of Michigan’s Cancer Center in 1986 and shepherded it to its first National Cancer Institute Cancer Center ...
In an editorial accompanying the article by Boughey et al, Monica Morrow, MD, and Chau T. Dang, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, question whether sentinel lymph node biopsy can be considered a part of standard management in patients with initial clinically node-positive...
Sentinel lymph node surgery provides reliable nodal staging information and is associated with less morbidity than axillary lymph node dissection in patients with clinically node-negative (cN0) breast cancer. The American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z1071 (Alliance) trial examined...
According to data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) and the U.S. Census Bureau registries,1 there are currently about 13.7 million cancer survivors in the United States, and that number is projected to grow to 18 million by 2022. In addition, 64% of this population ...
NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center has opened its new Irving Radiation Oncology Center, part of the medical center’s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. The 12,500-square-foot facility provides precision radiation therapies and advanced diagnostic imaging for children...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Ocular Melanoma Foundation (OMF) are pleased to announce a new partnership to provide a grant opportunity for researchers focused on ocular melanoma, which is diagnosed in approximately 2,000 adults in the United States each year....
The adjuvant use of bisphosphonates in breast cancer continues to yield seemingly contradictory data despite a sound biologic basis and smaller pilot studies suggesting that dampening bone turnover with bisphosphonates can lessen the bone reservoir of micrometastases.1,2 Early adjuvant trials with...
The effect of bisphosphonate treatment in early breast cancer is controversial, with some data indicating survival benefit in the adjuvant setting. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (German Adjuvant Intergroup Node-Positive Study, GAIN), Gunter von Minckwitz, MD, PhD, Chairman ...
Peter R. Dottino, MD, has been appointed Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. He also holds an appointment as Associate Clinical Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine ...
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) has announced the appointment of Jesus Esquivel, MD, as the National Director of Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC). In this position Dr. Esquivel will oversee the organization’s national HIPEC research. Dr. Esquivel’s past experience...
In their retrospective analysis of German High-Grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Held and colleagues assessed the effects of rituximab (Rituxan) and radiotherapy in patients with aggressive B-cell...
In a retrospective analysis of German High-Grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gerhard Held, MD, of Saarland University Medical School in Homburg, and colleagues assessed the impact of rituximab (Rituxan) and radiotherapy on outcome in...
ASCO has announced that Amy P. Abernethy, MD, PhD, FACP, has agreed to chair a new CancerLinQ™ Advisory Committee within the Institute for Quality, an ASCO affiliate dedicated to innovative quality improvement programs, that will guide this multiphase effort. The advisory committee consists of...
ASCO recently announced that it has initiated development of the full CancerLinQ™ system, a groundbreaking health information technology (HIT) initiative to achieve higher-quality, higher-value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. The announcement was made at a White House Office of...
Ernst Lengyel, MD, PhD, was recently named Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago. He succeeds Arthur Haney, MD, who served as Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology since April 2003. Under the leadership of Dr. Haney, the Department...
Oncologists are getting a handle on BRCA1/2 in breast cancer, becoming more adept at treating and counseling patients with these mutations. But the BRCA mutation is only one example of a host of genetic variations that can increase breast cancer risk, according to James M. Ford, MD, Associate...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On November 1, 2013, obinutuzumab (Gazyva) was approved...
On www.cancer.net/videos, your patients can view ASCO members discussing many different cancer topics. By using the drop-down menu on that page, patients can choose from several categories of videos. Topics include the basics of cancer care, tests and treatments, side effects, and survivorship....
ASCO and its affiliate, the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program (QCP™), have announced that more than 200 practices have received certification. Since its start in 2010, the QOPI Certification Program has evaluated individual outpatient oncology practice performance...
On August 1 of this year, requirements of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, or Open Payments, went into effect. The legislation, passed as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was designed to create greater transparency around financial relationships between physicians,...
Conquering cancer requires the commitment, talent, and resources of all members of our community. It requires the innovation of researchers and the insight of clinicians, the courage of our worldwide community of patients and survivors, and it requires the generosity of everyone who believes in a...
Lynne Blasi, Director, Patient Education and Advocacy, ASCO Why do you choose to support the Conquer Cancer Foundation? I support the Conquer Cancer Foundation because of the tremendous impact it has across so many vital areas. From funding grants for young researchers with innovative ideas,...
Lawrence C. Brody, PhD, has been selected to be the first Director of the newly established Division of Genomics and Society at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Dr. Brody, a genetics and genomics researcher, is currently Chief of the Genome Technology Branch within NHGRI’s...
Seven years ago, Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD, coined the term “oncofertility” to describe the melding of two medical specialties, oncology and reproductive endocrinology, with the goal of maximizing the reproductive potential of patients with cancer. Today, with Dr. Woodruff’s establishment of the...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for ofatumumab (Arzerra) in combination with chlorambucil (Leukeran) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have not received prior treatment and are inappropriate for...