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. On July 23, 2014, idelalisib (Zydelig) was approved for use in...
The University of Texas System named MD Anderson scientist Lynda Chin, MD, as a recipient of the System’s Chancellor’s Health Fellowship. Dr. Chin, Chair of the Department of Genomic Medicine, was recognized for development of a patient-centric oncology care delivery system initiated in late 2012....
Holy Name Medical Center (HNMC) welcomes gynecologic oncologist, hereditary cancer risk, and women’s health specialists Sharyn N. Lewin, MD, FACS, and Phyllis A. Tarallo, DNP, DCC, both of whom will be members of the Holy Name Physician Network. Holy Name Medical Center is a fully accredited,...
Michael Bookman, MD, of the University of Arizona Cancer Center will join Arizona Oncology, a practice in The US Oncology Network, and serve as Medical Director of the US Oncology Research Gynecology Research Program. In his new role, effective October 6, 2014, Dr. Bookman will use his extensive...
Activating the immune system for therapeutic benefit in cancer patients has long been a goal in the scientific community. After decades of disappointment, this intriguing approach has come to the forefront of cancer research, showing promising results in several malignancies. To keep abreast of...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has named Angelita Habr-Gama, MD, PhD, as the 2014 Honorary Member, the Society’s highest honor. Dr. Habr-Gama is Professor of Surgery at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine and Staff Surgeon of Coloproctological Surgery at Hospital...
Life: Magnified is an exhibit of scientific images showing cells and other scenes of life magnified by as much as 50,000 times. The exhibit is on display at Washington Dulles International Airport’s Gateway Gallery from June through November 2014. A Web companion is available through NIH here...
Advances in molecular testing mean that highly specific information can be detailed about the molecular characteristics of a patient’s tumor, as well as indications of potential responsiveness to targeted therapy. But getting those detailed results from the pathologists can be a challenge to many...
For specific diseases, many physicians tend to recommend interventions and therapies with which they are most comfortable and familiar. It is not surprising that urologists and radiation oncologists did so in the study reported by Hoffman and colleagues in JAMA Internal Medicine and reviewed in...
Active surveillance is well established as an appropriate management option for men with low-risk prostate cancer and particularly for those over 65 years of age. Its legitimacy is now enshrined within National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, in the American Society for Radiation Oncology...
Most older men with low-risk prostate cancer receive upfront treatment, despite the absence of a clear survival benefit and potential for morbidity. In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Karen E. Hoffman, MD, MHSc, MPH, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer...
A number of microsized technologies, such as nanopores and microfluidics, are among the approaches researchers will use to develop high-quality, low-cost DNA sequencing technology through new grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grants, which total approximately $14.5 million to ...
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” —Galileo Galilei There are several “truths” in breast oncology that have been discovered over the years, become widely understood, and changed the way we practice. Prospective randomized studies have...
Elevated circulating tumor cells are associated with poor prognosis in metastatic breast cancer. In a phase III trial (Southwest Oncology Group [SWOG] S0500) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jeffrey B. Smerage, MD, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of...
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its policies and procedures. In this installment, FDA oncologists Sean Khozin, MD, MPH, and Dikran Kazandjian, MD, discuss anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non–small cell...
In the 50 years since the American Society of Clinical Oncology was founded, the treatment of cancer has advanced dramatically, due to the work of researchers making important scientific breakthroughs, physicians responsible for delivering those advances to patients, and countless others who...
The ASCO Answers guides to breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers are designed to help patients newly diagnosed with these cancers understand their diagnosis and the treatment options. These comprehensive, patient-friendly booklets contain trusted information about the diagnosis, treatment, ...
This year, major provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 are being implemented, with far-reaching impacts on health-care providers and patients. In addition to implementing requirements under the new law, oncology practices are treating considerably more patients with...
On July 3, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rules for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System for 2015. The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule, which is titled “Medicare Program: Revisions to...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) as a pathway for oncologists to meet the agency’s quality reporting requirements. Starting in the fall of 2014, oncology practices registered with QOPI will have the opportunity to...
Gary H. Lyman, MD, MPH, FASCO, is Co-Director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research, a Full Member of the Divisions of Public Health Sciences and Clinical Research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Pharmacy at the...
One of the most important cancer survivorship issues is the transition from oncologist to the primary care setting. With a growing population of cancer survivors, patients need to feel secure about their primary care provider having the tools to address their special needs. To shed light on this...
The Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ) has recognized Veena Shankaran, MD, a Medical Oncologist and Health Economist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, as one of 40 individuals under age 40 who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership within their field. Dr. Shankaran will accept the...
The most recent ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline update—summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—represents the latest chapter in the ongoing evolution of adjuvant endocrine therapy for hormone-sensitive breast cancer.1 Rather than including a comprehensive review of the 2010 guidelines, this...
ASCO has released a focused update of its clinical practice guideline on adjuvant endocrine therapy in women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer.1 The focused update, formulated by Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues in the ASCO Update...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy for the treatment of women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. “The majority of women with ovarian...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy in the treatment of women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The designation of Priority...
A large DNA analysis of people with and without pancreatic cancer has identified several new genetic markers that signal increased risk of developing the disease, report scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions worldwide. The markers are variations in the inherited DNA...
Over the past several decades, the role of postchemotherapy surgery for advanced testicular cancer has evolved with regard to patient selection, surgical planning, lymph node dissection, and surgical technique. To add clarity to this complex clinical setting, The ASCO Post recently spoke with...
Recommendations from the United States Preventive Services Task Force and randomized trials have drawn attention to overtreatment of localized, low-risk prostate cancer. PSA screening and changing consensus on PSA testing practices are among the many factors that contribute to the overdiagnosis and ...
The androgen receptor axis is a validated target for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Several perturbations in this pathway are postulated to lead to androgen-independent growth, including androgen receptor mutation and amplification as well as the autocrine production of...
The androgen-receptor inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) has been shown to prolong survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer with progressive disease after chemotherapy. In the phase III PREVAIL trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tomasz M. Beer, MD, of...
The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene is often amplified and its protein overexpressed in upper gastrointestinal cancers—and overexpression has prognostic value. With the advent of monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors against EGFR, we have witnessed a rash of randomized...
In what may be the first randomized trial of systemic therapy in this setting, Susan J. Dutton, MSc, of University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and colleagues evaluated the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib vs placebo in patients with esophageal cancer...
Recent developments in supportive care for children with cancer can be broken down into three categories: doing the simple things well, applying evidence-based medicine to daily practice, and extending the benefits to everyone, according to Scott C. Howard, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research...
For the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, NEPA, a novel combination of a neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonist and the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist palonosetron (Aloxi), has been studied in three pivotal trials that were recently published in the Annals of Oncology.1-3 Further...
The Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) has awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership status to Hans-Jürg Senn, MD, based on his commitment, vision, and extraordinary service to the Society and its publication Supportive Care in Cancer, according to Society News, the MASCC...
Chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer requires intensive supportive care by a knowledgeable and proactive multidisciplinary team, according to Avraham Eisbruch, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “Aggressive chemoradiotherapy has improved the cure...
A spectacular parade of nations from 90 countries led by the Emerald Society Pipes and Drums from the New York City Police Department opened the 5th World Congress of the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies (IFHNOS) on July 27 in New York City. The 4-day event was held in...
Triple-negative breast cancer is now recognized as a very complex subtype for which one treatment will not be applicable to all, according to Mohammad Jahanzeb, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Miami and Director of the UM Sylvester Deerfield Campus, who gave an update on...
Rational strategies informed by knowledge of a drug’s molecular mechanisms are helping to bring new combinations of lymphoma therapies to the clinic, according to Anas Younes, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The Challenge of Too Many Drugs...
Having attended ASCO Annual Meetings for almost 40 years, I believe that this year’s 50th anniversary celebration was one of the best ever. In many of the presentations and discussions, I experienced a sense of reality about the true state of cancer management that in previous years has sometimes...
In the past few months, numerous presentations from this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting have been covered in depth in the pages of The ASCO Post and online at ASCOPost.com. The brief summaries below capture additional important highlights that have not been covered thus far. We hope you will find them...
Federico Cappuzzo, MD, Director of the Medical Oncology Department at Istituto Toscano Tumori, Ospedale Civile, Livorno, Italy, pointed out that the abstracts presented by Spigel et al and Camidge et al at the ASCO Annual Meeting explored the same target but with different results. The first...
Two different abstracts explored the potential for MET as a therapeutic target in patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with different results. A phase III study found that onartuzumab, an antibody that targets the MET receptor, combined with erlotinib (Tarceva) was not as...
The potential of individualizing systemic treatment based on BRCA1/2 status has not yet been realized. BRCA1/2 germline status currently does not factor into systemic therapy decisions,” said Melinda L. Telli, MD, of Standard University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, who discussed the...
Studies in triple-negative breast cancer presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting sought to determine predictors of response to platinum agents. One identified a subset of responders to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but prediction proved more elusive in metastatic disease. Neoadjuvant Carboplatin The...
In her discussion of the renal cell carcinoma studies at the ASCO Annual Meeting, Lauren C. Harshman, MD, Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, suggested, “Given the plateau in efficacy with current treatments, there is space and need for agents with new...
Renal cell carcinoma can be added to the growing list of tumors that respond to programmed death (PD)-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to the results of the CheckMate trials, presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. The phase II CheckMate-010 trial evaluated three doses of nivolumab as a ...
The workforce numbers show a disturbing trend. According to a recent study by ASCO, by 2025, overall demand for oncology services is projected to grow by 40%, but physician supply is predicted to increase by only 25%, generating a shortage of 2,258 oncologists providing full-time equivalent...