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Showing 29801 - 29850Study Finds Wide Variation in Quality, Content of Clinical Cancer Guidelines
What’s the best way to treat rectal cancer? Consult any of five top clinical guidelines for rectal cancer and you will get a different answer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Their findings were published online in the journal...
HDAC Inhibitors and Triple Therapy in Relapsed Myeloma
The use of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors as human cancer therapy has focused on the impact of these agents on epigenetic regulation and gene transcription. However, the use of HDAC inhibitors in myeloma may be working through a different mechanism. Specifically, HDAC6 is known to regulate...
Adding Pan-Deacetylase Inhibitor Panobinostat to Bortezomib and Dexamethasone Improves Progression-Free Survival in Relapsed Myeloma
In the phase III PANORAMA 1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jesus F. San-Miguel, MD, of Clinica Universidad de Navarra-CIMA, Pamplona, Spain, and colleagues found that adding the pan-deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone improved progression-free...
Cancer-Killing Virus Plus Chemotherapy Studied in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
In 6 out of 10 cases, ovarian cancer is diagnosed when the disease is advanced and 5-year survival is only 27%. A new study suggests that a cancer-killing virus combined with a chemotherapy drug might safely and effectively treat advanced or recurrent forms of the disease. Researchers at The Ohio...
Advancing ASCO’s Commitment to Quality to Ensure That Every Patient Receives the Highest Level of Cancer Care
On December 3, 2014, Robert S. Miller, MD, FACP, FASCO, will start his new position as Medical Director of ASCO’s Institute for Quality (iQ). Established in 2012 to oversee the development of clinical practice guidelines, the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI), the QOPI Certification...
Charting the Successes: CancerProgress.Net Chronicles More Than 50 Years of ASCO and Progress Against Cancer
On this historic year, as ASCO proudly commemorates its 50th anniversary and decades of evolutionary change and growth, it also celebrates the significant progress that has been made against cancer throughout history. ASCO’s anniversary website, CancerProgress.Net, chronicles these achievements and ...
New ASCO Survivorship Care Plan Template Is Simpler, Faster for Health-Care Providers
ASCO has issued a new template for health-care professionals to use when providing a survivorship care plan to patients who have completed curative cancer therapy. The survivorship care plan contains important information about treatment the patient received, the patient’s need for future checkups...
Top 5 Features of ASCO’s Newly Redesigned Patient Education Website Highlighted
ASCO recently launched a new and redesigned version of Cancer.Net, its patient-facing website that includes timely, comprehensive, and oncologist-approved information. With support from the Conquer Cancer Foundation, Cancer.Net is able to bring the expertise and resources of ASCO to your patients...
Why They Voted: Comments From the Oncology Community
1965: MOPP chemotherapy cures Hodgkin lymphoma “This was the clearest proof of concept that cancer was/is curable. It gave great impulse to therapeutic research that ultimately improved outcomes in breast, colon, kidney cancer, the leukemias, and most childhood malignancies.” 2006: HPV vaccine...
ASCO Announces Top 5 Advances in Modern Oncology
To mark ASCO’s 50th anniversary, the Society called on the oncology community to select the five most pivotal advances in cancer research and patient care over the past 50 years. Now, with more than 2,000 votes cast, ASCO has announced the results on CancerProgress.Net, its interactive website on...
Focused Ultrasound, a Young Technology, Begins to Grow
In the United States, it’s been a good 2 years for focused ultrasound. The technology, which uses multiple, intersecting ultrasound beams to treat cancer and other diseases, completed its first successful U.S. phase III oncology trial—to alleviate the pain of bone metastases—and received approval...
With New Innovator Award, Biomedical Engineer to Study How Ovarian Cancer Spreads
With approximately 22,000 diagnoses annually in the United States, ovarian cancer isn’t among the most commonly occurring cancers. Yet, the mortality rate for women who have ovarian cancer hovers above 60%. For Pamela Kreeger, PhD, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Assistant Professor of Biomedical ...
From ‘Clinical Judgment’ to Evidence-Based Medicine: Thoughts on the ASCO/CCO Guideline in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
We are witnessing unprecedented progress in the development of therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued 13 approvals since 1996 for agents that have demonstrated an impact on overall survival, pain, or...
Systemic Therapy in Men With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: ASCO/CCO Clinical Practice Guideline
The ASCO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee and the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) program in evidence-based care have released a clinical practice guideline on systemic therapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The guideline was published in the Journal of Clinical...
Sigmoidoscopy or Colonoscopy for Colorectal Cancer Screening: Is It Still the Question?
Mortality from colorectal cancer remains a public-health concern, being the second leading cause of cancer-related death for men and women combined. The major preventive measure for colorectal cancer is to screen for and remove adenomatous polyps. Average-risk individuals (ie, those who do not have ...
NORCCAP Trial Shows Reduced Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality With Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Screening at 11 Years
The Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Prevention (NORCCAP) trial comparing colorectal cancer screening with flexible sigmoidoscopy vs no screening showed no reduction in colorectal cancer incidence or mortality after 7 years of follow-up. As reported by Øyvind Holme, MD, of Sorlandet Hospital...
New Imaging Technique Identifies Receptors for Targeted Cancer Therapy
Dartmouth researchers have developed a fluorescence imaging technique that can more accurately identify receptors for targeted cancer therapies without a tissue biopsy. They report on their findings in a recently published article in Cancer Research.1 “Protein overexpression is a hallmark of...
The Harvard Global Equity Initiative: From Research to Policy
The Harvard Global Equity Initiative is a research program at Harvard University that is dedicated to promoting equitable global development, with a strong emphasis on health-care issues. This initiative brings together scholars, policymakers, advocates, and practitioners from around the world to...
FDA Grants Orphan Drug Designation to BGB324 for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to BGB324 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). BGB324 is a first-in-class, highly selective small-molecule inhibitor of the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase. It blocks the epithelial-mesenchymal transition...
Power Behind ‘Master’ Gene for Cancer Discovered
A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, led by Mong-Hong Lee, PhD, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, has demonstrated the significance of CSN6 in regulating Myc which may well open up a new pathway for treating and killing tumors. The study results are...
CAR T-Cell Therapy in Cancer: Driving Toward the Clinic
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy represents a novel and promising therapeutic advance in cancer.1,2 It constitutes a form of personalized therapy that harnesses adoptive cell transfer through genetic engineering of autologous T cells. The initial step in this therapeutic paradigm...
CD19-Directed CAR T Cells Produce Sustained Remission in Relapsed/Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Noelle Frey, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues reported achieving sustained remissions in children and adults with...
Patients With Advanced Papillary Kidney Cancer Respond Well to Bevacizumab/Erlotinib Combination Therapy
Researchers have found that patients with an advanced form of kidney cancer, for which there is no standard treatment and a very poor prognosis, respond well to a combination of two existing anticancer drugs. The combination of bevacizumab (Avastin) and erlotinib (Tarceva) produced excellent...
Childhood Obesity and Leukemia: Is It Time to Intervene?
"Obesity is associated with cancer mortality,” said Steven D. Mittelman, MD, PhD, at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.1 Dr. Mittelman presented a wealth of data to explain the link between obesity and...
Assessing the Nature of Unplanned Emergency Cancer Care Situations
Unplanned cancer care—emergency department presentations and other unanticipated events—can result in poor outcomes that are potentially preventable. Suzanne Tamang, PhD, Stanford University, Stanford, California, addressed this important issue in her presentation at this year’s Quality Care...
Expert Point of View: Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH
Formal discussant of the Quality Care Symposium presentation on the impact of tumor boards, Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commended the authors for the collaborative use of data to improve quality of care. “For this study, Dr. Kehl and coauthors leveraged the...
Impact of Tumor Boards on Cancer Care
A large observational study suggested that weekly tumor board participation by oncologists improves survival in advanced lung and colorectal cancers, increases participation in clinical trials, and leads to greater use of guideline-based curative care for early non–small cell lung cancer. This is...
Tumor Board Participation Associated With Improved Survival in Stage IV Lung and Colorectal Cancers
A large, population-based, observational study suggests that participation in weekly tumor boards can improve outcomes in oncologic care. Specifically, oncologist participation in weekly tumor board meetings was associated with improved survival in patients with stage IV small cell lung cancer and...
Having Dependent Children Motivates Parents With Advanced Cancer to Pursue More Aggressive, Life-Extending Treatments
Findings from a pilot study of 42 parents with advanced cancer indicate that parental status is an important factor in treatment decision-making. When asked how having children influences their treatment decisions, the majority of parents (64%) responded that being a parent motivates them to pursue ...
A National Cancer Database and Cancer Care Quality Improvement
At this year’s Quality Care Symposium, Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, Chief of Staff and Director of the Center for Global Cancer Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, looked at the issue of quality infrastructure development through the prism of several tools developed by the American...
Checklists: Simple Tools That Enhance Quality
Evidence indicates that the use of surgical safety checklists results in marked improvements in patient outcomes. Unfortunately, their adoption in the field of medicine has largely been limited to equipment operations or parts of specific treatment algorithms. Yet they have tremendous potential to...
Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy Program Improves Adherence to Hormone Therapy After Breast Cancer Surgery
Findings from a study of more than 23,000 women suggest that the Medicare Part D Extra Help program, which provides low-income subsidies for medications, improves adherence to hormone therapy after breast cancer surgery in all racial/ethnic groups and reduces racial/ethnic disparities. The study,...
ASH Pairs Hematologists From Developing and Developed Nations for Global Training Program
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the 20 hematologists and other medical professionals selected to participate in the 2014 ASH Visitor Training Program. This program provides talented hematologists, scientists, and laboratory staff from developing countries the opportunity ...
ASCO Calls for Major Medicaid Reform to Improve Quality Cancer Care for Low-Income Americans
ASCO issued its new Policy Statement on Medicaid Reform on November 17, which calls for major changes to the program to ensure access to high-quality cancer care for all low-income individuals. The Society’s recommendations call for Medicaid expansion in all 50 states to close coverage gaps,...
Top 5 Breakthroughs in the Treatment of Advanced Lung Cancer
A countdown of the top 5 breakthrough therapies in the treatment of advanced lung cancer was presented by D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, at the 2014 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.1 Dr. Camidge is Director, Thoracic Oncology Clinical and Clinical Research Programs, and...
FDA Approves Bevacizumab Plus Chemotherapy for Platinum-Resistant, Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with paclitaxel, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, or topotecan for the treatment of patients with platinum-resistant, recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. The approval is ...
Hormonal Therapy for Early Breast Cancer: Do We Learn From Past Mistakes?
Guidelines can be incorrect if they are not based on incontrovertible evidence. Such was the case with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) 1995 guidelines recommending 5 years of tamoxifen adjuvant therapy for stage I to III hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. With more definitive evidence,...
New Agents and Novel Targets for Multiple Myeloma
New therapies for multiple myeloma have dramatically improved life expectancy, but despite these advances, 5-year overall survival still remains below 50%. Investigators are in hot pursuit of new therapies that will extend remissions and improve survival. Thus far, monoclonal antibodies,...
CancerLinQ: Building a Data Infrastructure to Improve Quality and Reduce Cost
In November 2013, ASCO initiated the development of CancerLinQ, a learning health system designed to transform cancer care and improve outcomes. At this year’s Quality Care Symposium in Boston, ASCO President Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, Director of Cancer Research at the Palo Alto Medical...
When Should We Stop Prescribing?
This year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting held in Madrid was attended by 19,000 delegates, and it was encouraging to see among that number so many young oncologists being given time off for education and discussion. There has never before been a time when so much new...
Optimizing HER2 Therapy in Early and Advanced Breast Cancers
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) has been the cornerstone of therapy for HER2-positive tumors, which comprise about 20% of all breast tumors. Additional therapies targeted to other HER2 pathways or other targets to be used in combination with trastuzumab are being explored in both the adjuvant and...
2014 Featured Columnists
The ASCO Post wishes to acknowledge and thank all contributors to the publication during 2014. Here we recognize those who shared their personal thoughts in our Op-Ed department. If you are interested in contributing to The ASCO Post in 2015, write to editor@ASCOPost.com. Robert Peter Gale, MD,...
ASH Honors Senator Barbara Mikulski and Patient Advocate Kathy Giusti
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Kathy Giusti, Founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, with awards for their outstanding support and advocacy for biomedical research and the practice of hematology at the 56th ASH Annual Meeting in...
Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, Helped Usher in the Era of Chemotherapy, Turning Lethal Cancers Into Curable Ones
Although Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, harbored fantasies as a young child of becoming an ice deliveryman when he grew up, his love of chemistry and biology, as well as admonitions from his mother, Isabel, “to become a doctor,” propelled him toward a career in medicine. Now, more than 6 decades later, ...
Personalized Genetic and Environmental Risk Assessment Does Not Increase Use of Colorectal Cancer Screening
Individualized genetic and environmental risk assessment of susceptibility to colorectal cancer does not influence adherence to screening in average-risk persons, according to results from a two-group, randomized, controlled trial. Among patients who received genetic and environmental risk...
Small Risk-Adjusted Variation in Hospital Readmissions Following Colorectal Cancer Surgery
“Little risk-adjusted variation exists in hospital readmission rates after colorectal surgery,” according to an analysis of data from 44,822 patients who underwent colorectal resection for cancer at 1,401 U.S. hospitals between 1997 and 2002. “The use of readmission rates as a high-stakes quality...
Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Have Improved Outcome With FOLFOXIRI and Bevacizumab
Patients with untreated metastatic colorectal cancer who received FOLFOXIRI (folinic acid, fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, irintotecan) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) had improved survival compared with patients who received FOLFIRI (folinic acid, fluorouracil, irintotecan) plus bevacizumab in a phase III...
Obinutuzumab May Have Synergistic Action With New Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors
Final results from the phase I/II GAUGUIN study showed that obinutuzumab (Gazyva) monotherapy was active in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, European researchers reported in Blood. In phase II, median progression-free survival was 10.7 months,...
Predicting Immunogenic Tumor Neoantigens With Combined Mass Spectrometry and Exome Sequencing
Peptides containing tumor somatic mutations are potentially immunogenic if presented on major histocompatibility complex class I molecules (MHC-I), and it has been shown that such mutant peptides act as T-cell epitopes. In a study reported in Nature, Yadav and colleagues developed an approach...
PD-L1 Expression by Tumor-Infiltrating Cells Associated With Activity of Anti–PD-L1 Antibody in Multiple Cancer Types
Programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) interferes with anticancer immune response by binding programmed PD-1 and B7.1 (CD80), negative regulators of T-cell activation. In a study reported in Nature, Herbst and colleagues showed that treatment with an anti–PD-L1 antibody (MPDL3280A) produced ...
