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Showing 301 - 350Management of Painful Spinal Metastases: SBRT vs Conventional Radiotherapy
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was superior to conventional radiation therapy in reducing pain from spinal metastases in a phase II/III study reported at the virtual edition of the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.1 More than twice as many patients...
ASH Releases New Clinical Practice Guidelines on Treatment of Older Adults With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has published new guidelines to help older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and their health-care providers make critical care decisions, including if and how to proceed with cancer treatment and the need for blood transfusions for those in hospice...
Beyond BROCADE3: Just the Beginning for Veliparib-Based Therapy in Advanced BRCA-Mutated Breast Cancer
As recently reported in The Lancet Oncology and reviewed in the October 10, 2020, issue of The ASCO Post, the phase III BROCADE3 trial has shown that the addition of veliparib to carboplatin and paclitaxel improved progression-free survival in previously treated BRCA-mutated advanced breast...
Using Meaning-Centered Interventions to Address Suffering on the Cancer Journey
A large body of research has shed light on how the cancer experience and related losses often leave patients and their families struggling to find a sense of meaning in their lives.1-7 The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified these difficulties, as meaningful activities and experiences have been...
2020 ASTRO Annual Meeting: High-Impact Research
This week, we’ll be featuring discussions of two late-breaking abstracts presented during the virtual 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology, or ASTRO, Annual Meeting. The first focuses on the role of imaging in planning treatment with radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer; the second ...
SBRT May Provide Superior Pain Relief From Spinal Metastases vs Conventional Radiotherapy
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was superior to conventional radiation therapy in reducing pain from spinal metastases in a phase II/III study reported by Arjun Sahgal, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA 2). More...
Arjun Sahgal, MD, on Reducing the Pain of Spinal Metastases: SBRT vs Palliative Radiotherapy
Arjun Sahgal, MD, of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, discusses results of the first phase III trial to suggest that dose escalation with stereotactic body radiotherapy may be superior to conventional palliative radiotherapy in improving pain outcomes for patients with spinal bone metastases...
New ASCO-SEP Edition Available: Expands Reach to Global Oncology Community
The seventh edition of the ASCO Self-Evaluation Program® (ASCO-SEP®) is now available online, expanding its reach to physicians and advanced practitioners. The latest edition features new content that addresses oncologic care in a global setting. The new edition of ASCO-SEP includes 22 chapters of...
Panel With Diverse Perspectives Explores Strategies to Reduce Costs for Cancer Care
“Imagine that it’s 5 years from now, and we are in a situation where the cost of cancer care has flattened, and costs are even going down,” said Clifford Goodman, PhD, a Senior Vice President at the Lewin Group, turning to a panel of oncology and policy experts at his side. “What policies got us...
Behavioral Nudges Combined With Machine Learning Mortality Estimates May Improve Rate of Advanced Cancer Care Conversations
An electronic nudge to clinicians—triggered by an algorithm that used machine-learning methods to flag patients with cancer who would most benefit from a conversation around end-of-life goals—tripled the rate of those discussions, according to a new prospective, randomized study of nearly 15,000...
Art of Oncology: On the Page and in a Podcast, Personal Reflections From Oncologists Are a Fitting Companion Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
The well-loved Art of Oncology section of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and its pioneering podcast are both resonating as never before, as cancer specialists are prompted into deeper reflections about the poignant moments that give life meaning by the COVID-19 pandemic. JCO’s Art of...
How Anxiety, Depression, and Low Social Support Impact the Intensity of Cancer Pain
Pain is one of the most common byproducts of cancer and its treatment. Tumors, surgery, intravenous chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, supportive care therapies (such as bisphosphonates), and diagnostic procedures can all cause pain in patients and may contribute to symptoms of...
2020 Class of Giants of Cancer Care Announced
The Eighth Annual Giants of Cancer Care class of inductees was recently announced by OncLive, a multimedia resource focused on providing oncology professionals with relevant information on patient care. The virtual awards ceremony will be held on November 5 at 7.30 PM EST and will be available...
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Names Ruth O’Regan, MD, Chair, Department of Medicine
Ruth O’Regan, MD, Chief of Hematology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care at the University of Wisconsin, has been named the next Charles A. Dewey Professor and Chair of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s (URMC) School of Medicine and Dentistry, pending approval by the...
A Young Oncologist Cares for Patients With Cancer Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the face of U.S. health-care services in such rapid fashion that many providers were caught off guard, learning and preparing on the fly. Patients with cancer, given their multiple physical and emotional challenges, were especially vulnerable. To get a sense of the...
Chemistry of Caring: Timeless Lessons From Oncology Fellowship
As a high school student growing up in St Petersburg, Russia, I was so obsessed with chemistry that I begged my professor for extra problems to complete after school. When I rode the bus home on cold winter evenings, I traced chemical reactions with my finger in the frost on the window. By the...
An MSK Hospitalist Looks at Oncologists’ Attitudes About Inpatient Cancer Care
Each year in the United States, about five million adults with cancer are admitted to hospitals. Given our aging population, this trend will increase, putting added stress on the oncology community, which is already dealing with an impending workforce shortage. Although physician extenders, such...
In ‘Marriage and Medicine,’ Judith and Alan Kaur Vow to Advance Cancer Research
Before Judith Kaur, MD, the self-proclaimed “Mother of the YIA” became Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation’s first grant recipient more than 35 years ago, she was a wife, a teacher, and then a stay-at-home mom. Going to medical school and becoming a research pioneer was just a daydream. “When I...
October Cancer Awareness Month: Patient Resources From ASCO
Are you looking to provide trusted education materials to your patients and their caregivers for October cancer awareness month? Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient information website, and ASCO Answers patient education materials have everything you need to stock your practice and inform your patients....
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Care, Provider Well-Being
Delays and cancellation of cancer treatments and other safety measures undertaken to minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus have generated a backlog in oncology care and research. The threat of delayed diagnoses looms while oncology professionals face burnout, according to new studies...
Educate Patients at Home With ASCO Answers
Safely continue to provide trusted education materials by sending your patients to cancer.net/ascoanswers. On Cancer.Net, they will find dozens of ASCO Answers patient education materials to download for free in a PDF format. ASCO Answers materials cover a wide variety of cancer-related topics,...
Art in Oncology: How Patients Add Life to Their Days
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer. They include narratives, topical essays, historical...
Personalized Medicine Meets Geriatric Oncology: Tailoring Oncologic Care for Older Adults
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was a landmark year for the field of geriatric oncology, featuring more than 300 research abstracts that presented data on older adults with cancer. Here, we discuss several high-impact studies investigating interventions that modify outcomes for this patient...
Austrian Study of SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Patients With Cancer Treated at a Tertiary Care Hospital During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In an Austrian study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Berghoff et al found that 0.4% of consecutive patients with cancer treated at Medical University of Vienna tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 between March 21 and May 4, 2020, after implementation of institutional and governmental...
Managing Cancer in Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic is an additional competing risk to factor in when making decisions about anticancer treatment for older adults. It poses a potential barrier to equal and evidence-based management of cancer in this group of patients. Implementing geriatric assessments in routine clinical...
Steven Grossman, MD, PhD, Named Cancer Physician in Chief of USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
The University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Keck Medicine of USC have announced the appointment of oncologist and cancer researcher Steven Grossman, MD, PhD, as the center’s Cancer Physician in Chief. In this inaugural position, Dr. Grossman will provide...
Essential Components of Palliative Medicine
Three years ago, ASCO updated its clinical practice guideline on the integration of palliative care into standard oncology care for patients with advanced cancer. The update was based on multiple randomized clinical trials showing better results with concurrent care than with usual oncology care...
Reevaluating the Delivery of Palliative Care in the Era of COVID-19
Palliative care services are so crucial to the well-being of patients with cancer that, in 2017, ASCO updated its clinical practice guideline on the integration of palliative care into standard oncology care.1 The updated guideline recommends that all patients with advanced cancer receive dedicated ...
ASCO Updates Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Guideline
ASCO has released an update to its Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Guideline that includes recommendations for second-line treatment, including early biomarker testing for actionable genomic alterations.1 Last updated in 2018, this new version was triggered by novel evidence related to targeted...
ASH Releases New Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Treatment of Older Adults With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has published new guidelines to help older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and their health-care providers make critical care decisions, including if and how to proceed with cancer treatment and the need for blood transfusions for those in hospice...
UICC Applauds WHO Global Strategy on Eliminating Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) lauded the adoption of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global strategy toward eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem. WHO Member States adopted the strategy alongside other health resolutions as part of the silence procedure...
ASCO Special Report: Resuming Cancer Care Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic
I’m very pleased to be joined by Piyush Srivastava, MD, Past Chair of ASCO’s Clinical Practice Committee. Dr. Srivastava is a practicing gastrointestinal oncologist, Regional Medical Director of the End of Life Options Program, and Director of Outpatient Palliative Care at Kaiser Permanente Walnut...
Fox Chase Cancer Center Welcomes New Staff Members
Fox Chase Cancer Center has announced the hiring of three new staff members who will begin their work with the cancer center this month. Brandon Bachert, MD, joins the Department of Diagnostic Imaging as Assistant Professor. He comes to Fox Chase from Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, where he...
Lost in Translation: A Fisherman’s Tale
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology, as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Improving Communication Skills for Oncology Clinicians During the COVID Pandemic
Living in the era of COVID-19 has heightened fear and anxiety among patients with cancer. On the one hand, they are at higher risk of serious COVID-related illness. On the other hand, delaying cancer-focused treatment raises concerns of disease progression. This pandemic has led to dramatic...
Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist Yoram Unguru, MD, MS, MA, Explains the Economic Origins of Drug Shortages and Other Ethical Issues
Improvements in protocol-driven clinical trials and supportive care for children and adolescents with cancer have markedly reduced mortality rates over the past 5 decades. Yet, along with clinical advances, oncologists and their young patients with cancer face a host of ethical issues, made more...
A Brief Primer on Managing Anxiety in Older Adults With Cancer
Cancer-related anxiety has negative impacts on emotional, physical, and social well-being, with data indicating older patients are likely to remain undiagnosed, leading to poor outcomes. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series, Drs. Trevino, Saracino, and Roth highlight...
Overcoming the Challenges of Improving Psychosocial Care for Patients With Cancer
Although the United States spends billions of dollars each year on cancer research, very little of that funding is dedicated to mental health research in patients with cancer, despite the fact that cancer survivors have a six-time higher risk for psychological disability than people without...
Statin Use Linked to Improvement in Survival in Ovarian Cancer
Lipophilic statin use was associated with a reduced risk of dying of epithelial ovarian cancer in a large observational study. Compared with never users, women with epithelial ovarian cancer who were taking any type of statins had a reduced mortality of 40%, and those taking lipophilic statins had...
Are Patients With a Longer-Established Diagnosis of Cancer at Higher Risk for More Severe Infection or Death From COVID-19?
According to research published by Russell et al in Frontiers in Oncology, patients with a longer-established diagnosis of cancer are at increased risk for more severe infection with COVID-19, as well as death from the virus. Patients of Asian ethnicity or who were receiving palliative treatment...
Neuroleptic Strategies for Improving Terminal Agitation in Patients With Cancer and Delirium
In a small single-center randomized trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, David Hui, MD, MS, MSc, and colleagues found that increasing haloperidol dose, rotating to chlorpromazine, and combining haloperidol and chlorpromazine each appeared to improve refractory agitation in patients with terminal...
Responding to Racism and Health Inequality as a Cancer Care Community
On June 3, 2020, ASCO President Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, issued a statement on racism and health inequality. An excerpt from the statement follows: Months ago, when I defined a theme for my year as ASCO President, “Equity:Every Patient. Every Day. Everywhere,” I never imagined we would...
Palliative Care Resource for Your Patients From ASCO
Do your patients know that supportive care can help them manage the symptoms and side effects of cancer and treatment, regardless of their age, cancer type, or disease stage? Help your patients understand the benefits of palliative care and where to access these services with the ASCO Answers...
Leading Organizations Release New Clinical Guideline on Advanced Prostate Cancer
The American Urological Association (AUA), American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) recently announced a new clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed...
ESMO Names George Pentheroudakis, MD, PhD, New Chief Medical Officer
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has announced the appointment of George Pentheroudakis, MD, PhD, as its new Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Pentheroudakis is Head of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Ioannina University Hospital in Greece and serves as Professor of Oncology at...
Two Cohort Studies Identify Risk Factors for Mortality in Patients With Cancer and COVID-19
Two studies recently reported in The Lancet have identified risk factors for mortality among patients with cancer and COVID-19.1,2 As reported by Lennard Y.W. Lee, DPhil, of the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, and colleagues,1 a UK prospective cohort study...
Study Links Mental Health Treatment to Possible Improved Cancer Survival
For people with cancer who have a mental health disorder, getting mental health treatment may help them live longer, a new study published by Berchuck et al in JAMA Oncology suggests. In the retrospective study, of more than 50,000 veterans treated for lung cancer within the Veterans Affairs (VA)...
The Importance of Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults
Compared with younger patients, older patients with cancer face unique challenges because many of them have age-related decreases in health-related quality of life. This can be a result of many factors, such as comorbidities, mental health, physical impairment, and financial stressors. A diagnosis...
A Palliative Care Specialist Explores What It Means to Live and Die With Dignity and Purpose
Palliative care’s road to acceptance as standard-of-care practice has been a remarkably unsmooth one, given its core mission: improving the quality of life of patients and their families by relieving the pain, symptoms, and stress of a serious or life-limiting illness. A person’s relationship with...
Understanding the Underlying Mechanisms of Pain in Patients With Cancer
Pain is among the most difficult medical issues for oncologists to confront, said Tony L. Yaksh, PhD, Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, during his keynote address at the 2019 Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium. Failure to adequately manage...
