About 3 years ago, I woke up from a sound sleep and was having a hard time breathing. It felt like someone was sitting on my neck, constricting my airways. I could feel prominent swelling in my lymph nodes along my neck and clavicle, and I was scared. A trip to the emergency room proved fruitless, ...
Guest Editor’s Note: Children with cancer and their caregivers face physical and psychosocial challenges during and after treatment. Dance/movement therapy has been used to improve well-being, promote healthy coping, and mitigate the impact of illness, but limited knowledge exists regarding its...
The field of oncology is experiencing a revolution driven by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Artificial intelligence tools are already being used in medical imaging analysis, treatment planning, and even patient counseling. These advancements hold immense promise for earlier cancer...
Evidence from a small early trial called COBALT-RCC provides proof of concept for use of an allogeneic off-the-shelf CD70-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called CTX130 in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CTX130 is engineered using gene-editing...
The female partners of patients with prostate cancer may experience quality-of-life issues that impact their sexual well-being, according to a recent study published by Loeb et al in European Urology Oncology. Background Prostate cancer—one of the most common cancer types in U.S. men—and its...
Treatment with metformin may be associated with a lower risk of developing myeloproliferative neoplasms over time, according to a recent study published by Kristensen et al in Blood Advances. Background Myeloproliferative neoplasms are a group of diseases that develop over long periods of time and...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® published its first set of Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) in 1996, covering eight tumor types. Currently, guidelines are available for more than 60 tumor types, subtypes, and related topics. The NCCN’s 29th Annual Conference...
In the fall of 2023, Justin Baker, MD, took on the role of Chief of the Division of Quality of Life and Pediatric Palliative Care and Director of the Quality of Life for All Program, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, Stanford, California. He formerly worked at St. Jude Children’s Research...
Daniel M. Geynisman, MD, has been announced as the new Editor-in-Chief for JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Dr. Geynisman is Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology/Medical Oncology and Chief of the Division of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at Fox Chase...
Investigators may have uncovered sex-based disparities in the detection and survival of melanoma in Black patients, according to a recent study published by Steadman et al in the Journal of Surgical Oncology. Background Melanoma is an aggressive type of skin cancer that accounts for about 75% of...
A simple oral rinse may lead to early detection of gastric cancer, according to new findings presented by Perati et al at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 (Abstract 949) and simultaneously published in Gastroenterology. Background Gastric cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer mortality...
Cancer is not an unfamiliar disease to me. My mother died of cancer when I was 12. My oldest sister died of breast cancer, an aunt died of cancer (I don’t know which type), and my older brother is a prostate cancer survivor. So, when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October 2021, the news...
Olivier Elemento, PhD, Director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine (EIPM) at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, recently announced that Bishoy M. Faltas, MD, has been named Chief Research Officer of EIPM effective immediately. EIPM is a large multidisciplinary institute that uses...
In updated findings from the phase III KEYNOTE-756 trial, the addition of pembrolizumab to chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting improved the rates of pathologic complete response for patients with high-risk estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, regardless of their age or...
New research findings have highlighted the importance of personalized treatment approaches with the monoclonal antibody durvalumab based on mismatch repair (MMR) status in newly diagnosed patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, according to data presented during the Society of...
A recent survey by ASCO measuring postpandemic burnout among oncologists in the United States shows that professional satisfaction and work-life balance have significantly deteriorated over the past decade, with 59% of respondents reporting one or more symptoms of burnout, compared with 34% in...
Two studies presented at the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium added support for the deintensification of radiotherapy in early-stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancers associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV), a subtype typically more responsive to therapy compared to...
Investigators have examined the historical evolution of Community Outreach and Engagement initiatives at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and NCI-designated cancer centers and provided recommendations to guide future efforts, according to a recent study published by Pohl et al in CA: A Cancer...
Saruparib, a first-in-class PARP1-selective inhibitor, was reported to have favorable safety and anticancer activity in heavily pretreated patients with breast cancer harboring homologous recombination–repair (HRR) mutations, according to the results of the phase I/II PETRA study presented at the...
Recent research has provided valuable insights into the long-term outcomes of patients with pathogenic BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations who undergo breast-conserving therapy, according to a study presented at the 2024 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Meeting.1 The observational study found that...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication,1 which was updated2 on March 22, 2023, informing the public that there have been reports of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and various lymphomas of the breast in the capsule or scar of breast implants. These lymphomas are ...
The addition of a component of the ketogenic diet—a preketone dietary supplement—to immunotherapy showed efficacy in potentially treating prostate cancer in a laboratory setting, according to a recent study published by Murphy et al in Cancer Research. Background Although immune checkpoint blockade ...
The session’s invited discussant at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2024 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer was Gini F. Fleming, MD, Professor of Medicine, and Medical Director of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Chicago. She was elated with the findings of several studies showing...
My maternal grandmother, mother, and two of my mother’s sisters were all diagnosed with breast cancer when they were relatively young, so I figured one day, the disease would come for me. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among Alaska Native women,1 and at a very early age, my...
This is Part 3 of Treatment Options for Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma: What Comes Next, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Andrew M. Evens, L. Elizabeth Budde, and Carla Casulo discuss the third-line...
This is Part 2 of Treatment Options for Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma: What Comes Next, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Andrew M. Evens, L. Elizabeth Budde, and Carla Casulo discuss the management of...
This is Part 1 of Treatment Options for Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma: What Comes Next, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Andrew M. Evens, L. Elizabeth Budde, and Carla Casulo discuss the second-line...
This is Part 1 of Later-Line Considerations in Relapsed/Refractory Renal Cell Carcinoma, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. Rana McKay, Bradley McGregor, and Sumanta K. Pal discuss the management of metastatic...
Success stories in research, advocacy, and education from low- and middle-income countries deserve international recognition to motivate the next generation of researchers and practitioners and enrich global oncology. I recently had the privilege to speak with Ouissam Al Jarroudi, MD, about her...
The combination of immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and chemotherapy could be the new standard first-line treatment of patients with high-grade, advanced ovarian cancer with BRCA wild-type, homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)-positive tumors, according to data presented during the Society of...
Geriatric assessment has emerged as a pivotal tool in optimizing cancer care for older patients, aiming to mitigate treatment toxicity, enhance treatment adherence, and improve quality of life. The recommended areas for evaluation in a geriatric assessment focus on identifying health issues that...
Researchers have found that a novel urine biomarker test may effectively halve the number of cystoscopies necessary in high-risk patients with bladder cancer, according to recent findings presented by Dreyer et al at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress 2024. The research also...
Investigators have projected impending increases in the incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer—especially among individuals in low- and middle-income countries—and proposed new strategies to improve screening, awareness, research diversification, and treatment in a recent The Lancet...
SYNC-T—an investigational therapy that combines a device-induced vaccination at the tumor site with an intratumoral infusion of a multitarget biologic drug—led to numerous clinical responses in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to results reported at the...
The combination of the antibody-drug conjugate mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx and the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab showed notable activity in patients with recurrent or persistent microsatellite-stable endometrial cancer, according to new findings presented by Porter et al at the...
Two recent studies have offered new insights into the treatment of muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma following cystectomy, according to findings presented by Powles et al and Galsky et al at the European Association of Urology Congress 2024. The research could allow physicians to target...
A study published by Brieghel et al in Blood Advances showed that among patients in Denmark who had slow-growing chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with no symptoms and a low risk for ever needing treatment, those who stopped seeing their doctors for specialized follow-up had fewer hospital visits, ...
Artificial intelligence (AI)—computational analytics with routine imaging via radiology or pathology—can advance precision medicine in breast cancer, specifically by predicting response to therapy and calculating prognosis, according to a pioneer in the field, Anant Madabhushi, PhD, of Emory...
Researchers examined whether the artificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbot ChatGPT can help provide answers to patients with cancer regarding radiation oncology treatment, according to a recent study published by Yalamanchili et al in JAMA Network Open. Background Over 60% (n = 500,000) of...
New findings authored by Joseph M. Unger, PhD, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology using Commission on Cancer data showed that when all types of cancer research studies are considered, at least one in five people with cancer in the United States—or 21.9%—participate in some form of...
This is Part 1 of Addressing Unmet Needs in Myelofibrosis, a three-part video roundtable series. Scroll down to watch the other videos from this roundtable. In this video, Drs. John Mascarenhas, Gabriela Hobbs, and Abdulraheem Yacoub discuss the management of treatment-emergent anemia in a...
There is much debate about the necessity of treating women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) with surgery or radiotherapy.1,2 It is disconcerting to many that patients with DCIS are treated in the same way as are women with early-stage invasive breast cancer. Many patients with DCIS have...
Researchers surveyed oncologists for their perspectives on how artificial intelligence (AI) may be responsibly integrated into some aspects of cancer care as well as how to protect patients from the hidden biases of AI, according to a recent study published by Hantel et al in JAMA Network Open....
Extensive removal of the lymph nodes may be safely avoided in patients with breast cancer that has metastasized to the axillary nodes if treatment is tailored to their response to therapies such as chemotherapy prior to surgery, according to new findings presented by van Hemert et al at the 2024...
About 8 years ago, I was just a few years into menopause when I noticed blood in my urine. It wasn’t accompanied by pain, frequent urination, or any other troubling symptoms, so initially I wasn’t too concerned. But when I started passing pieces of tissue, I became alarmed and made an appointment...
In Kathy Giusti’s empowering and deeply personal book Fatal to Fearless: 12 Steps to Beating Cancer in a Broken Medical System (HarperCollins, 2024), she details the shock of being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, in 1996, at the age of 37. Told she had 3 years to live, the book recounts how Ms....
In 1996, at the age of 37, Kathy Giusti was diagnosed with the incurable blood cancer multiple myeloma and told she had about 3 years to live. In the mid-1990s, effective therapies for this second most common blood cancer were nearly nonexistent. Standard of care for myeloma consisted of oral...
The findings from RATIONALE-315 were discussed at the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Virtual Plenary by Luis Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, Head of the Medical Oncology Service at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid. He noted that inhibitors of PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1, as...
The addition of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab to chemotherapy prior to and following surgery may lead to improved outcomes in patients with breast cancer regardless of their age or menopausal status, according to new findings presented by Cardoso et al at the 2024 European Breast Cancer...
With a 5-year overall survival of close to 90% in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), there have been large treatment shifts over the past decade in this disease, which now includes “more disciplines than it did before,” commented medical oncologist Danielle Shafer, DO, of Inova Schar Cancer...