Younger patients with lung cancer are significantly more likely than older patients to be diagnosed with later stages of disease, illustrating the need to develop strategies to increase the early detection of lung cancer among younger patients who are currently ineligible for lung cancer screening. ...
On August 11, Roche announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a label expansion for the Ventana MMR RxDx Panel. The Ventana MMR RxDx Panel is the first immunohistochemistry (IHC) companion diagnostic test to aid in identifying patients whose solid tumors are deficient in DNA ...
Although considered a rare occurrence in adolescents and young adults (AYAs), aged 15 to 39 years, the incidence of cancer in this age group has been increasing by approximately 30% since the 1970s. This year, it is estimated that nearly 90,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in this...
About 7 years ago, I had emergency hernia surgery and soon after began experiencing severe constipation and abdominal bloating. I had started to have minor symptoms leading up to the surgery, but now the pain and exhaustion of trying to have a bowel movement became unbearable. I met with a...
Irene Ghobrial, MD, Director of the Clinical Investigator Research Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, has received the William Dameshek Prize. This award is given annually by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) to an individual younger than age 50 who has made outstanding...
Jaye Gardiner, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, is among 10 recipients of the 2022 Dr. Eddie Méndez Award. This honor recognizes underrepresented postdoctoral researchers across the United States who have demonstrated research expertise in cancer, infectious...
Ochsner Health has announced the recipient of the 37th Annual Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease: Claudia Henschke, PhD, MD. She is Director, Early Lung and Cardiac Action Program (ELCAP) and Professor of Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. This...
Ludwig Cancer Research recently announced the appointment of Pat Morin, PhD, as Deputy Scientific Director of its international nonprofit organization, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Dr. Morin joins Ludwig from the University of Pennsylvania, where he has served as Executive Director for ...
In 2016, Theresa Brown, RN, wrote The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives, a vivid real-time description of an oncology nurse’s standard 12-hour shift on a hospital cancer ward. It was an excellent book, which was reviewed on these pages and highly recommended for readers of The...
Robert Uzzo, MD, MBA, FACS, has been named President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia. In addition, Dr. Uzzo will assume the roles of Executive Vice President, Cancer Services for Temple University Health System, and Senior Associate Dean, Clinical Cancer...
In this installment of Living a Full Life, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Manmeet S. Ahluwalia, MD, MBA, Deputy Director, Chief Scientific Officer, and Chief of Solid Tumor Medical Oncology at Miami Cancer Institute, where his research focuses on the development of new therapies for...
Here is a summary of the strategies developed by ASCO and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) to increase participation by minority patients in cancer clinical trials and ensure greater equity, diversity, and inclusion in research studies. For a detailed list of the recommendations,...
Research shows that although 15% of Black individuals and 13% of Hispanic individuals have cancer in the United States, only between 4% and 6% of clinical trial participants are Black and between 3% and 6% are Hispanic.1-3 To improve these statistics, in 2020, ASCO and the Association of Community...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center recently announced that Donna Hansel, MD, PhD, has been named Division Head of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Hansel will lead a team of 650, including more than 130 clinical and research faculty, across 4 departments that serve as a bridge...
The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) elected seven new officers to the society’s Board of Directors, including Howard Sandler, MD, FASTRO, as President-Elect; Michael Kuettel, MD, PhD, MBA, FASTRO, as Secretary/Treasurer-Elect; Iris C. Gibbs, MD, FASTRO, and Curtiland...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) recently announced that Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, FACS, a pancreatic cancer surgeon and researcher, a pioneer in cancer health disparities research, and an academic medical leader, has been selected to serve as its next President and Chief Executive...
At the 2022 Summit on Cancer Health Disparities in Seattle, leaders from five of the leading professional societies in cancer discussed their respective organizations’ current initiatives toward improving cancer health disparities.1 Representatives from ASCO, the American Society for Clinical...
The use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can reduce treatment disparities between White and Black patients, according to research presented by Ganesh et al at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) World...
Patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received a combined therapy of tremelimumab, durvalumab, and chemotherapy experienced longer overall survival compared with those who received chemotherapy alone, regardless of STK11, KEAP1, or KRAS mutational status. These findings...
ASCO’s CancerLinQ and Owkin recently announced a new research collaboration to use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze real-world oncology data with the aim to understand why some cases of metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are resistant to first-line immunotherapy. Using data from...
In a collaboration announced on June 4, ASCO will work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to measure and improve the quality of cancer care internationally. The goal is to achieve health-related targets of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Global Action Plan on Non-Communicable...
ASCO has released the first comprehensive set of guidelines for the management of metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC).1 The guidelines are subdivided into six main sections: diagnosis, the role of cytoreductive nephrectomy, first-line systemic treatment, second- or later-line systemic...
ASCO has endorsed the recommendations put forth in a new guideline, developed by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), on the use of radiation therapy for the management of brain metastases.1,2 Although ASTRO—in conjunction with ASCO and the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO)—recently...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, has chosen Kimberly Hoggatt Krumwiede, PhD, as Dean of MD Anderson’s School of Health Professions. “Dr. Hoggatt Krumwiede exemplifies the qualities we sought to lead our School of Health Professions. She is a skilled and strategic leader...
To shed some light on the importance of caring for the whole patient and his or her caregiver, as well as the role of cellular aging and oncogenesis, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Kaumudi Bhawe, PhD, a clinical scientist with Cancer Commons in Mountain View, California. Dr. Bhawe has more than ...
This is a critical time for cancer research and cancer care across the world, and the cancer community has clearly highlighted the need for greater and more equitable international collaboration. Addressing the global cancer challenge is a significant undertaking, and it has become more urgent as ...
Cathy Eng, MD, FACP, FASCO, the David H. Johnson Endowed Chair in Surgical and Medical Oncology, Co-Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology, and Co-Leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, told The ASCO Post she finds the data from...
In the phase II MOUNTAINEER trial, tucatinib in combination with trastuzumab produced durable responses in patients with previously treated HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer. The late-breaking data were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on...
Rates of most types of cancer are higher in men than in women for reasons that are unclear. Results from a recent study published online by Jackson et al in the journal Cancer suggest that the cause may be underlying biological sex differences rather than behavioral differences related to smoking,...
On August 5, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved darolutamide (Nubeqa) tablets in combination with docetaxel for adult patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. The evaluation of efficacy was based on ARASENS (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02799602), a...
The pivotal global phase III FRESCO-2 trial evaluating the investigational use of fruquintinib met its primary endpoint of overall survival in patients with advanced, refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for the...
On August 5, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd, Enhertu), an intravenous infusion for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-low breast cancer. This is the first approved therapy targeted to patients with the...
Investigators have identified genetic signatures that could predict whether tumors in patients with bladder and other cancers will respond to immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Their findings, published by You et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, implicate DDR1- and...
On this episode, we’re featuring discussions on lung cancer that took place at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting. They were led by Dr. Gilberto de Lima Lopes, Jr, of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami. The first focuses on data from a study of a novel bispecific...
When the 21st Century Cures Act went into effect in April 2021, health-care organizations began releasing electronic health information to patients immediately. An aim of the act is to reduce barriers to patients’ timely access to electronic health information, and previous research has shown that...
Despite data showing that cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for the development of lung cancer,1 and a leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States, an estimated 30.8 million American adults continue to smoke cigarettes.2 Globally, the number of...
According to Cancer Research UK, over 52,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the UK, and there are more than 12,000 deaths. Over three-quarters (78%) of men diagnosed with the disease survive for over 10 years, but this proportion has barely changed over the past decade in the...
A new large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) shows older age and smoking are the two most important risk factors associated with a relative and absolute 5-year risk of developing any cancer. The findings also demonstrate that in addition to age and smoking history,...
Giving women the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine around the time they have surgery for precancerous cervical lesions might lead to a reduction in the risk of lesions returning as well as other HPV-related diseases, suggests a study published by Kechagias et al in The BMJ. The researchers...
A study released by the University of Colorado Cancer Center showed that more than 70% of patients with breast cancer have reported changes that affect their sexual health during and beyond treatment. The study was published by Huynh et al in the Annals of Surgical Oncology. Study Background “More...
A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS), shows serious smoking cessation activity declined among adults in the United States immediately after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and persisted for more than a year. Declines in attempts to quit smoking were largest among...
A study looking at the correlation between daily insulin dose and cancer incidence among patients with type 1 diabetes found that higher insulin dose is positively associated with cancer incidence and that the association is stronger among those with insulin resistance. The results were published...
Physicians and researchers from UK HealthCare's Transplant Center and the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center conducted a study of patients over age 70 with hepatocellular carcinoma to examine how the outcomes of ablative treatments compare to liver transplants. The findings were published...
Women make up just 37.7% of all speakers at hematology and medical oncology board review lectures, according to a study published in Blood Advances. The findings call attention to the many barriers people underrepresented in medicine face in obtaining educational opportunities that can be vital to...
A recent survey shows that only 40% of Americans are concerned that they might get lung cancer, and only about one in five have talked to their doctor about their risk for the disease, despite lung cancer being the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The 2022 Lung Health Barometer, ...
Patients seeking to purchase chemotherapy drugs online face a confusing array of websites, over half of which potentially operate unsafely or illegally, according to a study published by Sun et al in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. A survey of online pharmacies claiming...
Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head or neck were 93% less likely to die of any cause during the first 3 years after diagnosis if they ate a healthy diet high in nutrients found to deter chronic disease, according to results published by Vieytes et al in Frontiers in Nutrition. The...
The invited discussant of the ATLAS trial, Peter M. Voorhees, MD, Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Plasma Cell Disorders Division, at Levine Cancer Institute and Atrium Health/Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina, applauded the very good outcomes achieved in the study.1 However, he posed the...
For newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma participating in the international phase III ATLAS trial, use of carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd) as maintenance therapy after induction and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) significantly reduced the risk of disease...
At the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting, Dr. Ann Partridge, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discussed trends in breast cancer with several colleagues. On this episode, we’re featuring two of those conversations: one on antibody-drug conjugates, and another on endocrine therapy plus ribociclib for...