In a Children’s Oncology Group study (COG-AALL03N1) reported in JAMA Oncology, Bhatia et al found that < 95% adherence to mercaptopurine treatment was associated with a nearly threefold increase in the risk of relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Among adherent...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Scher et al found that circulating tumor cell count and LDH level served as an individual-level surrogate for survival among patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer receiving abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus...
In the phase III VANTAGE-014 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Krug et al found that treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat (Zolinza) did not improve overall survival vs placebo in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma who had progressed on previous chemotherapy....
A population-based cohort study indicates that “more extensive lymph node clearance during surgery for esophageal cancer may not improve survival,” van der Schaaf et al reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “These results challenge current clinical guidelines,...
Most patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who discontinued ibrutinib (Imbruvica) early “were difficult to treat and had poor outcomes,” according to a study of patients enrolled in four different clinical trials of ibrutinib, with or without rituximab...
According to a recent study by Perl et al published in the Journal of Oncology Practice, the administration of chemotherapy near death is recognized by patients, their families, and oncologists as “aggressive and poor-quality care.” Despite this, rates of end-of-life chemotherapy have...
Uninsured cancer patients are paying anywhere from 2 to 43 times what Medicare would pay for chemotherapy drugs, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. These findings were published by Dusetzina et al in Health Affairs. Major Discrepancies Researchers led...
Men who reported taking muscle-building supplements, such as pills and powders with creatine or androstenedione, reported a significantly higher likelihood of having developed testicular cancer than men who did not use such supplements, according to a study by Li et al in the British Journal of...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Makarov et al found that hospital referral regions marked by higher rates of inappropriate imaging in patients with low-risk breast cancer also had high rates of inappropriate prostate imaging in patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Inappropriate imaging...
In the phase II TBCRC009 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Isakoff et al found that platinum monotherapy was active in treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, particularly in cases with BRCA1/2 mutation, and that an assay of genomic instability characteristic of...
In the phase II PrECOG 0105 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Telli et al found that neoadjuvant iniparib plus gemcitabine-carboplatin was active in early-stage triple-negative and BRCA1/2-mutant breast cancer. Higher score on a homologous recombination deficiency–loss of...
A new study showed that providing women with skills to manage stress early in their breast cancer treatment can improve their mood and quality of life many years later. Published by Stagl et al in Cancer, the findings suggest that women given the opportunity to learn stress management techniques...
Public health programs that devote a portion of their funding to encourage more boys to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV)—rather than merely attempting to raise coverage among girls—may ultimately protect more people for the same price, a study from Duke University...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stevanovíc et al observed complete regression of metastatic cervical tumors in two patients following a single infusion of human papillomavirus (HPV)-targeted tumor-infiltrating T cells. In the protocol, nine patients with metastatic cervical ...
In a phase I cohort-expansion study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, McDermott et al found that nivolumab (Opdivo) produced durable responses in patients with previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma. Responses continued after nivolumab discontinuation in some patients. Study...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ostronoff et al found that the presence of the NPM1-positive/FLT3-internal tandem duplication (ITD)–negative genotype—which is recognized as a marker of better prognosis in younger patients with acute myeloid leukemia—was...
A recent commentary published in Annals of Internal Medicine discusses the paradoxical finding that most patients are at below-average risk of disease and can expect to experience less-than-average benefits from a treatment. Yet, argue Vickers et al, too many people are being screened, diagnosed,...
A particular molecular pathway permits stem cells in pediatric bone cancers to grow rapidly and aggressively, according to researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. These findings were published by Basu-Roy et al in Nature Communications. Study...
In patients with previously irradiated recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, the combination of stereotactic body radiation therapy plus cetuximab (Erbitux) appears to be safe and effective, according to a study by Vargo et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology...
In the phase III National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) MA.31 trial, first-line treatment with lapatinib (Tykerb) vs trastuzumab (Herceptin) combined with a taxane was associated with poorer progression-free survival and greater toxicity in patients with advanced...
A large retrospective cohort study of more than 32,000 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with melanoma has found that one in five patients experience a delay of surgery that is longer than 1.5 months. Those patients undergoing biopsy and surgery by dermatologists had the lowest risk for delay, which ...
A statistical analysis of 51 oncology drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2013, has found that cancer drug prices are rising faster than the prices in other sectors of health care and that the high cost of the drugs is not...
A substantial gap exists between patient expectations and current practices for providing information about medical imaging tests that use radiation, according to a new study published by Thornton et al in the journal Radiology. Researchers said the findings highlight a need for better...
Women who have inherited mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) have an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers. However, little has been known about how cancer risks differ by BRCA1/2 mutation type. In a study involving more than 31,000 women who are carriers of disease-associated mutations...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Wright et al found a weak relationship between measures of patient satisfaction and quality and surgical oncologic perioperative outcomes at the hospital level. Study Details In the study, the Nationwide Inpatient Sample...
In the phase III EORTC 18071 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Eggermont et al found that adjuvant ipilimumab (Yervoy) significantly improved recurrence-free survival vs placebo in patients with completely resected stage III melanoma at high risk of disease recurrence. Ipilimumab was...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to Clovis Oncology’s investigational agent rucaparib as monotherapy treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in patients who have received at least two lines of prior platinum-containing therapy, with...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kelly et al found that low baseline serum vitamin D levels are associated with poorer progression-free and overall survival in patients with previously untreated follicular lymphoma. Study Details The study involved analysis of data...
In a phase I/II study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ahmed et al found that infusion of T cells expressing HER2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) with a CD28.ζ signaling domain (HER2-CAR T cells) could produce persistent CAR T cell levels for ≥ 6 weeks in patients with...
In a retrospective single-institution study reported in JAMA Surgery, Boone et al found significant improvements in blood loss, incidence of conversion to open surgery, pancreatic fistula incidence, and operative time with increased number of patients treated with robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy....
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maio et al found a 5-year survival rate of 18% among treatment-naive patients receiving ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus dacarbazine in a phase III trial. The findings support other data indicating long-term survival in some patients receiving...
Long-term analysis of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 9903 demonstrates that the addition of erythropoietin did not improve local-regional control for anemic patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who receive radiation therapy or chemoradiation, according to a study published...
In the phase III AETHERA trial reported in The Lancet, Moskowitz et al found that brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) consolidation therapy after autologous stem cell transplantation prolonged progression-free survival by 18 months vs placebo in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma at risk for relapse or...
Elevated nocturnal cortisol levels prior to surgery in patients with ovarian cancer were associated with shorter survival time, according to a study by Schrepf et al in Psychoneuroendocrinology. Thus, night-time cortisol levels may prove to be a noninvasive biomarker of ovarian cancer disease...
Black and Hispanic women with breast cancer were less likely to choose their surgeon and the hospital for treatment based on reputation compared with white women, according to researchers. These findings suggest minority patients may rely more on physician referrals and health plans in those...
Very low mammographic breast density worsens the prognosis of breast cancer, according to a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland. Researchers published their findings in an article by Masarwah et al in European Radiology. The lower the breast tissue density, the less fibroglandular...
In a study reported in JAMA, Elmore et al found a substantial rate of disagreement between pathologist diagnosis based on single breast biopsy slides and the consensus-derived diagnosis of a panel of pathologists. Disagreement rates were highest for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and atypical...
Numerous studies have documented racial differences in deaths from cancer among non-Hispanic whites and African Americans, but little has been known about survival outcomes for Asian Americans who have been diagnosed with cancer. In a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer...
In a survey study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Wang et al found that a minority of responding radiation oncologists and urologists used decision aids for localized prostate cancer in clinical practice. Study Details In the study, a survey regarding use of and attitudes toward decision aids ...
In the phase III CheckMate 037 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Weber et al found that treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) resulted in a significantly greater response rate vs chemotherapy as second- or later-line treatment in patients with advanced melanoma progressing after ...
A study assessing whether circulating tumor DNA encoding the clonal immunoglobulin gene sequence could be detected in the serum of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma has found that surveillance circulating tumor DNA enabled detection of microscopic disease before it could be seen on CT...
In a new study, UCLA researchers have developed a cognitive rehabilitation program to address post-treatment cognitive changes, sometimes known as “chemobrain,” which can affect up to 35% of post-treatment breast cancer patients. Their findings were reported by Erocli et al in...
According to researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), hepatic parenchymal preservation, in which a surgeon removes less than a lobe of the liver in a patient undergoing an operation for liver cancer, is associated with lower mortality and complication rates. Their study...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bochtler et al found that presence of the t(11;14) translocation on interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) was associated with poorer hematologic event-free and overall survival in patients receiving...
In the ENABLE III study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bakitas et al found that early vs delayed initiation of a palliative care intervention did not result in improved patient-reported outcomes or resource use. Early initiation was associated with better 1-year survival. Study...
In the ENABLE III study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dionne-Odom et al found that early vs delayed use of a palliative care intervention for family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer reduced caregiver depression scores and caregiver stress burden. No differences in...
Girls who are overweight as young children and teens may face an increased risk for colorectal cancer decades later, regardless of what they weigh as adults, suggests a new study published by Zhang et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “Our study supports the growing...
In a study reported in JAMA, Nan et al found that two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer with regular aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use by persons of European descent. Study Details The case-control study...
Researchers investigating the prevalence of childhood cancer survivors and the population-level burden of morbidity in these survivors have found that although the number of childhood cancer survivors has increased by nearly 60,000 since 2005, the majority of those who have survived 5 or more years ...
In a study of Swedish men with prostate cancer reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Farrell et al found that use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists and orchiectomy were associated with a significantly increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease. In patients...