During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, The ASCO Post will be interviewing oncologists on how they and their centers are dealing with the crisis. Here, we speak with Miriam A. Knoll, MD, a radiation oncologist at the John Theurer Cancer Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, ...
On April 1, the ASH Research Collaborative's (ASH RC) Data Hub launched the ASH RC Data Hub COVID-19 Registry for Hematologic Malignancy, a global registry with clinical data exclusively on people with COVID-19 and a current or past diagnosis of a hematologic malignancy. The registry is intended to ...
A major casualty of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the dramatic decrease in the number of blood donations across the United States. As more people are urged to shelter-in-place and avoid social contact, the number of cancellations in blood drives has been dramatic. According to ...
Cervical cancer screening rates were significantly affected in the years following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, according to a report published by Miki et al in PLOS ONE. “Conflicts and disasters, and the social isolation that often follows, have a major impact on health care and lead...
Irene M. Ghobrial, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, talks about PROMISE—her screening study for people at high-risk of developing precursor conditions of multiple myeloma—and how this and other trials have been altered in the wake of the pandemic, as well as what might be considered a silver...
In a study published by Grace Lu-Yao, PhD, and colleagues in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, researchers found hospitalization rates can increase by as much as 114% in patients with breast, prostate, and lung cancers when those patients have taken 15 or more medications prior to chemotherapy...
To start off this week, we’ll discuss a report from physicians in Washington state about how they’re handling cancer care currently in their institutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll then hear from Dr. Giuseppe Curigliano, who spoke with The ASCO Post from his office in Milan about how Italy...
In the novel Blindness, Portuguese author José Saramago describes an epidemic that quickly and inexorably causes nearly all inhabitants of an unnamed city to lose their sight. The Nobel Laureate writes in long uninterrupted sentences, making the reader experience the fears and anxieties of the...
This week, the American College of Surgeons issued guidelines on triage of patients undergoing elective cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, hospital leadership and individual providers are facing increasingly difficult decisions about how to conserve...
Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, of the University of Milan, talks about how, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, he and his fellow oncologists have altered the way they treat patients with cancer. Filmed March 24, 2020.
The coronavirus-related pandemic has affected nearly every corner of the globe. What originated in one country is on course to likely affect every country in the world. In a few countries, the disease has peaked and is on the downward trend. In some, including the United States, the disease is on...
Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, MBA, Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, talks about what she and her staff have encountered during the COVID-19 crisis and how they and their patients are coping. Filmed March 25, 2020.
In some patients with advanced ovarian cancer, the combination of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors can produce responses, but up until now, investigators have been unable to predict which patients would not benefit from the treatment and...
A new study in JCO Oncology Practice (JCO OP) highlights an effective effort to increase the use of evidence-based state smoking cessation programs among patients with cancer and survivors who use tobacco. In Michigan, state agencies and the Michigan Oncology Quality Consortium partnered to create...
ASCO applauds the Office of the Surgeon General for releasing its first report on smoking cessation in 30 years. The report provides the latest evidence-based information on the public health consequences of tobacco use and effective ways to help people quit smoking. Smoking rates in the United...
Cancer care for patients in rural areas is challenging—for example, in the United States, only 3% of medical oncologists practice in rural areas, and patients must travel long distances to see specialists. Patients may also have trouble managing complications from care or follow-up from treatment....
The parker institute for cancer immunotherapy (PICI) recently announced awards for six early-career researchers through the Parker Scholars, Parker Bridge Fellows, and Parker Senior Fellows programs. They are receiving a total of up to $2.75 million in funding to advance their research in profound...
Although more transgender patients are presenting to breast centers for imaging, many “report significant social stigma when seeking care,” according to a study in the Journal of Breast Imaging.1 Reported verbal abuse and other forms of harassment “can lead to transgender patients concealing their...
An analysis of breast imaging center websites and a literature search for research articles on transgender breast health found that “issues related to transgender breast imaging are not well addressed in the radiology literature or in the radiology community, even though more transgender patients...
Physicians and scientists interested in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have lost one of the community’s shining lights with the death of Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, FASCO, on March 1, 2020, at age 77 years. Dr. Bloomfield is well known for her more than 50 years of groundbreaking research in blood...
The history of drug addictions and epidemics in the United States dates back to the Civil War, when morphine was introduced as a pain medication for wounded soldiers. Regular off-label use of morphine quickly spread from war hospitals to the general public. It is estimated that more than 400,000...
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, and they include narratives, topical essays, historical...
The analysis of the National Cancer Database is one of a number of studies describing sociodemographic-related disparities in colorectal cancer outcomes, according to session Co-Chair John M. Carethers, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan,...
The American Urological Association (AUA) announced its support for the Veterans Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act, introduced on March 5 by Rep. Neal Dunn, MD (R-FL-3), and Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC-1). This bill supports the development and implementation of a Veterans Health...
On February 25, 2020, neratinib (Nerlynx) was approved for use in combination with capecitabine for treatment of adult patients with advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti–HER2-based regimens in the metastatic setting.1,2 Supporting Efficacy ...
As has often been written, “Cancer is the greatest equalizer.” It tends to strike its victims regardless of their financial status. In low- and middle-income countries, however, the impact of poverty on the treatment of cancer is strikingly conspicuous. It is the major catalyst for delay in seeking ...
Researchers from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recently reviewed hundreds of epidemiologic studies on the link between physical activity and both cancer risk and cancer mortality. A subsequent analysis of the findings by a panel of experts representing 17 partner organizations,...
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is dramatically affecting health-care systems. This is the first in a series of interviews The ASCO Post will conduct with oncologists, to learn what they and their cancer centers are doing to deal with the crisis. In this article, we talk with John Cole, MD, a...
People with a history of cancer have an over twofold risk of developing atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder, compared to the general population, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (Abstract 1216-235). In...
The analysis by Chao et al “highlights how well patients with MSI-H tumors do, compared to microsatellite-stable patients, and how much better they do in a randomized setting, being exposed to immunotherapy as compared to standard-of-care chemotherapy…The data also show that this is a...
Positive findings on the potential benefit of molecularly targeted drugs in patients with advanced colorectal cancer were presented at the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, validating the purpose of ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study.1-3 TAPUR, the first...
A. Craig Lockhart, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, applauded the study for making patient-reported outcomes a prespecified endpoint and described the value of having this information. Dr. Lockhart was the invited discussant. “The U.S. Food and...
Dr. Armitage presents a case and asks Dr. Lunning to describe how he would treat this patient. The patient is a 52-year-old man who found a neck mass himself. He went to his doctor and was prescribed antibiotics. When the antibiotics failed to impact the mass, a biopsy was performed and a diagnosis ...
Dr. Armitage presents a case and asks Dr. Holstein to comment about her approach to treatment. The patient is be a 59-year-old man who had presented with symptomatic myeloma with bone pain and he was feeling unwell. He had bone lesions on images. He was anemic. This all happened 2 years ago. He was ...
Dr. Armitage presents a case and asks Dr. Lunning to describe how he would treat this patient. The patient is a 25-year-old man with a diagnosis of stage III nodular sclerosing Hodgkin lymphoma. His disease went into complete remission when the patient was treated with ABVD and he was well. One...
A special feature in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network by Ueda et al highlighted the unique circumstances and challenges of providing treatment to patients with cancer during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Physicians from the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutchinson...
“This is a great study. It is one of the largest series of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) scans and covers many patient scenarios, including initial staging, restaging after surgery or radiation or hormonal therapy, and re-imaging in advanced disease,” said Charles G. Drake, MD, PhD, a...
Prostate cancer experts speaking at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium alluded to the fact that prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scanning is more sensitive than conventional imaging for the detection of occult lesions in men ...
Recent treatment advances in metastatic melanoma resulted in reductions in population-level mortality from the disease, according to a study published by Polsky et al in the American Journal of Public Health. Methods Researchers analyzed new cases and deaths from melanoma from nine U.S....
The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study published as a research letter in The New England Journal of Medicine. A team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the Centers ...
The staff of The ASCO Post recognizes the steady flow of news on the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. Here, we've compiled a list of links to articles and resources on the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have a report you'd like to share, please e-mail it to us at editor@ascopost.com. Direct From ASCO:...
For Patients Patients undergoing active treatment for cancer and cancer survivors may be at increased risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus because of their compromised immune system and their susceptibility to other illnesses. ASCO has developed information on Cancer.Net on how patients...
Over the past month, medical societies worldwide have been monitoring the escalating outbreak of the novel coronavirus and its effect on international and domestic travel and making difficult decisions to cancel or postpone their scientific conferences or make them available digitally. On March...
On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) took the step it had been avoiding for weeks and declared that the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the virus that causes it, now identified as SARS-CoV-2, had reached global pandemic levels, the first pandemic sparked by a...
Now in its seventh year, the Haploidentical Transplant Symposium (HAPLO) continues to explore advances in haploidentical and other novel cellular therapies. The most recent of these meetings—HAPLO2019—met in Orlando, Florida, 2 days before the start of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH)...
Daniel V.T. Catenacci, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center and Biological Sciences, emphasized the value of the patient having microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) status as a biomarker for immunotherapy. The analysis by Chao et al “highlights how well patients with MSI-H tumors do,...
Research published by Melchior et al in Cancer Medicine has indicated that starting chemotherapy before surgery does not expedite the start or completion of treatment for breast cancer vs performing surgery first. “Increasingly, patients are given [neoadjuvant] chemotherapy…This is done for breast ...
According to research published by Andrea Hayes-Jordan, MD, FACS, and colleagues in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, children and young adults with colon cancer are more likely to have shorter overall survival and recurrence-free survival than middle-aged adults. In a...
Relieving pain is an important part of cancer care, and each patient experiences pain differently. ASCO Answers offers two helpful products for managing cancer-related pain: a one-page fact sheet and an in-depth booklet. These resources help patients and their caregivers learn about: The...
As early-career oncologists, Rachna Shroff, MD, and Nina Shah, MD, offered patients a textbook bedside manner—personal interactions were limited, and emotions were rarely shared. “People talk about how, especially in oncology, the more you let [a patient] in, the more profoundly you feel losses,...