A recently published article by Schatz et al offers new clarity around the use of prescription opioids in pain management for people with a diagnosis or history of cancer and chronic pain. The joint publication, which appeared in both JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Troeschel et al found that postdiagnosis obesity was associated with higher cardiovascular disease mortality and all-cause mortality, and postdiagnosis weight gain was associated with higher all-cause and prostate cancer–specific mortality in ...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s® (NCCN®) Best Practices Committee has published a preprint article in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network detailing their recommendations for keeping patients with cancer, as well as their caregivers and health-care staff, as safe...
Starting January 1, 2021, there will be significant changes to the office and outpatient Evaluation and Management services Current Procedural Terminology codes (99202–99215) for both new and established patients. Practices, physicians, and staff must prepare in advance for these changes to ensure...
I have been a radiologic technologist for 47 years, so after going to the bathroom one Sunday morning in October 2018 and finding my urine had suddenly turned dark, I knew something was wrong. I wasn’t in any pain and did not have a urinary tract infection, which would explain the discoloration of...
An abstract presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting titled “Evaluating Unconscious Bias During Speaker Introductions at an International Oncology Conference,” by Narjust Duma, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Thoracic Oncologist at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center in...
The loosening of restrictions on genetic testing would mean that all health-care providers could help move this needle to where it should be, according to Kevin S. Hughes, MD, a surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and Medical Director of the...
On March 24, 2020, ASCO issued the following statement: ASCO’s primary concern is the health and safety of the global oncology community and the patients we serve. As public health safety measures related to COVID-19 extend, the ASCO Board has concluded that the Annual Meeting, scheduled for May 29 ...
Abstracts from posters that would have been presented at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 2020 Annual Conference are now available online. Although NCCN officials were compelled to postpone the conference in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, in order to ...
ASCO has released a new guideline for clinicians and policymakers in resource-constrained settings on treating patients with late-stage colorectal cancer.1 “Around the world, there is a huge variation in resources, and what is available to clinicians may change week to week,” said Mary D....
Attendees gathered at the 2020 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco to hear the latest news about treating patients with cancers of the prostate, bladder, kidneys, and testicles. In addition to the comprehensive coverage of the meeting in The ASCO Post, here are some brief highlights...
In a phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Phillips et al found that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) was associated with improved outcomes vs observation in men with oligometastatic prostate cancer. The benefit was augmented in patients with total consolidation of disease identified...
Researchers have developed the first blood test that can accurately detect more than 50 types of cancer and identify in which tissue the cancer originated—often before there are any clinical signs or symptoms of the disease. These findings were published by Liu et al in Annals of Oncology. In their ...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hassan et al found evidence of activity of the anti–mesothelin antibody-drug conjugate anetumab ravtansine in patients with advanced solid tumor types known to express the tumor-differentiation antigen mesothelin. The agent consists...
Today, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Board of Directors issued the following announcement: The AACR has been closely monitoring the rapid escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The health and safety of all Annual Meeting attendees and the patients and communities they serve are...
On April 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved luspatercept-aamt (Reblozyl) for the treatment of anemia that fails to respond to an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent and requires two or more red blood cell units over 8 weeks in adult patients with very low- to intermediate-risk...
For patients with cancer, the oral blood thinner apixaban is at least as effective as dalteparin, a low–molecular-weight heparin given by injection, in preventing a repeat venous thromboembolism (VTE), with no excess in major bleeding events. These findings from the phase III Caravaggio study were...
In the Japanese phase II T-ACT study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Makiyama et al found no benefit of continued trastuzumab combined with paclitaxel after disease progression on first-line trastuzumab plus fluoropyrimidine/platinum chemotherapy in patients with HER2-positive...
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, ...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, William D. Tap, MD, and colleagues found that the selective mutant-IDH1 inhibitor ivosidenib produced no objective responses but resulted in durable disease control in a cohort of patients with advanced chondrosarcoma. As noted by...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jennifer L. Beebe-Dimmer, MPH, PhD, and colleagues found that risk of prostate cancer varied according to cancer family history, with the strongest association being observed between family history and early-onset prostate cancer. Study...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Daniel V.T. Catenacci, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the first-in-class anti–fibroblast growth factor receptor 2b (FGFR2b) antibody bemarituzumab showed activity in patients with high FGFR2b-overexpressing, advanced-stage...
As reported by You et al in The Lancet Oncology, a representative group of French medical and radiation oncologists formulated guidelines to protect patients with cancer against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Guideline development was overseen by the French...
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...
In the phase II FIGHT-202 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, and colleagues found that the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1), FGFR2, and FGFR3 inhibitor pemigatinib was active in patients with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic...
It is devasting for a doctor to tell a patient there is nothing that can be done to help him. For Nizar Tannir, MD, FACP, the words of a young father still ring in his ears: “I was trying to tell him that, unfortunately, despite all our efforts, I didn’t have any more treatments to offer him. And...
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....
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...
Nearly a decade ago, my mother tested positive for the BRCA1 mutation; soon after, my twin sister and I were tested for the inherited defective gene, and I learned I, too, have the BRCA1 mutation. My sister is not a carrier of the mutation. Although there is a long history of both breast and...
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...
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2019 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapies for newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and...
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 ...
The results of a phase II study suggest that a short course of immunotherapy prior to surgery for oral cavity cancer may trigger tumor regression, possibly providing long-term benefits for patients. According to data presented at the 2020 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium,1 a 3-week ...
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 ...
It may be possible to use a platinum-free combination as first-line treatment for advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma in cisplatin-ineligible patients, if results of the phase Ib/II EV-103 trial hold up. The combination of the newly approved antibody-drug conjugate (enfortumab vedotin) and...
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...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Vicky Makker, MD, and colleagues, findings from a phase Ib/II trial indicate that the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab is active in patients with previously treated advanced endometrial carcinoma. Study Details The report is the primary ...
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...
In patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and a germline BRCA/PALB2 mutation, first-line therapy with cisplatin plus gemcitabine yielded high response rates and encouraging survival, according to Eileen M. O’Reilly, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who presented the findings...
Christopher M. Booth, MD, the invited discussant of the BEACON CRC quality-of-life findings, applauded the investigators for choosing overall survival and quality of life as endpoints in a trial that benefits a “vulnerable patient population with unmet needs.” Patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic...
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...
New findings from a prespecified analysis of the pivotal IMbrave150 trial revealed improved quality of life for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in the first-line setting. These results were reported by Peter R. Galle, MD, at the 2020...
This past January, the 2020 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium was held in San Francisco. More than 3,600 individuals attended and more than 900 abstracts and posters were presented. Among the highlights presented at the meeting and reported in the pages of The ASCO Post, several studies in...
An updated analysis from the phase III KEYNOTE-189 trial, reported by Shirish Gadgeel, MB, BS, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicated that the addition of pembrolizumab to pemetrexed/platinum chemotherapy continues to be associated with progression-free and overall survival...
In the Italian phase III TRIBE2 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cremolini et al found that reintroduction of FOLFOXIRI (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan) plus bevacizumab after progression on upfront treatment with the regimen was associated with improved...
The first-ever population-based study of cancer prevalence in transgender people was recently published by Boehmer et al in the journal Cancer. The authors of the report estimate that 62,530 of the nearly 17 million cancer survivors in the United States are transgender. Methods The researchers used ...
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...
THE ANNUAL INCIDENCE of male breast cancer in the United States is dwarfed by the rate among women. Yet, for the estimated 2,670 men who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, life-extending and life-enhancing treatments are crucial.1 To help reduce knowledge gaps and improve mortality and ...