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Showing 3351 - 3400Congress Agrees on Repeal of Sustainable Growth Rate
The U.S. Congress recently did something rarely seen on Capitol Hill: Leaders from both sides of the aisle agreed on a piece of legislation. On February 6, 2014, the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees and the Senate Finance Committee announced its agreement on a bill—the SGR...
The Future of Biomedical Research
In January, Congress approved a $1 trillion appropriations bill for the rest of fiscal year 2014. While the new bill includes $29.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—$1 billion above FY2013 levels after sequestration—including $4.9 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI),...
‘Epidemic of Diagnosis’ of Thyroid Cancer Is Most Acute for Women
The epidemiology of the increased incidence of thyroid cancer, which has nearly tripled since 1975, “suggests that it is not an epidemic of disease but rather an epidemic of diagnosis,” Louise Davies, MD, MS, and H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, concluded after analyzing trends in patients diagnosed with ...
The Ketogenic Diet in Cancer Control
Ketogenic (or very-low-carbohydrate) diets have been employed since the 1920s as nonpharmacologic therapies for epilepsy and, in some instances, have obviated the need for medication for that disease. Since the 1960s, the ketogenic diet has become better known as a means of managing obesity. This...
Telephone Education and Counseling Effective in Programs Targeting Familial/Genetic Cancer Risk Screening
Two studies recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicate that telephone-based education or counseling initiatives can be successful in educating individuals at familial or genetic risk of cancer and in inducing these at-risk individuals to undergo recommended screening. In the...
ASCO Addresses Changes in Medicare for 2014
Medicare patients make up 61% of new cancer cases in the United States, and as the population ages, that proportion is expected to rise to 70% by 2030. Over the past decade, the oncology community has been financially challenged by alterations in the Medicare payment system. To address the changes...
Protein Expression–Based Risk Model for Recurrence in Resected NSCLC
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Gold and colleagues developed a risk model for recurrence of resected non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) based on protein expression and clinical variables. The study involved analysis of samples from 370 patients with NSCLC resected between 2002 and ...
History of Prostate Cancer Increases Risk of Melanoma in White Men
History of severe acne, which is a surrogate for high androgen activity, has been associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, and recent data suggest that severe teenage acne is a risk factor for melanoma. Such findings suggest a role of androgens in etiology for both prostate cancer and...
Gemtuzumab Ozogamicin Reduces Relapse, Improves Event-Free Survival in Pediatric AML
The monoclonal antibody gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) improved event-free survival and reduced the risk of relapse in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a study from the Children’s Oncology Group, presented at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition ...
For Progressive Neuroendocrine Tumors, Clinical Benefit Is High With Capecitabine Plus Temozolomide
In an interim analysis of a phase II trial, 97% of patients with progressive metastatic neuroendocrine tumors achieved clinical benefit with the combination of capecitabine and temozolomide (CAPTEM). The results were reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium by Robert L. Fine, MD,...
Colorectal Cancer Survivors Face Challenges With Bowel Regulation
The fight against colorectal cancer leaves many survivors with battle wounds, according to studies that show a high incidence of assorted morbidities that can affect quality of life. Clinicians, in fact, may be unaware of the struggles with bowel function that occur during survivorship, researchers ...
The Evolution of U.S. Cooperative Group Trials: Publicly Funded Cancer Research at a Crossroads
Over the past 5 decades, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups have played an enormous role in the fight against cancer, tackling a broad social agenda, including cancer prevention, quality-of-life issues for patients with cancer, and comparison of benefits among...
Utah Center for Genetic Discovery to Integrate Genome Data Into Patient Care
The USTAR Center for Genetic Discovery is partnering with California-based Omicia, Inc, to make analyzing a patient’s genome as routine as performing a blood test. The center, codirected by Mark Yandell, PhD, and Gabor Marth, DSc, was launched this month with $6 million from the University of Utah...
NIH Opens Its Doors to Research for Extramural/Intramural Collaboration
Ten projects that will enable nongovernment researchers to conduct clinical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, were announced recently. Through these 3-year, renewable awards of up to $500,000 per year, scientists from institutions across the...
Individualized Care Key to Cancer Pain Management at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Learning about the particulars of each cancer patient’s pain and treating each case uniquely is the key to keeping pain manageable. That is the goal of the Duffey Pain and Palliative Care Program at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore. The team consists of physicians, nurse...
Recent Study Finds Tripling in Thyroid Cancer
According to a recent report by Davies and Welch,1 the incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States has nearly tripled since 1975, from 4.9 to 14.3 per 100,000 persons, with most of the increase due to papillary thyroid cancer, which has increased from 3.4 to 12.5 per 100,000 persons. The...
Thyroid Cancer On the Rise: Is It Clinically Meaningful?
According to data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, rates for new cases of thyroid cancer in the United States have been rising on average 6.4% each year over the past 10 years, and death rates have been rising on average 0.9% each year over the same period. The...
Long-Term Complications of Prostate Cancer Treatment May Have Been Underappreciated
The recent study by Nam et al in The Lancet Oncology—reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—provides a fresh perspective on complications other than incontinence or erectile dysfunction that commonly arise after primary treatment of localized prostate cancer.1 The authors conducted a...
Will Colorectal Cancer Surveillance Change Based on the Results of the FACS Trial?
Colorectal cancer is a common malignancy that will impact 1.4 million individuals globally each year.1 Approximately 70% to 75% of patients will present with locally advanced disease. For patients with stage III colon cancer, adjuvant chemotherapy is commonly offered, whereas chemotherapy for those ...
Cetuximab Fails to Improve Survival in Nonoperable Esophageal Cancer
More data have emerged that discount the potential for benefit with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors in esophageal cancer. The latest comes from the RTOG 0436 randomized phase III trial in patients with nonoperable esophageal cancer, the results of which were presented at the 2014 ...
ASCO Releases Its First-Ever Report on the State of Cancer Care in America
On March 11, ASCO released its first-ever comprehensive assessment of the daunting challenges facing America’s ability to continue to deliver high-quality care to all patients with cancer. ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, introduced the assessment at a Congressional news briefing in...
The Outlook on Cancer Research in This Era of Leaner Federal Funding
In the March 1, 2014, issue of The ASCO Post we talked with Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), about the future of biomedical research at the NIH during this time of constrained federal funding. We continue that conversation here with our interview of...
Bariatric Surgery Reduces Risk of Uterine Cancer in Obese Women
Bariatric surgery for weight loss appears to protect obese women from developing uterine cancer, according to a large retrospective study presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, held March 22–25 in Tampa, Florida. The study found that obese women who ...
Gynecologic Cancer Treatment at High-Volume Centers May Be Lifesaving
Women with gynecologic cancers who are treated at hospitals that frequently manage these conditions appear to live significantly longer than those who receive their care at lower-volume centers, according to a large study presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on...
Case Studies: Collaborative Practice in Action
The panel presented two case studies—one on high-dose methotrexate toxicity and one on 5-FU toxicity—as a platform for discussion of considerations, challenges, and interconnected roles of oncologists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical pharmacists in safely managing patients...
Collaborative Exchange: Timing of Uridine Triacetate
The challenge of deciding when to administer uridine triacetate was explored by the panel. Dr. Schwartzberg: I assume uridine triacetate would work more effectively if given very early; otherwise we would see the same kind of downstream toxicity we see with methotrexate. Dr. Campen: Exactly, but...
Genitourinary Toxicity More Likely With Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Than With Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy
A retrospective analysis of patients with prostate cancer receiving primary treatment with either stereotactic body radiation therapy or intensity-modulated radiation therapy found that those receiving stereotactic body radiotherapy had greater rates of genitourinary toxicity during 2-year...
Breaking Bad News Badly Can Add to Upset
When the prognosis is poor, breaking the bad news badly can exacerbate the distress experienced by cancer patients and their families. A lack of sensitivity to patient and family emotions and not being attuned to how individual patients would prefer to be informed about their prognoses can result...
An Oncologic Surgeon Discusses the Pros and Cons of Pursuing a Business Degree
Is pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree a good idea for ambitious surgical oncologists who want to advance their careers? The ASCO Post recently spoke with Martin J. Heslin, MD, MSHA, Chief, Section of Surgical Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Medical Center, ...
Improving Quality of Life in Cancer Survivors
The number of cancer survivors has been steadily increasing in recent years. According to the Ministry of Health National Cancer Registry, in 2010 there were 254,000 cancer survivors in Israel (3.3% of the population) compared with 15,700 (0.4% of the population, P < .005) in 1975.1 Forty years...
Increased Incidence of Thyroid Cancer: An Epidemic of Diagnosis?
In a study reported in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery,1 Davies and Welch found that the incidence of thyroid cancer has nearly tripled since 1975. However, the increase appears to represent an “epidemic of diagnosis” and to almost exclusively represent increased diagnosis of papillary...
Maximizing the Benefits of Exercise in Patients With Cancer
Many nonpharmacologic therapies increase both physical and emotional strength during cancer treatment as well as throughout survivorship. These therapies include the mind-body practices of meditation, self-hypnosis, guided imagery, and breath awareness, touch therapies including massage and...
Setting a ‘Moon Shots’ Goal to Drastically Reduce Cancer Mortality Over the Next Decade
In 2012, just 1 year after taking the reins as President of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Ronald A. DePinho, MD, announced his plans to launch the Moon Shots Program, the most ambitious endeavor undertaken by the cancer center to dramatically accelerate the pace of reducing...
Continued Survival Benefits Seen With Radical Prostatectomy vs Watchful Waiting in Long-Term Follow-up of the SPCG-4 Trial
The long-term benefits of radical prostatectomy vs watchful waiting in men with localized prostate cancer has remained a debated issue. As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Anna Bill-Axelson, MD, of Uppsala University Hospital, and colleagues, additional long-term follow-up in the...
ASCO Releases Adapted Guideline on Screening, Assessment, and Management of Fatigue in Adult Survivors of Cancer
A majority of cancer patients experience some level of fatigue during the course of their treatment, and approximately 30% contend with persistent fatigue for years after treatment. Fatigue is among the most common and distressing long-term effects of cancer treatment and significantly affects...
Postmastectomy Radiotherapy Benefits Women With Breast Cancer That Has Spread to One to Three Lymph Nodes
In women with breast cancer who had between one and three positive lymph nodes, radiotherapy reduced the recurrence rate by 32% and the breast cancer death rate by 20%. Giving radiotherapy to these women led to nearly 12 fewer recurrences of breast cancer per 100 women after 10 years, and eight...
Challenges in Creating and Promoting Clinical Practice Guidelines
With regard to clinical practice guidelines, clinicians want an authoritative resource that will clearly and concisely instruct them in most clinical scenarios. Guideline developers want to give them this, “but producing guidelines is not as straightforward as it might seem,” according to David...
ASCO Develops New Strategy to Increase Value in Cancer Care
Last January, ASCO held a leadership summit in Washington, DC, with representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, insurance payers, patient advocates, and physicians to address the skyrocketing costs of new drugs and technologies used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Although costs are ...
Donald L. Morton, MD: September 12, 1934–January 10, 2014
Donald L. Morton, MD, transformed the management of melanoma and breast cancer by introducing the sentinel node biopsy, giving surgeons an accurate roadmap for treatment, and sparing generations of cancer patients from the morbidity associated with unnecessary surgery. Throughout his distinguished...
Enthusiasm and Vision Guide the Head of FDA’s Oncology Office
In 2005, Richard Pazdur, MD, was named the FDA’s Director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products. By any measure, being arbiter of the nation’s oncology drug pipeline is a daunting prospect, but Dr. Pazdur sees it as an opportunity to encourage his talented staff to work for the greater ...
Nationally Renowned Surgeon and Researcher, John E. Niederhuber, MD, Relishes the Challenges That Lie Ahead
John E. Niederhuber, MD, was born and grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, a steel mill town located along the Ohio River. Dr. Niederhuber had a childhood interest in engineering and chemistry, but it was the town’s general practitioner who made a lasting impact on his career path. “He was an old-style...
Speaking Up Against High Cancer Drug Prices
Physicians have a duty to speak up against high cancer drug prices,” Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, resolutely stated in an interview with The ASCO Post. “We should speak up because high drug prices are harming patients.” A leader in the effort to drive down the cost of drugs needed to treat patients...
Cancer Has Robbed Me of My Physical Beauty but Not My Inner Strength
I’ve been plagued with various ailments all my life. Physically and emotionally abused by my stepfather as a child, over the years I’ve developed severe psychological issues including depression and anxiety disorder. I am also in constant physical pain from cervical degenerative disc disease,...
Margin Reassessment in Breast-Conservation Therapy
Significant progress has been made in local-regional and systemic treatments of breast cancer. Most patients currently diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States are diagnosed with early-stage disease and achieve excellent outcomes with breast-conservation therapy. Indeed, outcomes have...
Ceritinib in ALK-Positive Metastatic NSCLC Patients With Progression on or Intolerance to Crizotinib
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On April 29, 2014, ceritinib (Zykadia) was granted accelerated...
NCCN Scientific Posters Include New Findings in Bladder Cancer, Survivorship Care, and Antiemetic Therapy
The 19th Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), recently held in Hollywood, Florida, featured a number of scientific posters by member organizations and meeting sponsors. The ASCO Post captured some of the most interesting findings for our readers, including these...
Study Calls for Revisiting Guidelines for Screening Childhood Cancer Survivors at Risk of Congestive Heart Failure
One of the first studies to analyze the effectiveness of screening survivors of childhood cancer for early signs of impending congestive heart failure found improved health outcomes but suggests that less frequent screening than currently recommended may yield similar clinical benefit. The...
Surveillance After Colon Cancer Surgery: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Finding salvageable colon cancer recurrence is akin to finding a needle in a haystack, rendering routine patient surveillance of little value. But finding that needle offers an opportunity for treating recurrent disease early, which makes surveillance worthwhile. These were the opposing views...
AACR Calls on Congress to Support Cancer Research Funding to Meet the Challenges of Our Aging Population
Great progress is being made in the battle against cancer, but a renewed commitment of federal support for medical research is needed to speed its eradication, according to leaders of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), commenting in connection with a recent Senate hearing on “The...
Medicare Advisory Panel Cast Doubts on Lung Cancer Screening, Leaving Advocates Dismayed but Undaunted
On April 30, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) convened the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) to assess the value of low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening in the Medicare population. After a decades-long battle,...
