In an interim analysis of a single-institution study reported in JAMA Network Open, Pavlos Msaouel, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the use of a mobile device application for patient reporting of adverse reactions to immune checkpoint inhibition was feasible. It permitted identification of...
Christine D. Berg, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, discusses air pollution as a carcinogen that disproportionately affects poorer, overburdened communities and the elderly and frail—especially in countries where smoking rates are high and the use of coal predominates. Clinicians, Dr. Berg...
Research advances are being made faster than ever before, yet it often takes several months before study results can be presented at an upcoming conference. Faster dissemination of practice-changing science is needed to better help clinicians deliver the most up-to-date care and treatments to...
In light of findings from multiple recent clinical trials in HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, ASCO has revised its treatment recommendations to inform more evidence-based care for metastatic breast cancer.1 “This guideline update provides important clinical guidance about the new use of...
ASCO recently released a new set of standards and practice recommendations specific to telehealth in oncology.1 These new standards provide guidance for which patients can be seen through telehealth; the establishment of the doctor-physician relationship; the role of allied health professionals and ...
Mary Gospodarowicz, MD, FRCPC, former Medical Director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, will co-chair a new The Lancet Commission on cancer and health systems as it examines global cancer care and health systems. The Commission will work over the next 2.5 years, drafting a final report with...
Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynecologic cancers, with 313,959 new cases and 207,252 deaths reported worldwide in 2020.1 Since there is no effective screening method, ovarian cancer in general is diagnosed in its late stage. The 5-year survival rate in women with ovarian cancer is less...
Until I was diagnosed with HER2-positive, estrogen receptor–positive/progesterone receptor–positive de novo metastatic breast cancer in 2009, I didn’t realize that Black women could get the disease. Although my mother died of metastatic breast cancer 5 years earlier when she was 65, she was the...
In 2017, ASCO published its consensus guideline to provide guidance on how oncologists can use effective communication to maximize the patient-clinician relationship, patient and clinician well-being, and family well-being as well as form a trusting relationship with patients through empathy and...
Although studies have shown that patients with advanced cancer want their oncologists to discuss their advance care plans with them, fewer than half of those patients have that conversation. The reasons are many, including the difficulty many oncologists have in initiating conversations about...
A study investigating the association between state Medicaid income eligibility limits and long-term survival among newly diagnosed patients with cancer has found that patients living in states with lower Medicaid income eligibility limits had worse long-term survival compared with patients living ...
A leader in the field of cancer immunotherapy has returned to his Western New York roots to take on leadership roles in both research and clinical care at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, has joined Roswell Park as Deputy Director, The Katherine Anne Gioia...
The GO2 study found that lowering the intensity of chemotherapy may increase quality of life without significantly compromising survival among older and frail patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancers. It started out by asking patients themselves what degree of compromise they would be...
Patients who had advanced gastroesophageal cancer but were considered unsuitable for full-dose chemotherapy because of their advanced age and/or frailty “had an improved patient experience with no significant detriment in cancer control” when treated with reduced-intensity chemotherapy in the phase ...
With completion of the Human Genome Project, medicine hit a turning point that enabled scientists to approach genetic diseases like cancer with new tools such as disruptive technologies like CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) gene editing. Progress in this novel...
On May 5, 2021, pembrolizumab was granted accelerated approval for use in combination with trastuzumab and fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in South Africa. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of...
About 14,500 new cases of invasive cervical cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States and nearly 4,300 women die from the disease. Studies show that those living in higher-poverty areas experience higher rates of morbidity and mortality from many preventable cancers, including cervical...
I read with great interest the results from the phase II ZUMA-12 study of axicabtagene ciloleucel, presented during the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 But the results raised several questions for me. Axicabtagene ciloleucel, an autologous anti-CD19...
A genomic analysis of lung cancer in people with no history of smoking has found that a majority of these tumors arise from the accumulation of mutations caused by natural processes in the body. This study was conducted by an international team led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute...
In a single-center study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Jiang et al found an overall high level of satisfaction with teleoncology care during the COVID-19 pandemic among veterans with cancer in the United States, although a preference for in-person visits was commonly expressed. Teleoncology...
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the tragedy of patients dying in isolation, separated from family and friends to limit infection in hospital settings. The process has altered the experience of serious illness for patients and their loved ones, including their ability to grieve, share important...
Guest Editor’s Note: Despite the high prevalence of cancer-related fatigue, there are few effective management strategies for this debilitating condition. Music therapy is a nonpharmacologic modality that has been shown to reduce anxiety in oncology settings. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s...
Requirements instituted to address racial and ethnic disparities in clinical trial enrollment did not lead to increased inclusion of Black and Hispanic participants in clinical acute leukemia research, according to a new study published by Andrew Hantel, MD, and colleagues in the journal Blood...
The inherited condition neurofibromatosis type 1, or NF1, is responsible for the development of benign tumors that grow along the nerves; in some individuals, however, these benign tumors transform into aggressive and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. Determining whether this transformation ...
Chloe Atreya, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her mother is a poet, and her father is a planetary physicist and a professor at the University of Michigan. “Some of my early memories that influenced my decision to go into medicine stem from conversations I had with my father...
A set of compounds developed by scientists at Scripps Research target estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells in new ways, potentially creating better options for patients with treatment-resistant cancers. More information on these dual-mechanism estrogen receptor inhibitors was published by Min et...
Where does triplet therapy fit in the treatment of patients with stage IV BRAF-mutated melanoma? Is there strong evidence for combining a BRAF inhibitor, MEK inhibitor, and checkpoint inhibitor? Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, Chair of the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee at Winship Cancer Institute ...
Today, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) announced significant updates to the NCCN: Cancer and COVID-19 Vaccination guidance. This is the fourth version of NCCN’s COVID-19 vaccination guide and incorporates the latest data plus recent approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug...
In a new study published by Hallet et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, among patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), the risk of dying of cancer was higher than that of dying of other causes, but mortality varied by primary tumor site. According to the authors,...
In a letter to the editor published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Bagchi et al describe the course of treatment in a 3-year-old child with an intracranial tumor and his response to therapy with the kinase inhibitor lorlatinib. Key Points Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head in a...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Aziz Nazha, MD, and colleagues have developed a model for predicting the risk of disease progression for individual patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). To develop the prediction model for overall survival and leukemic transformation,...
Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced that it has made the decision to voluntarily withdraw the U.S. accelerated approval for atezolizumab (Tecentriq) in combination with nab-paclitaxel for the treatment of adults with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast...
The measurement of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is changing the way gastrointestinal cancers are managed, according to Bassel F. El-Rayes, MD, Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Hematology and Oncology, Emory University, and Associate Cancer Center Director,...
In a Swedish prostate cancer screening trial (STHLM3-MRI) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nordström et al found that use of the Stockholm3 screening test together with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided biopsy reduced overdetection of disease while preserving the ability to detect clinically...
Cancer is a leading cause of mortality in patients with mental illnesses. Although individuals with mental illnesses are equally as vulnerable to cancer as the general population, they are at a much higher risk of cancer-related mortality. Owing to a lack of early screening in most cases, such...
Commonly used blood pressure drugs may improve survival for patients with colorectal cancer, a recent study published by Balkrishnan et al in Cancer Medicine suggests. After reviewing outcomes of almost 14,000 patients with colorectal cancer, researchers determined that angiotensin-converting...
A new joint ASCO guideline offers clinicians updated evidence-based recommendations for the prevention and treatment of salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia caused by nonsurgical cancer therapies.1 The guidance was developed together by ASCO and the Multinational Association of Supportive...
Talk to anyone who knew Leland Chung, PhD, and you’ll hear the same descriptions of the famed scientist: warm, humble, gracious, brilliant, innovative. Dr. Chung, who served as Director of the Urologic Oncology Research Program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer in Los Angeles for 12 years and was Professor in ...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Pamela Kunz, MD, Director, Center for Gastrointestinal Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Kunz is an international leader in the clinical care of patients with neuroendocrine...
The Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology has announced the appointment of Marcus Bosenberg, MD, PhD, as its inaugural Director. Dr. Bosenberg is Professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Immunobiology; Co-Leader of the Genomics, Genetics, and Epigenetics Program in Yale Cancer Center; contact principal...
In a prospective cohort study reported in Clinical Imaging, David Steiger, MD, of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York, and colleagues in the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) identified emphysema in ...
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women around the world, making it a significant public health problem.1 The disease affects both men and women, although it is rare in men, accounting for just 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses in the United States and less than 0.1% of...
Every interaction with patients is an opportunity to change the course of their lives. In the context of screening for disease, every encounter is an opportunity to detect the precursors or early changes that signal early pathophysiology. Smoking status and age are the factors that currently...
On August 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals aged 16 years and older. The vaccine also...
Outcomes in adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are almost rivaling those in pediatric ALL, thanks to the benefits achieved by incorporating blinatumomab and inotuzumab into chemotherapy regimens. New ways of administering the chemotherapy component are also increasing tolerability and...
A team of researchers studied the relationship between benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer in 405 men by quantitatively looking at different parts of the prostate tissue on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Findings from their analysis were published by Nandalur et al in the...
Levorphanol was associated with improved pain and symptom control in patients with advanced cancer, according to data from an early phase I trial, reported by Akhila Reddy, MD, at the 2021 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO)...
In an international, multicenter study, researchers evaluated the impact of prior and concurrent antibiotic exposure in a cohort of patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with first-line chemoimmunotherapy combinations. In contrast to what has been reported in patients...
In a study published by Magnum et al in JAMA Oncology, researchers reported on how two separate DNA changes appear to predict aggressive childhood leukemias when they occur in combination. The team evaluated tumor characteristics of more than 1,300 pediatric patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic ...