Concerns about fertility often influence how young women with breast cancer approach treatment decisions and are a reason for forgoing or delaying hormone-blocking therapy, according to findings from a recent study published by Sella et al in the journal Cancer. The findings reinforce the need for...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Klepin et al identified several factors associated with unplanned hospitalizations and hospital length of stay among patients with cancer aged 65 and older receiving chemotherapy. Study Details The study was a secondary analysis in a U.S. multisite...
Nonsurgical breast cancer cryoablation, which destroys tumor cells by exposing them to subfreezing temperatures, is proving to be an effective alternative to surgery for small breast tumors with low-risk features in women older than age 60. These were the early findings from 3-year results of the...
Social media platforms are valuable tools for educating patients about serious health topics, but they can also spread false and biased information with potentially harmful results, according to recent research published by Stacy Loeb, MD, MSc, and colleagues in European Urology. Researchers...
Using data from the 2010–2018 National Health Interview Surveys, Chen et al found that just 16% of men who were 18 to 21 years old had received at least one dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine at any age. In comparison, 42% of women in the same age bracket had gotten at least one shot of ...
Disease regression was observed in 82% of women with endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and 43% of women with endometrial cancer after treatment for 6 months with a hormonal intrauterine device in a phase II study reported during the virtual edition of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)...
Editor’s note: Dr. Gale is an authority on medical response to nuclear and radiation accidents and participated in rescue efforts at the Chernobyl disaster, as well as at Goiania, Tokaimura, and Fukushima, among other radiation and nuclear accidents. Anyone reading the popular press or even...
On March 2, 2021, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) issued the following statement: As one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the NIH [National Institutes of Health], the National Cancer Institute stands with [NIH Director] Dr. Francis Collins and the entire NIH in supporting UNITE. “I ...
Patients with cancer expressed more interest in complementary and integrative medicine services when these services were recommended by an oncologist or other medical professional or were provided for free in a clinical trial, according to a survey reported in JCO Oncology Practice.1 The survey...
The top two barriers to accessing complementary and integrative therapies, according to a survey of 576 patients with cancer and caregivers, were cost, cited by 56%, and a lack of knowledge about the therapies, cited by 52.1%. “Other barriers included a lack of time (29.2%), location of the...
Located on the northeast coast of Central America, Belize is a small, upper middle–income country bordered by Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean Sea. Belize has a population of about 405,000 people (Table 1), of which about 15% are immigrants. Belize is considered to be one of the most...
"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” —Leonardo da Vinci To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Griffin P. Rodgers, MD, MACP, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Rodgers, a physician-scientist,...
In a brief report in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ayumu Arakawa, MD, of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, and colleagues described identification of lung cancer in two boys that likely resulted from transmission of maternal cervical cancer tumor...
On February 9, 2021, cemiplimab-rwlc was granted regular approval for the treatment of patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) who were previously treated with a Hedgehog pathway inhibitor or for whom this type of therapy is not appropriate and granted accelerated approval for...
Leading cardiothoracic surgeon and researcher Brendon Stiles, MD, has been appointed Chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery & Surgical Oncology in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Stiles will also...
Eight oncology practices in eight different U.S. metropolitan areas with high rates of breast cancer disparities between Black and White Americans have been selected to participate in ASCO’s quality programs, including the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®)and Quality Training Program...
JCO Oncology Practice recently published an editorial that examines the intensified burnout oncology practitioners are experiencing due the COVID-19 pandemic and outlines critical interventions to support oncologists now and throughout a long-term recovery.1 The article was written by past,...
ASCO has released a new guideline regarding the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and targeted therapy in breast cancer.1 “This is the first time ASCO has embarked on a guideline for neoadjuvant therapy,” said Larissa A. Korde, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, and guideline...
A study published by Small et al in the journal Brachytherapy found that the common procedure of interstitial or intracavitary radiotherapy may continue safely—potentially without delay or antibiotics—in patients with cervical cancer following uterine perforation. According to the World Health...
Introduction of immunotherapy has revealed a paradigm shift in the management of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that does not harbor a therapeutically targetable driver mutation. Over the past 5 years, several trials have informed treatment decisions, based on disease...
On April 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) for adult patients with mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, that has progressed on or following a prior...
New recommendations to advance racial equity, ways to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer care, and ongoing strategies for preventing and controlling human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers led the conversation at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 2021...
Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Hematology/Oncology at Versiti/Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, introduced Terry B. Gernsheimer, MD, at the Plenary Session and spoke with The ASCO Post about the results of the study. “The investigators of the A-TREAT trial tested a...
In a recent study published by Uson Junior et al in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, researchers found one in six patients with colorectal cancer had an inherited cancer-related genetic mutation, which may be linked to a predisposition to the disease. In addition, the researchers...
Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine, Deputy Director for Clinical Research at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and Medical Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Clinical Research Office, found the MANIFEST-2 findings to be highly noteworthy. He cited a...
The novel targeted agent CPI-0610 enhanced responses to ruxolitinib in patients with myelofibrosis enrolled in the global phase II MANIFEST-2 trial, investigators reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1,2 “Preliminary data demonstrate the...
In the ENACT study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Murphy et al found that use of the 12-gene Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) in a predominantly Black patient population with relatively low-risk prostate cancer tended to be associated with reduced selection of active...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have transformed treatment for many advanced cancers, but short-term clinical trials and small observational studies have linked the medications with various side effects, most commonly involving the skin. A more comprehensive, population-level analysis now provides a...
After a great response to Acute Myeloid Leukemia World Awareness Day (AML WAD) in 2020, Know AML looks forward to commemorating AML WAD in 2021. AML WAD will take place on April 21, 2021, with the aim to facilitate and improve knowledge of AML worldwide through collaborative participation. Know AML ...
Despite decades of scientific progress against cancer, access to treatment remains highly unequal. Some of the reasons—like institutional racism and poverty—are a reflection of our broader society. Other inequities may go unrecognized but are no less damaging. People with underlying health...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulatory decisions related to treatments for urothelial cancer, cervical cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, solid tumors, and colorectal cancer. Acceptance of Two Supplemental Biologics License Applications for Enfortumab Vedotin-ejfv in...
In the 5-year follow-up of the pivotal SOLO-1 trial in women with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA1/2 mutation, maintenance treatment with olaparib led to a more than doubling in progression-free survival, according to a presentation at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)...
Two new studies published in the journal Blood suggest that the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may have reduced efficacy in individuals with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and multiple myeloma. According to researchers, these studies could help inform the ideal time for vaccination of these...
Karen H. Vousden, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, and Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, discuss emerging evidence that diet may affect which nutrients are available to tumor cells, which can influence both tumor growth and response ...
A new study has found higher rates of medical financial hardship among adult survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancers than in adults without a history of cancer in the United States. The research was published by Lu et al in JNCI: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute....
Death from infection—the leading cause of death for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)—may be linked to specific gene mutations, according to results from a study published by Else et al in the journal Leukemia. Testing for these mutations could be used to identify patients at a...
In an Israeli case-control study reported in a commentary in The Lancet Oncology, Waissengrin et al found that the short-term safety of the Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was similar in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors compared with healthy controls. Study Details...
Although head and neck cancers include multiple histologies and primary sites, squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) originating in the oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, or hypopharynx are the most common. Today, we recognize different types of head and neck cancers, primarily those that are human...
In the next 2 decades, rankings of incidence and death across cancer types in the United States will undergo important changes, according to new research published by Lola Rahib, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open. The study estimates that pancreatic cancer is on course to become the...
Tumor mutational burden (TMB) was an accurate predictor of response to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors for female patients with melanoma, but not for male patients, according to results of a study presented by Sinha et al during the virtual American Association for Cancer Research...
In a phase I trial reported at the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021 (Abstract CT018) and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Friedman et al found that oncolytic virotherapy with genetically engineered herpes simplex virus-1...
In a long-term follow-up of a National Cancer Institute (NCI) phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nirali N. Shah, MD, and colleagues found that autologous CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can...
Cirmena et al discussed whether using a liquid biopsy test to assess plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) integrity could improve the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for predicting the achievement of complete response among patients with locally advanced breast cancer who had received...
Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD, will be the next Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), starting June 1, 2021. She will take the reins from the retiring Gary Reedy, who has served as both...
The combination of copanlisib plus rituximab reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 48% compared with placebo plus rituximab in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to results of the phase III CHRONOS-3 trial presented by Matthew J. Matasar, MD, at the virtual...
Invited discussant David A. Braun, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, said there are a couple of established pillars of systemic therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). “An immune checkpoint inhibitor is a strong pillar, a [vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine...
Separate studies presented at the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium provide supportive evidence for belzutifan (formerly MK-6482) as an active treatment for metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC). One study showed single-agent activity for this novel approach in an early-phase trial,...
Treatment with unselected autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) showed early clinical efficacy among patients with advanced melanoma, according to results presented by Hawkins et al during week 1 of the virtual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021 (Abstract ...
The swastikas on his knuckles kept stealing my attention. I tried not to stare but every time he gestured to emphasize his words my gaze snapped back there. That awful symbol, multiplied across all 10 digits, refused to be ignored. The blue lines were blurred and misshapen, probably jail tats. I...