In a phase II clinical trial, immune checkpoint blockade before surgery was associated with favorable responses and outcomes in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) and recurrent dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS), Keung et al reported at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA11501)....
Black and White patients treated with similar first-line therapies for advanced kidney cancer experienced similar outcomes, but different response rates, according to research from Fox Chase Cancer Center presented by Daniel Geynisman, MD, at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 4548). “This was...
Although women of African descent experience a higher incidence and mortality from triple-negative breast cancer than women of other races or ethnicities, research findings presented by Hall et al at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that the magnitude of gene-specific risks of triple-negative...
In a new large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society, findings showed that parental cancer is associated with a greater likelihood of family-level food insecurity, financial worry about housing costs and other monthly bills, and transportation barriers to medical care for children ...
Rarely, if ever, has one abstract presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting warranted its own session—but that happened with a small but mighty study from Memorial Sloan Kettering. In a study of patients with locally advanced mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) rectal cancer, 6 months of treatment with the ...
Courtney D. DiNardo, MD, MSCE, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Jorge E. Cortes, MD, of Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, discuss phase III results from the ASCEMBL trial, which showed that after more than 2 years of follow-up, asciminib continued to yield...
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discuss phase III results from the TROPiCS-02 trial. This study showed that...
The combination of two targeted therapies, the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib and the MEK inhibitor trametinib, significantly increased the overall response rate compared to the standard-of-care chemotherapy combination of carboplatin plus vincristine in pediatric patients with BRAF V600...
Michael J. Overman, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Takayuki Yoshino, PhD, MD, of the National Cancer Center Hospital East, Japan, discuss results from the PARADIGM trial, the first prospective study to test the superiority of panitumumab vs bevacizumab in combination...
Benoit You, MD, PhD, of Lyon University hospital (HCL, France) and GINECO group (France), discusses findings from the GOG-0218 trial of patients with ovarian cancer, which appears to confirm earlier data on the link between poor tumor chemosensitivity and benefit from concurrent plus maintenance...
Stephanie Walker, a former nurse and current activist with the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, discusses findings from the BECOME project (Black Experience of Clinical Trials and Opportunities for Meaningful Engagement). They show that, even though Black patients comprise between 4% and 6% of...
Sriram Yennu, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the placebo response in patients with advanced cancer and cancer-related fatigue. His latest findings show that open-labeled placebo was efficacious in reducing cancer-related fatigue and improving quality of life in...
Karim Chamie, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses final clinical results on combining the superagonist N-803 with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in patients whose carcinoma in situ and high-grade non–muscle-invasive bladder cancers are unresponsive to BCG alone. Of note,...
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase III findings from the DETERMINATION trial, which showed that, for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (RVd) with or without autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) and...
A new study has shown that a combination of brentuximab vedotin and standard chemotherapy is safe and appears to be more effective than standard chemotherapy in pediatric patients up to age 21 with newly diagnosed high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma. Findings from the Children's Oncology Group phase III...
A recent large national study showed the mortality risk from cardiovascular disease differs considerably among cancer survivors by race/ethnicity and cancer types. The findings are being presented by Sung et al at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 12075). In this study, lead author Hyuna Sung, ...
To fully evaluate hormone-blocking therapy following surgery for patients with early-stage high-risk hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative breast cancer, researchers should continue to track patients for at least 5 years after the completion of active treatment, according to a study reported at...
The use of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) early in the course of treatment showed a significant 21.4-month gain in median progression-free survival in younger, newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma compared with patients who received chemotherapy without an initial...
Use of high-dose ifosfamide was found to be superior for treating recurrent and primary refractory Ewing sarcomas compared with three other standard-of-care treatments used for the disease, according to research presented by McCabe et al during the Plenary Session at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting...
The use of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki doubled progression-free survival compared with the standard-of-care treatment plus conventional chemotherapy. It also significantly improved overall survival for patients with metastatic breast cancers expressing low levels of the HER2 receptor,...
The use of panitumumab plus mFOLFOX6 significantly improved overall survival in patients with RAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer that was classified as left-sided compared with patients who received mFOLFOX6 plus bevacizumab, according to findings presented during the Plenary Session by...
Ruben A. Mesa, MD, of Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses new findings from the MOMENTUM study. This trial showed that in symptomatic and anemic patients with myelofibrosis, momelotinib was superior to danazol for symptom and spleen responses, as well as ...
Pamela L. Kunz, MD, of the Yale University School of Medicine, discusses new findings from the ECOG-ACRIN E2211 trial, which showed the longest progression-free survival and highest response rates with temozolomide plus capecitabine reported to date for patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine...
A new genomic test designed to measure the endocrine sensitivity of estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer has the potential to identify patients diagnosed with the disease who could benefit more from dose-dense chemotherapy—a regimen in which chemotherapy is administered more frequently than...
In a large national study, Black patients diagnosed with early-onset colorectal cancer received worse and less timely care than their White counterparts. Differences in health insurance coverage type, a modifiable factor, according to the findings, accounted for the largest identified contributor...
According to a new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society, the COVID-19 pandemic increased the number of cancer-related deaths by 3.2% in the United States from 2019 to 2020. Compared to 2019, the monthly cancer-related mortality rate was higher in April 2020, when health-care...
Nearly 43% of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose lung cancers harbored a specific KRAS mutation responded to the experimental drug adagrasib, and the targeted agent also showed activity against lesions in the brain that metastasized from the lung tumors, according to results of...
In a collaboration announced today, ASCO will work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to measure and improve the quality of cancer care internationally. The goal is to achieve health-related targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Global Action Plan on...
In patients with stage II colon cancer where cancer DNA was not present in the blood (as circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA), adjuvant chemotherapy could be skipped without compromising recurrence-free survival. Conversely, for patients where ctDNA was present after surgery, the rate of recurrence...
Treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy resulted in longer progression-free survival compared to physician’s choice of chemotherapy in patients who have received many prior therapies for hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, according to...
Initial results from the ARTISTRY-1 study to be presented by Vaishampayan et al at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that an experimental drug called nemvaleukin alfa, when used alone or in combination with pembrolizumab, may be effective in treating several types of late-stage cancers in some...
A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society showed physician, practice, and patient characteristics were associated with oncologists’ ratings of the importance of patient health insurance and out-of-pocket costs for genomic testing in treatment decisions. The findings are being...
The addition of nimotuzumab, an EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody, to gemcitabine increased overall survival in patients with KRAS wild-type advanced pancreatic cancer, particularly those who did not need surgery for obstruction of a pancreatic bile duct, according to data from the phase III...
Primary results from the phase III SHINE trial demonstrated that first-line treatment with ibrutinib combined with bendamustine/rituximab and rituximab maintenance achieves a substantial prolongation of progression-free survival in elderly patients with mantle cell lymphoma, according to a...
Colonoscopies performed with computer-aided detection, or artificial intelligence (AI), saw an increase in the overall rate of detection of adenoma, or cancerous and precancerous polyps, by 27% in average-risk patients, according to new data presented by Shaukat et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022 ...
In an effort to highlight cancer care inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic, ASCO has launched the Interactive Map of Oncology, a data visualization tool that allows users to explore geographic distribution of systemic and socioeconomic factors that influence cancer care delivery in the United...
On June 4, 2022, 17 individuals received the distinction of FASCO, “Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology” during the ASCO Annual Meeting. The FASCO distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. The following members ...
Global health crusader Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, had a wildly unconventional childhood, which helped inform his adult life as a medical humanitarian. Dr. Farmer was born in West Adams, a town that lies along the verdant valley surrounding the Hoosic River in northern Massachusetts. He was the second of ...
City of Hope’s Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine has received a $4.9 million grant to train the next generation of scientific leaders in basic stem cell research and its translation into novel, life-saving treatments. The award from the California Institute for Regenerative ...
On April 12, 2022, ASCO announced the establishment of the ASCO Center for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which will advance the Society’s equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) goals across the organization and throughout the wider oncology community. ASCO Chief Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion ...
Beginning in 2012, The ASCO Post introduced Narratives in Oncology, a special commemorative issue profiling several of the many leaders in the oncology community. Over the past years, many in the oncology community have been profiled in this commemorative issue. Here is a complete list of...
The Albert Einstein Cancer Center (AECC) in Bronx, New York, has announced the appointment of three faculty members to key leadership positions, reflecting the center’s commitment to basic science, translational, and clinical research and its core principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. New ...
Yuman Fong, MD, Chair of City of Hope’s Department of Surgery and Director of its Center for Surgical Innovation, has been named a recipient of the 2022 Flance-Karl Award by the American Surgical Association (ASA). The award is given annually to one surgeon in the United States who has made...
Alex Choi, MD, recently joined the faculty of the Palliative Care Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital as Instructor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine). Dr. Choi received his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria and completed a combined internal medicine...
Individuals elected to ASCO leadership for the 2022–2023 term were announced earlier in the year. ASCO elected Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, to serve as its President beginning in June 2023. Dr. Schuchter will take office as President-Elect immediately after the...
Leslie Bernstein, PhD, Director of City of Hope’s Division of Biomarkers of Early Detection and Prevention, received the Margaret L. Kripke Legend Award for Promotion of Women in Cancer Medicine and Cancer Science. Dr. Bernstein has made a substantial mark on both science and society by...
In support of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot goal of fostering data sharing in cancer research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has launched the Molecular Characterization Initiative for pediatric tumors. This program offers tumor...
Individuals elected to ASCO leadership for the 2022–2023 term were announced earlier in the year. Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, was elected to serve as the Society’s President beginning in June 2023. Dr. Schuchter will take office as President-Elect immediately after the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting in ...
Community practices have long been a keystone of our nation’s oncology care delivery system by allowing patients with cancer to receive specialized treatment near their homes and places of business. Innovative clinicians in the community setting are also leading efforts to create a more efficient...
ASCO Past President, Michael Link, MD, who has pioneered new strategies for treating common childhood cancers, was born and reared in a suburb of Cleveland. “My first significant exposure to medicine was my own family doctor, Dr. J.W. Epstein. Looking back, I was impressed by the combination of...