On June 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new fixed-dose combination of pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and hyaluronidase-zzxf (Phesgo) for subcutaneous injection in the following indications: Use in combination with chemotherapy as: Neoadjuvant treatment for patients with...
Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation honored recipients of the 2020 Medical Student Rotation for Underrepresented Populations (MSR), Resident Travel Awards for Underrepresented Populations (RTA), Long-Term International Fellowship (LIFe), and International Development and Education Awards (IDEA)...
The first symptoms I had of colorectal cancer—blood in my stool and abdominal pain—coincided with surgery I had to remove my appendix in the spring of 2017. My surgeon attributed the symptoms to the appendectomy and to the medications I received both before and after the surgery. In addition to...
When I was 18, I was diagnosed with stage II melanoma. I had a strange spot on my back that I mentioned to my dermatologist, almost as an afterthought. It never occurred to me it could be skin cancer, let alone the most dangerous kind. I have fair skin but was by no means a sun worshipper. My...
Although the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has recommended extended-fraction radiation therapy (more than 10 fractions) not be routinely used for palliation of bone metastases,1 a recently published retrospective cohort study using Medicare data for more than 12,000 patients found ...
An analysis of radiation therapy patterns among more than 12,000 Medicare patients treated for bone metastases found that 23.4% received extended-fraction radiation therapy, “wasting both health-care dollars and precious patient time,” according to the investigators.1 One-third of the treating...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. Accumulating evidence suggests the benefits of physical activity through the cancer continuum....
The path that led Donald I. Abrams, MD, to a career in oncology was a circuitous one. Although his love of science began when he was a student at Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio, and continued during college at Brown University, where he received an AB in molecular biology in 1972, he was...
As oncology trainees, we develop skills to synthesize complex data and communicate this information with empathy as we accompany our patients through the trenches of a cancer diagnosis. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented layer of challenges has surfaced, as our patients who are...
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 tolerating cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays, historical...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that occasionally quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this first-part of a two-part installment, Drs. Abutalib and Medeiros highlight the histologically rare lymphocyte-rich type of classic Hodgkin lymphoma,...
In a recent study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 an alternative treatment regimen that is less toxic than standard dose-intensive chemotherapy was found to be highly effective for adults with Burkitt lymphoma across all age groups and independent of HIV status. In addition to being...
Breast surgical oncologist Laura S. Dominici, MD, was born and reared in Litchfield, a small town in the southern portion of New Hampshire. “Our house was on a long dirt road, in a very rural area,” she shared. “There were only about 5,000 residents in the town. My mother was a teacher, and my dad...
Komal Jhaveri, MD, FACP, Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Clinical Director of the Early Drug Development Service, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, served as the study’s invited discussant. Dr. Jhaveri noted that, in SOLAR-1, the...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Anesthesia Era: 1845–1875 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
Early data from a clinical study published in Science Immunology1 suggest that blocking the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19 infection.1 Roschewski et al observed that the off-label use of the BTK inhibitor...
The Colorectal Cancer Alliance recently released findings from its latest survey of patients with young-onset colorectal cancer and survivors. The Never Too Young Survey shares the self-reported medical, psychosocial, and quality-of-life experiences of this often-overlooked population to better...
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was different in many ways, not only because of the virtual modality forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because of the resilience of the scientific society and my colleagues around the world. I’m in the plenary session of the ASCO 2025 Annual Meeting....
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed a new test that may help identify individuals who may be likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma. A study of the new approach was led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The findings were published in the journal...
Oncology pharmacy practitioners around the world are fighting to provide patients who have cancer with high-quality care despite increasingly limited and sometimes restricted personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as impaired access to essential anticancer medication, according to study...
In an article published in JCO Oncology Practice, David Waterhouse, MD, MPH, of Oncology Hematology Care, Cincinnati, Ohio, and colleagues presented the results of a recent ASCO survey of clinical programs on the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of oncology clinical...
As reported in The Lancet by Matthew D. Galsky, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor130 trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with first-line atezolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy vs...
The global toll of breast cancer on women is staggering. In 2018, nearly two million new breast cancer cases were diagnosed, an increase of more than 20% since 2008,1 and mortality rates have increased by 14%, bringing the annual number of deaths worldwide from the cancer to more than 611,625.2...
Commenting on the final overall survival analysis of the LOTUS trial, the study’s invited discussant, Suzette Delaloge, MD, MSc, Chair of the Breast Cancer Group at the Institut Gustave Roussy, Paris, said: “We see there might also be an overall survival effect with ipatasertib and paclitaxel…....
In the phase II LOTUS trial, the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to paclitaxel in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer yielded a strong numerical improvement—a median gain of 9 months—in overall survival, in the final survival analysis reported...
First- and second-line treatments of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer have become the standard of care based on solid gains in overall survival, but the prevalence of resistance to these agents is increasing; up to 55% of patients will ultimately develop brain metastases. According to a pair...
Worldwide, nearly 1.7 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Of that number, nearly 300,000 Americans and more than 500,000 Europeans will be diagnosed with both invasive and in situ breast cancers.1,2 Breast-preserving surgery will initially be performed on approximately 60% of...
Pembrolizumab added to etoposide and platinum significantly improved progression-free survival compared with placebo and etoposide/platinum as first-line therapy in patients with newly diagnosed, extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC).1 These results from the randomized, double-blind, phase...
Harmonization of big data in examining acute and long-term outcomes with contemporary treatment for pediatric and adult patients with Hodgkin lymphoma is yielding a new approach to inform future clinical trial design and enhance clinical decision-making, according to a statement by Rutgers Cancer...
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses early results on a cereblon E3 ligase modulator agent combined with dexamethasone in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, with an overall response rate of 48%. The study is ongoing to further optimize dose and...
Having recently gained approval in metastatic breast cancer, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) is now proving its worth in metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results of the phase II DESTINY-CRC01 study in patients with HER2-positive disease.1 T-DXd is an antibody-drug conjugate...
A new clinical guideline from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) provides recommendations for radiation therapy to treat patients with nonmetastatic cervical cancer. The guideline—ASTRO's first for cervical cancer—outlines indications and best practices for external-beam radiation...
It is becoming more challenging to select first-line therapy for advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for patients whose tumors have no EGFR or ALK alterations. The results of two different studies presented at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program—CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA—support the ...
According to the National Cancer Institute, each year, about 70,000 adolescents and young adults (AYA)—those between the ages of 15 and 39—are diagnosed with cancer. Evidence suggests that some cancers found in AYA patients may have unique genetic and biologic features. A study that investigated...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tian et al identified factors associated with severity of illness in patients with cancer hospitalized for COVID-19 over a 2-month period in Wuhan. Study Details The study included all patients aged ≥ 18 years with any type of solid...
Over the past month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to agents designed to treat colorectal and pancreatic cancers, in addition to lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia; accepted a new drug application for a treatment for relapsed or...
Data from one of the first clinical uses of augmented reality guidance with electromagnetically tracked tools shows that the technology may help doctors quickly, safely, and accurately deliver targeted liver cancer treatments, according to a research abstract presented during a virtual session of...
A minimally invasive procedure that destroys cancer cells by freezing them may be an option other than surgery for treating early-stage kidney cancer. The two methods showed similar 10-year survival rates, with cryoablation showing a lower rate of complications, according to a study published by...
The American Cancer Society has updated its guideline on diet and physical activity for cancer prevention. Staying at a healthy weight, staying active throughout life, following a healthy eating pattern, and avoiding or limiting alcohol may greatly reduce a person's lifetime risk of developing or...
In the phase II portion of a single-center phase I/II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Yu et al found that the combination of first-line osimertinib and bevacizumab resulted in a high rate of 1-year progression-free survival in patients with metastatic EGFR-mutant lung cancer. As stated by the...
The availability of an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) would be good news for patients and clinicians as an alternative to intramuscular fulvestrant. The novel agent LSZ102 might fit the bill, based on early activity shown in combination with the targeted agents ribociclib and...
Advances in the treatment of hematologic malignancies and some of their associated symptoms were presented during EHA25 Virtual, an ongoing online conference from the European Hematology Association (EHA). Advances in the Treatment of High-Risk CLL: CLL2-GIVe Results In the CLL2-GIVe trial, the...
Women presenting with newly diagnosed de novo metastatic breast cancer derived no additional survival benefit from surgery and radiotherapy given after systemic treatment, although the practice may reduce locoregional progression of disease, according to the results of the phase III E2108 study...
In a phase Ib study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Powell et al found that the addition of pembrolizumab to curative chemoradiotherapy was safe and associated with response in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Study Details The U.S. multicenter...
For newly treated patients with standard- and intermediate-risk multiple myeloma who are not slated for immediate autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), the triplet regimen of carfilzomib/lenalidomide/dexamethasone (KRd) failed to improve progression-free survival vs the current...
Farhad Ravandi-Kashani, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses updates from a phase I dose-escalation study of AMG 330, a bispecific T-cell engager molecule. It showed early evidence of an acceptable safety profile, drug tolerability, and antileukemic activity,...
ASCO Chief Executive Officer Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, hosts the ASCO in Action Podcast, which focuses on policy and practice issues affecting providers and patients. An excerpt of a recent episode is shared below; it has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full podcast on...
Although early-stage disease is highly curable, most ovarian cancers are diagnosed at later stages due to a lack of effective screening. As a result, less than 50% of women survive beyond 5 years. Improving prevention by identifying modifiable risk factors could dramatically change the outcome of...
In a pooled analysis reported in JAMA Oncology,1 Naoko Sasamoto, MD, MPH, of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Epidemiology Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and colleagues found that breastfeeding, even for durations of 1 to 3 months per birth, was associated with a significant reduction...
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo has named Eunice Wang, MD, Medical Director of Infusion Services for Roswell Park’s Chemotherapy and Infusion Centers. Dr. Wang will oversee infusion services on the main campus and at Roswell Park’s satellite clinics, focused on a...