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Showing 3701 - 3750Giving Back After Cancer
My diagnosis of neuroblastoma when I was 14 happened rather accidentally. I was a competitive dancer and very active in sports my first year in high school and had no symptoms of cancer or any illness. It wasn’t until my mother, who is a nurse, came into my room one morning to wake me for school...
Medical Oncologist Takes the Paths Less Traveled to Unwind and Reboot
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment in the Living a Full Life series of articles, Andrew D. Seidman, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer ...
The Puzzle Table
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
FDA Helps Streamline Approval Process for Supplemental Drug Indications
As researchers learn more about the natural history of cancers, as more drugs are effective for more types of the disease, and as the number and complexity of combination therapies increase, the more important it is that new drugs and permutations of old ones be available to patients. The U.S. Food ...
Neratinib Is Approved: Should We Reject It Anyway?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 1 year of extended adjuvant neratinib (Nerlynx) after chemotherapy and a year of trastuzumab (Herceptin) for HER2-positive breast cancer this summer on the basis of the ExteNET trial. Many were surprised at the approval, since the evidence of...
Providing a Safe Haven for Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer
In 1996, Jimmie C. Holland, MD, the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York, decided to launch the cancer center’s Lung Cancer Survivorship Program after she had a startling encounter with a patient. “The woman said to me, ‘Would...
Deadline Approaching: Give a Year-End Gift by December 31
The New Year is almost here—and what better way to close out 2017 than by donating to Conquer Cancer, ASCO’s affiliate organization? Your tax-deductible year-end gift will help fuel advances in prevention, treatment, and cures for all types of cancer. Give now at CONQUER.ORG/Year-End to end 2017...
ASCO Expands TAPUR Study Enrollment After Promising Initial Treatment Outcomes
ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study has expanded four cohorts for enrollment of additional participants and continues to grow, with more than 500 participants and 16 therapies now available. The TAPUR Study is designed to identify signals of activity of...
Broadening the Evidence Base for Older Patients: FDA-ASCO Workshop Explores Emerging Strategies
In the not-so-distant past, clinical trials were considered an option only for the young and fit. Enrolling older people “used to be thought unethical,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), as she opened...
National Cancer Institute Sponsors Training Program on Supportive Cancer Care
The National Cancer Institute has funded a training program for health-care professionals providing supportive cancer care. The training comprises foundational webinars by experts in the field, a 2-day skills-based workshop, ongoing monthly consultation, and a discussion board. Each workshop will...
Lung Cancer in Never Smokers: A Complex Clinical Phenomenon
Despite advances in prevention, early detection, and treatments, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Although cigarette smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, about 10% of these patients are lifelong never smokers for whom the molecular...
Medical Aid in Dying: When Legal Safeguards Become Burdensome Obstacles
In 2017, the District of Columbia (DC) became the seventh jurisdiction in the United States to legalize medical aid in dying,1 which gives terminally ill patients the option of how and when they die. The new DC statute is nearly identical to earlier enacted medical aid in dying statutes in...
Balancing Opioid Use to Relieve Cancer-Related Pain and Protecting Patients From Addiction and Death
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from 1999 to 2015, more than 183,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids, including methadone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.1 To stem the epidemic in prescription opioid–related use and ...
Extended Endocrine Therapy in Postmenopausal Women With Breast Cancer: 2 Years as Effective as 5 Years
An additional 5 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy after 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy failed to improve disease-free survival compared with an additional 2 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, according to the results ...
Front-Line Brentuximab Plus AVD vs Standard ABVD in Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma
FRONT-LINE TREATMENT of advanced Hodgkin lymphoma with brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) plus doxorubicin/ vinblastine/dacarbazine (A+AVD) achieved superior outcomes compared with the standard four-drug regimen of doxorubicin/bleomycin/vinblastine/dacarbazine (ABVD). The substitution of brentuximab...
Updated Follow-up of ZUMA-1 Confirms Benefit of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Aggressive B-Cell Lymphoma
POSITIVE DATA about chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in lymphoma continue to accrue. Long-term follow-up of the pivotal ZUMA-1 trial shows that patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) continue to have durable responses to the CD19-directed CAR T-cell therapy...
ICER Releases Draft Evidence Report on CAR T-Cell Therapy for B-Cell Cancers
On December 19, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released a Draft Evidence Report assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) and axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta). The draft report, along with draft voting...
AMA Urges Physicians to Take Steps to Avoid Medicare Payment Penalty
The American Medical Association (AMA) is reminding physicians that the Medicare reimbursement system has changed, and, if they have not done so already, they have until December 31, 2017, to take a few simple steps to avoid a Medicare payment penalty in 2019. The changes are part of the...
Phase I Study Finds ERK1/2 Inhibitor Safe and Active in Advanced Solid Tumors
Ulixertinib (BVD-523) is an ERK1/2 kinase inhibitor with potent preclinical activity in BRAF- and RAS-mutant cell lines. Now, a multicenter phase I study investigating its safety and efficacy in the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors has found that ulixertinib to have an acceptable...
ASH 2017: People Aged 75 Years and Older Are Underrepresented in Blood Cancer Clinical Trials
In the first comprehensive analysis of clinical trial enrollment among older adults with blood cancers, researchers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found significant gaps in participation among those aged 75 and older when considered against the incidence of these malignancies in...
Study Suggests Racial Differences in Lung Tumor Biology
According to research by the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in men and women in the United States and is the leading cause of cancer-related death. In addition, among all populations, African Americans tend to have the highest lung cancer incidence and...
ASH 2017: ZUMA-1: Responses to CAR T-Cell Therapy Still Strong After 1 Year in Patients With Refractory NHL
Among 108 patients with fast-growing and refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), more than half were still alive at least a year after receiving a single infusion of a CAR T-cell therapy called axicabtagene ciloleucel that targets the CD-19 protein frequently found on cancerous lymphoma...
ASH 2017: Rapid Responses, Few Adverse Effects Seen With Targeted Agent in Phase I Trial in Systemic Mastocytosis
In a phase I trial, patients with an advanced or aggressive form of systemic mastocytosis, a rare blood disorder, had rapid and durable responses with few adverse effects following treatment with an investigational drug that targets the genetic mutation found in more than 90% of cases. Results were ...
ASH 2017: Direct Oral Anticoagulant May Reduce Recurrence of VTE in Patients With Cancer
People with cancer have an increased risk of developing blood clots, with roughly one in five experiencing venous thromboembolism (VTE). International guidelines recommend treatment using low–molecular-weight heparin, an anticoagulant that is injected subcutaneously; however, new results from ...
FDA Announces Approval, CMS Proposes Coverage of Diagnostic Test for Cancer Biomarkers
On November 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved CDx (F1CDx), a breakthrough-designated, next-generation sequencing–based in vitro diagnostic test that can detect genetic mutations in 324 genes and 2 genomic signatures in any solid tumor type. The Centers for Medicare &...
Born in Chicago, Lymphoma Specialist Sonali M. Smith, MD, Never Left the Windy City
Nationally recognized lymphoma expert Sonali M. Smith, MD, was born and reared in Chicago to a mother who was a pediatrician and allergist, and a father who was an engineer. Her parents were first-generation immigrants from India who placed the value of education second to none. “I became used to...
Melinda Telli, MD, on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: New Clinical Approaches
Melinda Telli, MD, of the Stanford University School of Medicine, discusses the current status of treatment for advanced TNBC, and new therapeutic strategies now being used for better outcomes.
Immunotherapy Has Indelibly Changed the Treatment Paradigm in Urothelial Carcinoma
Cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy is the preferred first-line therapy for metastatic urothelial cancer and the only treatment shown to improve survival in patients with previously untreated disease for many years. This chemotherapy also has proven to be beneficial in the neoadjuvant and...
Follicular Lymphoma: Is the Road to Cure Paved With Gallium?
The roadside along the path to curing follicular lymphoma is riddled with the debris of failed cytotoxic regimens. For decades, clinical trials unsuccessfully pitted various chemotherapy combinations against each other. It took but a single, noncytotoxic molecule, rituximab (Rituxan), to forever...
Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology Announced
The inaugural Mary Pazdur Award for Excellence in Advanced Practice in Oncology was announced at the 2017 JADPRO Live at APSHO (Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology) conference. Jack Gentile, Chairman of Harborside, which sponsors the JADPRO Live at APSHO conference (and...
Shifting Landscape of Oncology Drug Development and Approvals
Future oncology drug development and approvals will be faster and more efficient as well as take the patient experience more into account, said Richard Pazdur, MD, Director of the Oncology Center of Excellence at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Center was established as part of...
Expert Point of View: Eduardo Bruera, MD, FAAHPM
Eduardo Bruera, MD, FAAHPM, Medical Director, Department of Supportive Care Center, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, underscored the study’s potential to influence clinical care decisions. “The emergency department is a ‘hard hat’ area of care where bad things happen and ...
Launching Harmonized NCCN Guidelines for Sub-Saharan Africa
Cancer care in Sub-Saharan Africa, as in other low-resource settings, can be a challenge: The right medications and equipment may be in short supply, maintaining equipment can be a problem, basic chemotherapy drugs may be unaffordable, and patients may not see doctors until the cancer is advanced....
Combined Therapies Increase Adverse Events in Patients With Hormone Receptor–Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
In patients with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer, the combination of targeted agents and hormone therapy is associated with a significantly increased risk of severe adverse events, according to research presented by Matteo Lambertini, MD, European Society for Medical Oncology...
Managing Neurotoxicity in Advanced Breast Cancer
Neurotoxicity in advanced breast cancer is not limited to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, according to Matti Aapro, MD, of IMO Clinique de Genolier, Switzerland. Surgery, radiation therapy, and medical therapy can all have detrimental effects on either the central or peripheral nervous ...
Managing Low-Dose CT Screening for Lung Cancer
As low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer has moved from clinical trials to clinical practice, management issues are growing more urgent for screening centers around the country: for instance, how to support referrals from and to other providers; how to ensure the quality of...
Durvalumab Therapy Improves Outcomes in Patients With Unresectable Stage III NSCLC
The PACIFIC study showed that the addition of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor durvalumab (Imfinzi) following chemoradiotherapy for patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) dramatically improved progression-free survival compared with placebo....
How ASCO’s New Initiatives Are Helping Oncologists Transition to MACRA
This year has been an important transitional period for oncology providers to start collecting their performance data to meet the requirements of the Quality Payment Program outlined in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The Quality Payment Program is a...
Keynote Lecture: Silvia C. Formenti, MD, on Converting Tumors Into in Situ Vaccines With Radiation Therapy
Silvia C. Formenti, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine, discusses the high therapeutic potential of combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy and findings that show radiation dose and fractionation seem particularly relevant to the success of abscopal responses. The science has now matured to clinical...
FDA Announces Approval, CMS Proposes Coverage of First Breakthrough-Designated Test to Detect Extensive Number of Cancer Biomarkers
On November 30, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the FoundationOne CDx (F1CDx), the first breakthrough-designated, next-generation sequencing–based in vitro diagnostic test that can detect genetic mutations in 324 genes and 2 genomic signatures in any solid tumor type. The ...
Donald Coffey, PhD, Cancer Pioneer, Dies at 85
Donald Coffey, PhD, a distinguished Johns Hopkins Professor and prostate cancer expert, who was the former Director of the Brady Urological Research Laboratory and Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, died on November 9, 2017, at the age of 85. In his more than 50 years at...
The Runner
The following essay by Robert J. Green, MD, is adapted, with permission, from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and...
James R. Downing, MD, to Present the 2017 ASH E. Donnall Thomas Lecture
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will honor James R. Downing, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, with the 2017 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize for his discoveries related to the hematopathology and molecular biology of childhood leukemia. This lectureship and prize is named...
EXPECT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RISK OF OPIOID ADDICTION
INTENSE MEDIA COVERAGE of the opioid crisis has ranged from the dire statistics of addiction and death to some hopeful stories of treatment and recovery, but what may raise questions and concerns are the reports of people who start with a prescription opioid and then in a few weeks or months are...
Relieving Pain During an Opioid Epidemic
“WE’VE GOT A CHALLENGING TIME right now, trying to relieve pain during the time of an opioid epidemic,” Judith A. Paice, RN, PhD, acknowledged at the 2017 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium in Chicago.1 She cited a recent study reporting that up to 40% of cancer survivors are living with pain, and...
Luigi Naldini, MD, PhD, and Marina Cavazzana, MD, PhD, to Present 2017 ASH Ernest Beutler Lecture
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY (ASH) will honor Luigi Naldini, MD, PhD, of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, and Marina Cavazzana, MD, PhD, of Paris Descartes University, Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, and Imagine Institute of Genetic Diseases, AP-HP, Inserm in...
Helping Oncologists to Become Better Communicators With Their Patients
Timothy Gilligan, MD, FASCO, Co-Chair of ASCO’s Expert Panel on Patient-Physician Communications Guideline and Vice-Chair for Education and Associate Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, spends half of his professional time treating patients with urologic...
Experts Address Cancer Health Disparities in Facebook Live Session at AACR Meeting
Although it has long been known that certain cancer types disproportionately affect individuals from underserved and underrepresented populations, the sources of these disparities are still not entirely clear. In a “Facebook Live” session at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)...
Susan G. Komen Launches Crowdfunding Initiative to Support Metastatic Breast Cancer Research
Individuals and organizations looking to contribute to advancements in metastatic breast cancer research can now do so by participating in Susan G. Komen’s inaugural crowdfunding initiative. Through this initiative, donors have the opportunity to contribute directly to the pioneering work of four...
Tackling the High Cost of Cancer Care
AT THE 2017 ASCO ANNUAL MEETING, the leaders of the newly formed Value in Cancer Care Consortium (vi3c; vi3c.org) met to discuss the group’s plan to study how to improve the affordability of cancer drugs and make them more accessible to patients. The goal of the Value in Cancer Care Consortium is...
