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Showing 3851 - 3900ASCO Releases Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology
ASCO today released Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology, a set of 15 inter-related criteria that provide an overarching framework for assessing pathway programs in the United States. ASCO developed the criteria to guide stakeholders in assessing the quality, utility, and...
Gleevec Is Saving My Life but at a Cost
Like many patients in the chronic phase of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), my cancer was discovered during a routine physical, when an off-the-chart white blood cell count signaled a serious problem that my primary care physician attributed to unspecified internal bleeding. Fortunately for me, my...
Adrian Lee, PhD, Named Director of the Institute for Precision Medicine at Pitt
Breast cancer researcher Adrian Lee, PhD, has been named Director of the Institute for Precision Medicine (IPM), a joint effort by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and the University of Pittsburgh to move biomedical research into personalized well-being and clinical care. Dr....
Baylor Welcomes New McNair Scholar, Bing Zhang, PhD
Bing Zhang, PhD, a computational biologist with a focus on cancer bioinformatics, has been named the newest McNair Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine. The McNair Scholar program at Baylor identifies influential researchers in breast and pancreatic cancers, juvenile diabetes, and neuroscience....
Advanced Practitioners Convene at Fourth Annual JADPRO Live at APSHO
Launched in 2012 by Harborside Press, publisher of the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO) and The ASCO Post, this year’s JADPRO Live at APSHO conference topped previous attendance records with nearly 1,100 attendees. APSHO, the Advanced Practitioner Society in Hematology and...
Expect and Encourage Questions About Breast Reconstruction
An article in The New York Times about women who had chosen not to have reconstruction following breast cancer surgery might prompt questions from newly diagnosed patients considering their options.1 Deanna J. Attai, MD, FACS, told The ASCO Post that whenever an article on breast cancer appears in...
Helping Patients With Breast Cancer Decide Whether to Have Reconstruction
A “nascent movement to ‘go flat’” is how an article in The New York Times characterized the decisions by some women to opt out of reconstruction following surgery for breast cancer.1 The article examined the reasons several patients made that decision, which included avoiding multiple surgeries and ...
Dave, Dave, Dave
It was 1983, and I was in my third year as an attending physician at a major East Coast university medical center and just 5 years out of fellowship. As was common at the time, I saw and treated all malignancies except leukemia and gynecologic cancers. In the middle of a typically busy day at the ...
CAP/ASCP/ASCO Guideline on HER2 Testing and Clinical Decision-Making in Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma
As reported by Angela N. Bartley, MD, of St Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), and ASCO have released a guideline on HER2 testing and clinical...
Shirley A. Johnson, RN, MS, MBA, Joins Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Shirley A. Johnson, RN, MS, MBA, has been appointed as Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Senior Vice President of Nursing and Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer. Ms. Johnson officially joined the Roswell Park staff on October 31, 2016, bringing with her nearly 25 years of experience in...
The Future of Health Care in America: Which Corridor?
It was mid-morning, and I was walking along one of the long corridors in our hospital, attending to clinical duties. From a distance, I noticed this elderly couple walking in the opposite direction. As we got closer, it became obvious that the elderly gentleman appeared winded and was looking...
Sleep Disruption in Cancer Survivors: Yoga Offers a Low-Risk Intervention With High Potential for Benefit
Impaired sleep quality is a concerning problem for many patients with cancer, and pharmacologic treatments come with many negative effects. Several small studies indicate that yoga improves persistent fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and quality of life, in addition to reducing the need for ...
How When Breath Becomes Air Is Helping the Public—and Physicians—Confront Their Mortality
It should not come as a surprise to anyone who has read Dr. Paul Kalanithi’s brilliant—and unforgettable—memoir, When Breath Becomes Air (Random House, 2016), that nearly a year after publication, it remains on The New York Times best-seller list, its popularity only increasing with time. Written...
Making Peace With Cancer
Next to me sounds the buzzing of my Lympha Press machine, which substitutes for the constant visits of the physiotherapist who performs the lymph drainage. This gives me more freedom, and we have more privacy at home. I can use the machine whenever I need it, and my 5-year-old daughter, Christina, ...
A Lung Cancer Specialist Talks About Value in Cancer Care
Over the past few years, the term value-based cancer care has become integrated into the vernacular of the oncology community. Value is a subjective term, which is defined largely by its clinical setting. However, value in cancer care is evaluated by the multiple stakeholders involved in the...
How Video Support Tools Help Patients Make Informed Decisions About End-of-Life Care
A relatively recent study by Areej El-Jawahri, MD, and her colleagues is showing how the use of visual media can empower patients with advanced cancer, as well as other life-threatening illnesses, to make more informed decisions about their end-of-life care.1 The aim of Dr. El-Jawahri’s study was ...
Adjuvant Sunitinib for Renal Cell Carcinoma: Not Ready for Prime Time
In renal cell carcinoma and other cancer types, a consistent paradigm in drug development exists: Observe efficacy of a drug in the metastatic setting and move quickly to explore the agent in the adjuvant setting. In the cytokine era, there were multiple efforts to characterize whether adjuvant...
Clinical Strategies for Improving Endocrine Therapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer
Most women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer receive endocrine therapy as part of their treatment, but “the reality is that patients who receive antihormone therapy in the metastatic disease setting ultimately develop disease progression, ” William J. Gradishar, MD, stated at the 18th...
Lack of Standardized Definitions of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphomas Hampers the Collection of Reliable Data
Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of cancers. Some subtypes of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas are often misdiagnosed as benign skin diseases, making it challenging to gather reliable epidemiologic data. At the 3rd World Congress of Cutaneous Lymphomas (sponsored by the International...
ASCO Quality Improvement Grant Spotlight: The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care
In 2016 and 2017, a team from The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care (RLCCC) is participating in an ASCO Quality Improvement Grant program, which is supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The grant program aims to improve the delivery of cancer care in medically underserved communities by...
Research Highlights From the 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium
More than 650 attendees gathered in San Francisco on September 9 and 10 for the 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, focusing on the theme of “Patient-Centered Care Across the Cancer Continuum.” Research presented during the Symposium demonstrated how integrating palliative care into cancer...
Cautious Optimism About Olaratumab in Soft-Tissue Sarcoma
The current plethora of drugs in development for oncology is leading to the testing of novel agents in common as well as rare diseases. Targeted therapies have been a focus of great interest in soft-tissue sarcomas, with testing of a variety of oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors leading to the...
Fulminant, Fatal Myocarditis Reported in Two Patients After Starting Combined Immune Checkpoint Blockade Treatment
In an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Johnson et al reported the occurrence of fulminant, fatal immune-related myocarditis in two patients who received combined ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo) for metastatic melanoma. Patient Courses One patient was a 65-year-old woman...
Practices Provided Concrete Path Toward Alternative Payment System
Earlier this month, ASCO announced it has collaborated with Innovative Oncology Business Solutions, Inc (IOBS) to launch ASCO COME HOME, a patient-centered oncology medical home, to help transition community oncology practices from volume-based care to value-based care and to prepare oncologists to ...
Neoadjuvant Nivolumab Appears Safe and Feasible in Lung Cancer
Neoadjuvant immunotherapy with the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) is safe and feasible in early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The results come from the first report of PD-1 blockade prior to surgery in this tumor, according to Patrick Forde, MD, of...
The Emergence of Philanthropy to Fund High-Risk, High-Reward Cancer Research
Earlier this year, Sean Parker, the cofounder of the music streaming service Napster and an early president of Facebook, joined a growing list of entrepreneurs who are committing large portions of their wealth to funding cancer research. In April, Mr. Parker announced he was donating $250 million...
Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in High-Risk Soft-Tissue Sarcoma: A New Standard?
For the first time, a randomized trial has provided good evidence to support the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for treatment of high-risk soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities or trunk wall.1 But the findings of the study were surprising, because neoadjuvant chemotherapy with one-size-fits-all...
Optimizing Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Myelofibrosis
Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only potentially curative treatment for myelofibrosis. The ASCO Post asked an expert in this field, Ayalew Tefferi, MD, how and when he uses stem cell transplant in myelofibrosis, which is a topic he outlined in greater detail in the...
Recent Progress and Concepts in Pancreatic Cancer
November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, the impetus for this article. Pancreatic cancer is a huge health challenge. It's the eighth most common cancer in the United States and the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths but is expected to become the second most common cause of...
Update on Neoplastic Hematology: Review of Recent Clinical Trials
Here is a brief look at the study findings and clinical implications of several recent and important clinical trials in neoplastic hematology. Attention is focused on myelodysplastic syndromes, multiple myeloma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Myelodysplastic Syndromes Clinical Trial:...
Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer Is Like Walking a Tightrope
I’ve always had fibrocystic breasts and was steadfast in performing monthly breast self-exams, so I could become familiar with the terrain of my breasts and spot any subtle changes. So, in November 2002, when I felt something in my left breast that seemed different from my usual lumps, I made a...
Expect Questions About Medical Marijuana
“Whether or not individual professionals support the clinical use of herbal cannabis, all clinicians will encounter patients who elect to use it and therefore need to be prepared to advise them on cannabis-related clinical issues despite limited evidence to guide care,” according to a recently...
When Marijuana Was Legal in the United States
Marijuana, or cannabis, used to be legal in the United States and was “actually listed in the U.S. formulary in 1854,” according to Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, Director, Cancer Pain Program, Division of Hematology-Oncology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago. “Many of...
Medical Marijuana: The Topic You Can’t Escape
With reports about new marijuana dispensaries sprouting up as more states approve the legal use of medical marijuana, and patients and family members questioning how to get it, medical marijuana is a “topic you can’t escape,” noted Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN.1 Dr. Paice is Director of the Cancer...
David Cella, PhD, Receives Lienhard Award from National Academy of Medicine
David Cella, PhD, Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control Research at the Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University, was awarded the Gustav O. Lienhard Award for his pioneering work to measure and apply patient-reported outcomes in health care. The award was presented at the...
The Smartest Guys in the Room
The smartest guys in the room were never from the big energy companies, and they’re not running hedge funds on Wall Street or building the next Facebook. For me, the smartest guys in the room are the selfless men and women who’ve transformed cancer from what was all too often a death sentence to...
Resuscitation During Surgery
During the 1890s, aseptic principles were extended only to the operative area of the patient, not the surgeon, although some surgeons did advocate the use of special white or colored uniforms, and hand washing had already been established. In 1895, just 7 years after Arpad Gerster, MD, published...
Let’s Win: Innovative Online Community Offers Guidance to Patients With Pancreatic Cancer and Their Families
Let’s Win is an online community for persons with pancreatic cancer (www.letswinpc.org), but it is far more than a typical support group. Let’s Win propels interested users toward cutting-edge research, based on its founders’ commitment that no patient with pancreatic cancer should settle on the...
Development and Validation of a Quality Assurance Score for Robot-Assisted Radical Cystectomy
What are the factors that add up to the best outcomes for patients who have surgery to treat cancer? Looking for a better way to measure quality of care and share best practices in surgical oncology, a team from Roswell Park Cancer Institute developed a quality assessment tool and validated it in a ...
Talking to Children With Cancer: Sometimes Less Is More
I still remember the day I met Kensie. It was Valentine’s Day. I had sneaked out of the hospital to get my wife a Valentine’s Day card, taking my place among scores of other husbands and boyfriends in front of the rapidly emptying rack of cards. As I started browsing, my beeper sounded. It was the ...
Forging Collaboration Between Children’s and Adult Oncology Groups in Designing Trials for Adolescents and Young Adults
Nonrhabdomyosarcoma soft-tissue sarcomas account for about 5% of all childhood malignancies and are also diagnosed in adolescents and young adults, as well as in older adults, and can require different approaches to treatment based on a patient’s age and stage of disease. These sarcomas comprise...
Interviews With ASCO’s President-Elect Candidates
ASCO Connection: Why do you want to serve as ASCO President? Monica Bertagnolli: Serving as ASCO President is a tremendous personal honor for anyone in the field of oncology. Much more importantly, it is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference by providing a strong voice in the health-care ...
Study Looks for Optimal Dosing of Single-Agent Ipilimumab in Metastatic Melanoma
There has been debate as to the optimal dose of single-agent ipilimumab (Yervoy) in metastatic melanoma. A phase III study presented at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress—the first to directly compare these doses—concluded that 10 mg/kg is more effective, but also more...
Is Observation Without Surgery a Viable Strategy for Managing Ductal Carcinoma in Situ?
In a spirited debate, abounding with citations of clinical trials and other evidence, but not without humor and mutual respect, E. Shelley Hwang, MD, MPH, and Armando E. Giuliano, MD, reviewed the data and their clinical experience managing ductal carcinoma in situ and reached opposite...
Vaccines May Boost Immune Responsiveness of Pancreatic Tumors
Pancreatic cancer has been notably unresponsive to immunotherapeutic approaches, but a Stand Up 2 Cancer Dream Team believes their research can change that. Team co-leader Elizabeth Jaffee, MD, Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, ...
Scientists Are Boosting Immune Responses in Pancreatic Tumors
The successes observed with various immune oncologic treatment approaches have largely bypassed pancreatic cancer, but this may be about to change, based on emerging insights into how and why these tumors evade attacks by T cells. At the 2nd International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference, two...
Expert Point of View: Peter Schmid, MD, PhD
Several practice-changing studies have shown that adding a CDK4/6 inhibitor to an aromatase inhibitor improves survival in hormone receptor–positive advanced breast cancer, and those results should also be considered, said formal discussant Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, of Bart’s Cancer Institute, Queen...
Distress Screening in Oncology Leads to Better Doctor-Patient Relationships and Improved Outcomes
As many as 60% of patients with cancer report distress following a cancer diagnosis, and this stress can have a significant impact on patients’ well-being, resulting in psychosocial problems, physical side effects, and dissatisfaction with their health care. To examine the impact of distress ...
Introduction
As expensive cancer biologics move off patent, biosimilar products are coming on board. These are highly similar versions of licensed biologics that demonstrate near-fingerprint identity to their reference products in terms of structure and potency. Biosimilars represent a major opportunity for...
Expert Point of View: Axel Bex, MD, PhD
The formal discussant of this trial, Axel Bex, MD, PhD, of The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, was cautious in interpreting these results to be practice-changing. “I congratulate the investigators for the first-ever positive trial for adjuvant treatment of renal cell carcinoma,” he...
