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Showing 3901 - 3950One Size May Not Fit All: Thoughts on the New Adjuvant Bisphosphonate Guideline for Early-Stage Breast Cancer
The oncology community has now conducted several prospectively designed, hypothesis-driven randomized clinical trials among women with breast cancer to address this question: Do adjuvant bisphosphonates decrease the risk of breast cancer bone metastases and other recurrence? A meta-analysis1 by...
Advances in the Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
WITHIN THE SPECTRUM of breast cancer subtypes, triple-negative disease is “particularly troubling,” but better scientific understanding of this malignancy is leading to advances in its treatment, according to breast cancer expert Nancy Davidson, MD. Triple-negative breast cancer does not express...
Financial Toxicity: Cancer Supportive Care Professionals Consider the Side Effects of Soaring Costs
IS IT POSSIBLE to identify patients with cancer who are at risk for financial stress and intervene to reduce that risk? And could reducing financial stress—or financial toxicity, as it is often called in the context of cancer care—improve both health-related quality of life and physical health?...
FDA’s First Site-Agnostic Drug Approval Marks a Paradigm Shift in Regulatory Criteria
IN MAY, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with solid tumors that have the microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) biomarker, which disrupts the ability of cells to repair DNA. The...
A New Triumvirate in Estrogen Receptor–Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
THE BODY OF EVIDENCE supporting the use of cell-cycle inhibitors in combination with endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer now has another agent in the spotlight. The phase III MONARCH 2 trial—reported at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting and by Sledge et al in the...
An Educational Program for Safe Handling of Opioids
Improper storage, use, and disposal of prescribed opioids can lead to diversion or accidental overdose. Given that opioids are the mainstay of cancer pain treatment, this issue is particularly germane in the oncology community. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Akhila Reddy, MD, and Maxine de la...
MammaPrint Test Addressed in ASCO Breast Cancer Guideline Update
New recommendations on the use of the MammaPrint genomic test issued on July 10 will help guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy for women with early breast cancer. The recommendations update the ASCO 2016 clinical practice guideline on the use of biomarkers in these patients. The guideline ...
Launch of Watson-Powered Genomic Sequencing Service to Help Physicians Bring Precision Cancer Treatments to Patients Nationwide
On July 27, IBM Watson Health and Quest Diagnostics announced the launch of IBM Watson Genomics from Quest Diagnostics, a new service that helps advance precision medicine by combining cognitive computing with genomic tumor sequencing. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) will...
Two San Diego Nonprofits to Receive 2017 ASTRO Survivor Circle Grants
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) will award its annual Survivor Circle grants to two San Diego–based cancer support charities: Cancer Angels of San Diego and The Seany Foundation. Each organization will receive an $8,500 grant to support its programs for those who have been...
Fulvestrant Receives EC Approval as First-Line Therapy for Advanced Breast Cancer
On July 26, the European Commission (EC) approved fulvestrant (Falsodex) for the treatment of estrogen receptor–positive, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women not previously treated with endocrine therapy. The EC approval is based on pivotal data from the...
Study Finds HER2 Mutations in 3% of Lung Cancers
The Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium at the University of Colorado Cancer Center reported that 24 of 920 patients (3%) with advanced-stage lung cancer in a recent study had mutations in the gene HER2. According to the study, published by Pillai et al in Cancer, 71% of these patients were...
Classifying Gastric Cancers by Subtype May Provide Tailored Treatment Options
Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in both men and women worldwide. In 2014, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project discovered there are four molecular subtypes of gastric cancer: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), microsatellite instability (MSI), genomically stable (GS), and...
FDA Expands Approval of Ipilimumab to Include Pediatric Patients 12 Years and Older With Unresectable or Metastatic Melanoma
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the indication for ipilimumab (Yervoy) injection for intravenous use to now include the treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma in pediatric patients 12 years of age and older. Ipilimumab was evaluated in 2 trials of pediatric...
Register Now for QOPI® QCDR for 2017 CMS MIPS Reporting: One Patient, One Measure, No Penalty
ASCO is pleased to announce that its Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) is available now for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting. By using the QOPI® QCDR for MIPS reporting,...
ASCO-AACI’s Best Practices in Cancer Clinical Trials Initiative: Streamlining Adverse Events Reporting and Research Community Forum Activities
Research sites and investigators face an ever-increasing number of challenges in the conduct and management of cancer clinical trials. Many of these challenges stem from the multitude of requirements for clinical trials that sponsors and regulatory and administrative agencies have set. In...
The Art of Networking: Advice for the Oncologist-in-Training
It was Friday night of the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. I planned to meet a friend, another 2nd-year heme-onc fellow, at a “free drink thing,” as she called it. I sheepishly entered the hotel bar, made a nametag at the insistence of the greeter, and started edging my way through the crowd. ...
2017 ASTRO Gold Medalists Named
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR RADIATION ONCOLOGY (ASTRO) has announced the 2017 ASTRO Gold Medalists. Søren M. Bentzen, DSc, PhD; Louis B. Harrison, MD, FASTRO; and Michael L. Steinberg, MD, FASTRO, have been awarded the annual honor given to ASTRO members who have made outstanding lifetime...
NCCN Panelists Relay ‘What’s Hot’ in Their Fields
AT THE NATIONAL Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 22nd Annual Conference, experts from several fields met with journalists to highlight “what’s hot” in their specialties. The ASCO Post captured that conversation. Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Guidelines NCCN HAS LAUNCHED new NCCN Clinical...
Combination Strategies for Jump-Starting the Immune Response
CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS have dramatically changed the landscape of the treatment of melanoma, lung, bladder, and other cancers. Researchers are focusing on exploring ways to extend the use of checkpoint inhibitors to other disease states and to combine them with novel agents and improve outcomes. At ...
Expert Point of View: Joshua Jones, MD
ASCO EXPERT Joshua Jones, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, commented on the study at a press briefing. “This is a case where less is more. This is an important study and the first to show equal outcomes and meaningful...
Radiation Therapy for Spinal Cord Compression: One Treatment Is Sufficient
SPINAL CORD COMPRESSION associated with metastatic cancer can be effectively treated with a single dose of radiotherapy, according to the results of a phase III British study that showed multiple radiotherapy doses to be no better than one treatment.1 Up to 10% of all patients with cancer will...
Drug Combinations Prove Effective Against Melanoma Brain Metastases
STUDIES PRESENTED at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting have shown that for melanoma that metastasizes to the brain, the combined use of checkpoint inhibitors and targeted agents can be effective. In COMBI-MB, 58% of patients responded intracranially to the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus the...
Maintaining Predictable Increases in NIH Funding for Cancer Research
CONGRESS RECENTLY passed its fiscal year (FY) 2017 spending bill, which contains an additional $2 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This marks the first time in more than a dozen years that Congress funded back-to-back increases for the NIH, demonstrating the bipartisan...
Edus H. Warren, MD, PhD, Named Leader of Fred Hutch Global Oncology Program
Immunotherapy researcher and oncologist Edus H. Warren, MD, PhD, has been selected to lead the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) program in Global Oncology in its effort to transform cancer care in sub-Saharan Africa, China, and other regions by providing greater access to the...
Spark Discussions About Indoor-Tanning Devices
“Strong evidence suggests that using a tanning bed during adolescence or young adulthood can increase the risk of early-onset melanoma by over 40%,” Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, MD, wrote in an opinion piece for Newsweek.1 Dr. Gershenwald is Professor of Surgical Oncology, Medical Director of the...
Educating Young People on Sun-Safe Behaviors and Reducing the Risk of Melanoma
“If minors don’t tan, then they may never become adult tanners,” Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, MD, said in explaining the emphasis on teaching sun safety behaviors to young children as part of the Melanoma Moon Shot Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Dr. Gershenwald is ...
Music Therapy: Relevance in Oncology
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, authors Karen Popkin, LCAT, MT-BC, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present the case ...
Shiitake Mushroom: Insufficient Evidence to Support It Boosts Immune System
In the June 25 issue of The ASCO Post, the Integrative Oncology column by Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focused on how to counsel a patient about shiitake mushroom. They concluded: “We advised our patient that it is safe to take shiitake mushroom to boost her immune system.”...
Living With Cancer Survivorship Guilt
Although I was officially diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1997, the first sign of the cancer was evident 2 years earlier, when a single lesion (a plasmacytoma) was found in a bone in my lower back. The bone was replaced with two thin stainless steel rods, and after a course of radiation therapy, ...
Huntsman Unveils New Primary Children’s and Families’ Cancer Research Center
On June 21, 2017, the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah announced the official opening of its Primary Children’s and Families’ Cancer Research Center, a world-class facility dedicated to advancing research in cancer. Jon M. Huntsman also announced a commitment from the...
Ensuring Advance Directives Are Followed and Lawsuits Are Avoided
Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, has focused his legal career on improving medical care decision-making and protecting patients’ rights at the end of life. His specific areas of legal expertise include patients’ rights, informed consent, and end-of-life medicine. Dr. Pope is the coauthor of The Right ...
Advance Care Planning: Ensuring Patients’ End-of-Life Wishes Are Honored
When Amy Berman, BSN, LHD (aged 58), stood in front of the mirror to perform a routine breast self-exam and saw redness and dimpling on her right breast, she feared they were the telltale signs of inflammatory breast cancer. “I have never self-diagnosed myself before, but I had recently read an...
No Survival Benefit When Pravastatin Is Added to Standard Chemotherapy in Small Cell Lung Cancer
In a UK phase III study (LUNGSTAR) reported in the Journal of Clinical -Oncology, Michael J. Seckl, MD, PhD, of Imperial College London, and colleagues found that adding pravastatin to first-line standard chemotherapy did not improve overall survival in patients with small cell lung cancer...
CDK4/6 Inhibitors Have a Manageable Toxicity Profile, Are Generally Well Tolerated in Patients With Breast Cancer
A class of oral drugs for treating breast cancer known as cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors are generally well-tolerated, with a manageable toxicity profile for most patients. This is the conclusion of a comprehensive review of toxicities and drug interactions related to this class of...
The Immune System: Deciphering Recent Advances
Over the past decade, there has been renewed interest in developing immunologic therapies in cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several new biologic agents that target a patient’s immune system, some of which have produced profound clinical responses. However, the...
Study Demonstrates Potential for Artificial Intelligence and Whole-Genome Sequencing to Scale Access to Precision Medicine
In a study published by Wrzeszczynski et al in Neurology: Genetics, researchers at the New York Genome Center (NYGC), The Rockefeller University, and IBM illustrated the potential of IBM Watson for Genomics to analyze complex genomic data from state-of-the-art sequencing of whole genomes. The study ...
FDA Approves First Companion Diagnostic Test to Simultaneously Screen for Multiple NSCLC Therapies
On June 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted premarket approval to Thermo Fisher Scientific for the first next-generation sequencing–based test that simultaneously screens tumor samples for biomarkers associated with three FDA-approved therapies for non–small cell...
MammaPrint Test Addressed in ASCO Breast Cancer Guideline Update
New recommendations on the use of the MammaPrint genomic test issued on July 10 will help guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy for women with early breast cancer. The recommendations update the ASCO 2016 clinical practice guideline on the use of biomarkers in these patients. The...
FDA Grants 510(k) Clearance to Halcyon IMRT Treatment System
Varian Medical Systems has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its Halcyon system, a new device for cancer treatment. Halcyon simplifies and enhances image-guided volumetric-intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). “We are proud that Halcyon has now...
Encouraging Results With Pembrolizumab in Relapsed/Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
AN EFFECTIVE antitumor immune response relies on cytotoxic T cells that are activated and able to target the malignant clone. As T cells become activated, they upregulate suppressive receptors including programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). Upregulation of inhibitory signals is important to...
A Great IDEA: Celebrating 15 Years of the International Development and Education Award
In 2017, ASCO and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO are proud to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the International Development and Education Award (IDEA). The IDEA program supports the professional development of early-career oncologists in low- and middle-income countries around the world....
Preparing for Future Challenges in Geriatric Surgical Oncology
In the past decade, advances in surgical oncology have been echoed in the field of geriatric oncology. The current literature regarding older people with cancer includes mainly retrospective cohort studies, focusing on alternatives to radical surgery in comorbid patients. More recently, work has...
ASCO’s TAPUR Study Continues Its Expansion of Sites, Participants, and Collaborators
ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study continues to expand and now has more than 300 participants enrolled on study drugs, more than 100 sites in 20 states, new partnerships, and a -revised protocol to lower the age of eligibility. Recently, eight new centers in 36...
Neoadjuvant Studies of Endocrine Approaches in Breast Cancer Mandated Before Embarking on Large Adjuvant Studies
Largely based on studies demonstrating that letrozole can suppress plasma estradiol levels to a greater extent than anastrozole,1 the adjuvant activity of these endocrine agents were compared in 4,136 patients with node-positive breast cancer in the FACE trial. As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO ...
Update on NCI Projects Aimed at Advancing Precision Medicine
“PRECISION MEDICINE will lead to fundamental understanding of the complex interplay among genetics, epigenetics, nutrition, environment and clinical presentation, and direct effective, evidence-based prevention and treatment. We can’t measure all that all at once right now, but we are starting to...
Expert Point of View: Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD
STUDY DISCUSSANT Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD, of Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, entitled her remarks, “Target Practice in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer,” referring to the fact that there is currently no validated target in this aggressive...
Retreatment With Checkpoint Inhibitors May Be Feasible for Some Patients With NSCLC
INCREASING NUMBERS of patients are being treated with checkpoint inhibitors, and about one-quarter to one-third will develop immune-related adverse events. One question on the minds of oncologists is can these patients be safely re-treated once their adverse events resolve? One of the first...
James Francis McCarthy
The family and staff of Harborside Press mourn the loss of former colleague, and forever friend James F. McCarthy, who passed away after a brief illness on June 23, 2017. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 7, 1929, to John A. and Eda K. McCarthy, Jim was a graduate of Brooklyn Preparatory High ...
Cancer Survivor Publishes Book for Children About Cancer
A book aimed at helping young families understand cancer, Hair to the Queen! is now available on Amazon. Written by first-time author Tamara B. Rodriguez and illustrated by Carole A. Smith, the book empowers adults to discuss cancer with children in a simple and compassionate way. Hair to the...
Big Data and the Learning Machine
BOOKMARK Title: The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our WorldAuthor: Pedro DomingosPublisher: Beacon PressPublication date: February 2017Price: $24.95, hardcover, 288 pages Technology is revolutionizing our understanding and treatment of diseases....
