In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kevin R. Krill, PhD, and colleagues from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital assessed neurocognitive function in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). They found pervasive significant impairment across...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Oriana Yu, MD, of Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, and colleagues assessed the association of statin use with prostate cancer mortality and all-cause mortality in men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer. They found that postdiagnostic ...
Available data suggest that risk of febrile neutropenia is greatest during the first two cycles of chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maureen J. Aarts of Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and colleagues...
In a study reported in The Lancet, Guglielmo Ronco, MD, of the Center for Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, AO City of Health and Science, in Turin, Italy, and colleagues in the International HPV Screening Working Group performed a follow up of four randomized trials of human papillomavirus...
The investigational anti–PD-1 immunotherapy MK-3475 showed promising objective response rates in patients with previously treated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The interim data were presented by Edward Garon, MD, Director of Thoracic Oncology at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center ...
A recent study by Darby and colleagues showed a significant linear increase in risk for major coronary events according to mean cardiac dose of radiation (7.4% per Gy) in patients receiving radiation therapy for breast cancer between 1958 and 2001. In an analysis reported in a research letter...
A new educational tool for oncologists may enhance compliance with quality care standards and improve the value of cancer care, ultimately resulting in big cost savings for health-care systems, according to Karen Fields, MD, and colleagues from H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute,...
In a phase I study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Donald M. Cannon, MD, of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and Mountain States Tumor Institute, and colleagues attempted to identify the maximum tolerated dose of dose-escalated hypofractionated radiation...
In a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine, Ségolène Hescot, MD, of Université Paris Descartes, and colleagues reported evidence of irreversible pancreatic atrophy in two patients after long-term sorafenib treatment. Both patients received cumulative doses of sorafenib...
In the RIGHT trial, reported in The Lancet Oncology, Yoon-Koo Kang, MD, of University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, and colleagues assessed the effects of imatinib (Gleevec) rechallenge in patients with metastatic or unresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) after objective...
In a randomized phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by R. Wendel Naumann, MD, of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, and colleagues, the addition of vintafolide to pegylated liposomal doxorubicin improved progression-free survival in women with...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Alan Pollack, MD, PhD, of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues compared escalated radiation dose using hypofractionated vs conventional fractionation intensity-modulated radiation therapy in men with favorable-...
Survivorship care plans, consisting of treatment summaries and follow-up plans, are intended to promote coordination of post-treatment cancer care, but little is known about how they are being used in routine oncology practice. In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Ningqi Hou, PhD, of University of Chicago, and colleagues analyzed the potential contribution of patient characteristics to risk of breast cancer associated with hormone replacement therapy. The study found that risk of...
In a phase III trial (NSABP B-41) performed to assess the potential benefit of neoadjuvant dual HER2 blockade in HER2-positive breast cancer, André Robidoux, MD, of Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal and colleagues in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and...
Hot flashes occur in approximately 80% of androgen-deprived men. In a randomized study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Mara Z. Vitolins, DrPH, MPH, RD, of Wake Forest School of Medicine, and colleagues, neither venlafaxine nor soy protein—both of which have been used to...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Patrick G. Morris, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues assessed the efficacy of rituximab (Rituxan), methotrexate, procarbazine (Matulane), and vincristine (R-MPV) followed by consolidation reduced-dose ...
As reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mila Donker, MD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and colleagues analyzed the effects of adjuvant radiotherapy after local excision for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) on long-term risk for local recurrence and survival in patients from the EORTC...
Patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma “do not maintain the cautious sun behavior they exhibit just after … diagnosis,” even though they are at increased risk for developing a second primary melanoma, data from a Danish study suggested. Based on measurements...
Short telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is associated with aging and such age-related diseases as cancer, stroke, vascular dementia, cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis, and diabetes. Telomere attrition is considered a potential mechanism in triggering the chromosomal...
Some data suggest that BRCA1 mutations are associated with occult primary ovarian insufficiency and that BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have earlier natural menopause than noncarrier relatives. A study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ian M. Collins, MD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer...
A large epidemiology study of postmenopausal women by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) has found that women who participated in at least 1 hour of vigorous physical activity every day had a 25% lower risk of breast cancer, and those who walked for at least 7 hours per week had a 14% ...
The anti-cytomegalovirus agent CMX001 is an oral lipid acyclic nucleoside phosphonate that is absorbed in the small intestine and transported throughout the body as a phospholipid. It is converted intracellularly to cidofovir diphosphate, but unlike cidofovir, is not a substrate of organic ion...
Although, historically, white women aged 40 years and older have had the highest incidence rates of breast cancer, the rising rate of breast cancer among African American women—especially among women aged 50 to 59—is narrowing the gap, according to a study by American Cancer Society...
In patients with early breast cancer receiving anti-HER2 therapy in the NeoALTTO trial, mutations in PIK3CA were associated with lower rates of pathologic complete response, Jose Baselga, MD, reported at the European Cancer Congress 2013 (Abstract 1859) in Amsterdam. In patients treated with the...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Alan C. Geller, MPH, RN, of the Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues assessed long-term trends in the incidence and mortality of melanoma in Connecticut, a state with complete and consistent tumor registration. They found...
A meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncologyby Wei-Chih Liao, MD, of National Taiwan University Hospital and colleagues indicates that fluorouracil (5-FU) or gemcitabine is optimal adjuvant therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Chemoradiation was associated with poorer survival and...
Tremelimumab is an anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) monoclonal antibody, a class of inhibitor that has shown activity in multiple tumor types. Ipilimumab (Yervoy), another agent in this class, was found to significantly prolong overall survival in metastatic melanoma despite a...
In a phase II study (MCL-001, EMERGE) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Andre Goy, MD, of Hackensack University Medical Center, and colleagues evaluated the use of single-agent lenalidomide (Revlimid) in bortezomib (Velcade)-treated patients who had relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. ...
Results of the two rounds of annual incidence screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) vs radiography in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) were recently reported by Denise R. Aberle, MD, of University of California at Los Angeles, and colleagues in The New England Journal of...
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) is an inhibitor of hepatocyte growth factor receptor (MET), VEGFR2, and rearranged during transfection (RET) tyrosine kinases. In a phase III trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Rosella Elisei, MD, of the University of Pisa, and colleagues found that cabozantinib ...
German investigators reported at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco that an abridged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol can accurately detect cancers among women whose mammographic screenings were negative (Abstract 1). MRI, therefore, may reveal the type of tumor that...
The investigational drug brivanib is a dual inhibitor of VEGF and fibroblast growth factor signaling, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. In a noninferiority trial (BRISK-FL) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Philip J. Johnson, MD, of the Institute of Translational Medicine,...
The more alcohol young women drink before motherhood, the greater their risk of future breast cancer, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Previous studies have looked at breast cancer risk and alcohol consumption later in life or at the effect of...
In an Italian study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Umberto Vitolo, MD, and colleagues in the Fondazione Italiana Linfomi, treatment-naive patients aged > 60 years with advanced follicular lymphoma were randomized to rituximab [Rituxan] maintenance or observation after brief ...
A study from the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery finds that advances in imaging technologies, including ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are fueling an epidemic in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancers that are unlikely...
Thyroid ultrasound imaging could be used to identify patients who have a low risk of thyroid cancer for whom biopsy could be deferred, according to a retrospective case-control study by Rebecca Smith-Bindman, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, and colleagues in...
In the noninferiority ICOGEN trial reported in Lancet Oncology, Yuankai Shi, MD, of the Key Laboratory of Clinical Study on Anticancer Molecular Targeted Drugs. Beijing, and colleagues compared the oral epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor icotinib with gefitinib...
The combination of the investigational histone deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat (Faridak) with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone was able to recapture responses in 34.5% of heavily pretreated, bortezomib-refractory patients with multiple myeloma in the phase II PANORAMA 2 trial. The 55...
Annual screening for breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been found to be cost-effective in women aged 30 to 60 years who are BRCA1 or BRCA2 carriers or who have a 50% chance of being a carrier, and such screening is recommended in these women by many authorities. It is unclear...
It is estimated that 30% to 90% of cancer patients experience impairment of sleep quality post-treatment and such impairment can be severe enough to increase morbidity and mortality. Preliminary evidence indicates that yoga may improve sleep in cancer patients. In a study reported in the Journal of ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Hannah Arem, MHS, PhD, of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues analyzed the association between quality of diet according to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans—Healthy Eating Index 2005...
Indoor tanning, defined as using a tanning booth, sun bed, or sunlamp, is common among non-Hispanic white female high school students and young adults, despite risks of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, according to Gery P. Guy, Jr, PhD, MPH, and colleagues of the Centers for Disease...
Some data support an association between circadian disruption and prostate cancer. In a study reported in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Erin E. Flynn-Evans, PhD, of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues assessed the association between...
VeriStrat, a serum-based protein assay, can help select which patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are not known to have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations might benefit from an EGFR-targeted agent, according to a study described at the 2013 Best of ASCO Los...
In a study reported in Lancet Oncology, Timothy Key, PhD, of Oxford University, and colleagues in the Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group analyzed data from seven prospective studies to determine associations between sex hormones and risk of breast cancer in premenopausal...
Although celiac disease is associated with an increased risk of lymphoma, including enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma, it was not known whether persistent atrophy of the villi, the fingerlike projections that normally absorb nutrients, contributed to that risk. In a large population-based...
A team of researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center has identified 18 new genes responsible for driving glioblastoma multiforme, the most common—and most aggressive—form of brain cancer in adults. The study was published online...
Many factors play into why women diagnosed with breast cancer often choose overly aggressive treatment even when there is little evidence to show clinical benefit: the shock and fear of suddenly being confronted with a major health threat, the impression of having to make treatment decisions...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, María-Victoria Mateos, MD, PhD, of the Universidad de Salamanca, and colleagues compared induction lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus dexamethasone followed by maintenance lenalidomide with observation in patients with high-risk...