Laura Goff, MD, Medical Director of the Hematology and Oncology Division at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, was born in Chicago but reared in Lewisville, a suburb of Dallas. “I come from a long line of nurses, which early on influenced my decision to pursue a career in medicine....
On December 18, 2020, selinexor was approved for use in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone for treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy.1,2 Selinexor received accelerated approval in 2019 for use in combination with dexamethasone for...
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has improved survival rates for several hematologic malignancies, but as the number of transplants continues to rise, community oncologists are evaluating more posttransplant complications in the clinics. The ASCO Post spoke with two of the principals...
GenesisCare has appointed its first Global Chief Medical Officer, Walter J. (Wally) Curran, Jr, MD, FACR, FASCO. This appointment follows the recent acquisition of integrated cancer care provider 21st Century Oncology, increasing access to advanced cancer care for patients in more than 290...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) has released new guidance on vaccinating people with cancer against COVID-19. The nonprofit alliance of leading cancer centers created an NCCN COVID-19 Vaccine Committee that includes hematology and oncology experts with particular expertise in...
ASCO’s Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FSCT, FASCO, issued the following statement on “Cancer Statistics, 2021,” a report published annually by the American Cancer Society. “Fifty years after President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act to make...
Janet Woodcock, MD, current Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has been named acting FDA Commissioner, according to a report published in The New York Times. Stephen M. Hahn, MD, who had been FDA Commissioner since December 17,...
A new study has found that alcohol consumption accounts for a considerable portion of cancer incidence and mortality in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The article, published by Sauer et al in Cancer Epidemiology, stated that the proportion of cancer cases attributable to alcohol...
In a phase III U.S. Intergroup trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Alan F. List, MD, and colleagues found that treatment with lenalidomide plus epoetin alfa increased the rate of major erythroid response vs lenalidomide alone in patients with lower-risk, non-del(5q) myelodysplastic...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Angiolillo et al, findings from the phase III Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AALL0932 trial indicated that “outstanding outcomes” can be achieved with maintenance therapy with a reduced frequency of vincristine/dexamethasone pulses in pediatric...
Completing cancer screening tests such as mammograms can be challenging for low-income patients who may face such issues as lack of transportation or inability to take time off work. A team at Massachusetts General Hospital explored the possibility of addressing preventive care needs when patients...
Results of a phase II trial showed that cabozantinib, a multiple tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor, reduces tumor volume and pain in patients with the genetic disorder neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). These findings were published by Fisher et al in Nature Medicine. “This is the second class of...
Patients with stage I to III colorectal cancer and a high risk for disease recurrence may be identified by serial testing of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after resection, according to a study in which ctDNA was more reliable than carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) surveillance or standard radiologic...
Guest Editor’s Note: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) held its 2020 international conference in a virtual format. It focused on key issues of health disparities in integrative cancer care, innovative integrative oncology service delivery models, and...
Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University and Medical Director, Winship Research Informatics Shared Resource at Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta, considered the presentations on bispecific T-cell–engaging antibodies in myeloma to be among...
Today, leadership from the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) sent a letter urging the nation's governors and public health officials to prioritize supplying cancer treatment practices with COVID-19 vaccines and allowing the practices to administer the vaccines. The letter, signed by Kashyap Patel,...
Alphonse G. Taghian, MD, Professor at Harvard Medical School and Co-Director of Breast Cancer Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, said that these results from the PRIME II trial are quite similar to those of the older CALGB study first initiated in 1994.1 Both studies had a ...
Omitting postoperative radiotherapy with whole-breast irradiation may not compromise 10-year overall survival or increase the risk of developing metastasis in most women 65 years and older with low-risk breast cancer, according to results of the large randomized PRIME II trial reported at the 2020...
New research published by Abdel-Rahman in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network found more than one-third of eligible people miss timely screening tests for colorectal cancer, and at least one-quarter appear to miss timely screening tests for breast and cervical cancers....
Some patients with metastatic breast cancer are taking smaller doses of opioid prescriptions over decreased amounts of time, according to results published by Shen et al in Scientific Reports. Researchers said that the results indicate that clinicians may be more aware of the negative impacts of...
Overall cancer death rates in the United States dropped continuously from 1991 through 2018, for a total decrease of 31%, including a 2.4% decline from 2017 to 2018. These findings were reported in the American Cancer Society’s “Cancer Statistics, 2021” article, published by Rebecca L. Siegel, MPH, ...
The first phase III study to evaluate the subcutaneous form of daratumumab has met its primary endpoint, investigators of the APOLLO trial reported at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.1 The triplet of daratumumab, pomalidomide, and low-dose dexamethasone ...
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation may contribute to the development of a rare type of eye cancer, conjunctival melanoma, according to research published by Mundra et al in Nature Communications. The new study has revealed similar genetic changes in patients with conjunctival melanoma to those with...
Researchers have found evidence that opioid use may be an unidentified risk factor contributing to the increasing incidence of pancreatic cancer in the United States. These findings were published by Barlass et al in PLOS One. The use of prescription opioids for the management of chronic pain has...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting clinical laboratory staff and health-care providers that it is monitoring the potential impact of viral mutations, including an emerging variant from the United Kingdom known as the B.1.1.7 variant, on authorized SARS-CoV-2 molecular tests....
In a brief report published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Arakawa et al described the identification of lung cancer in two children that likely resulted from transmission of maternal cervical cancer tumor cells during vaginal delivery. As noted by the investigators, the transmission of...
Recent research has shed new light on the carcinogenic effect of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, laying the groundwork for improvements in skin cancer risk stratification and prevention. A study published by Lei Wei, PhD, and colleagues in Science Advances detailed a method to measure the...
Many patients with prostate cancer are treated with androgen-deprivation therapy. However, patients receiving androgen-deprivation therapy often experience higher levels of fatigue, depression, and cognitive impairment. In a new study published by Hoogland et al in the journal Cancer, researchers...
Researchers profiled more than 45,000 individual cells from patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis and defined the extensive cellular heterogeneity, as well as identified two distinct cell subtypes correlated with patient survival. The findings were published by Wang et al in Nature Medicine....
A research team has published findings from a study that brought together data from genomic prostate cancer studies. Including more than 200,000 men of European, African, Asian, and Hispanic ancestry from around the world, the study is reportedly the largest, most diverse genetic analysis ever...
On January 4, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, MD, and Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Peter Marks, MD, PhD, issued the following statement on FDA-authorized dosing schedules for each COVID-19 vaccine. Two different mRNA...
Surgery, in addition to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, may improve survival for certain patients with metastatic breast cancer. A research team studied nearly 13,000 patients with stage IV disease and found that those who had surgery in addition to other treatments had a...
A research team has quantified the effects of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on the development of cervical cancer. Their results show that the risk of developing cervical cancer is six times higher in women who are infected with HIV, and that women who live in Southern and...
A comprehensive study involving more than 250,000 women showed that oral contraceptive use may be protective against the development of ovarian and endometrial cancers, but the effect on lifetime risk of breast cancer is more limited. The protective effect on ovarian and endometrial cancers was...
A new report found that despite progress in the decline of cancer mortality, there are still critical gaps, including the need to develop better tools and explore research opportunities that would lead to limiting cancer as a major health concern. This blueprint article completes an eight-part...
Although efforts have been made by various medical societies, including ASCO, over the past decade to address the needs of sexual and gender minorities in the cancer care setting, research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) patients continue to face...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded over $107 million to support new, nontraditional approaches and reimagined uses of existing tools to address gaps in COVID-19 testing and surveillance. The program will also develop platforms that can be deployed in future outbreaks of COVID-19...
Reporting on how deferred care worsened outcomes for patients with lung cancer when the COVID-19 pandemic first surged in the spring of 2020, Robert M. Van Haren, MD, MSPH, FACS, and colleagues explained that they have identified a framework that could help people with serious health conditions...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its Home Health Prospective Payment System final rule for 2021. The final rule reflects comments ASCO submitted on the proposed rule in support of increased access to telemedicine in home health care and concerns over home...
“Equity: Every Patient. Every Day. Everywhere” was selected by 2020–2021 ASCO President Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, as the theme for her presidential term. As oncology care providers work to put this theme into practice, they can find support in ASCO eLearning’s new Cultural Literacy course...
On November 13, 2020, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in combination with chemotherapy for patients with locally recurrent unresectable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer with tumors expressing PD-L1 (Combined ...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) President Stephanie Lee, MD, MPH, sat down with Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and medical advisor to President-Elect Joseph Biden, for a virtual fireside chat about COVID-19 and cancer at...
Northwell Health recently announced that it will open a $6.2 million, 11,300-square-foot comprehensive cancer center in Riverhead, New York, by the end of this year. The new facility will provide residents of the East End of Long Island access to integrated cancer services in a conveniently located ...
Cathy Eng, MD, the David H. Johnson Chair in Surgical and Medical Oncology, Co-Leader of the Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer Research Program, and Co-Director of GI Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, as well as Vice Chair of the SWOG GI Committee, said she found the study’s...
To improve long-term survival odds, individuals with early-stage colon cancer should have their surgery performed by highly skilled surgeons. In a study that used video assessment, surgeons with highly ranked skills gave their patients a 69% lower risk of dying at 5 years as compared with their...
The prevention of infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), and its related cancers, has become a focus of the European Cancer Organisation. At the group’s 2020 European Cancer Summit, held virtually, members of the organization’s HPV Action Network convened with other experts to share...
Are we winning the war on cancer? It’s not so clear, especially with COVID-19 poised to erase recent gains, panelists said at a session on global cancer control at the 2020 European Cancer Summit, which was sponsored by the European Cancer Organisation. “We know what we have to do. My question is...
It has become a familiar theme of late: Inequities exist in all aspects of cancer care. Although study after study documents problems with access to care and poorer cancer outcomes among underrepresented groups, less is heard about organized efforts to address these issues. This critical topic was...
Harikrishna Nakshatri, PhD, who is identifying the unique biology that may make Black women more susceptible to aggressive breast cancer, received a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Defense–Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s breast cancer research program. Dr. -Nakshatri...
Moderator of the session, Karen M. Winkfield, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Executive Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance in Nashville, underscored the importance of approaching patient survivorship holistically. “As radiation oncologists,...