Nearly 1 million people in the United States are affected by Lynch syndrome, a hereditary cancer condition with markedly elevated risk of gastrointestinal, endometrial, and other cancers. Most of them, however, are unaware of it, or find out only after they have developed cancer. A screening...
A novel combination of two experimental cancer immunotherapy agents along with an immune checkpoint blocker elicited robust immune responses in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma brain tumors, according to a presentation of interim, 2-year follow-up clinical trial data given by David...
Researchers from the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), found that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion of Medicaid insurance in 2014 was followed by a significant increase in the proportion of patients enrolling in SWOG trials...
Based on guidance from biomarker screening, patients with low-grade luminal A–type breast cancer aged 55 and older may need endocrine therapy alone following breast-conserving surgery and may be able to avoid radiation therapy entirely, according to new research findings presented by Timothy Joseph ...
Shilpa Gupta, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, discusses an updated consensus definition for standard therapy and clinical trial eligibility for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer who are platinum-ineligible, criteria that are proposed to guide treatment recommendations for this...
Carryn M. Anderson, MD, of the University of Iowa Hospital, discusses phase III results of the ROMAN trial of avasopasem manganese for patients with severe oral mucositis who are receiving chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced, nonmetastatic head and neck cancer. Compared with placebo, avasopasem...
In a phase II clinical trial, immune checkpoint blockade before surgery was associated with favorable responses and outcomes in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) and recurrent dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS), Keung et al reported at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA11501)....
Black and White patients treated with similar first-line therapies for advanced kidney cancer experienced similar outcomes, but different response rates, according to research from Fox Chase Cancer Center presented by Daniel Geynisman, MD, at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 4548). “This was...
Although women of African descent experience a higher incidence and mortality from triple-negative breast cancer than women of other races or ethnicities, research findings presented by Hall et al at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that the magnitude of gene-specific risks of triple-negative...
In a new large study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society, findings showed that parental cancer is associated with a greater likelihood of family-level food insecurity, financial worry about housing costs and other monthly bills, and transportation barriers to medical care for children ...
Rarely, if ever, has one abstract presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting warranted its own session—but that happened with a small but mighty study from Memorial Sloan Kettering. In a study of patients with locally advanced mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) rectal cancer, 6 months of treatment with the ...
The combination of two targeted therapies, the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib and the MEK inhibitor trametinib, significantly increased the overall response rate compared to the standard-of-care chemotherapy combination of carboplatin plus vincristine in pediatric patients with BRAF V600...
Stephanie Walker, a former nurse and current activist with the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, discusses findings from the BECOME project (Black Experience of Clinical Trials and Opportunities for Meaningful Engagement). They show that, even though Black patients comprise between 4% and 6% of...
Karim Chamie, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses final clinical results on combining the superagonist N-803 with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in patients whose carcinoma in situ and high-grade non–muscle-invasive bladder cancers are unresponsive to BCG alone. Of note,...
A new study has shown that a combination of brentuximab vedotin and standard chemotherapy is safe and appears to be more effective than standard chemotherapy in pediatric patients up to age 21 with newly diagnosed high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma. Findings from the Children's Oncology Group phase III...
A recent large national study showed the mortality risk from cardiovascular disease differs considerably among cancer survivors by race/ethnicity and cancer types. The findings are being presented by Sung et al at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 12075). In this study, lead author Hyuna Sung, ...
The use of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) early in the course of treatment showed a significant 21.4-month gain in median progression-free survival in younger, newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma compared with patients who received chemotherapy without an initial...
Use of high-dose ifosfamide was found to be superior for treating recurrent and primary refractory Ewing sarcomas compared with three other standard-of-care treatments used for the disease, according to research presented by McCabe et al during the Plenary Session at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting...
The use of fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki doubled progression-free survival compared with the standard-of-care treatment plus conventional chemotherapy. It also significantly improved overall survival for patients with metastatic breast cancers expressing low levels of the HER2 receptor,...
A new genomic test designed to measure the endocrine sensitivity of estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer has the potential to identify patients diagnosed with the disease who could benefit more from dose-dense chemotherapy—a regimen in which chemotherapy is administered more frequently than...
Nearly 43% of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose lung cancers harbored a specific KRAS mutation responded to the experimental drug adagrasib, and the targeted agent also showed activity against lesions in the brain that metastasized from the lung tumors, according to results of...
In a collaboration announced today, ASCO will work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to measure and improve the quality of cancer care internationally. The goal is to achieve health-related targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and WHO Global Action Plan on...
In patients with stage II colon cancer where cancer DNA was not present in the blood (as circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA), adjuvant chemotherapy could be skipped without compromising recurrence-free survival. Conversely, for patients where ctDNA was present after surgery, the rate of recurrence...
Treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan-hziy resulted in longer progression-free survival compared to physician’s choice of chemotherapy in patients who have received many prior therapies for hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer, according to...
Initial results from the ARTISTRY-1 study to be presented by Vaishampayan et al at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that an experimental drug called nemvaleukin alfa, when used alone or in combination with pembrolizumab, may be effective in treating several types of late-stage cancers in some...
A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society showed physician, practice, and patient characteristics were associated with oncologists’ ratings of the importance of patient health insurance and out-of-pocket costs for genomic testing in treatment decisions. The findings are being...
The addition of nimotuzumab, an EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody, to gemcitabine increased overall survival in patients with KRAS wild-type advanced pancreatic cancer, particularly those who did not need surgery for obstruction of a pancreatic bile duct, according to data from the phase III...
Jeremy Abramson, MD, Director of the Jon and Jo Ann Hagler Center for Lymphoma at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was enthusiastic about these data. “These important data show that ibrutinib added to bendamustine/rituximab ...
Primary results from the phase III SHINE trial demonstrated that first-line treatment with ibrutinib combined with bendamustine/rituximab and rituximab maintenance achieves a substantial prolongation of progression-free survival in elderly patients with mantle cell lymphoma, according to a...
Colonoscopies performed with computer-aided detection, or artificial intelligence (AI), saw an increase in the overall rate of detection of adenoma, or cancerous and precancerous polyps, by 27% in average-risk patients, according to new data presented by Shaukat et al at Digestive Disease Week 2022 ...
In an effort to highlight cancer care inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic, ASCO has launched the Interactive Map of Oncology, a data visualization tool that allows users to explore geographic distribution of systemic and socioeconomic factors that influence cancer care delivery in the United...
On June 4, 2022, 17 individuals received the distinction of FASCO, “Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology” during the ASCO Annual Meeting. The FASCO distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. The following members ...
Over the past year (May 2021–May 2022), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved and expanded indications for many drugs related to the treatment of different types of cancers and adverse events. The new approvals and accelerated approvals are listed below. FAM-TRASTUZUMAB...
Global health crusader Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, had a wildly unconventional childhood, which helped inform his adult life as a medical humanitarian. Dr. Farmer was born in West Adams, a town that lies along the verdant valley surrounding the Hoosic River in northern Massachusetts. He was the second of ...
The Albert Einstein Cancer Center (AECC) in Bronx, New York, has announced the appointment of three faculty members to key leadership positions, reflecting the center’s commitment to basic science, translational, and clinical research and its core principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. New ...
On a cool, gray November morning, I took the call from a walk-in doctor about Carla, a 26-year-old woman with progressive lymphadenopathy who was refusing investigations because of severe needle phobia. Carla was willing to meet with me to discuss treatment options for a suspected diagnosis of...
Michael Silbermann, DMD, PhD, was born on January 19, 1935, in the old quarter of Acre, a northern Arab city stretching along the north end of the Bay of Haifa in present-day Israel. “Acre, which was developed more than 4,000 years ago, was one of the primary harbors of the Phoenician people....
In support of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot goal of fostering data sharing in cancer research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has launched the Molecular Characterization Initiative for pediatric tumors. This program offers tumor...
Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, Executive Vice President of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for Texas Oncology, was reared in Plano, Texas, a city in the sprawling Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. “My father was an electrical engineer with a PhD, and all throughout my childhood, I was exposed to the wonders ...
Individuals elected to ASCO leadership for the 2022–2023 term were announced earlier in the year. Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, FASCO, was elected to serve as the Society’s President beginning in June 2023. Dr. Schuchter will take office as President-Elect immediately after the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting in ...
Community practices have long been a keystone of our nation’s oncology care delivery system by allowing patients with cancer to receive specialized treatment near their homes and places of business. Innovative clinicians in the community setting are also leading efforts to create a more efficient...
ASCO Past President, Michael Link, MD, who has pioneered new strategies for treating common childhood cancers, was born and reared in a suburb of Cleveland. “My first significant exposure to medicine was my own family doctor, Dr. J.W. Epstein. Looking back, I was impressed by the combination of...
The Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI) at Mount Sinai and the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) are launching a unique research program that will fund collaborations between TCI physician-scientists and colleagues from other established cancer research institutions to address the worldwide ...
ASCO recently announced six additional medical schools will participate in the second year of the Oncology Summer Internship (OSI) program, an immersive, 4-week summer internship for rising second-year medical students from groups underrepresented in medicine (UIM).1 In 2022, ASCO and a total of 11 ...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor, Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Sunil Verma, MD, the Global Head of Oncology, Medical, at AstraZeneca. Sunil Verma, MD, was born in Zambia, a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern, and East Africa. “My...
In the summer of 2017, while visiting Normandy, 64-year-old Mark’s right testis became enlarged and tender. His initial workup identified a large testicular Leydig cell tumor with adverse pathologic features; computed tomography showed no evidence of metastasis.1,2 His medical history was otherwise ...
According to internationally regarded neuroendocrine tumor specialist, Pamela Kunz, MD, her career path was kickstarted by childhood bat-hunting expeditions in barns and caves throughout rural New England. “My father was an environmental biologist at Boston University who studied bats. Although at...
Prior to the birth of the steel industry, Luxembourg was a poor and rural country. At the start of the 19th century, many Luxembourgers searching opportunity emigrated to the United States. The hardiest among them ventured into the Great Plains region to take advantage of homesteading...
The underrepresentation of older patients (≥ 65 years) in clinical trials has been well documented for more than 20 years. This has been an issue at all phases of drug development, including pivotal trials for drug approvals,1 despite the fact that many of these new therapeutics will primarily be...
Success in tennis demands precision timing, extraordinary hand-eye dexterity, and commanding mental and physical vigor. According to Harold P. Freeman, MD, the discipline and skills he learned on the tennis courts at an early age stood him in good stead during his remarkable life’s journey. “My...