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Showing 4101 - 4150Postoperative Outcomes With Screening- vs Nonscreening-Detected Colorectal Cancers
In a Dutch study reported in JAMA Surgery, Michael P.M. de Neree tot Babberich, MD, of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, and colleagues found that postoperative outcomes were better in patients with colon cancer, but not rectal cancer, detected...
Welcome Questions About Cervical Cancer Treatment Options
TWO STUDIES reported in The New England Journal of Medicine1,2 showed that patients with early-stage cervical cancer had reduced disease-free and overall survival when treated with minimally invasive radical hysterectomy vs open or radical hysterectomy. The findings of these studies have been...
Pembrolizumab in Sorafenib-Pretreated Hepatocellular Carcinoma
ON NOVEMBER 9, 2018, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted accelerated approval for treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma previously treated with sorafenib (Nexavar).1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data APPROVAL WAS BASED on durable responses in the phase II KEYNOTE-224 trial...
Venetoclax in Combination Regimens for Older Patients With AML or Those With Comorbidities Precluding Intensive Induction
On November 21, 2018, venetoclax (Venclexta) was granted accelerated approval for use in combination with azacitidine or decitabine or low-dose cytarabine for the treatment of newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in patients aged ≥ 75 years or who have comorbidities that preclude the use of ...
ASCO Resolutions on Step Therapy, Competitive Acquisition Program Proposed at AMA House of Delegates
During this year’s interim meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD), ASCO proposed four resolutions on step therapy, Medicare Part B drugs, a Competitive Acquisition Program, and clinical trial access, all of which were adopted or reaffirmed by the policy-making...
Check Out the Top Five Most Popular ASCO University Courses of 2018
New to ASCO University’s e-learning offerings and not sure where to start? With a comprehensive course catalog that spans tumor types, practice information, and other aspects of cancer care, choosing a course can be a challenge. To help get you started, here is a list of the most popular courses of ...
Lorlatinib in Second- or Third-Line Treatment of ALK-Positive Metastatic Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
On November 2, 2018, lorlatinib (Lorbrena) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with ALK-positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose disease has progressed on crizotinib (Xalkori) and at least one other ALK inhibitor for metastatic disease or whose disease ...
How to Build a Clinical Trial Infrastructure in the Community Oncology Setting
HISTORICALLY, CLINICAL research has been viewed as an entity belonging to academic settings alone. With the advent of the Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) in the 1980s and later with the Cancer Trials Support Unit, cancer clinical trials have begun to emerge in the community setting....
New Data Reported From International Studies of Lung Cancer Treatment
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress, important studies were presented for every cancer type. Here, The ASCO Post offers some snapshots of lung cancer studies that may inform approaches to treating this common cancer, which—despite the advances in recent years—remains...
Durvalumab Improves Overall Survival After Chemoradiotherapy in Unresectable, Stage III NSCLC
AS REPORTED in The New England Journal of Medicine by Scott J. Antonia, MD, PhD, of H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, and colleagues, the phase III PACIFIC trial has shown significantly improved overall survival, a coprimary endpoint, with the programmed cell death ligand 1...
Should I Have Lied?
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
International Trials Present New Findings in Treatment of Breast Cancer
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress featured an assortment of study findings, many with far-reaching clinical implications for the treatment of patients with various cancers. Many of these trials were covered in-depth in recent issues of The ASCO Post. Here, we present...
Optimal Duration of Checkpoint Inhibition in Melanoma Is No More Than 2 Years
For patients with advanced melanoma, the concept of treating to disease progression does not always apply. With many patients responding to checkpoint inhibition for years, when can treatment be safely discontinued? This important clinical question was addressed at the European Society for Medical...
Adjuvant Trastuzumab Emtansine vs Trastuzumab in Patients With HER2-Positive Breast Cancer With Residual Disease After Neoadjuvant Therapy
As reported at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and in The New England Journal of Medicine by von Minckwitz et al, an interim analysis of the phase III KATHERINE trial has shown that adjuvant trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) improved invasive disease–free survival vs...
Combining a Checkpoint Inhibitor With CAR T-Cell Therapy May Augment Immune Response
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a revolutionary approach to treating hematologic malignancies. As experience with this strategy is gained, researchers are learning more about how to optimize responses, especially in patients with “immune exhaustion,” who have a suboptimal initial...
Early Studies of Ibrutinib Plus CAR T-Cell Combination in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Researchers are combining chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) as a means of augmenting and deepening responses in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Two pilot studies presented at the 2018 American Society of Hematology...
Larotrectinib for Solid Tumors With NTRK Gene Fusions
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On November 26, 2018, larotrectinib (Vitrakvi) was...
FDA Approves Olaparib for Maintenance Treatment of BRCA-Mutated, Advanced Ovarian Cancer
On December 19, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olaparib (Lynparza) for the maintenance treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic BRCA-mutated advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer...
Will the Trump Administration’s Plan to Reduce Cancer Drug Prices Work?
High drug prices are the number one health-care concern of many Americans. The average price of a cancer drug rose from less than $10,000/yr before 2000 to more than $170,000/yr in 2017.1-3 Between 1995 and 2013, the launch price of cancer drugs increased by 10% to 12% every year, and the average...
First-Line Ibrutinib/Rituximab Combination Shows Benefit for Younger Patients With CLL
First-line therapy with the combination of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and rituximab (Rituxan) reduced disease progression by two-thirds compared with standard chemotherapy using fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (FCR) in younger patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to...
Expert Point of View: Eric P. Winer, MD, and Jame Abraham, MD
Commenting on the findings of the KATHERINE trial were Eric P. Winer, MD, Director of the Breast Oncology Program in the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Thompson Senior Investigator in Breast Cancer Research andProfessor of Medicine at Harvard...
Pembrolizumab vs Standard of Care in Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
In the phase III KEYNOTE-040 trial reported in The Lancet, Cohen et al found that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was associated with a “clinically meaningful prolongation of overall survival” vs investigator’s choice of standard therapies in patients with previously treated recurrent or ...
ECHELON-2: Brentuximab Vedotin Plus Chemotherapy in CD30-Positive Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma
As reported by Horwitz et al in The Lancet, the phase III ECHELON-2 trial showed that brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone (CHP) improved progression-free and overall survival vs cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) in...
RSNA 2018: Breast Cancer Risk-Based Mammography Screening in Younger Women
A new, large-scale study of more than 5 million mammograms found that annual mammography screening beginning at age 30 may benefit women with at least 1 of 3 specific risk factors: dense breasts, a personal history of breast cancer, or a family history of breast cancer. The study was presented at...
SELECT Trial: Adjuvant Erlotinib in Resected EGFR-Mutant NSCLC
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pennell et al found that adjuvant erlotinib (Tarceva) improved disease-free survival over historical controls in patients with resected EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the study, 100 patients with ...
Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Aspirin in Preventing Colorectal Adenomas
In a UK trial (seAFOod Polyp Prevention) reported in The Lancet by Hull et al, no differences in adenoma prevention were found after treatment with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), aspirin, both, or placebo in patients with high-risk findings on colonoscopy. On the...
Vitamin D Supplementation and Cancer Risk
In a trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Manson et al, vitamin D supplementation was found to have no benefit in reducing risk of invasive cancer vs placebo over 5 years of follow-up. Study Details The trial was a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, with a two-by-two...
2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program Final Rule Released
AT THE BEGINNING of November, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program (QPP) outlining reimbursement changes for 2019. CMS estimates that the overall impact will be a 1% reimbursement cut for...
Calling ASCO Members: Join ASCO’s Research Survey Pool Today to Help Inform Research in Oncology
ASCO IS assembling a cohort of its members who are willing to participate in survey-based research projects of ASCO members for noncommercial purposes. The immense knowledge and experience of ASCO’s membership can help to accelerate the development of new insights that may help to improve cancer...
Oncology Care Team Reduces Opioid Use After Surgery by Using Quality Improvement Approach
IN A QUALITY improvement project that was featured in the Quality Care Symposium press program,1 members of an oncology care team achieved a 46% reduction in opioid use among patients who underwent a range of urologic surgeries. They did this by using a systemic approach that identified multiple...
Moxetumomab Pasudotox-tdfk for Relapsed or Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia
ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2018, moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk (Lumoxiti), a CD22-directed cytotoxin, was approved for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory hairy cell leukemia who received at least two prior systemic therapies, including with a purine nucleoside analog.1,2 Supporting...
Encorafenib and Binimetinib: A New Benchmark in Metastatic Melanoma Therapy?
IN JULY 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of the oral BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (Braftovi) and the oral MEK inhibitor binimetinib (Mektovi) for BRAF V600E– or V600K– positive metastatic melanoma. The FDA approval was based on the results of the COLUMBUS...
Duvelisib for Relapsed or Refractory CLL/SLL and for Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On September 24, 2018, duvelisib (Copiktra) was granted...
Bladder Cancer: Strategies to Address Checkpoint Inhibitor Failure
CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS have rapidly become the standard of care as second-line treatment, and in some patients first-line treatment, of advanced bladder cancer. However, the majority of patients do not respond and eventually experience disease progression; these patients will need subsequent...
Pembrolizumab Triplet Shows Activity in BRAF-Mutant Melanoma
AS FIRST-LINE treatment of advanced BRAF-mutant melanoma, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) added to dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) produced a nonsignificant improvement in progression-free survival. It also increased the rate of grade 3 to 5 treatment-related adverse events in the phase II ...
PARP Inhibitor Active in BRCA1/2-Mutated Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
THE SEARCH for biomarkers in prostate cancer has proved frustrating, partly due to the complexity of the disease and its heterogeneity. A preliminary analysis of a phase II (TRITON2) study suggests that rucaparib (Rubraca), a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, may be active in men with...
Using Tumor‑Infiltrating Lymphocytes to Treat Metastatic Melanoma
STEVEN A. ROSENBERG, MD, PhD, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), began his pioneering research in adoptive cell transfer using interleukin (IL)-2 in the mid-1970s. His IL-2 studies were among the clinical trials that led to the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval ...
Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy May Improve Outcomes in Some Patients With Oligometastatic Tumors
IN PATIENTS with a controlled primary tumor and up to 5 oligometastatic lesions, delivering stereotactic ablative radiotherapy was associated with a 13-month improvement in overall survival when compared with palliative standard-of-care treatments alone (41 months vs 28 months; P = .09).1...
Local Consolidative Therapy Associated With Survival Benefit for Some With Oligometastatic NSCLC
FOR A SUBSET of patients with stage IV lung cancer, aggressive treatment may improve overall survival, according to data presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).1 The results of the phase II study showed that with long-term follow-up, local...
De-escalation of Chemotherapy in Favorable-Risk Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma
THE REGIMEN of four cycles of rituximab (Rituxan)/cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (R-CHOP) plus two cycles of rituximab was noninferior to that of six cycles of R-CHOP in younger patients with favorable-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), according to the results of...
Should Oncologists Recommend Cannabis?
A RECENT survey of 400 clinical oncologists found that 80% discuss the use of medical cannabis with their patients, and although nearly 50% recommend it, fewer than 30% consider themselves knowledgeable enough to make such recommendations.1 Oncologists are perhaps among the most evidence-demanding ...
Ibrutinib vs Standard of Care in Front-Line Treatment of Older Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
IBRUTINIB (IMBRUVICA) as a front-line agent proved superior to standard-of-care chemoimmunotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in older patients in A041202, an Alliance-led National Clinical Trials Network study.1 At a follow-up of 38 months, the median progression-free survival was not ...
SABCS 2018: SOLAR-1: Liquid Biopsies in Predicting Benefit of Alpelisib in PIK3CA-Mutant Breast Cancer
Liquid biopsy–based assessment of PIK3CA mutational status served as a better indicator of progression-free survival compared with analysis of tissue biopsy in patients with breast cancer enrolled in the phase III SOLAR-1 clinical trial, according to data presented by Juric et al at the 2018...
A Diagnosis of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Has Focused My Life Direction
Despite the fact that I had to have open heart surgery at age 7 to fix a congenital heart defect and then more surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy to treat a diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma a year later, I never felt like I was a sick kid. Children don’t have the existential worries about...
SABCS 2018: Low-Dose Tamoxifen in Reducing Recurrence and New Disease for Patients With Breast Intraepithelial Neoplasia
Treatment with a low dose of tamoxifen (5 mg/d), compared with placebo, decreased the risk of disease recurrence and new disease for women who had been treated with surgery following a diagnosis of breast intraepithelial neoplasia. Moreover, it did not cause more serious adverse events, according...
A Feminist Take on Health-Care Disparities
BOOKMARK Title: Doing Harm: The Truth About Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and SickAuthor: Maya DusenberyPublisher: HarperOnePublication date: March 2018Price: $27.99, hardcover, 400 pages Over the past year or so, there have been several books by women focused...
Denial’s Many Faces
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the Art of Oncology as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Pembrolizumab With Chemotherapy for First-Line Treatment of Metastatic Nonsquamous NSCLC
On August 20, 2018, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with pemetrexed (Alimta) and platinum was granted regular approval as first-line treatment of patients with metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) or anaplastic lymphoma...
Palliative Care Trailblazer, Charles von Gunten, MD, PhD, Shares Insights With Advanced Practitioners
“The data are in, and they are clear and convincing. Palliative care leads to better outcomes for patients. The major challenge now is to make it part of standard cancer care everywhere in the United States and then everywhere else in the world, said Charles von Gunten, MD, PhD, a medical...
Current Perspectives on the Treatment of Breast Cancer
“We are on the cusp of a new way to treat breast cancer,” Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD, said in summarizing advances using immunology to treat breast cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, adaptive T-cell therapies, and vaccines can enlist and rev up the immune system and be combined with chemotherapy...
