As more cost pressures are placed on the health-care system, and the transition to value-based care gains momentum, the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ (ACCC) 7th annual Trends in Cancer Programs survey revealed critical challenges and emerging trends in U.S. cancer programs. The...
Despite many successes in treating pediatric cancer, young children remain at high risk for developing severe, long-lasting impairments in their brain, heart, and other vital organs from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. In adults, however, these tissues are relatively spared. This disparity, ...
Twenty-five years ago, I was a physically fit woman of 45 in training to run a marathon, which had been a lifelong goal. I was feeling fine and had no hint of the illness that would nearly take my life and has forever changed it. While ramping up to go the 26.2-mile distance, I decided to have a...
R. Daniel Beauchamp, MD, Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences and the John Clinton Foshee Distinguished Professor of Surgery at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has been selected to receive the 2016 Dr. Rodman E. and Thomas G. Sheen Award from the New Jersey American College of Surgeons...
An analysis of data from nearly 6 million screening mammograms found no evidence for a clear cutoff age to stop breast cancer screening. Screening mammography among women aged 75 years was associated with higher cancer detection and lower recall rates than among younger women in the study. These...
One of the featured “Big Debates” at the 2016 World Cancer Congress in Paris addressed this question: Are scarce resources best applied to prevention rather than treatment? Many experts do not see prevention vs treatment in such stark terms or even as a realistic scenario. It’s a false dichotomy,...
The 13th International Conference of the Society of Integrative Oncology (SIO) held in Miami, Florida, in November, drew its largest audience yet, with nearly 400 clinicians, researchers, patients, and patient advocates in integrative oncology care from 25 countries in attendance with large...
Press conference moderator Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee, said that buparlisib will probably not be clinically useful, partly because it crosses the blood-brain barrier , thus causing mood disorders, and is not an ideal phosphoinositide 3-kinase...
Press conference moderator Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, said: “This drug is not necessarily the same as palbociclib [Ibrance] or ribociclib. There are subtle differences among these three [cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6] inhibitors. The tissue analysis provides us with an enormous opportunity to...
Results of this trial have been anticipated for a long time. Women were enrolled between 2000 and 2008,” said Leif Ellisen, MD, PhD, Program Director of Breast Medical Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Regarding the survival advantage in triple-negative...
Researchers working on whole-exome and transciptome sequencing of endocrine-resistant estrogen receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer have shown that the mutational landscape differs from that of estrogen receptor–positive primary breast cancer, and these differences have the potential to...
How can the results of this trial be applied to clinical practice? Press conference moderator, Virginia Kaklamani, MD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, said: “The landscape has changed. Now we treat postmenopausal hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative metastatic...
“This study shows that a great deal of innovation can come from existing knowledge. The 7+3 regimen has been around since I was an intern,” admitted Armand Keating, MD, of the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “Using the liposomal formulation of...
The American Cancer Society announced the election of three new members—Amit Kumar, PhD, Joseph M. Naylor, and William D. Novelli—to the 2017 American Cancer Society Board of Directors. In addition, the new key officer leadership positions were announced, which include Arnold M. Baskies,...
“This study is important because R-CHOP [rituximab and cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone] has been the standard of care for many years. CHOP, the chemotherapy backbone, has withstood challenges from more aggressive regimens in the past. The excellent clinical outcomes observed ...
Despite the fact that 28 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to permit the use of cannabis and cannabinoid-based drugs to treat medical conditions, including cancer and symptoms from its treatment, federal law prohibits physicians from prescribing marijuana to their patients,...
Long-awaited results of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)/Alliance 50303 trial were a disappointment to many hematologists/oncologists at the 2016 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. The study failed to show that dose-adjusted EPOCH-R (etoposide,...
W.K. Alfred Yung, MD, has wanted a career in medicine since he was a high-school student and has spent nearly 4 decades fulfilling that dream, specifically in the research and treatment of one of the deadliest cancers, malignant brain tumor, especially glioblastoma multiforme, the most common...
Speaking about the GALLIUM study in the ASH News Daily, Brad S. Kahl, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, commented, “It is a potentially practice-changing study that clearly shows an 8% absolute improvement in progression-free survival at 2 years for the patients getting...
Induction and maintenance therapies with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) were superior to rituximab (Rituxan) induction and maintenance in patients with untreated follicular lymphoma, according to results of the phase III GALLIUM study presented at the Plenary Session during the 58th American Society of...
Women with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer are witnessing an unprecedented time of success in the battle against their disease. Just in the past 12 months, a number of prospective, randomized, phase III studies were reported, with positive results indicating the value of...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation has an incredible opportunity for you to make an amazing impact! An anonymous donor is offering a Matching Gift Challenge, which will double the value of every gift we receive by December 31—dollar for dollar—up to $64,000! This amount is enough to fund one of our...
There has been no better time than the present for women in the field of oncology: Women at all stages of their careers are finding more opportunities and avenues to excel. At the time of the last ASCO workforce survey, women made up 28.4% of the oncologist workforce, and that proportion is rising...
The importance of achieving complete response after intensive therapy in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was confirmed in a follow-up analysis of the E2906 North American Intergroup trial.1 Patients in complete response had superior survival in this landmark analysis. This finding...
Richard Gorlick, MD, an expert in pediatric oncology and hematology, has joined The University of Texas MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital as the Division Head and Department Chair of Pediatrics. A pediatric cancer survivor himself, Dr. Gorlick committed his life’s work to helping young...
Stephen P. Hunger, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Oncology and Director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Jeffrey E. Perelman Distinguished Chair in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,...
Although a cure for cancer remains elusive, there are many promising ideas to eradicate this disease, including the Cancer Moonshot Initiative and an ever-increasing body of cancer research that continually drives innovative treatments in an effort to improve survival and, ultimately, find a...
Michael Gnant, MD, Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria and President of the Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group, was the invited discussant of the three studies of extended endocrine therapy. “The trials did not reach the necessary statistical levels ...
Extended endocrine therapy with an aromatase inhibitor did not improve disease-free survival in patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer enrolled in three studies presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The results stand in contrast to the phase III National Cancer...
A brain-boosting protein plays an important role in how well people respond to chemotherapy, researchers reported at the ESMO Asia 2016 Congress in Singapore. A study (Abstract 497O_PR) found that patients with cancer suffering from depression have decreased amounts of brain-derived neurotrophic...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to rucaparib (Rubraca) to treat women with advanced ovarian cancer who have been treated with two or more chemotherapies and whose tumors have a specific gene mutation (deleterious BRCA) as identified by an FDA-approved...
A revised tumor classification based on more than 70,000 non–small cell lung cancer patients and 6,100 small cell lung cancer patients is now available to lung cancer specialists around the world in the form of the 8th edition of the tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) classification. The...
The LUME-Meso phase II trial in patients with unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival. The data, presented at the 17th IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Vienna (Abstract 4191 #OA22.02), showed nintedanib (Ofev) plus...
CancerLinQ LLC has announced that George A. Komatsoulis, PhD, will be its first Chief of Bio-Informatics. This marks another step toward the organization’s goal of making the CancerLinQ® platform the premier system for unlocking patient data from millions of electronic health records, breaking...
Although my diagnosis of stage IIIB melanoma 5 years ago came as a shock, in hindsight, it shouldn’t have been so surprising. I had noticed a small freckle-like lesion on my upper left thigh that had become itchy and occasionally bled, but it didn’t fit the ABCDE (Asymmetry, Border irregularity,...
A few years ago, I had the good fortune to join a research team that intended to create a device to help dying children express their wants and needs despite communication challenges. The brain tumor team at SickKids [also known as The Hospital for Sick Children] had cared for several children...
Tina’s Wish, a nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to funding scientific research for the early detection of ovarian cancer, recently announced its eight 2017–2018 individual grant recipients after soliciting proposals nationally for the first time. Researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer...
In recognition of wide-ranging contributions to the fields of cancer prevention; patient care; and basic, translational, and clinical research, seven faculty members from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of...
Among the most widely attended sessions at the 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium in September was the keynote lecture, “Wit, Hex, Vin, Life, Death: Using Wit as a Teaching Tool,” given by Margaret Edson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Wit. Wit tells the story of an accomplished ...
On March 10, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted regular approval to dinutuximab (formerly known as chimeric 14.18 antibody; Unituxin) for use in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and 13-cis-retinoic acid...
GUEST EDITORAdolescent and Young Adult Oncology explores the unique physical, psychosocial, social, emotional, sexual, and financial challenges adolescents and young adults with cancer face. The column is guest edited by Brandon M. Hayes-Lattin, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine and...
Launching a new cancer journal is a risky and arduous endeavor, especially for a specialty publication in resource-challenged countries in the developing world. To succeed, a specialty journal must publish articles from established clinical researchers that quickly garner funding and captivate its...
GUEST EDITOR Physiatry in Oncology explores the benefits of cancer rehabilitation in oncology practice to screen survivors for physical and cognitive impairments along the care continuum to minimize survivors’ disability and maximize their quality of life. The column is guest edited by Sean Smith, ...
Mylin A. Torres, MD, Director of the Glenn Family Breast Center at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship), was selected to hold the Louisa and Rand Glenn Family Chair in Breast Cancer Research. The endowed position was created by the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation to...
Ellen V. Sigal, PhD, Chair and Founder of Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) began the annual meeting with a conversation with Douglas R. Lowy, MD, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Acting Director, and Robert M. Califf, MD, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner. “Cancer research is ...
It is uniformly fatal and impossible to undo. When the chemotherapy drug vincristine is placed in a syringe and injected intrathecally—into the spinal fluid—the patient always dies. And despite safety guidelines and labels, deaths continue to occur. Now the National Comprehensive Cancer Network®...
More than 100 participants are now enrolled on study drug in ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study. The trial launched in March 2016 at 37 sites, and in November, it welcomed its newest participating clinical sites: Cancer Treatment Centers of America®,...
Priscilla Brastianos, MDDirector, Central Nervous System Metastasis ProgramMassachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, BostonMetastatic brain cancer People are inspired to pursue careers in cancer research for any number of reasons: They might like the challenging nature...
The Kidney Cancer Association has supported 12 kidney cancer research projects through the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Award (YIA) program over the past decade. Early seed funding from the Kidney Cancer Association is advancing research, improving the lives of ...
The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) are calling on policymakers and leaders throughout the world to provide robust and sustained funding for cancer research. The two organizations say there has been a...