About 80% of triple-negative breast cancers are classified as the subtype basal-like. Typically, patients with triple-negative breast cancer receive chemotherapy before surgery. The presence of residual cancer in the breast after chemotherapy signals a higher likelihood that the cancer will...
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide, and the leading cause of cancer-related death among women in Eastern, Western, Middle, and Southern Africa. Globally, in 2018, approximately 570,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 311,000 women died. In the United...
Results from the phase II cohort of the CodeBreaK 100 study showed that treatment with the KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib achieved a 37.1% objective response rate and a median overall survival of 12.5 months in previously treated patients with KRAS G12C–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)....
The phase II E3311 trial offers new information about using reduced-intensity treatment in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer who are at intermediate risk of recurrence. These findings were presented by Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, and colleagues during the 2021...
One year of adjuvant therapy with the PARP inhibitor olaparib extended disease-free survival in patients with high-risk, early-stage, HER2-negative breast cancer with BRCA1/2 germline mutations, according to a prespecified interim analysis of the phase III OlympiA trial presented by Andrew Tutt, MB ...
According to the results from the phase III JUPITER-02 study, the addition of toripalimab, a humanized IgG4K anti–PD-1 monoclonal antibody, to standard gemcitabine/cisplatin chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma provided superior progression-free...
A clinical trial in a racially diverse group of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer to study severe pain in the bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves caused by aromatase inhibitor treatment has found that the symptoms were more commonly reported in Black and Asian patients than...
Results from the phase II MyPathway basket trial found that the HER2-targeted therapies pertuzumab and trastuzumab demonstrated durable activity in patients with a wide variety of tumors marked by HER2 amplification or overexpression, although responses were limited in those with KRAS mutations....
ASCO has elected five new members to the ASCO Board of Directors and the Nominating Committee for 4- and 3-year terms, respectively, starting in June 2021: Gladys I. Rodriguez, MD, has been elected to a Designated Community Oncologist seat on the Board. Dr. Rodriguez is Vice President of...
Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, FASCO, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago as the middle child of three girls. She was, by her own account, extremely shy by nature. Her mother was a graduate of the University of Chicago, but her father’s college education was preempted by his service as a fighter pilot in...
Jaap Verweij, MD, PhD, FASCO, was born in 1953 in Velsen, a municipality situated on both sides of the massive North Sea Canal in the Netherlands. His father was a sea captain, and other close family members also plied the oceans for a living in the fishing or transport industries. Dr. Verweij...
Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), was born in Brooklyn, New York, near Sheepshead Bay—an area named for the Sheepshead, a fish that can no longer be found in the waters that frame the neighborhood....
High-quality cancer care is a complex mixture of science and art, made even more challenging by the dizzying array of coding, billing, and data collection regulations that must be taken into account. Synthesizing all the parts into value-based, whole-patient care across the wide spectrum of the...
The term “head and neck surgery” had little meaning until the 1940s, when it was used by groundbreaking surgeon Hayes Martin, MD, in one of his publications. Dr. Martin was then Chief of Head and Neck Services at Memorial Hospital, later renamed Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where...
Cardio-oncology focuses on the detection, monitoring, and treatment of cardiovascular disease occurring secondary to cancer treatment, and the mechanistic and epidemiologic intersection between cardiovascular disease and cancer. With the advent of targeted agents and immunotherapies,...
Over the past 2 decades, the oncologic mantra “early detection leads to cure” has taken on special meaning in lung cancer, persistently a leading cause of cancer death in the United States. “Over a 25-year period, we’ve seen a revolution in early detection, understanding of tumor biology, and...
The field of geriatric oncology has developed steadily over the past several decades, thanks to the dedication of a close-knit community of oncologists who have devoted their careers to advancing multidisciplinary care for older patients with cancer. One such leader is Silvio Monfardini, MD, past...
In the face of old school mores, self-motivation and perseverance were needed to build a career as a nationally regarded blood and bone marrow transplant expert. “I was born and reared in Brooklyn, New York, the oldest of seven children of Irish-Italian parents who did not espouse professional...
Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), was born in Brooklyn, New York, near Sheepshead Bay—an area named for the Sheepshead, a fish that can no longer be found in the waters that frame the neighborhood....
Although quality of life has been an implicit medical outcome since the time of Hippocrates, integrating the explicit effort to assess the effects of cancer treatment on the patient’s quality—and not quantity—of life was spearheaded by dedicated pioneers. One such trailblazer is Patricia A. Ganz,...
Over the past year (May 2020–May 2021), 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. PEMBROLIZUMAB (KEYTRUDA) in...
Beginning in 2012,The ASCO Post introduced Narratives in Oncology, a special commemorative issue profiling several of the many leaders in the oncology community. Over the past years, many in the oncology community have been profiled in this commemorative issue. A complete list of individuals...
ASCO has elected Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, to serve as its President for the term beginning in June 2022. He will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in June 2021. “ASCO is as equally devoted to improving outcomes for patients as it is to supporting oncology professionals ...
There are few, if any, more difficult clinical challenges than pancreatic cancer, a disease that continues to confound the oncology community’s quest for cure. Yet, incremental progress and unflagging optimism drive the way forward, thanks to the researchers and clinicians who have dedicated their...
In an MSK Team Ovary–led phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zivanovic et al found that use of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) with carboplatin during secondary cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy did not improve 24-month progression-free survival in...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Olson et al found that high rates of response were achieved with third-party BK virus–specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte therapy (BKV-CTL) in patients with BK virus–associated hemorrhagic cystitis after allogeneic...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Roisin M. Connolly, MD, and colleagues, updated results of the phase II TBCRC026 trial indicate an association of early F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (F-18 FDG PET/CT) maximum standardized uptake value...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Hong et al found that prior frequent emergency department use was the strongest predictor of postdiagnosis emergency department visits among patients with a new diagnosis of cancer. Study Details The study involved data from adults...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Arjun V. Balar, MD, and colleagues, the phase II KEYNOTE-057 trial showed that pembrolizumab produced enduring responses in a cohort of patients with high-risk non–muscle invasive bladder cancer unresponsive to bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) who were ineligible ...
In the European phase II PHERGain study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Pérez-García et al found that an F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (F-18 FDG-PET) response–based strategy may be able to identify patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer who may benefit from...
Patients with breast cancer who experience disease progression on neoadjuvant systemic therapy tend to have poor survival outcomes, even after surgical management, according to a study presented during the 2021 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1 Findings from the retrospective...
In a secondary analysis of the Dutch phase III TRAIN-2 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Anna van der Voort, MD, and colleagues found similar 3-year event-free and overall survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant therapy with vs without an anthracycline plus dual...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jonathan E. Rosenberg, MD, and colleagues, the phase III CALGB 90601/Alliance trial has shown no improvement in overall survival with the addition of bevacizumab to gemcitabine/cisplatin in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Study...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Chen et al found that stereotactic radiosurgery for brainstem metastases was effective and safe, with outcomes comparable to those observed with stereotactic radiosurgery for nonbrainstem brain metastases. Study Details A...
In a single-center phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Nasser K. Altorki, MD, and colleagues found that neoadjuvant durvalumab plus stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) resulted in a markedly higher major pathologic response rate vs durvalumab alone in patients with early-stage...
On February 5, 2021, lisocabtagene maraleucel was approved for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified (including DLBCL arising from...
Evan J. Lipson, MD, of Johns Hopkins University, discusses primary phase III results from the RELATIVITY-047 study, which showed that relatlimab plus nivolumab as a fixed-dose combination may improve progression-free survival compared with nivolumab monotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma....
An Australian study published by Chow et al in The Lancet Infectious Diseases found a 70% reduction in one type of human papillomavirus (HPV) in gay and bisexual men after the implementation of the school-based HPV vaccination program. The HYPER2 study found that there was a significant reduction...
The American Urological Association (AUA) announced amendments to its clinical guideline on Renal Masses and Localized Renal Cancer, originally published in 2013 and updated in 2017, based on an additional literature search conducted through October 2020. One in four renal masses are benign;...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Stratigos et al, findings in a subgroup of a phase II trial have shown that the PD-1 antibody cemiplimab-rwlc produces enduring responses in patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma who had progressive disease on or intolerance to prior hedgehog...
Tumor genomic profiling of resected cholangiocarcinomas may reveal mutations targetable with agents currently being used for other cancers, according to the results of a study presented at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care.1 Among patients...
In the second interim analysis of the phase III CATNON trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Martin J. van den Bent, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that adjuvant temozolomide—but not temozolomide concurrent with radiotherapy—was associated with an overall survival benefit in patients with newly...
In the phase II portion of a Dutch phase II/III trial (CAIRO6) reported in JAMA Surgery, Rovers et al found that the addition of perioperative systemic therapy to cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) was feasible and safe for the treatment of patients with ...
Dannielle Engle, PhD, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Avery D. Posey, PhD, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, were announced at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021 as the inaugural recipients of the Lustgarten...
Most cancer memoirs have a similar thread: life suddenly interrupted by arguably the three most dreaded words in the English language, “You have cancer.” Readers anticipate the high-drama uncertainty leading to diagnosis, treatment, and hopefully survivorship, with multiple human storylines woven...
I have had two life-threatening cancers over the past 3 decades and can say without equivocation that there is never a good time to get cancer. My first cancer diagnosis happened in 1992, just weeks after I had accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of Hughes Electronics. The job meant a...
“Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.” —Hippocrates To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the...
The U.S. right-to-die movement took root in the mid-1970s, when Derek Humphry helped his wife, who was dying of breast cancer, take her own life. Five years later, Mr. Humphry founded the Hemlock Society, the first right-to-die organization in the United States,1 and set off a firestorm of...
On March 26, 2021, idecabtagene vicleucel was approved for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.1,2 Idecabtagene vicleucel is...
Each year, the American Urological Association (AUA) honors the contributions of physician researchers and educators in the field of medicine, the specialty of urology, and the organization. The following individuals are the 2021 honorees: Ian M. Thompson Jr, MD, Ramon Guiteras Award, for...