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Showing 4451 - 4500Despite Challenges, Initiatives Bring Gradual Improvements to Cancer Care in Lebanon
Nagi S. El Saghir, MD, FACP, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Hematology-Oncology at the American University of Beirut, is the founding President of the Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology (LSMO). Dr. El Saghir has focused much of his research on the early detection, prevention, and treatment of ...
Ongoing and Future Directions in Pancreatic Cancer Research
Margaret A. Tempero, MD, is a pioneer in pancreatic cancer treatment and research. She has long been a leader in the research and development of therapeutics for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, particularly in studying investigational antibody-based therapies, developing the fixed-dose-rate...
The Problem of Monitoring Remission
How wonderful it is that we now have to concern ourselves with survivorship issues! The ever-increasing success of cancer therapy means that more and more patients can look to a life beyond cancer diagnosis and treatment. But living with cancer creates its own problems. While treatment often may be ...
The Science of Resilience: Exploring the Process of Grieving from a New Perspective
How human beings cope with bereavement, loss, extreme adversity, and life-threatening illness has dominated the research interests of George A. Bonanno, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Teachers College at Columbia University, New York, for more than 20 years. In his book, The Other Side of...
Letter to the Editor: Dr. Ablin’s Reply
Given my explanation and widely publicized opinion on the improper use of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test for screening asymptomatic men for prostate cancer—most recently expressed in a feature article in The ASCO Post (August 15, 2012)—I was pleased to read that Drs. James Mohler and...
Letter to the Editor: More Thoughts on PSA
An article that appeared in the August 15 issue of The ASCO Post (“Rethinking the Role of PSA Screening in Public Health”) contains false statements about the discovery of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and its effectiveness as a test for early detection of prostate cancer. Contrary to what’s...
Being Well Informed Helped Me Cope with Breast Cancer
I had been putting off getting a screening mammogram for a few years. When I finally made an appointment in March 2011 and was told that I needed a follow-up sonogram because the test had picked up a suspicious-looking mass in my right breast, I knew I was in trouble. A biopsy of the tumor showed...
CT Scans in Childhood Can Triple Risk of Leukemia and Brain Cancer Later in Life, Study Finds
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Computed tomography scans with...
Getting the Right End-of-life Care: Coming to Terms with the Realities of Advanced Disease and Mortality
“Dying is at once a fact of life and a profound mystery.” That was the opening sentence of a 1997 Institute of Medicine report, Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life, a much-needed jump-start in the national dialogue over identifying the barriers that impede the delivery of...
Inaugural Quality Care Symposium Will Detail How to Pioneer Successful Quality Initiatives in Your Practice
Over the past 10 years, Wilshire Oncology Medical Group of La Verne, California, has reengineered itself so that all processes—from front-desk operations at all eight locations to the 10 oncologists’ interactions with patients and payers—capture quality data that can be used for robust benchmarking ...
What the Latest Breast Cancer News Means For Patients
Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/breastsymposium to learn about the research highlighted at the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium in the special online newsletter, Cancer Advances: News for Patients from the 2012 Breast Cancer Symposium. In addition, your patients can listen to a podcast of the...
Genitourinary Cancers Symposium Still Intimate Despite Record Growth
Despite its exponential growth since launching in 2007—from 1,450 attendees then to a record 2,530 last year—the Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium remains an inviting meeting that feels small, accessible, and comfortable. And that’s the perfect blend for networking, said Jeff Michalski, MD,...
A Leading Light in Cancer Advances, Mary Lasker Used Wealth and Connections to Increase Funding for Medical Research
Born in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1900, Mary Woodard Lasker was introduced to the ravages of cancer when she was just 3 or 4 years old and went with her mother to visit the family’s laundress, Mrs. Belter, who had just undergone surgery for breast cancer. On the way over to Mrs. Belter’s home, Ms....
Expert Point of View: Sergio Giralt, MD
Sergio Giralt, MD, Chief of Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the findings by Papanikolaou et al presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. “To put this trial into context, in a recent study of 283 double-refractory multiple...
Dying Patients with Cancer Who Avoid Aggressive Care but Stay Connected with an Oncologist Have Better Quality of Life
Dying patients with cancer who avoided hospitalizations and life-prolonging measures, who worried less, prayed or meditated, were visited by a pastor, and maintained a therapeutic alliance with their oncologist had the highest quality of life at the end of life, according to a study recently...
Expert Point of View: Fritz H. Schröder, MD
I am happy to accept the invitation by The ASCO Post to comment on the recent, long-awaited publication of the PIVOT study (Wilt et al: N Engl J Med 367:203-213, 2012) and the accompanying editorial by Thompson and Tangen (N Engl J Med 367:270-271, 2012). The editorial both points out weaknesses of ...
No Survival Benefit of Radical Prostatectomy vs Observation for Localized Prostate Cancer Detected by PSA Testing
The relative benefits of surgery or observation in men with prostate cancer detected by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing have not been defined. Randomized trials comparing radical prostatectomy with observation were conducted before widespread use of PSA testing and an observational study...
Predictors and Treatment for Transformed Lymphoma: Current Paradigms
At the recent Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference, held in Maui, Hawaii, Richard I. Fisher, MD, Chairman of the SWOG Lymphoma Committee and Vice-President for Strategic and Program Development at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, gave a presentation on the characteristics and...
Importance of Dermatologic Care for Patients with Cancer
I first became interested in treating skin issues associated with cancer about 10 years ago, during my dermatology residency training at the University of Chicago. Many of the agents under clinical development at the time, such as cetuximab (Erbitux) or sorafenib (Nexavar), were causing...
Expert Point of View: Dan L. Longo, MD
The term “abscopal” is from Greek roots that mean “away from the target.” Coined by R.H. Mole in 1953, it was used to label observed effects of radiation at a distance from the volume irradiated. Mounting evidence suggests an immunologic basis for the effect, but it should also be remembered that...
Contagious Cancer and an Unexplained Phenomenon Might Inspire Future Therapies
A deadly contagious cancer known as devil facial tumor disease is pushing the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilius harrisii), to the brink of extinction. The loss of an interesting creature aside, the plight of the Tasmanian devil raises provocative questions...
Faculty Q&A Discussion: Anaplastic Large-cell Lymphoma
Dr. Armitage: For ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma, brentuximab vedotin is the best thing we have to deal with patients with recurrent disease, and who knows where it will end up in primary therapy. But if the patient is ALK-positive, there is a potential for crizotinib (Xalkori) to...
Faculty Q&A Discussion: Brentuximab Vedotin
Dr. Armitage: It is no surprise that brentuximab vedotin is really an exciting agent, and it gives us a new opportunity in treating classical Hodgkin lymphoma. What if this person Dr. Engert just presented was at the same point with nodular lymphocyte-predominant lymphoma and no CD30 positivity....
Faculty Q&A Discussion: Communicating with Patients
Dr. Armitage: As oncologists, we face many challenges. I think the most difficult is when you say to a patient with a disease everybody expects will be cured, and every patient expects to be cured, “It is not worth trying to do that. It is time to worry about keeping you as well as possible for as ...
SIDEBAR: Melanoma Treatment Options Exploding, but Old Standbys Should Remain
New drugs are rapidly changing the treatment paradigm for stage IV melanoma, but there is still validity to some of the old standbys, according to Michael Sabel, MD, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, who described the shifting landscape of melanoma treatment at the Best of ASCO Boston...
Exciting New Agents Offer Further Treatment Options for Metastatic Melanoma
“This is a very exciting time in melanoma,” said Michael Sabel, MD, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “For years, we chugged along with few options for systemic therapy. Then in 2010 and 2011, we saw melanoma data presented at ASCO plenary sessions. At ASCO 2012, we expanded in these areas...
Another Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Joins the Lineup in Renal Cell Carcinoma
The novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor tivozanib was superior to sorafenib (Nexavar) for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma in the phase III TIVO-1 trial.1 Tivozanib is a potent, selective inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1, 2, and 3, with a long half-life that is...
SIDEBAR: A Closer Look at Radium-223
William Oh, MD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, posed some questions about the first-in-class alpha emitter radium-223 chloride. “Is this an anticancer drug or a bone-targeted drug?” he said. “With abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi), we see declines in PSA—an...
SIDEBAR: How Should SWOG 9346 Be Interpreted?
The findings of Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 9346 sparked controversy at the ASCO Annual Meeting, and the interpretations were debated at an official postpresentation discussion. At the Best of ASCO Boston meeting, William K. Oh, MD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York—who also served as ...
SIDEBAR: Progression-free Survival Curve for Regorafenib Hints at Subgroup Effect
In all likelihood, only a subset of patients given regorafenib derive benefit, as suggested by the progression-free survival curve seen in the CORRECT trial, according to Dr. Overman. “This is a very interesting curve. The medians don’t really capture the difference.… If you look more at the area...
Evidence Is Changing Colorectal Cancer Treatment Landscape
Key colorectal cancer studies presented at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting are changing the treatment landscape in this disease, according to Michael Overman, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who reviewed the data at the Best of ASCO San Diego meeting. The mix included...
SIDEBAR: Should EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Be Continued Beyond Progression?
It is not yet clear if it is beneficial to continue first-line EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with EGFR-mutated lung cancer who experience progression and are started on chemotherapy, according to Dr. Horn. Two trials, one in Asia (looking at gefitinib [Iressa]) and one in North...
New Therapies Capitalize on Lung Cancer’s Molecular Vulnerabilities
Research reported at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting attests to the tremendous molecular diversity of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the power of appropriately selected treatment, according to Leora Horn, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who presented data on molecular findings...
On Mentoring: Looking Back with Gratitude and Paying It Forward
Upon graduation from medical school, doctors are given a gift that lasts a lifetime—the gift of respect. That respect needs to be re-earned every day, but it is accompanied by other rewards that come with caring for people: the ability to gain another’s trust, to reverse illness that alters the...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Individualism in Clinical Decision-making
I found a statement by Dr. Peter Bach in the August 15, 2012, issue of The ASCO Post (in the article, “As Conflicting Guidelines Evolve, Experts Continue to Debate the Merits of Cancer Screening”) very troubling. To wit: There’s a cognitive dissonance between the practice of evidence-based medicine ...
2012 Is ‘Banner Year’ for Research on Symptom Management
The year 2012 was “a banner year for symptom management,” according to Debra L. Barton, RN, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, who presented data on patient and survivor care at the Best of ASCO San Diego meeting. “I have been doing symptom management for about 20 years, and it seems...
Link Found between Aspirin and Reduced Risk of Death Due to Prostate Cancer
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Over the past few weeks, Stanley L....
Starting Over after Cancer Treatment
When bloody discharge started oozing from the nipple on my left breast, I knew instinctively that it was serious. Although I was just 43, having lost two aunts to breast cancer, I knew my family history increased my risk for developing the disease. So when I saw my gynecologist for an exam, I was...
Cancer Memoir Provides Inspiration for Those with Terminal Illness and Their Caregivers
“It almost always begins in darkness, my memory’s trip back to China where Terrence and I meet.” So begins Amanda Bennett’s moving new memoir, The Cost of Hope, the story of an intensely devoted marriage, cruelly shortened by the cancer that killed her husband. The word “darkness” in Ms. Bennett’s...
Tweeting at ASCO Annual Meetings Can Enhance the Experience
Tweeting at concerts or plays may earn you scornful looks or even stern warnings from ushers, but tweeting at the ASCO Annual Meeting may enhance the meeting experience for you and others. In a study comparing trends in Twitter use by physicians during the 2010 and 2011 ASCO Annual Meetings, some...
The Language of Cancer
For more than a year, Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, has been blogging at ASCO Connection (connection.asco.org) about such diverse topics as cancer survivorship, the redesign of clinical studies based on patients’ molecular characteristics, and the power of laughter. Last May, Dr. Dizon tackled the impact ...
For Advanced Sarcomas, New Agents Prolong Remission but Not Survival
“We are beginning to understand the molecular biology underlying a portion of the 80 or so subtypes of sarcomas, and we hope this will lead to subtype-specific treatments,” said William D. Tap, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, at the Best of ASCO Boston meeting. “And in...
SIDEBAR: Trials’ Shortcomings Leave Role of Induction Chemotherapy Unclear
Given certain shortcomings of the DeCIDE and PARADIGM trials, the true role of induction chemotherapy in head and neck cancer is still not clear, said George R. Blumenschein, Jr, MD, Associate Professor at The Unviersity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, at the Best of ASCO San Diego...
Pivotal Trials in Head and Neck Cancers Yield Mixed Results
The latest research in head and neck cancer reported at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting presents a mixed picture, according to George R. Blumenschein, Jr, MD, Associate Professor at The Unviersity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, who presented the data at the Best of ASCO San Diego...
SIDEBAR: Trials Establish New Standard of Care for Anaplastic Oligodendroglioma
Long-term results of two cooperative group phase III trials have determined radiation therapy and chemotherapy is the new standard of care for newly diagnosed anaplastic oligodendroglioma with 1p19q loss,” commented Eric L. Chang, MD, of the USC Norris Cancer Hospital and Keck School of Medicine,...
Pediatric Pathologist Sidney Farber, MD: The ‘Father of Modern Chemotherapy’ and Cofounder of the Jimmy Fund
In June 3, 1948, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study by Sidney Farber, MD, showing that a synthetic compound, 4-aminopteroylglutamic acid (aminopterin), could induce remissions in seriously ill children with acute leukemia.1 Although the study was small—just 16 children—10 showed...
Successful Use of Cytoreduction and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy May Hinge on Prior Experience
A review of 60 consecutive patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis who underwent cytoreductive surgery plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)—sometimes called “hot chemotherapy”—found 0% mortality and 33% morbidity, with “a significant reduction of grade III/IV morbidity,...
Expert Point of View: Clifford A. Hudis, MD
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said that the findings of the US Oncology study should be “very reassuring” to physicians and patients. “Several recent publications and SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) database analyses have reported...
Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Not Linked to Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Contradicting what some previous investigations have found, a study from The US Oncology Network found that adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer does not increase the risk of acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes (AML/MDS), at least within the first 3 years of treatment.1 The...
Novel Device May Eliminate Need for Re-excision after Lumpectomy
A novel device employed during breast surgery reduces the need for re-excision due to positive margins. This lessens patient anxiety, lowers treatment costs, and helps preserve the cosmetic appearance of the breast, according to a large prospective study reported at the 2012 Breast Cancer...
