Combination therapy with the programmed cell death ligand 1 inhibitor atezolizumab and the VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab significantly improved overall and progression-free survival in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) compared to sorafenib, according to findings from the phase ...
Local therapy for stage IV breast cancer has not been proven to increase overall survival, yet there are some cases where local therapy could be considered outside a clinical trial. For patients with intact asymptomatic primary tumors, local therapy could be offered if distant disease is well...
Two Michigan cancer programs are joining forces to find new solutions for prostate cancer. The University of Michigan (U-M) Rogel Cancer Center and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University have received a $9.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The...
Stanley L. Schrier, MD, Past President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH, 2004–2005) and Professor Emeritus of Hematology at Stanford Medicine in Palo Alto, died on August 16. He was 90 years old. Instrumental to Growth at Stanford Dr. Schrier was a 1954 graduate of Johns Hopkins...
Patients with advanced lung cancer can experience burdensome symptoms at the end of life. Pulmonologists can alleviate some of this suffering, but it’s a balancing act between doing too much and not enough, according to specialists who spoke at CHEST 2019, the annual meeting of the American College ...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Gary Deng, MD, PhD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the herbal extract...
For the treatment of BRAF V600-mutated advanced melanoma, we now have three BRAF/MEK inhibitor combinations that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: dabrafenib/trametinib, vemurafenib/cobimetinib, and encorafenib/binimetinib. Although the toxicity profiles for these combinations ...
Lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer, leading to about 150,000 deaths per year in the United States and accounting for approximately 25% of all cancer deaths in the nation. Early detection has improved survival in other malignancies such as breast, colon, and cervical cancers, but...
Advances in systemic therapy and supportive care, as well as ongoing improvements in surgical techniques, have led to improved survival for many patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. We have observed increased survival with FOLFIRINOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil, irinotecan,...
The treatment landscape for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma has changed drastically over the past several years with the introduction of many new therapeutic options for patients. The revolution began with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of nivolumab and ipilimumab...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Evron et al found that patients with thyroid cancer who were declared disease-free after initial treatment were more likely to have increased numbers of physician visits and imaging tests if they reported a generalized preference for...
In 2018, the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor launched the Integrative Oncology Scholars Program, with the goal of teaching oncology health-care providers how to evaluate the scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of complementary therapies for patients with cancer. The...
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,...
Hyperglycemia may induce DNA damage and inhibit DNA repair, which may explain why individuals with diabetes may have an increased risk for developing cancer, according to a researcher from City of Hope, Duarte, California, who presented these findings at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Modi et al found that the difference in the rates of use of conservative management of prostate cancer widened between lower-use and higher-use urology practices between 2014 and 2018. Study Details Use of a sample of Medicare claims...
Over the past few decades, our understanding of transplant immunology has moved from basic allograft rejection to the current molecular level that offers life-saving treatments for patients with cancer. The scientific elegance of this remarkable therapy’s arc from experimental to standard of care...
The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute has announced that thoracic surgeon David I. Sternberg, MD, has joined its medical team. Board-certified in general and cardiothoracic surgery, and specialized in minimally invasive chest surgery, Dr. Sternberg will serve on Karmanos’ Thoracic Oncology...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Cancer and its treatments are associated with severe fatigue, depression, ...
Advanced melanoma has become a different entity in the era of immunotherapy and targeted agents. Considering the potential for good outcomes from systemic therapy in advanced disease, has the role of surgery changed? Should it be offered up front or limited to patients with oligometastatic ...
You don’t have to be a geriatrician to properly evaluate and manage older patients with cancer. The wave of older patients with cancer predicted over 30 years ago is now fully upon us. The oncology community finds itself ill-prepared to manage the increased number of older patients. It is not just...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The survival rates of adolescent and young adults with cancer have risen ...
Hundreds of oncologists are working “side gigs” as expert witnesses in a wide range of medicolegal settings. With increasing conflict related to liability and insurance coverage, the demand continues to grow for objective physicians who are not involved in a specific case, have no personal...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien Hou, PharmD, DipIOM, LAc, explores the potential health benefits of...
Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Awards. These distinguished awards support oncology trainees who were first authors on abstracts selected for presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting. This year, Conquer Cancer...
The three-drug combination of encorafenib (a BRAF inhibitor), binimetinib (a MEK inhibitor), and cetuximab (an EGFR inhibitor) significantly improved overall survival in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, according to the results of the phase III BEACON CRC clinical trial....
The 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting provided attendees with an abundance of clinically relevant abstracts in gastrointestinal cancers. Briefly featured here are clinical trial updates on pembrolizumab in the second-line treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (KEYNOTE-240 trial), laparoscopic vs open...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wallner et al found that many patients with differentiated thyroid cancer reported feeling they had no choice in receipt of radioactive iodine treatment. As stated by the investigators, “For many patients with differentiated thyroid...
Henry T. Lynch, MD, widely known as “the father of cancer genetics,” had an early life that could have been lifted from the pages of a Louis L’Amour novel. He dropped out of high school and using a falsified birth certificate joined the U.S. Navy at 16 years old, serving as a gunner on a marine...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Agochukwu et al validated the sexual interest and sexual satisfaction single-item measures of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) in men who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. The study ...
The ROBUST trial compared the addition of lenalidomide to R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone) vs placebo/R-CHOP in previously untreated, prospectively selected, CD20-positive patients with activated B-cell–like (ABC)-type diffuse large B-cell...
BOOKMARK Title: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism DadAuthor: Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhDPublisher: Johns Hopkins University PressPublication date: October 2018Price: $22.95, hardcover; 240 pages English physician Edward Jenner invented...
In addition to its well-known cardioprotective benefits, aspirin has a substantial body of observational, preclinical, and clinical evidence supporting its efficacy in preventing cancer, most strongly for colorectal cancer.1 The strength of this evidence led the U.S. Preventive Services Task...
Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors are approved for the second-line treatment of head and neck cancer and likely will be soon in the first-line treatment of locally advanced disease. According to Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, developments in immunotherapy for this population should be...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation are proud to recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer’s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards and Tribute Award. The recipients of these awards have worked to transform cancer care around the world. Don’t miss the opportunity...
AVERAGE-RISK women between the ages of 50 and 74 who have no symptoms of breast cancer should undergo breast cancer screening with mammography every other year, the American College of Physicians (ACP) has recommended in a new evidence-based guidance statement published by Qaseem et al in Annals of ...
When strangers ask me how many children I have, I’m not quite sure how to respond. Do I still have four children even though one has died? A year and a half after my son Brent’s death, at the age of 18, from complications of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), I’m still struggling with knowing the...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Shelly Latte-Naor, MD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, explore the use of...
It has been well documented that noncommunicable diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, now pose the greatest health threat to people living in low- and middle-income countries, surpassing infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS as the leading cause of death and disability.1...
For recurrent, previously irradiated brain tumors, innovative treatment with surgically targeted brachytherapy yielded good local control and overall survival, as compared to historic controls, neurosurgeons reported at the 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association of Neurological...
The discovery of trastuzumab has been revolutionary in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, both in the metastatic and early-stage settings.1-6 This cannot be disputed. In the early-stage setting, the addition of trastuzumab to standard chemotherapy has led to a 50% gain in...
In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that all people born between 1945 and 1965 undergo one-time screening for the hepatitis C virus (HCV), because the rates of HCV infection are markedly higher for baby...
ASCO and ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation are proud to recognize the winners of ASCO’s Special Awards and Conquer Cancer’s Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Awards and Tribute Award. The recipients of these awards have worked to transform cancer care around the world. Don’t miss the opportunity...
We read with interest a recent article published on ASCOPost.com, which summarized a paper on the role of shared decision-making in lung cancer screening.1,2 The summary and original report highlight a mandate by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that bears careful...
With the recent breakthroughs in immunotherapy, treatments that modulate the immune system are now being used across numerous cancer types and across the spectrum of disease with significant success, but not all patients achieve objective responses. There is still a critical need to better...
The latest edition of the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) review on recent cancer prevention and early detection efforts has found that although many strategies have been proven to reduce cancer risk, their application has been suboptimal in the United States, especially in socioeconomically...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief of Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to...
In patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, the delivery of all radiotherapy and chemotherapy neoadjuvantly—with a shorter course of radiation—may improve the chance of complete response and downstaging over conventional treatment, according to investigators from Washington University, St....
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Radhakrishnan et al found that the level of involvement of medical oncologists and primary care physicians during initial cancer care in women with early-stage breast cancer affected patients’ preference for provider roles after initial ...
In 2015, ASCO and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) introduced value frameworks that utilize algorithmic scales to evaluate the clinical benefit of cancer therapies and provide an objective assessment of outcomes and treatment toxicities experienced by patients.1,2 Although the two...
In the phase I/II SWOG S1313 trial, which was reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ramanathan et al, researchers found that the addition of pegylated recombinant human hyaluronidase (PEGPH20) to modified (m) FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin) worsened...