A new analysis of the U.S. radiation oncology workforce projects a relative balance between the supply of radiation oncologists and the demand for radiation therapy services through 2030.1 The report was produced by Health Management Associates (HMA), a consulting firm commissioned by the American...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, Drs. Syed Ali Abutalib and L. Jeffrey Medeiros explore the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissue...
In a collaborative study from the University of Freiburg and Stanford University reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jurik A. Mutter, BSc, of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, and colleagues found that circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) identified prior to and during treatment...
In a meta-analysis reported in a research letter in JAMA Network Open, Maiorano et al found that first-line anti–PD-L1 treatment combinations did not significantly improve overall survival vs sunitinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. A progression-free survival benefit was...
Two studies presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer underscore the importance of enrolling patients with gynecologic cancer on clinical trials and of assuring trial access to racial minorities. One study found a statistically significant...
Adjuvant treatment with the combination of atezolizumab and bevacizumab achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in recurrence-free survival compared with active surveillance alone in patients with high-risk hepatocellular carcinoma following curative-intent...
Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Program Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Kraft Family Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, was upbeat about the REGN5459 study and the field of melanoma studies in...
In a single-center trial reported in JAMA Surgery, Shinall et al found that specialist palliative care did not improve quality of life or survival vs usual care in patients undergoing nonpalliative major abdominal surgery for cancer. Study Details In the trial, 235 patients scheduled for specified...
In a cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Wang et al found that overall survival in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who stopped smoking prior to their cancer diagnosis was better than overall survival among those who were current smokers at the time of their diagnosis. Study ...
Investigators have found that in the majority of countries studied, the recent mortality rates for all major cancer types have decreased except for lung cancer among female patients and hepatic cancer among male patients—where increasing rates were observed in most countries, according to a novel...
Patients with early-stage cervical cancer may have an increased risk of developing catheter-associated urinary tract infections following radical hysterectomies if they had a history of smoking or used catheters for more than 7 days postsurgery, according to a new study by Mercadel et al in the...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vachon et al found that the combination of an artificial intelligence (AI) imaging algorithm, together with measures of breast density on mammography screening, were capable of long-term prediction of risk of invasive breast cancer. As stated ...
Botensilimab (AGEN1181) in combination with balstilimab (AGEN2034) induced durable responses in patients with platinum-resistant or -refractory ovarian cancer, in the ongoing phase Ib C-800 study presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer by Bruno...
Two studies presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer underscore the importance of enrolling patients with gynecologic cancer on clinical trials and of assuring trial access to racial minorities. One study found a statistically significant...
Guest Editor’s Note: Substantial evidence supports the value of practices that focus on the interactions among the mind, body, and behavior for promoting health and well-being. In this article, Kavita K. Mishra, MD, MPH, summarizes a clinical model for personalized mind-body medicine in cancer care ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this installment, we begin a new series of articles on cancer immunology and immunotherapy, in which the authors discuss how immunotherapy has become a major pillar of...
In hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer, tumors eventually become resistant not only to endocrine blockade but to inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). This obstacle to successful treatment is being tackled with novel hormone receptor–directed therapies, with the...
Using liquid biopsies to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may soon transform treatment strategies for patients with advanced EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to data presented during the European Lung Cancer Congress 2023 by lead study author Jordi Remon, MD, PhD, of...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by John H. Strickler, MD, and colleagues, the phase II MOUNTAINEER trial has shown the activity of the combination of tucatinib plus trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive, chemotherapy-refractory, RAS wild-type, unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer....
No one doubts the deadly nature of high-grade serous ovarian cancer. This histologic subtype is responsible for most ovarian cancer deaths, representing the eighth leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide and the fifth in the United States. Although there has been some progress in...
The addition of the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab to chemotherapy with cisplatin/gemcitabine as first-line therapy improved overall survival in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer, according to results of the KEYNOTE-966 trial presented at the 2023 American Association for Cancer...
Judy C. Boughey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses the decrease, over the past decade, of axillary lymph node dissection, especially in patients with node-positive breast cancer at diagnosis who had sentinel lymph node surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. These findings are based on the records...
As reported in NEJM Evidence, Weeks et al identified a clonal hematopoiesis risk score for prediction of risk for myeloid neoplasms among individuals with clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) and clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS). As stated by the investigators, ...
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have outlined opportunities for achieving President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot national goal of reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years. A study published by Shiels et al in Cancer...
Guest Editor’s Note: Despite its high prevalence, cancer pain remains undertreated. Racial disparities present further challenges to assessing and managing pain. Music therapy, a nonpharmacologic intervention, has been documented to be effective in controlling cancer pain. In this article, Kevin T. ...
The questions I am challenged to answer are twofold: (1) Should you attend the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting? (2) If you attend, how is your time best spent? Most people agree scientific conferences are important venues for cancer researchers and clinicians to share and discuss research findings,...
Although advances in radiation therapy have rendered this treatment modality more tolerable, they have not completely eliminated the burden of radiation-related toxicity. In an ideal setting, clinicians would be able to identify patients whose risk of recurrence is sufficiently low that they can...
Here are some brief reports from the 2023 ASCO Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium that we hope are of interest. They include real-world evidence about the use of avelumab maintenance in metastatic urothelial carcinoma, data on the feasibility of sequencing radium-223 and Lu-177–PSMA-617 in...
A health disparity is typically defined as involving a differential in health outcomes between some groups of patients and other groups, for example, between White and Black patients, in which some groups fare better than others. Health inequities are commonly defined as health differences that...
The results of recent trials of PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor plus second-generation androgen receptor inhibitor combinations have had varying results in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Some trials suggest the benefit is confined to those with BRCA mutations and/or...
In a phase II trial (ACOSOG Z11102/Alliance) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Judy C. Boughey, MD, and colleagues found that breast-conserving therapy was associated with a low rate of local recurrence in women with multiple ipsilateral breast cancer sites. Study Details A total of 204 ...
Menin inhibitors are making inroads in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). These drugs selectively target KMT2A-rearranged or NPM1-mutant AML, and early studies suggest they will be a welcome addition for patients with these aberrations. KMT2A rearrangements occur in about 5% of patients ...
Researchers have found that a novel approach to administer intrathecal and intravenous nivolumab has proven safe and improved survival in a subset of patients who developed leptomeningeal disease from metastatic melanoma, according to a new study published by Glitza Olivia et al in Nature ...
Brown adipose tissue may not be associated with cachexia, according to an article published by Eljalby et al in the American Journal of Physiology Endocrinology and Metabolism. The findings also suggested that brown adipose tissue does not increase cancer mortality. Background Brown adipose tissue...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, En Cheng, MD, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, FASCO, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers measured after surgery but before starting chemotherapy were ...
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer among men and women of all ages in the United States and is on track to be the leading cause of cancer death in adults younger than 50 by 2030. The alarming rise of colorectal cancer in people younger than age 50 prompted the U.S. Preventive...
In an analysis reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Cenjing Zhu, MPhil, of the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University, and colleagues found that Black patients with cancer in the United States were at increased risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Vratislav Strnad, MD, PhD, of University Hospital Erlangen and Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen, Germany, and colleagues, 10-year outcomes in a phase III GEC-ESTRO (Groupe Européen de Curiethérapie and European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology) trial...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Freddie C. Hamdy, FRCS(Urol), FMedSci, and colleagues, 15-year follow-up of the UK phase III ProtecT trial has shown no significant difference in prostate cancer mortality with active monitoring, surgery, or radiotherapy for patients with...
In a Chinese single-center phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Xia et al found that anti–G protein–coupled receptor, class C group 5 member D (GPRC5D) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells showed activity in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Study...
A study aimed at determining the optimal duration of lenalidomide maintenance after autologous stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma has not answered that question, per se, but has yielded some hints that may inform future clinical trials. The follow-up analysis of the UK NCRI Myeloma XI...
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, Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Guest Editor of the Integrative Oncology series, and Yen ...
Ponatinib appears to be a more effective tyrosine kinase inhibitor than imatinib in newly diagnosed, Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) when combined with reduced-intensity chemotherapy, according to data presented during the ASCO Plenary Series: February 2023...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gianni Bisogno, MD, PhD, and colleagues detailed 5-year outcomes among children and adolescents with nonmetastatic rhabdomyosarcoma in the European Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group RMS2005 Study. Study Details The RMS2005 study...
Cancer research sites demonstrated the utility of new resources designed to increase the diversity of participants in cancer clinical trials, although challenges remain, according to two studies published recently in JCO Oncology Practice.1,2 The studies examine the results from a collaborative...
Among the high-quality abstract presentations at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. Each year, The ASCOPost asks our Associate Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to give us his picks. Dr. Abraham is Chairman of ...
Aparna R. Parikh, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center’s Global Cancer Care Program, Boston, shared her thoughts on the C-800 study of balstilimab plus botensilimab with The ASCO Post. Noting that the...
In heavily pretreated patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have microsatellite-stable tumors, the novel combination of the monoclonal antibodies botensilimab and balstilimab showed clinical activity, producing durable responses and an estimated 63% overall survival rate at 12 months,...
Studies have shown that although patients with advanced cancer want their oncologists to give them an honest assessment of their prognosis, most patients still perceive their illness as curable.1 And that lack of understanding of their prognosis can lead to reduced use of hospice care and increased ...
Research that addresses the compounding effects of age and race/ethnicity on access to quality health care and patient-centered outcomes such as physical function, frailty, and survival continues to be an emerging area of inquiry in hematology. Accordingly, novel research employing qualitative and...