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Showing 4501 - 4550Surgery Improves Survival in Older Women With Early Estrogen Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer
Older women with estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer have poorer survival than younger women, but this gap might be closed by offering surgery to women over age 70 who are fit and have resectable tumors. According to a study presented at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC 12),...
Expert Point of View: Tim Price, MBBS, DHthSc
The invited discussant of PRODIGE 13 was Tim Price, MBBS, DHthSc, Professor at the University of Adelaide, Australia, senior consultant medical oncologist, and Director of Medical Oncology and Clinical Cancer Research at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. As he reminded listeners, the current ASCO...
After Surgery for Colorectal Cancer, Intensive Monitoring of Little Benefit: PRODIGE 13
Is intensive monitoring of patients after curative colorectal cancer resection warranted? Not necessarily, according to the findings of PRODIGE 13, reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020.1 “After curative surgery, the addition of CEA [carcinoembryonic...
Richard Pazdur, MD, Awarded the Simon M. Shubitz Cancer Prize and Lectureship
For more than 4 decades, the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation’s Simon M. Shubitz Cancer Prize and Lectureship has honored an internationally renowned individual for his or her exceptional contributions to cancer research and clinical care. The recipient of this year’s award is...
Expert Point of View: Amy Tiersten, MD and Erika Hamilton, MD
Sharing their thoughts on KEYNOTE-355 were Amy Tiersten, MD, Professor of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and Erika Hamilton, MD, Director of the Breast and Gynecologic Research Program at Sarah Cannon Research Institute/Tennessee Oncology, Nashville, who presented...
Recently Approved and Emerging Therapies for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
“Triple-negative breast cancer has multiple different subtypes, and there are targeted therapies that can be used based on the biomarkers that we identify for each patient,” Kari B. Wisinski, MD, noted in a review of recently approved and emerging therapies at the 2020 Lynn Sage Breast Cancer...
Cancer in Older Adults: The History of Geriatric Oncology, Part 3
In the preceding two issues of The ASCO Post, we explored the overall history of geriatric oncology from 1980 to 2020. In this concluding part of the series, we focus on the invaluable contributions made by oncology nurses to the field. Over the past several decades, geriatric oncology has...
AACI President Knudsen to Focus 2-Year Term on Mitigating Health Disparities
Karen E. Knudsen, MBA, PhD, is the new President of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI). She began her 2-year term at the close of the virtual 2020 AACI/Cancer Center Administrators Forum (CCAF) Annual Meeting. A member of AACI’s Board of Directors since 2016, Dr. Knudsen chaired ...
FDA Approves Companion Diagnostic for Three Targeted Therapies for Advanced Ovarian, Breast, and Non–Small Cell Lung Cancers
On October 27, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the FoundationOne Liquid CDx test for three new companion diagnostic indications to help match patients who may benefit from treatment with specific FDA-approved targeted therapies. The new indications are for alpelisib...
Cancer on the Global Stage: Incidence and Cancer-Related Mortality in Chile
Chile has a population of approximately 19 million living predominantly in urban areas (87.7%), with a population density of 66 inhabitants per square mile.1 For the year 2020, approximately 12% of its population was older than 65 years.1 Socioeconomic Trends and Cancer The country has experienced ...
Expert Point of View: Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD
The invited discussant of the phase III INOVATYON trial was Andreas du Bois, MD, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology at Kliniken Essen Mitte, Germany, and Chairman of the AGO Study Group. As Dr. du Bois explained, the study “dealt with an old question: Does...
INOVATYON: Platinum-Based Regimens Remain Standard of Care in Recurrent Platinum-Sensitive Ovarian Cancer
Yet another blow has been dealt for the alkylating agent trabectedin in advanced ovarian cancer. The international phase III INOVATYON study found no improvement in overall or progression-free survival for trabectedin plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PEG-LD) vs carboplatin/PEG-LD in patients...
Expert Point of View: Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD
Formal discussant of the abstract, Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, a medical oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, said this study extends the evidence base on geriatric assessment in oncology and shows that geriatric assessment should be...
Reducing Symptomatic Toxicity Burden in Older Patients With Advanced Cancer Via Geriatric Assessment
As the number of older patients with cancer continues to rise, interventions that reduce the high rates of symptoms, toxicity, and distress in this population are urgently needed. Research presented during the 2020 ASCO Quality Care Symposium has added to the growing body of evidence supporting...
FDA Pipeline: Priority Reviews in NSCLC, Gastric Cancer
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to a PD-1 inhibitor for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and also granted Priority Review to a HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate for patients with...
Study Identifies Genetic Variants Linked to Bevacizumab-Induced Adverse Events
Researchers have found two common genetic variants that may be used to predict whether patients with cancer may have severe adverse events when treated with the anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody bevacizumab. A genome-wide association study—according to researchers, the largest such study in patients...
An Integrated Framework for Improving Outcomes in Pancreatic Cancer
Drawing on several lines of ongoing research, David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, has created a theoretical framework to consider while developing clinical trials in pancreatic cancer. In his keynote lecture at the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer, ...
Expert Point of View: Richard Cathomas, MD
In his discussion of KEYNOTE-361 and the DANUBE trial, Richard Cathomas, MD, of Kantonsspital, Graubünden, Switzerland, said both studies yielded disappointing results. Overall, in these trials as well as current evidence from other trials, treatment of platinum-eligible (cisplatin or carboplatin)...
Checkpoint Inhibitor and Chemotherapy Combinations Fail to Move Bar as First-Line Therapy for Advanced Urothelial Cancer
Two different phase III studies found that combining an anti–PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-361) with platinum-based chemotherapy or with another checkpoint inhibitor (the anti–CTLA-4 antibody tremelimumab in DANUBE) failed to significantly improve overall or...
Intermittent Dosing Schedules of RAF/MEK Inhibitor in RAS/RAF-Mutant Solid Tumors and Multiple Myeloma
In a single-center phase I dose-escalation and basket dose-expansion study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Guo et al identified the phase II dose and schedule for the oral RAF/MEK inhibitor CH5126766 in patients with RAS/RAF-mutant cancers. The agent also showed antitumor activity across various...
Is a High-Dose Intermittent Sunitinib Regimen for Advanced Solid Tumors Linked to Improved Survival?
A strategy for giving intermittent, high doses of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib seemed to be well tolerated by patients with advanced cancer and increased drug concentrations in solid tumors, which was associated with improved survival. This research was presented by Gerritse et al at the ...
Are Neighborhood Poverty, Public Insurance Linked to Poorer Outcomes in Children With Cancer Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant?
Despite the increasing use of hematopoietic stem cell transplant as curative therapy for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases, new research suggests that children who undergo a transplant for cancer may be more likely to die of treatment-related complications if they live in...
Should Patients With a Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation for Rectal Cancer Also Undergo Surgery?
A nonsurgical treatment option for rectal cancer that preserves quality of life may be safe for selected patients, according to a new study comparing it with standard surgical treatment. These findings were published by Beard et al in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons and were...
Effect of Angiotensin II Inhibition on Response to Immunotherapy
Researchers have found that a class of commonly used heart drugs may also improve patients’ responses to PD-L1 inhibitors, according to preliminary findings presented by Strauss et al at the 32th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (Abstract 7). Angiotensin...
New Maintenance Therapies in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Aim to End Perpetual Chemotherapy
The advent of effective combination chemotherapies has changed the treatment landscape for metastatic pancreatic cancer, extending median survival and leading to durable responses in a subset of patients. However, perpetual chemotherapy is cumulatively toxic, leading to progressive bone marrow...
Expert Point of View: Jonathan Ledermann, MD
SOLO-1’s invited discussant, Jonathan Ledermann, MD, Professor of Medical Oncology at UCL Cancer Institute and University College London Hospitals, predicted that “an overall survival benefit will occur” with maintenance olaparib, based on the study’s long follow-up and encouraging results from key ...
SOLO-1 Trial: After 5 Years, Maintenance Olaparib Still Keeps Ovarian Cancer at Bay
The long-term results of the pivotal SOLO-1 trial have shown that maintenance olaparib more than doubles the 5-year disease-free survival time for patients who have newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer with BRCA mutations, according to an update presented at the European Society for Medical...
Pretreatment ctDNA May Help Predict Outcomes With First-Line—but Not Second-Line—Immunotherapy for Patients With Melanoma
A study by Marsavela et al published in Clinical Cancer Research evaluating the predictive value of pretreatment circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to inform therapeutic outcomes in patients with advanced-stage melanoma relative to type and line of treatment has found that baseline levels of ctDNA...
Sexual Health Often Overlooked in Cancer Survivorship Care
A new study points to a need for oncologists to ask their patients about sexual health after chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer treatments. In a survey of nearly 400 cancer survivors, 87% said they experienced sexual side effects, but most also said their oncologist had not formally asked...
Geographic Access to Radiotherapy Facilities in the United States
The number of radiation therapy facilities in the United States has grown by 17% over the past 15 years, according to a new study presented by Maroongroge et al at the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 203). However, this growth has disproportionately...
SBRT May Provide Superior Pain Relief From Spinal Metastases vs Conventional Radiotherapy
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was superior to conventional radiation therapy in reducing pain from spinal metastases in a phase II/III study reported by Arjun Sahgal, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting (Abstract LBA 2). More...
SBRT for Multiple Lung Metastases: How Many Treatment Sessions Are Optimal?
Delivering stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT, also called stereotactic ablative radiotherapy) in either one or four treatment sessions led to similar outcomes in patients with up to three lung metastases in the randomized SAFRON II trial. The study, reported by Shankar Siva, PhD, and...
Next-Generation BRAF Inhibitor Shows Activity in Phase I/II Trial
A new drug designed to treat cancers in patients with an altered BRAF gene showed activity and had a favorable safety profile in an early-phase trial. These findings were presented by Janku et al at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (Abstract LBA-05)....
FDA Approves Companion Diagnostic for Three Targeted Therapies for Advanced Ovarian, Breast, and Non–Small Cell Lung Cancers
On October 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the FoundationOne Liquid CDx test for three new companion diagnostic indications to help match patients who may benefit from treatment with specific FDA-approved targeted therapies. The new indications are for alpelisib (Piqray) in ...
Stereotactic Radiosurgery May Delay Cognitive Deterioration vs WBRT in Patients With Numerous Brain Metastases
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) may represent a new standard of care for patients with four or more brain metastases, replacing whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in this setting, according to a phase III study presented at the virtual 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual...
Fluciclovine PET Imaging vs Conventional Imaging in Prostate Cancer
The addition of the radiotracer fluciclovine to positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging for treatment planning led to superior failure-free survival compared with conventional imaging in men with prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy and were experiencing biologic recurrence of ...
Targeted Inhibitor of Mutant KRAS Gene Shows Activity in Early Trial
Adagrasib (MRTX849), a novel agent that targets a mutated form of the KRAS gene—the most commonly altered oncogene in human cancers, and one long considered “undruggable”—caused tumor shrinkage in most patients in a clinical trial, with manageable side effects, researchers reported at the 32nd...
Survey Shows Many Patients With Cancer Willing to Take Part in Clinical Trials Despite Coronavirus
Patient Power, a patient-driven cancer news organization, reported that a majority of patients with cancer still want to participate in clinical trials despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent survey of 1,485 patients. The Patient Power COVID-19 Cancer Trial Survey, the second Patient...
SHP2 Inhibition May Counter Resistance Mechanisms in Lung Cancer
Recent preclinical research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and BridgeBio Pharma, an affiliate of Navire Pharma, found that the novel SHP2 inhibitor IACS-13909 may be able to overcome therapeutic resistance mechanisms in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The data, which...
Becoming Acquainted With Cancer
Editor’s Note: The ASCO Post learned of the death of Patrick Beauregard due to colorectal cancer on September 6, 2020. Just weeks after my wedding in late summer of 2017, I had a sudden bout of abdominal pain so severe that it sent me to the emergency room. I was just 29 years old and in great...
Remembering Patrick H. Beauregard: ‘Selfless in His Efforts to Raise Awareness’ of Colorectal Cancer in Young Adults
The editors of The ASCO Post are sad to report the death of Patrick H. Beauregard on September 6, 2020. The cause was colorectal cancer. Diagnosed with stage IV disease in 2017 at the age of 29, Mr. Beauregard dedicated the last 3 years of his life to raising awareness of colorectal cancer in...
Expect Questions About Increased Cancer Mortality Risk Among Patients Diagnosed With DCIS
A large cohort study1 finding that the risk of dying of breast cancer was increased threefold after a DCIS diagnosis may cause patients diagnosed with DCIS to ask what they can do to reduce that risk. Currently, there is little that most patients can do. “The lifetime risk of death following DCIS...
Breaking Social Barriers to Conquer Cancer
Kala Visvanathan, MD, MHS, is working to prevent cancer in every patient. With the help of donor-supported grants, including a Career Development Award from Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, Dr. Visvanathan researches cancer prevention and strategies to prevent cancer recurrence. “To be...
Focus on Preventing Invasive Recurrence in Women With DCIS Does Not Sufficiently Address Breast Cancer Mortality
A study published recently by Giannakeas et al looked at the risk of death from breast cancer for women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).1 The investigators anticipated that treatment would eliminate the risk of invasive ipsilateral recurrence and prevent subsequent mortality from...
Emily Whitehead, Early Recipient of CAR T-Cell Therapy for ALL, Celebrates 8 Years Cancer-Free
Among the success stories in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children and young adults is the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The field of cellular immunotherapy was still in its infancy in 2012 when Emily Whitehead, then 7, became the first...
Personal Testimonial: CAR-modified T Cells in Adults
Twelve adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have been treated with CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia by Carl June, MD, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, and colleagues. These were all end-stage...
Preliminary Progress with Genetically Engineered T Cells in Treating Childhood ALL
Two small phase I studies at separate centers demonstrated encouraging results in the treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using reinfused autologous genetically engineered T cells. Results of both studies were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for ...
New ASCO-SEP Edition Available: Expands Reach to Global Oncology Community
The seventh edition of the ASCO Self-Evaluation Program® (ASCO-SEP®) is now available online, expanding its reach to physicians and advanced practitioners. The latest edition features new content that addresses oncologic care in a global setting. The new edition of ASCO-SEP includes 22 chapters of...
Bloodletting by a Phleam
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Anesthesia Era 1845–1875 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. Photograph courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns Archive. For ...
UICC Welcomes New President, President-Elect, and Board of Directors for 2020–2022
At the recent General Assembly of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), which was held virtually for the first time, Anil D’Cruz, MD, of India, was welcomed as the organization’s new President. Full member organizations also elected the 2020–2022 Board of Directors, including...
