In a Dutch study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Leerink et al found that the addition of ejection fraction measurement at the time of first surveillance echocardiogram improved prediction of 10-year risk of left-ventricular systolic dysfunction vs prediction based on cumulative anthracycline and ...
In a single-institution study reported in JAMA Oncology, Reyngold et al found that definitive hypofractionated ablative radiation therapy following induction chemotherapy was associated with prolonged locoregional control and favorable survival in patients with inoperable locally advanced...
Younger women with breast cancer differ from their older counterparts in ways that should be appreciated by their clinicians, according to Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, FASCO, Vice Chair of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. At PER’s...
The Association for Clinical Oncology congratulates the 11 practices that prioritized the quality of care they provide by achieving the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification in the second half of 2020. These practices have shown that they are committed to providing the...
With the widespread use of multigene panels for germline genetic testing, understanding the cancer risks associated with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants (ie, mutations) has become increasingly necessary. To identify which genes are breast cancer susceptibility genes, population studies...
Sybil R. Green, JD, RPh, MHA, has been named Diversity and Inclusion Officer by ASCO. A health-care policy expert with experience in both corporate and nonprofit organizations, Ms. Green will guide ASCO’s internal and external initiatives aimed at achieving the Society’s equity, diversity, and...
Egypt is a country of 1,010,408 km2 located on the northeast corner of Africa with a population exceeding 100 million. In 2018, there were about 134,632 new cancer cases and 89,042 cancer-related deaths in Egypt. Liver and breast cancers are the most common tumors in terms of incidence and...
“I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.” —Marie Curie To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are two abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on...
Lydia Pace, MD, MPH, was inspired to a become a doctor by her grandfather, a general surgeon in New York City, who spoke effulgently of his career in medicine, and by her mother, a social worker who was equally passionate about her profession. A primary care physician, Dr. Pace developed an...
Antibody-drug conjugates directed against HER2, HER3, and trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (TROP2) are showing encouraging antitumor activity in advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to research presented during the virtual edition of the International Association for the Study...
On January 22, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib as first-line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.1-3 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the findings of the phase III, open-label CheckMate 9ER trial...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with physician-scientist Brian J. Druker, MD, Director of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. In 2009, Dr. Druker won the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research ...
Tailoring adjuvant chemotherapy based on the expression of two molecular markers did not lead to a survival advantage in patients with completely resected stage II to III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the phase III ITACA trial. This result was presented during the virtual edition of the...
A novel strategy of combining a drive-by flu vaccination clinic with an opportunity for participants to use a take-home fecal immunochemical test (FIT) increased access to colorectal screening among Black Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results related to access to colorectal cancer...
Roswell Park comprehensive Cancer Center and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation announced a $3.3 million program to address the cancer burden in rural areas and Native Nations across New York State, with an emphasis on the Western New York region. The grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation ...
Invited discussant of the ACIS study, Joshi J. Alumkal, MD, leader of the Genitourinary Medical Oncology Section at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, noted that the toxicities were slightly higher with apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone, including fatigue, hypertension,...
The phase III ACIS trial met its primary endpoint at 6 months showing that apalutamide plus abiraterone acetate/prednisone (AAP) extended radiographic progression-free survival vs abiraterone acetate/prednisone alone in patients with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate...
Cabozantinib achieved a statistically significant and clinically meaningful extension in progression-free survival compared with sunitinib in patients with metastatic papillary renal cell carcinoma, a relatively uncommon type of renal cell carcinoma, according to the randomized phase II SWOG 1500...
A dose-intensified approach to salvage radiotherapy failed to show superiority to a conventional-dose strategy in patients with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer who had undergone radical prostatectomy, according to the phase III SAKK 09/10 trial presented at the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers...
Following disease progression on docetaxel, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radionuclide therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 37% vs cabazitaxel in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in the TheraP phase II trial reported at the 2021...
“Now we know enfortumab vedotin-ejfv is here to stay in the armamentarium of treatment for advanced urothelial cancer,” said Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, during her discussion of both EV-301 and EV-201. “As we saw, overall survival was quite...
Enfortumab vedotin-ejfv continues to move the needle forward as a validated treatment option for advanced urothelial carcinoma. At the 2021 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, results from the phase III EV-301 study1 and EV-201 Cohort 22 provided support for the use of this agent in both patients...
In just a few years, immunotherapy has risen to become a pillar of cancer care, leading to significantly improved response rates and even cures in previously intractable diseases. Leveraging the immune system to treat cancer, however, also increases the potential for serious off-target effects....
According to the invited discussant of UNIRAD,1Peter Schmid, MD, PhD, Lead of the Centre for Experimental Medicine at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, it remains unclear whether or not everolimus plus hormone therapy is an effective adjuvant regimen for high-risk patients...
Everolimus plus hormone therapy improves outcomes in the advanced disease setting but apparently not in the adjuvant setting, according to the results of the UNIRAD trial, presented as a part of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Plenary program.1 “In the UNIRAD study, after...
The formal discussant of the CLEAR trial, Stephanie Berg, DO, of Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, was enthusiastic about these findings. “Traditionally, first-line therapy with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors led to a median overall survival...
The combination of lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab was superior to sunitinib for progression-free and overall survival as well as other key endpoints in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), according to results of the phase III CLEAR trial presented at the 2021 Genitourinary ...
Most people with cancer who are infected with COVID-19 produce antibodies at a rate comparable to the rest of the population—but their ability to do so depends on the type of malignancy and the treatments they’ve received, according to a new study published by Thakkar et al in Nature Cancer. The...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Joaquim Bellmunt, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor010 trial showed no improvement in disease-free survival with adjuvant atezolizumab vs observation in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label trial, 809...
Sumanta Pal, MD, of City of Hope, Duarte, California, praised the authors for the conduct of the study, but stopped short of endorsing nivolumab as standard of care. “The phase III CheckMate 274 trial evaluated adjuvant nivolumab vs placebo in patients with high-risk, resected, muscle-invasive...
Adjuvant therapy with nivolumab, an anti–PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, after radical surgery improved disease-free survival in high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial cancer regardless of PD-L1 status, according to the results of the CheckMate 274 randomized phase III trial presented at the 2021...
Combined results of two parallel phase II studies reported in JAMA Oncology by Milind Javle, MD, and colleagues indicated that olaparib may have therapeutic value in previously treated patients with platinum-sensitive pancreatic ductal carcinoma with DNA damage repair (DDR) genetic alterations...
In an analysis of a modern cohort of patients with metastatic seminoma reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Beyer et al, members of the International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group (IGCCCG) Update Consortium, found that progression-free and overall survival have improved compared...
On March 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with platinum and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy for patients with metastatic or locally advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (tumors with epicenter 1–5 cm above the...
Treatment with image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT) led to reduced late toxicities vs standard three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy in patients with cervical cancer, according to data presented by Supriya Chopra, MD, and colleagues during the Society of Gynecologic...
KRAS mutational status in patients with unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer predicts a worse response to hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) pump chemotherapy, according to research presented by Kolbeinsson et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference on...
The addition of niraparib maintenance to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, according to data from the OVARIO study presented by Melissa M. Hardesty, MD, MPH, during the Society of Gynecologic Oncology...
In a phase II trial (GORTEC 2014-01 TPExtreme) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Joël Guigay, MD, and colleagues found that first-line TPEx (docetaxel/platinum/cetuximab) did not improve overall survival vs the standard-of-care EXTREME regimen (fluorouracil [5-FU]/platinum/cetuximab) in patients...
The PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor niraparib is safe for long-term use and effective as maintenance treatment in patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer, according to data presented by Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021...
Frailty may be a better predictor of poor surgical outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer than age, according to two studies reported at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. Researchers found that frail patients are less likely to undergo...
Treatment with olaparib is safe and effective for patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer, regardless of the number of prior lines of chemotherapy received and BRCA mutation status, according to data presented from the phase II LIGHT study by Karen A. Cadoo, MD, at the Society of...
In the first report from the pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-775/Study 309 trial, the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab significantly improved multiple outcomes compared to standard single-agent chemotherapy in patients with advanced, metastatic, or recurrent endometrial cancer that had...
An observational study of 10,592 patients from the National Cancer Database with stage IIB/IIC melanoma who had undergone surgical resection demonstrated a significant survival advantage with immunotherapy. The research was presented by Wong et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021...
In a study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Emily S. Lau, MD, and colleagues found that the presence of cardiovascular disease risk factors was significantly associated with an increased risk of future cancer, although no increased risk was observed among individuals who had a history of...
In the phase I/II BRUIN trial reported in The Lancet, Anthony R. Mato, MD, and colleagues found that the noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor pirtobrutinib produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies, including those previously treated with ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Taofeek K. Owonikoko, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 451 trial showed no improvement in overall survival with combined nivolumab and ipilimumab vs placebo as maintenance therapy for extensive-disease small cell lung cancer. Study ...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TheraSphere Y-90 Glass Microspheres, developed for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The approval expands access to this therapy, which, to date, has been utilized under a humanitarian device exemption—an FDA...
An analysis of 546 patients with breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy demonstrated that residual cancer burden is prognostic for overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and distant relapse–free survival, according to research presented by White et al at the Society of Surgical...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Nathan H. Fowler, MD, and colleagues, the phase IIb UNITY-NHL trial has shown that the dual PI3Kδ/casein kinase (CK) 1ε inhibitor umbralisib produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The study ...
In an analysis of updated evidence on low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer reported in JAMA, Jonas et al found that screening can reduce lung cancer mortality but may be associated with a range of potential harms. The analysis was performed to inform the new U.S. Preventive...