Robotic surgery for patients with early-stage oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer may be associated with improved health outcomes, including better long-term survival, according to a study published by Nguyen et al in JAMA Oncology. Transoral robotic surgery is a minimally invasive procedure in...
In a study published by Gao et al in The American Journal of Pathology, scientists reported the discovery of an increased level of the neuroprotein sortilin in pancreatic cancer cells. The investigators speculated that this finding may lead to the development of more effective treatment for...
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Oneida Health announced the appointment of Maya Mathew, MD, as Medical Director of the Dorothy G. Griffin Radiation Oncology Center in Oneida, New York, part of the Roswell Park Care Network. In her new position, Dr. Mathew will lead a team that includes ...
The Cancer Research Institute and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research have launched an innovative clinical trial that aims to demonstrate the utility of liquid biopsy in assessing responses of patients with lung cancer to immunotherapy (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT04093167). If the trial...
Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Radiology at the Stanford School of Medicine and an internationally recognized pioneer in molecular imaging, died on July 18, 2020, of cancer. He was 57. The Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research, Dr. Gambhir dedicated his career...
The Society of Gynecologic Oncology announced with sadness the death of Wendy Noelle Ericsson, an advocate and champion of the Foundation for Women’s Cancer, an advocacy group supporting research, education, and public awareness of gynecologic cancers. Ms. Ericsson’s death was due to complications...
Cornelius O. “Skip” Granai, MD, Founder of the Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, died on June 28, 2020, after a long bout with cancer. Dr. Granai strongly believed that cancer care for women should encompass both breast and gynecologic cancers, according...
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. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
Of the tens of thousands of genes in cellular DNA, one group of genes is tasked with ensuring that every cell reproduces itself exactly when it divides to make new cells. Perhaps the best known of these genes are the BRCA genes, which if inherited with a significant alteration, confer a markedly...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Cambodia. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Although extensive research has suggested ways to ensure that patients receive evidence-based cancer care, putting these solutions into widespread practice can be a complex, challenging, and inefficient process. Now, a new grant awarded to the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of...
The GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer presented Charles Swanton, MD, PhD, FRCP, FMedSci, FRS, Senior Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute, with the 2020 Bonnie J. Addario Lectureship Award at the Physicians’ Education Resource 21st Annual International Lung Cancer Congress. GO2 is recognizing...
Mary-Claire King, PhD, will receive the William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), to be held virtually from December 8 to 12, 2020. The William L. McGuire Memorial Lectureship was established in 1992 to commemorate Dr. McGuire’s significant...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) announced the winning programs for its 10th annual ACCC Innovator Awards, highlighting the year’s leading-edge strategies to challenges faced by oncology programs and practices across the country. The eight ACCC Innovator Award winners feature...
Three years ago, former Chief Executive Officer of ASCO, Allen S. Lichter, MD, Laurence H. Baker, DO, Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor; Leonard Saltz, MD, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan...
The Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors have been one of the most exciting advances in the tre atment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and have led to the development of chemotherapy-free treatments for both treatment-naive as well as relapsed or refractory CLL based on studies where...
Cleveland Clinic has appointed Jae Jung, PhD, as Chair of Lerner Research Institute’s Department of Cancer Biology. Dr. Jung will also serve as Director of the new Center for Global and Emerging Pathogens Research, which will focus on public health threats ranging from the Zika virus to...
A consensus statement published in JAMA Dermatology by an international group of melanoma researchers evaluated the use of prognostic gene-expression profile testing to guide clinical management of melanoma.1 The group cautioned against the routine use of currently available gene-expression...
The University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Keck Medicine of USC have announced the appointment of oncologist and cancer researcher Steven Grossman, MD, PhD, as the center’s Cancer Physician in Chief. In this inaugural position, Dr. Grossman will provide...
The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) President David J. Cole, MD, FACS, has announced the appointment of MUSC College of Medicine Dean Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, to the additional role as Director of the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. Dr. DuBois has headed the College of Medicine for more ...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has appointed Heather Brandt, PhD, a behavioral scientist with expertise in cancer prevention and control, to lead community outreach and research programs focused on the prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers through vaccination. In...
William G. Kaelin, Jr, MD, will receive a Distinguished Scientist Award from the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) on October 12, during the 2020 AACI/Cancer Center Administrators Forum Annual Meeting. Due to COVID-19–related restrictions on travel and gatherings, the meeting will...
Following an extensive national search, Bert W. O’Malley, Jr, MD, has been appointed as the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), the flagship academic hospital for the University of Maryland Medical System and an anchor institution in...
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer 2020 Virtual, Milind Javle, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues reported that third- and later-line treatment with the selective fibroblast growth factor...
A trend of higher lung cancer incidence rates in young Black people vs young White people in the United States has flipped, with the Black-White gap disappearing in men and reversing in women. The changing trends coincide with steeper declines in smoking among Black Americans, according to a new...
Paul Baas, MD, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, discusses results of the CheckMate 743 trial, which suggests nivolumab plus ipilimumab should be considered the new standard of care in first-line treatment of unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, regardless of the histology subtype...
On August 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved daratumumab (Darzalex) in combination with carfilzomib (Kyprolis) and dexamethasone (DKd) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received one to three previous lines of therapy....
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Reviews for a novel dosing regimen for durvalumab as well as for trilaciclib in small cell lung cancer; granted Fast Track designations to treatments for glioblastoma and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; and issued reports...
Researchers have found that greater gut microbial diversity in patients with metastatic kidney cancer is associated with better treatment outcomes in those receiving immunotherapy. These findings were published by Salgia et al in European Urology. “We also reported the changes over time in the gut...
The results of an online questionnaire of 609 breast cancer survivors in the United States suggest that nearly half of patients experienced delays in care during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was published by Papautsky et al in the journal Breast Cancer Research and ...
Scientists have newly discovered three genetic changes that increase the risk of breast cancer in men. These findings were published by Maguire et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers identified three common variations in DNA that predispose men to developing breast...
Public health screening guidelines for lung cancer followed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) undercount eligible Black individuals, according to a study by Mary Pasquinelli, DNP, FNP-BC, and colleagues in press at the...
Nineteen of the 20 nations with the highest cervical cancer death rates are in sub-Saharan Africa. Now an international team has published the first comprehensive genomic study of cervical cancers in sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on tumors from 212 Ugandan patients with cervical cancer. Their...
In a phase II trial reported by Vivek Subbiah, MD, and colleagues in The Lancet Oncology, the combination of dabrafenib, a BRAF inhibitor, and trametinib, a MEK inhibitor, achieved a 51% overall response rate in patients with BRAF V600E–mutated cholangiocarcinoma. This trial represents the first...
Results from a recent clinical trial indicated that for older adults with advanced cancer, initiating aspirin treatment may increase their risk of disease progression and mortality. These findings were published by McNeil et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Study Background and...
Gabriella Pravettoni, PhD, of the University of Milan, discusses the need for tailored psychological interventions to take care of oncologists, health-care workers, and patients with cancer affected by the coronavirus crisis. The interventions can help minimize burnout and post-traumatic stress...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first liquid biopsy companion diagnostic that also uses next-generation sequencing technology to identify patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and specific types of EGFR mutations. The FDA also granted Fast Track...
A new study published by Kanter et al in Health Affairs sheds light on another reason why the coronavirus pandemic is disproportionately affecting individuals of lower socioeconomic status: residents in low-income neighborhoods lack access to intensive care unit (ICU) beds. While the shortage of...
Updated clinical practice guidelines for managing mucositis—a common and often debilitating complication of cancer therapy—were recently published by Elad et al in the journal Cancer. The new guidelines summary, which will provide health-care professionals with better tools to deliver care for...
As reported in The Lancet by Matthew D. Galsky, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor130 trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with first-line atezolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy vs...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Jacqueline Vuky, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and colleagues, long-term follow-up in the phase II KEYNOTE-052 study has shown durable responses with first-line pembrolizumab in cisplatin-ineligible locally advanced or...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 Matthew D. Galsky, MD, of The Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and colleagues found that maintenance pembrolizumab produced additional responses and improved progression-free survival vs...
At the Genitourinary Highlights session of the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, Toni K. Choueiri, MD, Director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, put the findings from KEYNOTE-426 into perspective. “This is an important update. The initial...
Pembrolizumab: On January 8, 2020, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive, high-risk, non–muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors who are ineligible for or...
Extended analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-426 study upholds pembrolizumab plus axitinib as a preferred front-line regimen over sunitinib in patients with advanced sporadic renal cell carcinoma.1 These updated results were presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program by Elizabeth R....
Philip J. Saylor, MD, Attending Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston, commented on this study. “The results presented are clearly exciting and cause us to look forward to a likely phase III study of this strategy. The high response...
It may be possible to use a platinum-free combination as first-line treatment for advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma in cisplatin-ineligible patients, if the results of the phase Ib/II EV-103 trial hold up. The combination of the newly approved antibody-drug conjugate (enfortumab vedotin)...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Loriot et al, the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1-4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor erdafitinib showed activity in FGFR-altered advanced urothelial carcinoma.1 The study enrolled patients from sites in 14 countries between May 2015 and March 2018. ...
Maintenance therapy with avelumab and best supportive care significantly prolonged overall survival vs best supportive care alone in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma that did not progress on first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, according to an interim analysis of the phase III JAVELIN ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 Anita Gul, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that salvage therapy with nivolumab/ipilimumab was capable of producing a response after prior PD-1 pathway inhibitor therapy in some patients with...