Androgen-deprivation therapy has been, and remains, the standard of care for patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Patients are often surprised to know that was all we would do to control their disease and sometimes asked why they would not get chemotherapy, as for other cancers. I would take...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that duodenoscope manufacturers and health-care facilities transition to different types of duodenoscopes that may pose less risk to patient safety. Specifically, because of challenges with cleaning these devices for reuse and persistent...
During 2012–2016, an average of approximately 34,800 human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers were reported each year, according to a new study published by Senkomago et al in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Among the cancers probably caused by HPV, 92% are attributable to the HPV types ...
In a single-institution study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Galeas et al found that intervention in key drivers in the care process could reduce the time to initiation of chemotherapy in patients with elective admission to a hematologic malignancy service. Study Details The goal of...
Olanzapine at a 5-mg dose, when combined with aprepitant, palonosetron, and dexamethasone, significantly reduced the risk of delayed nausea and vomiting in patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy, according to new research. The study investigators believe this approach may be considered a...
Having text message conversations with patients 1 week before they are scheduled for a colonoscopy decreased “no-show” rates, according to a recent study published by Mahmud et al in Health Education & Behavior. Through sending reminders and instruction, the team increased the rate of...
Nearly 46% of medical school graduates are women, yet women physicians remain underrepresented in leadership roles. A recent report on The State of Women in Academic Medicine notes that women make up nearly 50% of medical school applicants, but only 21% of full professors, 16% of deans, and 15% of...
A study published by Singal et al in Gastroenterology demonstrated that treatment with antiviral therapy for hepatitis C reduced liver-related deaths by nearly 50% in patients with a history of liver cancer. Previous Research The finding builds on a December 2018 study by Singal et al also...
Researchers have decoded a chain of molecules that are critical for the growth and survival of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. They say their findings, published by Murakami et al in Developmental Cell, suggest that inhibiting the YAP biologic network may effectively regress early-stage...
There were numerous notable presentations at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, many of which were covered in The ASCO Post over the past few months. To add to our continued coverage of this meeting, here are some highlights from studies focusing on novel therapeutics in renal cell carcinoma ...
PERSONALIZATION AND STREAMLINED navigation were two priorities of the recent rebranding of ASCO University. Now known as ASCO eLearning (elearning.asco.org), the rebrand more accurately reflects what the program offers and who it is intended for. “The priority I see for ASCO eLearning is to make...
ASCO Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology Innovators was created, in part, to recognize our increasingly large and international community of members, to bring a meeting to their area, to go outside the United States, and shake up our own thinking. Why is now the time to organize a summit...
Black men suffer disproportionately from prostate cancer, both in terms of incidence and mortality, compared with their white counterparts. However, a newer study conducted by investigators at the University of California, San Francisco, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, found that black...
At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, and simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine, we heard the third paper reporting results from TAILORx.1,2 The first, in 2015,3 indicated that women with node-negative breast cancers with Oncotype DX recurrence scores less than 11 did extremely well...
There were numerous notable presentations at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, many of which were covered in The ASCO Post over the past few months. To add to our continued coverage of this meeting, here are some highlights from studies focusing on novel therapeutics in renal cell carcinoma ...
Breast cancer researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, are beginning to select patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who might forgo surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. While this fine-tuning is currently intended to inform clinical trials—in particular, to ...
Polypharmacy (ie, the concurrent use of eight or more medications) and potentially inappropriate medications may be associated with functional impairment in older adults with advanced cancer, according to research presented by Mostafa Mohamed, MBBCh, at the Multinational Association of Supportive...
In the wake of the opioid crisis in the United States, patients with cancer pain are often undeservedly confronted with rigid barriers to receiving the opioids they need. To compound this problem, the research around opioids in cancer pain has been limited—placebo-controlled trials are lacking,...
ON AUGUST 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the decision to cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy among recipients of Medicare benefits. FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies are approved to treat patients ...
Recent studies in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have shown benefit for combining checkpoint inhibitors with chemotherapy. Should combinations, therefore, be the first choice for treating patients with newly diagnosed stage IV disease? Two lung cancer experts debated this point at the 2019...
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...
Thomas Paul Slavin, Jr, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, where he is Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology, Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics, and a Program Member of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, commented on these substudy findings. The...
A cell-free DNA test based on the presence of DNA methylation has proven highly specific as a multicancer detection test and appears especially good at detecting high-risk malignancies. In most cases, it can also accurately pinpoint the tumor’s tissue of origin, researchers reported at the 2019...
Immunotherapy as a treatment for advanced solid cancers has rapidly evolved over the past decade—often yielding remarkable results. However, its use has also given way to new adverse effects, including drug-induced gastrointestinal and liver toxicities. “Checkpoint inhibitors are a game changer...
I found my cancer quite accidentally. In March 2018, as I was taking a shower, my hand casually brushed against my right mastoid bone, and I noticed the area sounded hollow. Around the same time, I realized I had developed a sense of fullness in that ear as well. I had been feeling tired, but that...
The Companion of the Most Distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) is generally reserved for ambassadors and leaders of the United Kingdom’s defense and security services. Only 1, 750 appointees are permitted. This year, the Head of M16, the Secret Intelligence Service, was in the...
In an extensive data mining analysis of British medical records, researchers found that taking even a single course of antibiotics might boost—albeit slightly—the risk of developing colon cancer, but not rectal cancer, a decade later. The findings, reported by Zhang et al in Gut,...
A study by Duffy et al in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology reported on specific gene variations affecting the number and types of moles on the body and their role in causing skin cancer. “The goal was to investigate the genetic underpinnings of different mole classes, or...
Immunotherapy as a treatment for advanced solid cancers has rapidly evolved over the past decade—often yielding remarkable results. However, its use has also given way to new adverse effects, including drug-induced gastrointestinal and liver toxicities. “Checkpoint inhibitors are a game changer...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is the Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute, and Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic. For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Gilberto de Lima...
New research published by Loree et al in JAMA Oncology found that race and race subgroup analysis reporting does not occur frequently and that black and Hispanic populations are underrepresented in oncology trials that have led to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals. The study raises...
A study published by Koroukian et al in JAMA Network Open found that from 2000 to 2016, incident obesity-associated cancers were increasingly found in younger age groups. The authors suggest that interventions are needed to reduce obesity and to implement individualized screening programs. The...
Women with severe sleep apnea appear to also have an elevated risk of developing cancer, according to findings from a study by Pataka et al in the European Respiratory Journal. No causal relationship was demonstrated, but a link between nocturnal hypoxia in women and higher cancer risk was...
In an analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Antonia et al identified long-term survival rates with nivolumab therapy in patients with previously treated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The pooled analysis included data from the CheckMate 017, 057, 063, and 003 trials, each...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who engaged in moderate exercise while undergoing chemotherapy tended to have delayed progression of their disease and fewer severe side effects from treatment, according to the results of a new study published by Guercio et al in the Journal of Clinical...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fedratinib (Inrebic) for adults with intermediate-2 or high-risk primary or secondary (postpolycythemia vera or postessential thrombocythemia) myelofibrosis. “Prior to today, there was one FDA-approved drug to treat patients with...
In a single-institution retrospective study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Davis and colleagues found that next-generation sequencing (NGS) tests resulted in changes in management in a small proportion of patients with cancer. Study Details The study involved retrospective review...
Immunology researchers have uncovered a biomarker that may help explain why some patients respond better than others to sorafenib, a common chemotherapy used in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Their analysis of immune responses among patients receiving sorafenib, published by...
Small cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 15% of all lung cancers and has high metastatic potential and poor clinical outcomes. While untreated small cell lung cancers are usually highly sensitive to cytotoxic chemotherapy—with response rates of between 50% and 70%—patients...
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to target biopsies is more effective at detecting prostate cancers that are likely to need treatment than standard ultrasound-guided biopsies alone, according to research published by Elwenspoek et al in JAMA Network Open. Prostate biopsies can cause side...
On July 26, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a new report, “Global Tobacco Epidemic 2019,” to discuss national efforts being made to implement effective strategies from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that have been proven to reduce the demand for tobacco....
Since the 1970s, there has been an alarming increase in obesity. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese. Excess body weight is linked to numerous diseases, including more than 14 types of cancers. ...
In medical school, I learned a five-step model on how to deliver bad news to a patient. I still fall back on this method, time and again, in my primary care clinic; I have even used it when giving really tough feedback to a learner who is struggling in some aspect of performance. But I honestly...
This Clinical Trials Resource Guide lists actively recruiting clinical research trials that focus on cancer survivorship. The studies here are examining the effects of Web-based platforms, as well as patient navigators and other tools. and the value of improving our understanding of the...
ASCO published its first statement on genetic testing and its impact on oncology practice over 2 decades ago. Since then, ASCO has revised the statement three times, the most recent in 2015, in response to advances propelled by the sequencing and mapping of the human genome and the identification...
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), whose founding mission was to standardize the anatomic staging of cancer based on the size of a tumor and any spread to nearby tissue (T); the spread of the cancer to nearby lymph nodes (N); and...
New data suggest that people who have a parent, sibling, or child with blood cancer have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy themselves. A study by Sud et al published in Blood offers the first...
A new study published by Stump et al in Genetics in Medicine investigated whether genetic testing would motivate people at risk of developing melanoma to alter their behavior in order to reduce their risk. “We are trying to understand whether a genetic test result adds value over and above...
On August 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the decision to cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy among recipients of Medicare benefits. FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies are approved to...
Breast cancer researcher and innovator Laura J. van ’t Veer, PhD, was born and reared in Amsterdam in 1957. “During high school, I had a wonderful biology teacher who was going through his own biology studies at the University of Amsterdam, and he was bringing that university-level education into...