Despite studies showing that a majority of patients prefer to die at home rather than in an institutional setting,1 in many parts of the country, over 30% die in nursing homes and over 50% die in hospitals, according to Ira Byock, MD, Director of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical...
Tumors can be recognized by the immune system, but they have multiple mechanisms for evading eradication by the immune system. The tumor microenvironment suppresses the immune response, partly because tumors can express molecules that inhibit immune responses. The cancer clinical trials summarized...
“From bench to bedside” is a phrase that captures the essence of modern oncology: Researchers at the bench seek to solve the biologic puzzles of cancer that can translate into the development of therapeutics delivered at the bedside. Owen N. Witte, MD, has spent most of his career as a basic bench...
“I’m a Nebraskan,” said Lee N. Newcomer, MD, MHA, a leader in the oncology community who is well known for his innovative efforts to align physician payment and quality of care in ways that will best configure to the rapidly changing health-care environment. Speaking in the flat vowels and neutral...
Alexandra Levine, MD, MACP, the Chief Medical Officer of City of Hope National Medical Center, has traveled to 74 countries, seeking out adventures in some of the world’s most far-flung regions. Her illustrious oncology journey has also been an adventure, from the front lines of the AIDS pandemic...
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, renowned prostate and bladder cancer specialist Maha H. Hussain, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine and Urology at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, remembers that she always wanted to become a doctor. She had strong role models in three uncles who were...
Mary K. Gospodarowicz, MD, FRCPC, is determined to help reduce the worldwide burden of cancer, a problem of epic proportions. Her approach is simple: adopt what works and reject what doesn’t. Much progress in the fight against cancer can be made without waiting for the next paradigm-changing...
Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, grew up in a steadfastly academic environment that spurned typical children’s entertainment such as comic books or television. Born in New York City during World War II, she moved to Washington, DC, with her family while her father, an expert on labor and industrial...
ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, grew up in northeast Philadelphia in the 1960s, a robust period in U.S. history dominated by American industry and ingenuity. His early memories are of a hard-working blue-collar neighborhood of identical row and semidetached twin houses and of a time of...
The FDA has approved initiation of a multicenter trial of the DigniCap System, a scalp-cooling device for chemotherapy-related hair loss. The trial is the second and final phase of study for the DigniCap System. A pilot study previously conducted by researchers at the University of California San...
Even as a child, Janet D. Rowley, MD, found the intellectual order and logic of science appealing. Born on April 5, 1925, in New York, Dr. Rowley’s parents, Hurford and Ethel Ballantyne Davison, moved the family to Chicago 2 years later. Both educators, the Davisons encouraged their only child in...
The ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) Score, a multigene expression assay, quantifies the risk of local recurrence and invasive local recurrence for women with DCIS treated with surgical excision, researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “The DCIS Score can aid clinical...
For women who are considering prophylactic bilateral mastectomies, “I strongly encourage genetic testing, Todd M. Tuttle, MD, MS, said in an interview with The ASCO Post about the increased interest in preventive double mastectomy following Angelina Jolie’s disclosure that she had the procedure to...
Angelina Jolie, in a New York Times article entitled “My Medical Choice,”1 disclosed that having a BRCA1 mutation and an estimated 87% risk of breast cancer, “I decided to be proactive and minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.” She was writing...
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) recently joined the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to establish a network of sites for clinical trial testing of innovative blood cancer therapies in community oncology settings across the country. This Blood Cancer Research Partnership (BCRP) will...
A growing number of people with cancer are being treated on an outpatient basis. At the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, to ensure that the psychosocial and psychiatric needs of these patients were being...
In a statement released earlier this month, the College of American Pathologists applauded the unanimous Supreme Court decision invalidating the patents held by Myriad Genetics on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, calling the decision “a victory for patients and for science.” The College of American...
Earlier this year, ASCO and the oncology community at large lost a true pioneer, mentor, and renowned researcher. It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Jane Cooke Wright, MD, one of seven founding members of ASCO—the only woman among the founders—and the Society’s first...
A study examining trends in x-ray computed tomography (CT) use in children in the United States has found that reducing unnecessary scans and lowering the doses for the highest-dose scans could lower the overall lifetime risk of future imaging-related cancers by 62%. The research was published...
Commenting on these results, Carol Aghajanian, MD, Chief of the Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said, “There is currently no standard of care for maintenance therapy. Evidence continues to mount that targeting angiogenesis is important in...
This study showed that 10 years of adjuvant tamoxifen reduced the risk of late recurrence in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, which is a major problem. The study also showed that ‘patience is a virtue’,” stated formal discussant Ann Partridge, MD, Director of the Adult Survivorship Program...
Lynn Mara Schuchter, MD, the C. Willard Robinson Professor of Hematology-Oncology and Program Leader of the Melanoma Program at Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, commented at a press briefing that the study “will ultimately be practice-changing.” She noted,...
For the first time in decades, a drug has halted disease progression in treatment-resistant differentiated thyroid cancer, according to the results of a phase III study presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 No new drugs have been approved for differentiated thyroid cancer in 40 years, but...
Formal discussant Electra D. Paskett, PhD, Professor of Medicine at The Ohio State University, was enthusiastic about these trial results and the potential of visual inspection with acetic acid screening, as well as low-cost human papillomavirus (HPV) screening to save lives in the developing...
Lynn Mara Schuchter, MD, the C. Willard Robinson Professor of Hematology-Oncology and Program Leader of the Melanoma Program at Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, commented on the wealth of promising agents now dotting the formerly barren landscape for...
Trudy Nan Small, MD, was a pediatric hematologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center who specialized in the diagnosis and care of children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hematologic malignancies and those with life-threatening genetic disorders of the immune system....
In today’s high-tech, sci-fi–loving culture, “programmed death receptor” seems like a term apt to stir up public interest, particularly when those receptors are being “targeted” by “agents.” In this case, however, the agents are antibodies that target programmed death 1 (PD-1) receptor and disable...
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Much of the news about immunotherapy ...
The American Medical Association (AMA) recently introduced the 21 members of its Board of Trustees for the coming year following elections held during the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. The new Chair of the AMA Board of Trustees is David O. Barbe, MD, MHA, a Family Medicine physician ...
The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) presented Diane E. Meier, MD, the 2013 Edward Henderson Award in recognition of her many invaluable contributions to the field of geriatrics. Dr. Meier received the award and delivered the Henderson State-of-the-Art Lecture during AGS’ Annual Scientific Meeting ...
Priya Rastogi, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, discussed the findings at the session. She noted that previous studies have also shown higher pathologic complete response rates among HER2-enriched patients who were hormone receptor–negative, and...
As a neoadjuvant regimen for HER2-positive early breast cancer, the use of two HER2-directed agents was no more effective than trastuzumab (Herceptin) alone in producing pathologic complete responses, although one subset of patients did benefit from this approach, according to the results of the...
A trio of presentations at the ASCO Annual Meeting focused on two promising investigational drugs for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). These two drugs—idelalisib and obinutuzumab—join a list of new approaches showing potential. Idelalisib Alone A phase I dose-ranging study of...
Commenting on the ganetespib study, Marjorie G. Zauderer, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said that this first-in-class study suggests efficacy and represents a potential advance in lung cancer treatment. “We haven’t had any advances in a long time....
“The definition of molecular subsets of lung cancer [in terms of] driver mutations has revolutionized the care of patients with non–small cell lung cancer [NSCLC],” said formal discussant Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD, Instructor in Medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville. ALK...
Encouraging results were seen in a preliminary study of a second-generation ALK inhibitor in advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug—dubbed LDK378—achieved tumor shrinkage in almost all patients enrolled in the study, in all mutational subsets, in crizotinib...
Two studies published in Journal of Clinical Oncology indicate that treatment-related symptoms and mammographic density reduction may predict whether a woman with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer will benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy. In one study, women who had specific adverse...
Melissa Hudson, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and lead author of a study finding that 98.2% of adult survivors of childhood cancer had a chronic health condition, told The ASCO Post that she hoped that survivors’ awareness of the need for ongoing health monitoring was...
More than 98% of adult survivors of childhood cancer in a large clinically evaluated cohort had a chronic health condition, including a substantial number of previously undiagnosed problems that are more likely to occur in an older population. “These findings underscore the importance of ongoing...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network recently announced the appointment of Laurie MacCaskill to Chair of the National Board of Directors of the organization, effective July 1, 2013. Ms. MacCaskill is the first pancreatic cancer patient to hold this position. Since her diagnosis in 2006, Ms....
The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research is a combined research program of the National Marrow Donor Program and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. At the forefront of research to increase access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and improve outcomes, the ...
Among the more than 200 types of cancer are those called “forgotten” or “orphan” cancers, with fewer than 40,000 new cases each year. They present treatment challenges in community cancer centers. Because of the low incidence of these diseases, such as chronic myeloid leukemia, acute promyelocytic...
Attendees at the ASCO Annual Meeting are faced with a major challenge of trying to attend as many important sessions as they can over a 4-day period. Our challenge is to feature the major news in The ASCO Post. In addition to our regular comprehensive coverage of key presentations, the following...
Internationally known for her research in the molecular genetics of cancer, Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP, first became interested in oncology during medical school in Nigeria, where she cared for patients with Burkitt’s lymphoma. After moving to Chicago in 1983 to continue her medical...
A workforce shortage of geriatricians and other health professionals certified in caring for older patients with cancer is colliding with the aging of the population and the increasing number of older Americans with cancer. After describing factors contributing to these dual challenges, Arti...
Hedy Lee Kindler, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, the invited discussant of three of these presentations, emphasized the persistent lethality of advanced pancreatic cancer. She predicted that within this decade, pancreatic cancer will become the second leading...
I am the Outreach Administrator/Newsletter Editor at Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC). SPOHNC is a national nonprofit organization involved in the development of support programs. As such, it can have an enormous positive impact on meeting the psychosocial needs of...
An “alarming difference” in survival outcomes between young, non-Hispanic white males and females with primary invasive melanoma (see accompanying article) is one of several skin cancer–related study findings in the news this summer. Other studies have concerned the rising rates of melanoma among...
An “alarming difference” in survival outcomes between young, non-Hispanic white males and females with primary invasive melanoma “highlights the urgent need for both behavioral interventions to promote early detection strategies in young men and further investigation of the biological basis for the ...
Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California, recently named Christine R. Carico the 2013 recipient of the Medical Center’s Pauletta and Denzel Washington Family Gifted Scholars Program in Neuroscience award. Ms. Carico will spend the next year researching brain disorders like the one that took the life ...