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...
In a single-center study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Calais et al found that the use of gallium Ga-68 prostate-specific membrane antigen-11 positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PSMA PET/CT) resulted in higher detection rates of early biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer after ...
On July 10, ASCO led a coalition in a day of action in support of the Covering Life-Saving Investigations Needed in Cancer and Other Life-Threatening Conditions Through Timely Use of Resources for Easy and Affordable Treatment from Medicaid for Enrollees in Need Today Act (CLINICAL TREATMENT Act,...
According to research published by Boas et al in the American Journal of Roentgenology, aspirin therapy is associated with improved liver function test results and survival after transarterial embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma. Findings In a retrospective review of 304 patients, among the ...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will recognize Richard Aster, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin and Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin in Milwaukee with the 2019 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology. Dr. Aster will be honored for his significant...
GUEST EDITOR Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart M. Lichtman, MD, FACP, FASCO, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Dr. Lichtman is an Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Commack, New York, and...
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...
The state of Washington is adding a public option to its health insurance marketplace; Massachusetts, Connecticut, and others have passed laws requiring that payers cover fertility preservation procedures for patients with cancer. Many states are seeking to expand Medicaid eligibility, and some, in ...
On June 10, 2019, the CD79b-directed antibody-drug conjugate polatuzumab vedotin-piiq was granted accelerated approval for use in combination with bendamustine and a rituximab product for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), not otherwise specified,...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Lu et al found that multiplex immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence (mIHC/IF) assays appeared to have greater accuracy vs other types of assays in predicting response to anti–programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell...
On June 17, 2019, pembrolizumab was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with metastatic small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy and at least one other prior line of therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based...
Intimacy changes after a cancer diagnosis. Both male and female survivors can experience significant sexual dysfunction, pain with sex, loss of desire, and a slew of other clinical and psychological sequelae. To make matter worse, sexual function is often not discussed by patients and their...
On March 18, 2019, atezolizumab was approved for use in combination with carboplatin and etoposide in the first-line treatment of adult patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cance (SCLC).1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the phase III double-blind IMpower133...
The Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR) announced recently that the GBM AGILE clinical trial is opening its first clinical site, the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, and has begun enrolling patients. GBM AGILE is the world’s first global adaptive clinical trial platform for glioblastoma and...
On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that Allergan, the manufacturer of a specific type of textured breast implant, recall specific models of its textured implants from the U.S. market due to the risk of breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL)....
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy is a major clinical problem, and better therapies are needed for both its treatment and prevention. According to Charles Loprinzi, MD, a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to devise better preventive and treatment approaches,...
In patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), adding trilaciclib to standard-of-care chemotherapy demonstrated meaningful delays in deterioration of myelosuppression-related symptoms, according to Jared Weiss, MD, of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill,...
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...
Diversity, inclusion, and gender equality were prevalent themes for 2019 that ran throughout the ASCO Annual Meeting. From the first year that featured free onsite child care for attendees, to a session on “Establishing a Mutually Respectful Environment in the Workplace,” as well as a Plenary...
GUEST EDITOR Addressing the evolving needs of cancer survivors at various stages of their illness and care, Palliative Care in Oncology is guest edited by Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, FASCO. Dr. Von Roenn is ASCO’s Vice President of Education, Science, and Professional Development. During the 2019...
The three-drug combination of encorafenib (a BRAF inhibitor), binimetinib (a MEK inhibitor), and cetuximab (an EGFR inhibitor) significantly improved overall survival in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer, according to the results of the phase III BEACON CRC clinical trial....
Artificial intelligence (AI) may improve the efficiency and accuracy of an advanced imaging technology used to screen for breast cancer, according to a study published by Conant et al in Radiology: Artificial Intelligence. Digital breast tomosynthesis is an advanced method for cancer...
In a study published by Louvanto et al in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers investigated the ability of a DNA methylation panel to determine between disease progression and regression among women of childbearing age with untreated cervical intraepithelial dysplasia. In the majority of...
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...
In a post hoc 5-year follow-up of the KEYNOTE-006 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Robert et al found that pembrolizumab maintained overall and progression-free survival benefits over ipilimumab in patients with advanced melanoma. In the primary analysis from the trial, both pembrolizumab...
A recent analysis looked at the global burden of pediatric cancer through the lens of years of affected and lost life. This work shows a much greater burden of childhood cancer, placed largely in low- and middle-income countries, than previous estimates. The findings were published in The Lancet...
Many governments are making progress in the fight against tobacco, with 5 billion people today living in countries that have introduced smoking bans, warnings on packaging, and other effective tobacco control measures—four times more people than a decade ago. However, a new World Health...
A new laboratory test developed to identify chemical changes to a group of cancer-related genes may be able to accurately detect which breast tumors are cancerous or benign. Such a test could result in a more timely diagnosis of breast cancer for women in developing countries with less access to...
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. Study Details The study enrolled patients from sites in 14 countries between May...
In a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Kerlikowske et al found that the combined use of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) breast density and Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC)-defined risk for breast cancer may be an effective way of identifying women with dense...
A research team led by investigators from Georgetown University Medical Center and Fudan University in China has devised a noninvasive and individualized technique for detecting and treating bladder cancer. Their findings were published by Jiang et al in Protein & Cell. The method uses a...
Scientists have demonstrated that an artificial intelligence (AI) tool can perform as well as human reviewers—and much more rapidly—in extracting clinical information regarding changes in tumors from unstructured radiology reports for patients with lung cancer. These findings were...
In a Dutch phase II study reported in JAMA Oncology, Theelen et al found that although use of stereotactic body radiotherapy prior to pembrolizumab increased the objective response rate vs pembrolizumab alone in metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the difference did not meet study...
ASCO’S CENTER FOR Research and Analytics (CENTRA) is now accepting research applications from ASCO members who wish to conduct surveys of the Society’s membership for research purposes. The Research Survey Pool (RSP) is a service made available to ASCO members who engage in survey research. It...
FINDING TRUSTED resources to support some conversations with your patients can be challenging—ASCO is here to help. Use the ASCO Answers booklet bundle to guide discussions with patients and caregivers and provide them with the ideal take-home resource. This topic-specific booklet bundle includes...
Developed in 1925 by British statistician Sir Ronald Fisher, the P value is a measure that is ever-present in abstracts and studies, a small statistical tool that has enormous power to aid research being published in the literature or support drug approval. Over the past several years, however, a...
CATHY ENG, MD, FASCO, Professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, is joining Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC). She was recruited to assume the role of Co-Leader of the VICC Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program. Dr. Eng ...
The 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting provided attendees with an abundance of clinically relevant abstracts in gastrointestinal cancers. Briefly featured here are clinical trial updates on pembrolizumab in the second-line treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (KEYNOTE-240 trial), laparoscopic vs open...
FRIENDS OF CANCER RESEARCH (Friends) is launching the next phase of its Real-World Evidence pilot project after a broad stakeholder meeting in February 2019. At the meeting, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and various data partners expressed interest in continuing to address several...
Jason S. Lewis, PhD, has been named the 2019 recipient of the Paul C. Aebersold Award. Dr. Lewis is the Emily Tow Jackson Chair in Oncology and Vice Chair for Research and Chief Attending, Radiochemistry and Imaging Sciences Service, Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer...
ON JUNE 28, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab-bvzr (Zirabev), a biosimilar to bevacizumab (Avastin), for the treatment of five types of cancer: metastatic colorectal cancer; unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent, or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung...
In addition to our regular coverage of major news stories from the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, here is an additional roundup of important studies related to prostate cancer. ARAMIS: Darolutamide and Quality of Life Darolutamide, a next-generation androgen receptor antagonist, significantly prolonged...
Mark Pegram, MD, the Susy Yuan-Huey Hung Professor of Medical Oncology and Director of the Stanford Breast Oncology Program, said the Dana-Farber study “independently confirms that HER2 heterogeneity is a distinct clinical entity with lower levels of HER2 expression and pathologic complete...
At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, two pivotal breast cancer trials reported final or additional analyses: one confirmed the negative results seen in earlier reports,1 and the other supported a new survival benchmark.2 KRISTINE: Neoadjuvant T-DM1/Pertuzumab Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the David Geffen...
Earlier this year, ASCO announced plans for its first-ever international meeting, ASCO Breakthrough: A Global Summit for Oncology Innovators, which will be held October 11–13, 2019, in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting is a joint effort by ASCO and the Thai Society of Clinical Oncology to bring...
Commenting for The ASCO Post, melanoma expert Vernon K. Sondak, MD, Chair of the Department of Cutaneous Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, maintained that the association between immunotherapy-related toxicity and better outcomes is not yet clear. He first noted the impact of novel...
Active surveillance of patients with early-stage prostate cancer “is tackling the problem of overtreatment” and, with rigorous monitoring, “is safe and allows us to treat only patients who need treatment when their cancer progresses,” Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, affirmed in an interview with The ASCO...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that Allergan, the manufacturer of a specific type of textured breast implant, recall specific models of its textured implants from the U.S. market due to the risk of breast implant–associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL)....
The Hippocratic Oath calls on physicians to “use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment,” but not all versions of the oath call on us to prevent disease. Here we urge our colleagues to acknowledge that additional mandate and renew their commitment to preventing what could ...
BOOKMARK Title: An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It BackAuthor: Elisabeth Rosenthal, MDPublisher: Penguin PressPublication Date: April 2017Price: $27.95, hardcover; 416 pages The United States spends considerably more on health care than all other...