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Showing 4801 - 4850Rally for Medical Research Draws Thousands in Person and on Social Media
In estimated 10,000 demonstrators filled the streets in front of Washington, DC’s historic Carnegie Library on April 8 to protest budget cuts at the National Institutes of Health. The Rally for Medical Research was held to “emphasize to our policymakers that medical research must become a national...
Help Your Patients Understand the Latest Research to Be Highlighted at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting
Starting on May 15, direct your patients to Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient information website, to find easy-to-read summaries of studies released in advance of this year’s Annual Meeting. In addition, encourage them to listen to a panel discussion and Q&A session about these latest advances in a...
ASCO's Pre-Annual Meeting Seminar Series to Offer a New, Fourth Focus: Genetics and Genomics
ASCO’s pre–Annual Meeting seminar series continues this year, offering intimate, discussion-based seminars just before the start of the Annual Meeting in late May. The seminars are an excellent educational opportunity for health providers who are attending the Annual Meeting but would like to drill ...
New ASCO/AAHPM Project Will Harness Technology to Foster Improved Palliative Care in Oncology
ASCO and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine (AAHPM) recently announced a joint initiative to support delivery of high-quality palliative care in medical oncology. The initiative is funded by ASCO’s first-ever grant from the Agency for Health Care Research Quality. The...
A Promising New Agent's Road to Approval in CLL Raises Questions, Stirs Controversy
Early trial results in single-agent therapy with the oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib have produced excellent responses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Moreover, ibrutinib is extremely well tolerated, allowing patients to remain on trial and receive the...
More Recreational Physical Activity Associated with Reduced All-cause Mortality in Patients with Colorectal Cancer
In a study recently reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Peter T. Campbell, PhD, and colleagues from the Epidemiology Research Program of the American Cancer Society, Atlanta, found that more recreational physical activity before and after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer was associated with...
Sentinel Node Biopsy in Melanoma: Essential or Optional?
Is sentinel node biopsy in melanoma an essential component of care? Despite a large multinational trial and recently published or updated guidelines, the question is still a thorny one according to experts who debated the issue at the recent meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology in...
Higher HER2 Expression Linked to Best Results with T-DM1 in Patients with HER2-positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
A biomarker analysis of the pivotal EMILIA trial suggests that women with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer with tumors that have high expression of HER2 derive the most robust benefit from treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate T-DM1 (also now known as ado-trastuzumab emtansine...
SIDEBAR: Going Public with Ovarian Cancer Outcomes
Commenting on the study finding that most women with ovarian cancer are not being treated with the recommended standard of care, a New York Times editorial noted, “One of the surest ways to improve performance would be to analyze and make public how well individual doctors and hospitals do in...
Most Women with Ovarian Cancer Do Not Get Guideline-specified Treatment Linked to Survival Benefits
Most women with ovarian cancer are not receiving adequate treatment, as specified in National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines,1 and as a result are being deprived of the survival benefits correlated with guideline-recommended treatment, according to a study presented at the Society...
The ASCO Post Up Close: Our Reporters and Contributors
About the Writers Charlotte Bath has been writing about cancer and related fields of medicine since serving as Public Information Director of the American Cancer Society, Long Island Division, from 1975 to 1979. She subsequently worked as a writer for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and...
Focus on Alaska's Denali Oncology Group
Located in Anchorage, Alaska, the Denali Oncology Group faces the dual challenge of serving a diverse and large population of more than 731,000 spread across a vast state of 586,000 square miles, with just 20 medical oncologists and 5 radiation oncologists located mainly in Alaska’s two biggest...
Guideline Adherence and Geriatric Assessment Studies among NCCN Scientific Posters of Interest
For the first time at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference, scientific posters were included as part of the program. The ASCO Post captured some of the most interesting findings for our readers, including the following news briefs. The findings of these studies support ...
NCCN Patient Guidelines for Adolescents and Young Adults
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has issued new NCCN Guidelines for Patients, titled “Caring for Adolescents and Young Adults [AYA].” These guidelines fill an unmet need in oncology, as Peter F. Coccia, MD, Chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Young Adult Oncology and a member of...
Automated Telephone Monitoring Reduces Chemotherapy-related Symptoms
The use of an automated computer-based telephone monitoring system to assess symptoms during outpatient chemotherapy—and provide intervention where appropriate by a nurse practitioner—substantially reduced the number of days with symptoms in a study reported at the 18th Annual Conference of the...
Lessons of 2 Decades' Experience with CHESS
Our work on an Internet-based intervention for lung cancer confirmed what many other studies have shown about technologic interventions for health-care consumers—that such interventions can improve quality of life for caregivers and patients.1 We expected this result in part because of the...
eHealth: Caregiver Use of Online System Reduces Symptom Distress in Patients with Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The results of a study reported by David H. Gustafson, PhD, Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues in Cancer suggest that informal caregiver (eg, family member) use of a specifically designed online system to support palliative care reduces symptom distress in...
ASCO Completes Prototype for CancerLinQ™, Marking First Demonstration of a 'Learning Health System' to Transform Cancer Care
ASCO has completed a prototype of CancerLinQ™, the Society’s groundbreaking health information technology initiative to achieve higher quality, higher value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. The prototype was shown on March 27 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, during an...
ASCO President's Priorities Aim to Build Bridges to Advance Cancer Care
Recognizing the need for greater interconnectivity to accelerate cancer care advances, Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, current ASCO President and Medical Director of Washington Cancer Institute MedStar Washington Hospital Center, selected “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer” as her presidential theme....
ASCO President’s Personal Philanthropy Honors Founder Jane C. Wright, MD
During her term as ASCO President, Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, of the Washington Cancer Institute has kept a solid focus on her presidential and 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting theme of “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer.” These bridges take many forms, spanning challenges to be overcome in oncology...
Disparities in Cancer Care: How A Deep South Community Overcame Them
Racial inequities were a daily observation for Edward E. Partridge, MD, growing up in Alabama during the civil rights era. When he became a physician, he saw that these disparities extended into his own field, gynecologic oncology. He decided to do something about it. Dr. Partridge recently...
Managing Female Reproductive Complications after Cancer Treatment in Children and Young Adults
Follow-up care for female patients treated for cancer as children, adolescents, or young adults should include assessment and management of the late effects that therapy may have on reproductive health, as detailed in updated guidelines from the Children’s Oncology Group. “It is important for...
Women in Oncology: Trending in the Right Direction
According to ASCO President Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, an important part of her Presidential theme, “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer,” is finding creative ways to ensure that we have enough oncologists to care for our burgeoning cancer patient population. Adding more women to the oncology...
Breakthroughs in Targeted Therapies for Breast Cancer Are Improving Patient Survival Rates
For more than 20 years, José Baselga, MD, PhD, has devoted his medical and scientific career to caring for breast cancer patients and the development of novel molecular targeted agents to treat the disease. From 1996 to 2010, he was Head of the Oncology Department of Vall d’Hebron University...
University of Michigan Launches New Cardio-oncology Program
The University of Michigan Samuel and Jean Frankel Cardiovascular Center, working with specialists at the University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center, has launched Michigan’s first cardio-oncology clinic, a program designed to prevent or minimize heart damage caused by chemotherapy and ...
Interventional Radiologists Report Novel Approaches for Metastatic Lesions
For the treatment of metastases to the liver and the lung, interventional radiologists reported early success with two novel approaches at the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 38th Annual Scientific Meeting, held recently in New Orleans. Cryoablation of Lung Tumors For patients with...
NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: 2013 Updates
At the 18th Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), representatives of NCCN Guidelines panels presented two new sets of guidelines along with updates for several tumor types, summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post. New NCCN Guidelines for Survivorship “The...
How Is Sequestration Affecting Health Care?
The Budget Control Act of 2011, which calls for $1.2 trillion in federal funding cuts in national defense and nondefense programs, went into effect on March 1. The across-the-board cuts affect 21 agencies and programs directly involved in the health-care sector, including: Centers for Disease...
Sequestration's Impact on Cancer Care
On March 1, the deficit-budget mechanism known as sequestration took effect, triggering $85 billion in across-the-board cuts to most federal agencies over the remaining 7 months in fiscal year 2013. The total federal deficit reduction budget under the Budget Control Act of 2011 calls for $1.2...
Some Stage II/III HER2-positive Tumors May Be Treated with Targeted Therapy without Chemotherapy
Results from a multicenter phase II study of patients with locally advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who receive targeted therapy with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and lapatinib (Tykerb) “support the hypothesis that selected patients with HER2-positive tumors may not need chemotherapy,” investigators ...
Expect Questions from Your Patients
Patients reading or hearing about the updated draft recommendation statement from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on the use of medications to reduce risk for primary breast cancer1 may ask if and how it applies to them. To help answer those questions, the information presented...
Women at Increased Risk for Breast Cancer Should Be Offered Medications to Reduce Risk, Draft Recommendations Advise
Clinicians should engage in shared decision-making with women who are at increased risk of breast cancer about using medications, such as tamoxifen and raloxifene (Evista), to reduce risk, and should offer prescriptions to women considered at low risk for adverse effects from these medications,...
Innovator Award Won by Kenneth Tsai, MD, PhD, for Plan to Map Molecular Path to Skin Cancer
A proposal to examine the cellular journey from normal skin to precancerous lesion to skin cancer earned Kenneth Tsai, MD, PhD, the Sixth Annual Landon Foundation–AACR Innovator Award for Cancer Prevention Research at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, held recently ...
University of New Mexico Health Sciences and Cancer Centers Recruit Four Cancer Experts to Top Positions
The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and the University of New Mexico Cancer Center, Albuquerque, recently announced the recruitment of four cancer physicians and scientists. The UNM Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of the State of New Mexico and one of the nation’s 60...
Attention to Patient Concerns Leads to Customized Treatment and Improved Care, Explains Oncology Nurse Researcher
The Mara Mogensen Flagherty Lecture at this year’s 38th Annual Congress of the Oncology Nursing Society in Washington, DC, focused on the importance of listening to and acknowledging the individual stories of patients with cancer and survivors. Once they are adept at listening, clinicians need to...
Utilizing the Power of Rapid Learning Health-care Systems to Improve Patient Care
Lynn Etheredge’s career in shaping national health-care and social policy spans more than 4 decades and four Presidential administrations. He was the lead analyst in the development of health insurance proposals for Medicare and Medicaid while working in the White House Office of Management and...
Genetic Diversity May Predict Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer
A new measure of cell heterogeneity within a tumor may predict treatment outcomes of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. In a recent report,1 investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary reported how the mutant allele tumor...
Transforming Grand Rounds into Chartrounds: Technology and the Improving Cancer Care Grant Advance Patient Care
When Patricia Hardenbergh, MD, moved from her academic position as a breast radiation oncologist at Duke University to a small, rural practice in Edwards, Colorado, she realized that being a community oncologist was a very different experience. She was an expert in treating breast cancer and also...
Determining the Best Diet for Patients with Cancer
How much does diet and body weight influence the effectiveness of cancer treatment and reduce the risk of cancer recurrence? What is the optimal diet for patients with cancer and survivors to follow? There are currently no hard and fast rules, but some dietary clues are starting to emerge. Search...
A New Center for Lymphoid Malignancies Aims to Provide Precision Patient Care
In January, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center opened the Center for Lymphoid Malignancies, a 3,700 square foot outpatient clinic, in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. The Center is solely focused on the treatment of all forms of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma,...
Double the Mastectomy, Double the Complications
A retrospective analysis of a large surgical database has documented that bilateral mastectomy is associated with a doubling in complication rates, compared with unilateral mastectomy. Researchers reported the findings at the 14th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons in...
Potent Activity Shown for First-in-class PI3K-delta Inhibitor in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Heavily pretreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) responded robustly to the first-in-class small-molecule inhibitor idelalisib (formerly GS1101), in a phase I dose-finding study reported in a press briefing prior to the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Idelalisib, a specific inhibitor...
One Cancer Center's Approach to Death with Dignity
In November 2008, the Washington State legislature passed the Washington Death with Dignity Act allowing patients with a terminal diagnosis and less than 6 months to live to request and self-administer lethal medication. After considerable internal debate, our cancer center elected to develop a...
Caring for the Whole Patient Both during Active Treatment and at End of Life
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...
SIDEBAR: Understanding the PD-1/PD-L1 Pathway and Its Promise
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...
Innovative Leader in Oncology Is Committed to Tackling the Most Critical Issues in Managed Care
“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...
The Power of Listening: From Candy Striper to the Front Lines of the Early AIDS Pandemic
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...
Pioneering Oncologist's Research on Cisplatin Revolutionized Testicular Cancer Treatment
Lawrence H. Einhorn, MD, grew up in Dayton, Ohio, in a time and place that he describes as pleasant and community-oriented. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Einhorn has maintained strong roots in the Midwest. “After finishing high school, I did my undergrad at Indiana University and went to ...
After a Distinguished Career, Trailblazing Swiss Oncologist Remains Devoted to Addressing the Global Cancer Challenge
Switzerland, a landlocked country with a population about that of New York City, has four geographic regions, each with its own official language. Internationally regarded lymphoma and breast cancer expert, Franco Cavalli, MD, FRCP, was born and raised in Locarno, a town in the Italian region of...
Distinguished Researcher Changed the Face of Hematologic Malignancies
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...
