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Showing 4851 - 4900Expert Point of View: Kanti R. Rai, MD
“These three excellent, encouraging, tantalizing studies show that we really are making progress in the treatment of chronic CLL, whereas 10 to 12 years ago, we had no real progress to report,” stated Kanti R. Rai, MD, Chief, CLL Research Program, North Shore-LIJ Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY. ...
Expert Point of View: Howard A. Fine, MD and Albert Lai, MD, PhD
Howard A. Fine, MD, Chief of Hematology/Oncology at New York University Langone Medical Center and Director of the NYU Brain Tumor Center, served as formal discussant of the RTOG 0825 study at the Plenary Session. He noted the strong rationale for studying bevacizumab in glioblastoma, which is a...
Lenalidomide Induces Long-lasting Responses in Elderly Patients
Treatment with lenalidomide (Revlimid) as initial therapy induced long-lasting responses in a phase II study of 60 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). “Overall, 35 patients (58%) patients had responses lasting more than 36 months and were considered long-term responders,” the...
Co-discoverer of DNA Double Helix, James Watson, PhD, Offers a New Theory on Cancer Progression
Despite his fame as co-discoverer—along with Francis Crick, PhD—of the double-helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, that accomplishment is not what James Dewey Watson, PhD, came to talk about during a recent presentation he gave at the World Science Festival in New York. Instead,...
Barriers to Successful Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
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 ...
Critically Ill Hematology Patients Admitted to ICU Have Good Survival, Disease Control, and Quality of Life
A large prospective multicenter cohort study in France and Belgium, reported by Elie Azoulay, MD, of Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris, and colleagues from the Groupe de Recherche Respiratoire en Réanimation Onco-Hématologique,1 has shown that critically ill patients with hematologic malignancies...
New Research Presented in Breast, Gastric, Esophageal Cancers, Melanoma, and Multiple Myeloma, plus Supportive Care
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...
Examining the Role Genetics Plays in Breast Cancer Onset
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...
Expert Point of View: Charles Vogel, MD, Larry Norton, MD, and Andrew D. Seidman, MD
A number of breast cancer specialists commented on the value of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 0221 data. Charles Vogel, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami Health System, commented after the presentation, “This is a potentially important abstract because of the wide variety...
Why Is Stem Cell Transplant So Underused in Follicular Lymphoma?
Follicular lymphoma is the second most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in the United States. Of the nearly 70,000 new cases of NHL anticipated in 2013,1 approximately 7,000 to 13,000 (10%–19%) will be follicular lymphoma, by recent estimates.2-5 For many years, the median overall...
Some Successes, Some Failures Reported in Research and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
The challenge of treating pancreatic cancer inched forward with studies reported at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting, though some important studies proved disappointing. Nab-paclitaxel Improves Overall Survival In treatment-naive metastatic patients, the addition of nanoparticle albumin-bound...
Déjà Vu Redux: Lessons from the SWOG-8516 Study in Aggressive Lymphomas
Joseph M. Connors, MD, authored a commentary in the June 25 issue of The ASCO Post inspired by a recent New England Journal of Medicine publication on dose-adjusted EPOCH-R chemotherapy (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and rituximab) for primary mediastinal B-cell ...
ATRA and Arsenic Trioxide May Be Even Better Than ATRA and Chemotherapy in Treating Low-to-Intermediate Risk Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia
All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) plus arsenic trioxide bested the already high remission rates achieved by ATRA with chemotherapy, the standard of care for acute promyelocytic leukemia, in a phase III multicenter trial among patients with low-to-intermediate risk acute promyelocytic leukemia....
Ridaforolimus Delayed Tumor Progression in Patients with Previously Treated Metastatic Sarcoma
“Ridaforolimus delayed tumor progression to a small statistically significant degree in patients with metastatic sarcoma who experienced benefit with prior chemotherapy,” according to results of an international phase III trial. The large randomized placebo-controlled phase III trial evaluated the...
Making the Science of Cancer Understandable to a Broad Audience
An educator and scientist for over 30 years, David Sadava, PhD, became interested in the science of cancer while on sabbatical from Claremont Colleges, where he was teaching courses in molecular biology and biotechnology, and went to the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, to study...
Dr. Joseph Bertino's Breakthrough Work in Methotrexate Resistance Led to Understanding Why Cancer Drugs Work or Fail
Looking over his 5 decades in clinical oncology and research, Joseph R. Bertino, MD, says his greatest professional satisfaction comes from seeing his former students and oncology fellows go on to achieve great success in their own medical and research careers. It is a fitting sentiment since Dr....
Cedars-Sinai Medical Physicist Honored by American Association of Physicists in Medicine
Benedick Fraass, PhD, FAAPM, FASTRO, FACR, has received the William D. Coolidge Award from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine for his distinguished career achievements in medical physics, including his pioneering work in radiation oncology. “The William D. Coolidge Award credits...
Docetaxel Superior to Erlotinib in Second-line Treatment of Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer with Wild-type EGFR
There is ongoing debate about the efficacy of erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have wild-type EGFR. In the TAILOR trial, reported in Lancet Oncology by Garassino and colleagues,1 erlotinib was compared with standard docetaxel as...
Policy Update Aims to Advance Tobacco Cessation and Control Worldwide
In response to scientific advances and the evolving regulatory and policy environment, ASCO recently released an update to its 2003 policy statement on tobacco cessation and control. The statement reviews advancements that have been made since 2003 and outlines a refined set of recommendations...
A Look Ahead: The Next Decade in Pediatric Oncology
The past 10 years have seen dramatic advances in cancer care, especially in better screening methods and earlier detection, genomic sequencing, and more effective therapies, which have led to increased survival rates in both childhood and adult cancers. According to the National Cancer Institute...
Afatinib as First-line Treatment for Metastatic NSCLC with EGFR Exon 19 Deletions or Exon 21 (L858R) Substitution Mutations
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On July 12, 2013, afatinib (Gilotrif) was approved for...
Low-dose CT Screening for Lung Cancer: Details of First Round of Screening in National Lung Screening Trial
The National Lung Screening Trial found that 3 years of annual screening with low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) reduced lung cancer mortality compared with chest radiography in older persons who were heavy smokers.1 The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial also...
Crizotinib Improves Progression-free Survival vs Pemetrexed or Docetaxel in Advanced ALK-positive NSCLC
In a phase III trial reported by Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, a thoracic oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine, crizotinib (Xalkori) improved progression-free survival compared with standard chemotherapy in previously treated patients ...
Oncologists Speak Out Against the High Cost of Cancer Drugs
That the United States spends twice as much on health care than other industrialized countries—about $2.8 trillion in 2012—without reaping appreciably better outcomes1 is not news. The topic has been dissected on the front pages of leading newspapers for years and was the subject of the entire...
Family Members of Children With Cancer Are Also at Risk for the Disease
Parents and siblings of children with cancer have between a two- and four-times increased risk of developing cancer than first-degree relatives with no childhood cancer patients, according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer.1 The study, led by Joshua Schiffman, MD, Medical...
ASCO Examines the Future of Cancer Care Over the Next 2 Decades
While the many scientific advances over the past 50 years have led to improved outcomes for millions of patients with cancer—increasing the number of survivors from just 3 million in the 1970s to nearly 14 million today—the next 20 years promise to bring even greater opportunities to improve the...
Dr. Julie Vose Finds the Best of Both Worlds—Patient Care and Cutting-Edge Research—in Academic Medicine
Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, is the Neumann M. and Mildred E. Harris Professor and Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She grew up in Mitchell, South Dakota, a small town nestled on the banks of the James River. Mitchell is home to the Corn Palace,...
Bevacizumab/Pemetrexed Maintenance Increases Progression-Free Survival vs Bevacizumab Alone in Advanced Nonsquamous NSCLC
Maintenance therapy is associated with improved survival in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but few studies have compared active agents in this setting. In a phase III trial (AVAPERL trial) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Fabrice Barlesi, MD, PhD, of Aix Marseille...
Pemetrexed Maintenance in PARAMOUNT: Continuation Proves to Be a Strong Option for Advanced NSCLC, Although Not a Mandate
The PARAMOUNT trial1 represents an important landmark study of continuation maintenance therapy with pemetrexed (Alimta). While maintenance therapy gained a toehold in routine management of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) several years ago, the first trials that demonstrated a...
Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Hints of Immune Mediation May Enhance Treatment Options
Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare but aggressive skin cancer with poor outcomes and suboptimal therapeutic options. With a 46% mortality rate, it is three times more lethal than melanoma, and its reported incidence is rising. “Merkel cell carcinoma is a nasty cancer and we have zero FDA-approved...
Olaparib Shows Robust Progression-Free Survival Benefit in Patients With BRCA Mutations
Maintenance therapy with olaparib extended progression-free survival and the time to disease progression after a second subsequent therapy in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed serous ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation, according to an updated analysis of Study 19 presented at the 2013 ASCO...
Will Funding for Lung Cancer Ever Improve?
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. In the United States alone, an estimated 228,190 new cases of lung cancer and 159,480 deaths from lung cancer will occur in 2013. These are alarming statistics when compared to the next four common causes of cancer-related...
Access to and Appropriate Use of Oncology Drugs Called Into Question by ASCO Studies
Studies presented at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting suggest that despite the wealth of amazing oncolytics on the market, drug shortages persist, drug substitutions are common, off-label use of drugs occurs frequently, and patients find their costs burdensome. Drug Shortage Persists The shortage of ...
Low Risk of Transformation to Melanoma for Biopsy-Diagnosed Mildly or Moderately Dysplastic Nevi
The risk of transformation to melanoma appears very low for biopsy-diagnosed mildly or moderately dysplastic nevi, and routine surgical excision of nevi with a positive biopsy margin may not be indicated. Patients with biopsy-diagnosed moderately-to-severely and severely atypical nevi, however,...
Clinical Trials, Crossover, and Clinical Equipoise: A Patient's Perspective
I am writing with regard to two articles on the ethical imperative of clinical equipoise written by Susan O’Brien, MD, and Stephen J. Schuster, MD, and published recently in The ASCO Post.1,2 I was a victim of Pharmacyclics’ policies during one of their randomized ibrutinib trials (PCI-32765)...
Genitourinary Cancer Expert Walter M. Stadler, MD, Named Section Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago Medicine
Walter M. Stadler, MD, an authority on prostate, kidney, bladder, and testicular cancers, has been named Chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago Medicine. This position became effective August 15, 2013. Dr. Stadler, the Fred C. Buffet Professor of Medicine and...
The Trials and Tribulations of a Revolutionary Cancer Drug
A modest brass plaque above a booth in the Eagle Pub in Cambridge, notes, “On this spot, on February 28, 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson declared the discovery of DNA with these words: ‘We have discoverewd the secret of life.’” Announcing a major scientific advance over a pint of ale is a far...
Celebrating 2 Decades as a Cancer Survivor
This past June, I celebrated 20 years of being a cancer survivor by throwing myself a party. It was an interesting experience because I learned that many of the 100 guests I invited were also cancer survivors or were family members of cancer survivors, and so we celebrated their lives as well. Our...
Lidia Schapira, MD: Bridging Communication Gaps Between Oncologists and Patients
Communicating the intricacies of oncology care to vulnerable patients with cancer and their caregivers requires a firm grasp of the nuances of language. One of the oncology community’s true champions in the art of breaking down communication barriers is Lidia Schapira, MD, a medical oncologist at...
Tamoxifen in Women With BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations: Another Option?
In analyses of pooled information from cohorts of women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations who have had a prior breast cancer diagnosis, Phillips and colleagues examined the association between tamoxifen use compared to nonuse on contralateral breast cancer risk.1 Tamoxifen use was associated with...
Jane Weeks, MD, MSc, National Leader in Outcomes Research, Dies at 61
On September 10, Jane Carrie Weeks, MD, MSc, a prominent researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Center, died of cancer in her Boston home. She was 61. At the time of her death, Dr. Weeks was Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School...
PCORI Board Approves $114 Million for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors recently approved 71 awards, totaling more than $114 million over 3 years, to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research designed to answer questions most important to patients and those who care for them. The awards...
Herb-Drug Interactions in Oncology
Guest Editor Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service and Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering...
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Offers Near-Complete Tumor Control for Medically Inoperable Early-Stage NSCLC
Patients with stage I non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are medically inoperable have an excellent chance at full local tumor control and long-term survival with stereotactic body radiation therapy. Hak Choy, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University...
Challenging and Changing the Standard of Care for Cervical and Ovarian Cancers
“It was a very exciting session this year, particularly for cervical cancers,” said Paul Haluska MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in speaking of the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting’s gynecologic oncology session and the abstracts highlighted recently at Best of ASCO in Chicago. In one...
Telomere Length May Be a Prognostic Marker for Prostate Cancer
Cancer cells are known to have short telomeres, but just how short they are from cancer cell to cancer cell may be a determining factor in a prostate cancer patient’s prognosis, according to a study1 led by scientists at Johns Hopkins. “Doctors are looking for new ways to accurately predict...
Applying Molecular Profiling to Clinical Practice: Promises and Challenges
A “new kind of pathology,” with anatomy and histology being supplemented by molecular etiology, has been emerging over the past decade and promises better response rates among patients with cancer, as genomic alterations continue to be identified and treated with targeted therapies. “The list of...
Pathologic Complete Response as a Test Bed for Novel Therapies: Proceed—With Caution!
Pathologic complete response as assessed surgically after neoadjuvant treatment is being touted by some researchers as a stand-alone endpoint justifying early drug approval for breast cancer. They argue that it provides a more efficient means of testing the value of agents that might be useful in...
Dr. Larry Norton, Honored at 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium, Calls For A Return to the 'Exploration of Concepts'
Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 2013 Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award, which he received at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium. The Symposium is sponsored by ASCO, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society of Radiation...
Trying to Improve Value in Cancer Care: An Experiment
One of the more significant problems in modern oncology practice is to provide increased value at a time when costs are spiraling upward, and new parameters of “success” are being introduced into the equation—most visibly, inside the Beltway in Washington, DC. Thus, oncologists will need to address ...
