Prevention in Oncology is guest edited by Jennifer Ligibel, MD, Chair of ASCO’s Energy Balance Working Group and a member of ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship and Cancer Prevention Committees. Dr. Ligibel is Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer...
Physical inactivity among adult survivors of gastrointestinal cancers was tied to poor health-related quality of life, according to researchers at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) Annual Meeting.1 Also, physical inactivity (Chi-square = 5.605, P = .018) and alcohol use (Chi-square ...
Discussant for the abstract, Malcolm K. Brenner, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine Texas Children’s Hospital, underscored the need to make chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy both safer and more effective. He also noted that overcoming antigen loss with multiple CARs is the next...
RUTGERS CANCER INSTITUTE of New Jersey at the University Hospital in Newark has named several new oncology leaders, further enhancing the facility’s expertise and ability to deliver National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center services to the greater Essex County region....
In May 2017, I started to reflect on my own personal views of wellness and the importance of the team. Since that time, I have been fortunate to speak with members of front-line clinical teams from four different practices: Eric Tetzlaff, MSH, PA-C, and Michael Hall, MD, MS, of Fox Chase Cancer...
Invited discussant Brian M. Wolpin, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said the results of the LAPACT trial will be useful as an aid to patient counseling as well as in designing and interpreting future studies. However, he added, they are not “practice-changing,” as nanoparticle...
STEPHEN LEONG, MD, of the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center, Aurora, discussed the RAINFALL findings at the symposium, commenting, “The study did meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival; however, it was disappointing not to see a benefit in overall survival or...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
Oncology drug labels, especially those that have been on the market for more than 15 years, may not always be up-to-date. Critical data about safety, efficacy, or prescribing information may be missing. Modernizing the labeling process can correct inaccurate information, add data for indications ...
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers developed a single blood test that screens for eight common cancer types and also helps identify the location of the cancer. The test, called CancerSEEK, is a unique noninvasive, multianalyte test that simultaneously evaluates levels of eight cancer...
The most commonly used gene expression profile test used to help predict breast cancer recurrence may not be as cost-effective as once thought, say a team of researchers led by scientists from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Their study, published by Chandler et al in the Journal...
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 in the Living a Full Life series of articles, Andrew D. Seidman, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer ...
Combinations of targeted therapies (triple, quadruple, or even more) are part of the future of cancer treatment, which means that traditional clinical trials will have to be streamlined and updated to enable greater flexibility and to extract adequate safety and efficacy data. Problems inherent in...
As researchers learn more about the natural history of cancers, as more drugs are effective for more types of the disease, and as the number and complexity of combination therapies increase, the more important it is that new drugs and permutations of old ones be available to patients. The U.S. Food ...
In the not-so-distant past, clinical trials were considered an option only for the young and fit. Enrolling older people “used to be thought unethical,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), as she opened...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from 1999 to 2015, more than 183,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids, including methadone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.1 To stem the epidemic in prescription opioid–related use and ...
INCREASING THE DOSE density of chemotherapy lowers the risk of recurrence and breast cancer death by about 15% in women with early breast cancer, according to a large, meticulously conducted meta-analysis by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG).1 The trials included in...
FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED multiple myeloma patients not eligible for transplant, the addition of the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to subcutaneous bortezomib (Velcade), melphalan, and prednisone (VMP) reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50%, the phase III ALCYONE...
Updated in 2016, the ASCO clinical practice guideline on the integration of palliative care into standard oncology care provides evidence-based recommendations to oncology clinicians, patients, family and friend caregivers, and palliative care specialists about providing high-quality care for...
Increasing the dose intensity of chemotherapy—by either shortening the intervals between the cycles or by sequential administration instead of concurrent administration of the drugs—reduced the risk of early-stage breast cancer recurrence and death compared with standard chemotherapy...
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Cancer Research Fund, there is a causal association between a high body mass index (BMI) and 14 cancers, including colorectal, gallbladder, pancreatic, kidney, liver, endometrial, postmenopausal breast, ovarian, gastric...
The treatment of triple-negative breast cancer is rapidly evolving, as clinical trials continue to test chemotherapy agents and combinations and immunotherapy studies promise potentially “game-changing” interventions early in the course of disease, Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, reported at the 19th...
With the vast majority of patients cured with primary therapy, classical Hodgkin lymphoma is largely a success story. For the 10% to 20% of patients who either relapse or are refractory to front-line therapy, the disease can still be fatal. At the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 12th ...
“At Microphone 1” is an occasional column written by Steven E. Vogl, MD, of Bronx, New York. When he’s not in his clinic, Dr. Vogl can generally be found at major oncology meetings and often at the microphone, where he stands ready with critical questions for presenters of new data. Here Dr. Vogl...
THE NOVEL COMBINATION of immunotherapy with ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus radiation achieved a clinical benefit in up to 57% of patients with solid tumors and metastases to the lungs or liver, according to evidence from a phase II trial presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Society for...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies commonly used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present information on...
On October 12, ASCO President Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, issued the following statement: The Trump administration's move to expand the rights of employers to opt out of the requirement for contraceptive coverage would have unexpected and deleterious consequences for patients of childbearing age...
The ASCO Post introduces this new department, Living a Full Life, in which we will share insightful narratives of oncology professionals highlighting personal aspects of these clinicians’ lives separate from the world of oncology. We also intend to open a dialogue about the challenges that today’s...
KAH POH (MELISSA) LOH, MBBCh BAO Institution: Fellow, University of Rochester Medical CenterMember since: 2013ASCO activities: Trainee Council Hematology and oncology fellowship training requires at least 3 years to complete. For fellows who wish to single board in either hematology or oncology, a ...
A series of medical mishaps has led me to a diagnosis of stage IV carcinoid neuroendocrine cancer and a shortened lifespan. This never should have happened. For months in early 2015, I was plagued with all the signs of a serious illness, including chronic stomach, bowel, and digestive issues;...
The statistics on physician suicide are stark: Physicians are more than twice as likely to take their own lives as nonphysicians, and more than 400 physicians commit suicide each year in the United States. Moreover, young physicians at the early part of their training are reported to be...
AT THE 12TH ANNUAL New Orleans Summer Cancer Meeting, Thomas Herzog, MD, Deputy Director of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute and Professor of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, delivered an update on nonimmunotherapy advances in...
The results of the MONARCH 3 trial, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress in Madrid (Abstract 236O_PR), showed that adding the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib to endocrine therapy improved progression-free survival compared to endocrine...
Although Zika virus causes devastating damage to the brains of developing fetuses, it someday may prove to be an effective treatment for glioblastoma. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine showed that...
Triple-negative breast cancer has a reputation for being a particularly challenging malignancy, but breast cancer specialist Nancy Davidson, MD, Senior Vice President of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, put this in perspective in a recent...
IS IT POSSIBLE to identify patients with cancer who are at risk for financial stress and intervene to reduce that risk? And could reducing financial stress—or financial toxicity, as it is often called in the context of cancer care—improve both health-related quality of life and physical health?...
AN INCREASING number of clinical trials require the submission of tissue specimens, either from archived specimens or increasingly from fresh biopsies taken after enrollment into the trial. These specimens can be either mandatory, required to determine whether a given patient has the required...
FOR PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER who have metastases to the central nervous system (CNS), clinicians should think twice before administering whole-brain radiotherapy, according to Kimberly Blackwell, MD, Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical...
“Strong evidence suggests that using a tanning bed during adolescence or young adulthood can increase the risk of early-onset melanoma by over 40%,” Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, MD, wrote in an opinion piece for Newsweek.1 Dr. Gershenwald is Professor of Surgical Oncology, Medical Director of the...
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. Dr. Von Roenn is ASCO’s Vice President of Education, Science, and Professional Development. Because cultural origins...
Several breast cancer experts weighed in on the findings of the APHINITY trial. At an ASCO press briefing, Harold Burstein, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and breast cancer specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, pointed out that investigators estimated a ...
The results of the long-awaited APHINITY trial are in, and although the phase III study met its primary endpoint, it failed to establish dual HER2 blockade as the optimal adjuvant treatment for early HER2-positive breast cancer. After 3 years of follow-up, the addition of pertuzumab (Perjeta) to...
Three-year follow-up data from the phase III RAY study in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma were presented at the 14th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) in Lugano, Switzerland. These results demonstrated that the subset of patients treated with ibrutinib...
Younger patients with colon cancer appear to have more than three times as many mutations in their tumors as older patients, which could lead to more effective treatment decisions, according to researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. In a new study, they found that tumor...
As the subtleties of metastatic prostate cancer become increasingly recognized, treatment should evolve accordingly, said Jessica M. Clement, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health System and Neag Cancer Center, Farmington. Of particular interest to Dr. Clement ...
A study reported in Science found that more than two-thirds of human cancers are caused by random mutations made during DNA replication.1 “The main message we would like to convey is that even for many patients who follow all of the guidelines from the advisory bodies—they don’t smoke, exercise...
Mark looked at me shyly through his oversized Elvis Costello–style glasses. Was he feeling embarrassed by his own reply or just waiting for my reaction? He was sitting between his mom and dad, wearing a t-shirt with a huge Minion print. His braces showed when he smiled, something he does often in...
It is well documented that physical activity benefits patients with cancer, both during and after treatment. Exercise helps patients combat both the physical and psychological impacts of cancer treatment, giving them a sense of well-being, control, stress reduction, and empowerment. However,...
New results presented at the 2017 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting from a large, community-based, multicenter clinical validation study conducted at Kaiser Permanente confirmed that the Oncotype DX Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) test is a strong independent predictor of prostate...
An analysis of nearly 273,000 patients showed that between 2013 and 2014 there was a 1% increase in the percentage of breast, lung, and colorectal cancers diagnosed at the earliest, most treatable stage. Considering the thousands of people diagnosed with these cancers annually, a 1% increase in...