Although national guidelines, including ASCO’s palliative care guideline,1 call for the early integration of palliative and oncology care for patients with advanced cancer, only 36% of those with a very poor prognosis and 18% of those with a poor prognosis receive palliative care services.2 The...
ASCO has updated its guidelines on the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients newly diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, underscoring key considerations in selecting patients for treatment and where to go from there.1 Since ASCO’s previous guidelines were published in 2016, there has been ...
Kidney transplantation using donor organs carrying the Epstein-Barr virus may increase the risk of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder among recipients who have never been exposed to the virus, according to a recent study published by Potluri et al in the Annals of Internal Medicine....
Each year in the United States, approximately 90,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs), defined as those between the ages of 15 and 39, are diagnosed with cancer, and about 9,300 die of the disease.1 Worldwide, the number of new cases of cancer in this age population tops 1,300,200—an increase of ...
The BRAF inhibitor encorafenib plus the monoclonal antibody cetuximab combined with mFOLFOX (modified folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin) significantly improved overall response in BRAF V600E–mutant metastatic colorectal cancer, according to data presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal ...
Globally, prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer and the fifth-leading cause of cancer-related death among men—and the leading cause of cancer-related death in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa. Four years ago, British researchers launched the “Man Van” pilot mobile...
A record-breaking number of abstracts were submitted for the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, and nearly 8,000 were accepted. The ASCO Post strives to provide in-depth coverage of those with the greatest impact. Here, we offer snapshots of others of...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Geyer et al, interim analysis of overall survival in the phase III KATHERINE trial showed a significant benefit of ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) vs trastuzumab in patients with residual invasive HER2-positive breast cancer after neoadjuvant...
Investigators have found that although fewer patients may be diagnosed with and dying from cancer in Appalachia, cancer incidence and mortality rates remain substantially higher compared with elsewhere in the United States, according to a recent study published by Burus et al in the Journal of the...
In a retrospective cohort study from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which was reported in JAMA Network Open, Ferraro et al found that patients with ERBB2 (formerly HER2 or HER2/neu)-positive breast cancer and central nervous system (CNS) metastases only vs concomitant extracranial...
The risk of developing more serious long-term urinary and bowel health issues may be higher in men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer who experience side effects early in treatment, according to a recent study published by Nikitas et al in The Lancet Oncology. The findings highlighted ...
The results from the phase III FIRE-4 randomized clinical trial show that liquid biopsy accurately identified patients with RAS/BRAF V600E wild type–mutated metastatic colorectal cancer. The findings confirm the high clinical relevance of liquid biopsy performed at baseline before the start of...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Abboud et al found that the incidence of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) has increased in many organ sites during recent years in the United States. Study Details In the study, age-adjusted GEP-NETs incidence rates...
A novel bicistronic CD19/CD22-directed CAR T-cell therapy (B019) has demonstrated high remission rates, durable responses, and a favorable safety profile among children with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), including those with isolated or combined extramedullary...
The incidence of advanced prostate cancer rose and the mortality rate plateaued in most regions across the state of California following the decision to cease routinely screening all men for the disease, according to a recent study published by Van Blarigan et al in JAMA Network Open. The findings...
In an interim analysis of a phase III noninferiority trial (COLLISION) reported in The Lancet Oncology, van der Lei et al found that thermal ablation was noninferior to surgical resection in terms of overall survival in patients with small resectable colorectal liver metastases. Study Details In...
Worldwide, cancer chemotherapy is linked to chronic painful neuropathy for around 4 in every 10 patients treated with these drugs, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available evidence published by D’Souza et al in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. Notwithstanding wide regional...
Researchers have found that asymptomatic brain metastases may be more common in patients with stage IV breast cancer than previously understood, according to a recent study published by Ahmed et al in Neuro-Oncology. The findings suggest that physicians may need to reconsider current screening...
A phase III trial has shown adding the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab to anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy that patients receive ahead of surgery may improve breast cancer cure rates. CheckMate-7FL involved 510 patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer,...
The oral MDM2 inhibitor navtemadlin is the first single agent to demonstrate significant efficacy in JAK (Janus kinase) inhibitor–refractory myelofibrosis, achieving improvements in spleen volume, symptoms, and biomarkers, according to data presented at the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided a safety announcement to increase awareness of recent updates to the product labeling of capecitabine and fluorouracil related to the risks associated with dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency. Background Fluoropyrimidines are a...
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) has introduced the new 2025 to 2027 United by Unique campaign, calling for a fundamental shift in cancer care and health systems across the world toward a people-centered approach in light of World Cancer Day. World Cancer Day takes place on...
“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” —Muhammad Ali Long-term survival in early-stage classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) was first made possible by the introduction of the mantle and inverted Y fields of radiotherapy in the 1960s. The addition of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Awad et al, exploratory analysis of the comparison of neoadjuvant nivolumab/ipilimumab vs chemotherapy in the phase III CheckMate 816 trial found that nivolumab/ipilimumab was associated with numerically better event-free survival in patients with...
Anatomic lung resections such as lobectomy and segmentectomy may be associated with improved long-term survival in patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with wedge resection, according to new findings presented at the 2025 Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Annual...
Active monitoring appears to be a safe strategy for the management of some patients with low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), proving noninferior to guideline-concordant management of this patient population (ie, surgery with or without radiation therapy). After 2 years, the rate of invasive...
For more than a year before my diagnosis of stage IA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), in 2020, I had been self-treating a relentless chronic cough and a slight feeling of tightness in my chest. The symptoms were similar to asthma, so I began using albuterol inhalers. When they stopped working, I ...
Patients with smoldering multiple myeloma derived a significant progression-free survival benefit, along with other positive outcomes, from 3 years of subcutaneous use of the monoclonal antibody daratumumab as compared with active monitoring in the phase III AQUILA study.1 These findings were...
Results of a phase III study suggest that the addition of the immunotherapy agent blinatumomab—a bispecific T-cell engager targeting CD19—to standard chemotherapy may help to prevent relapse in more children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), the most common pediatric cancer,...
The investigational next-generation oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) imlunestrant improved progression-free survival both as monotherapy in patients with ESR1 mutations and in combination with the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib regardless of ESR1 mutational status in patients with...
A recent study found that a combination of the mTOR inhibitor everolimus and the hormone-blocking drug lanreotide extended progression-free survival compared with everolimus alone for people with some types of neuroendocrine tumors in the pancreas or gastrointestinal tract. The research will be...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) expressed its gratitude to Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, for her outstanding service to the United States during her 14-month tenure as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Background Dr. Bertagnolli recently announced that she will...
The findings in the American Cancer Society’s annual report, Cancer Statistics, 2025, show a mixed trend in cancer incidence and mortality rates. While cancer mortality declined by 34% from 1991 to 2022 in the United States—largely due to smoking reductions, earlier detection, and improved...
In a cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Negm et al found that primary mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) was associated with poor outcomes in children, adolescents, and young adults with gliomas. Study Details In the study, clinical and molecular data were collected from children,...
Adjuvant treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) may improve survival in patients with high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer and residual invasive disease, according to long-term findings from the phase III KATHERINE trial published by Geyer et al in The New...
Guest Editor’s Note: With growing evidence indicating that regular physical activity helps control cancer symptoms, oncology guidelines recommend exercise before, during, and after cancer treatment. Observational data also demonstrate a promising association between physical activity and favorable...
The Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST) has reached its enrollment goal of 108,508 women, as announced by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN). The study will now proceed with the completion of regularly scheduled mammograms and follow-up on all participants...
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States, but high recurrence rates persist for patients with early-stage disease. A recent study published by Black et al in Nature Medicine has found that even very low traces of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be linked to increased...
The RAD51 biomarker may help to tailor treatment strategies in patients with early breast cancer, according to a recent study published by Villacampa et al in Clinical Cancer Research. Background “A key objective of research focused on early-stage breast cancer is to identify biomarkers that can...
Artificial intelligence (AI) could improve screening for cervical cancer, enhancing accuracy and efficiency, according to a recent review article published by Wu et al in Cancer Biology & Medicine. The report, authored by a team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and...
Omitting axillary surgery may be an option for some patients with early-stage breast cancer, according to a study reported by Reimer et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. Previous studies, such as the SOUND trial, have indicated that avoiding an axillary procedure in patients with small...
The ORACLE test may be capable of predicting lung cancer survival at the point of diagnosis more effectively than currently used clinical risk factors, according to a recent study published by Biswas et al in Nature Cancer. The findings could help physicians make more informed treatment decisions...
Researchers have discovered of a new type of stem cell in the brain that could lead to the development of more effective treatments in adult patients with glioblastoma, according to a recent study published by Wang et al in Nature. The finding could help explain how adult brain cells take advantage ...
A genetic mutation long believed to drive the development of esophageal cancer may play a protective role early in the disease, according to a recent study published by Ganguli et al in Nature Cancer. The findings could help physicians identify which patients are at greater risk of developing...
Presented by Sherko Kuemmel, MD, on December 12, 2024, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium The WSG ADAPT trial in patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer established that the combination of clinical risk, genomic risk, and endocrine response (Ki67 downregulation) allows...
Patients with early-onset breast cancer (aged 40 or younger at diagnosis) who have BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants had improved overall survival by undergoing risk-reducing surgeries, including bilateral mastectomy and/or salpingo-oophorectomy, according to data...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Meattini et al, interim analysis of the phase III EUROPA trial indicated that endocrine therapy was associated with poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes vs radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in women aged ≥ 70 years with luminal...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Sung et al, analysis of international population-based cancer registry data indicate an increase in incidence of colorectal cancer among younger persons (age < 50 years) in a majority of countries and territories examined. Study Details Colorectal cancer...
According to research reported at the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, a link seems to exist between hematologic malignancies and dietary components. The speakers said their studies may ultimately lead to dietary interventions that could alter the course of ...
First responders who worked at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City were three times more likely to have genetic changes associated with an increased risk of leukemia compared with other first responders or members of the public who were not...