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Showing 5001 - 5050New Report Examines Trends in End-of-Life Care
Although fewer Medicare patients with cancer died in the hospital in 2010 than in the years 2003–2007, aggressive treatment continues at the end of life, according to a new report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project.1 The findings also show that a significant number of patients were likely to receive...
Illness Is Personal!
For clinicians and health service researchers striving to improve care for people living with life-threatening conditions, September was a sobering month. The Dartmouth Atlas group released a brief report on Trends in Cancer Care Near the End of Life1 showing that while the proportion of patients...
Brivanib Fails to Live Up to the Promise of Early Studies
Hepatocellular carcinoma is a devastating disease worldwide. Although advances in liver transplantation, surgery, and locoregional therapies have made tumor control or even cure possible for a minority of patients, the majority of patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma will develop...
Brivanib Studied in First- and Second-Line Therapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
The investigational drug brivanib is a dual inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor signaling, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. The agent was recently evaluated in two phase III trials, one comparing first-line brivanib with sorafenib (Nexavar) in...
Investigational ALK Inhibitor Shows Promise in Patients With Crizotinib-Refractory, ALK-Positive NSCLC
Patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have the ALK gene rearrangement usually respond to the drug crizotinib (Xalkori), with a median duration of response of approximately 10 months. In a study reported by Shirish Gadgeel, MD, of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, and...
Oncogene Addiction and the Rationale for Molecular Targeted Therapy in Lung Cancer
Over the past decade, Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, Professor and Roberto C. Goizueta Distinguished Chair of Hematology and Medical Oncology, and Deputy Director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, Atlanta, has focused his research and clinical career on investigating novel approaches in the ...
Important News Briefs: New Data Reported in Breast, Renal Cell, Head and Neck, and Lung Cancer
The 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC), held September 27 to October 1 in Amsterdam, was jointly sponsored by the European Society of Medical Oncology, the European Cancer Organization, and the European Society of Radiation Oncology. With the Congress theme being “Reinforcing Multidisciplinarity,” ...
Institute of Medicine Elects New Members, Foreign Associates
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently announced the names of 70 new members and 10 foreign associates during its 43rd Annual Meeting. “It is an honor to welcome our highly distinguished colleagues to the Institute of Medicine,” said IOM President Harvey V. Fineberg. “These individuals have...
IOM Report Illuminates U.S. Cancer Care Crisis and Offers Framework for Change
In September, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies issued its report, Delivering High-Quality Cancer Care: Charting a New Course for a System in Crisis,1 published more than a decade after its first study on the quality of cancer care in the United States. The authors of the...
Evaluation of Breast Cancer MRI Screening Strategies
Recent years have witnessed much heated debate about the benefits of breast cancer screening and optimal screening strategies. Unlike with mammography, no randomized data are available to determine whether screening with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reduces mortality from breast cancer....
Cost-Effectiveness of MRI Screening for Women With Familial Risk of Breast Cancer in the Netherlands
Annual screening for breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been found to be cost-effective in women aged 30 to 60 years who are BRCA1 or BRCA2 carriers or who have a 50% chance of being a carrier, and such screening is recommended in these women by many authorities. It is unclear...
University of Michigan Cancer Center Founding Director to Step Down
Max S. Wicha, MD, has announced he will step down as Director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center where he has served for the past 27 years. Dr. Wicha founded University of Michigan’s Cancer Center in 1986 and shepherded it to its first National Cancer Institute Cancer Center ...
Where Is Adjuvant Bisphosphonate Therapy Now?
The adjuvant use of bisphosphonates in breast cancer continues to yield seemingly contradictory data despite a sound biologic basis and smaller pilot studies suggesting that dampening bone turnover with bisphosphonates can lessen the bone reservoir of micrometastases.1,2 Early adjuvant trials with...
German Analysis in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Hypothesis-Generating Rather Than Definitive?
In their retrospective analysis of German High-Grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Held and colleagues assessed the effects of rituximab (Rituxan) and radiotherapy in patients with aggressive B-cell...
Rituximab Does Not Improve Outcome in B-Cell Lymphoma With Skeletal Involvement, but Radiotherapy Benefit Found
In a retrospective analysis of German High-Grade Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gerhard Held, MD, of Saarland University Medical School in Homburg, and colleagues assessed the impact of rituximab (Rituxan) and radiotherapy on outcome in...
Gastric Cancer: Time to Revisit Angiogenesis
Progress in the treatment of gastric cancer has lagged behind advances in other solid tumor malignancies. A modest but clear survival benefit with the use of adjuvant therapy combined with surgery has been achieved, including the use of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy as shown in large-scale...
Anti–VEGFR-2 Antibody Ramucirumab Prolongs Survival in Previously Treated Advanced Gastric or Gastroesophageal Cancer
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)– and VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2)–mediated signaling and angiogenesis seem to have an important role in the pathogenesis of gastric cancer. In the phase III REGARD trial reported in Lancet, Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston,...
Long-Term CONKO-001 Results: Adjuvant Therapy Improves Survival
From 12% to 15% of the approximately 45,000 patients diagnosed with pancreas adenocarcinoma undergo a potentially curative resection each year in North America, translating into roughly 5,000 to 7,000 patients who are candidates for adjuvant therapy. About 80% of these patients will relapse and...
Adjuvant Gemcitabine Improves Long-Term Survival in Patients With Resected Pancreatic Cancer
An initial report from the phase III Charité Onkologie (CONKO) 001 trial of adjuvant gemcitabine vs observation in patients with completely resected pancreas cancer showed that gemcitabine treatment was associated with a significant prolongation of disease-free survival.1 As reported in JAMA by...
Benefits and Controversies in Survivorship Care Plans
Since the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) 2005 report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Translation,1 survivorship plans have received growing attention. In short, a survivorship care plan is the record of a patient’s cancer history and recommendations for follow-up care. At ASCO’s...
Cetuximab Confers Survival Benefit in All-RAS Wild-Type Colorectal Tumors
The FIRE-3 study compared the two epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibodies, on top of chemotherapy, in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. A preplanned analysis of KRAS wild-type patients without RAS mutations, ie, “all-RAS wild-type,” showed overall survival to be...
Time to Think Beyond KRAS in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Leuven in Belgium, told attendees at the 2013 European Cancer Congress that in the management of metastatic colorectal cancer, it is time to expand KRAS testing to include more rare mutations. Until recently, KRAS status...
Response-Guided Neoadjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer: A Promising Model Warranting Additional Investigation
GeparTrio was an innovative phase III trial conducted by the German Breast Group, enrolling over 2,000 women with early breast cancer who were candidates for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with evidence of early response, defined as reduction in clinical tumor size by 50% or more, following two ...
Peter Jacobs, MD, Storied South African Hematology Pioneer, Dies
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” —Winston S. Churchill The remarkable medical career of Peter Jacobs, MD, in large part, traces the oncologic history of South Africa. During the decades of political and social unrest that engulfed his native land, Dr. Jacobs...
Dr. Weisenthal Replies
Dr. Mason states that I implied that Dr. Telli supports the routine application of chemosensitivity assays. I have no knowledge regarding Dr. Telli’s views on this subject, nor did I in any way attempt to represent her views, much less imply that she was supportive of anything relating to...
NIH Announces New Co-Chairs of Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines
The National Institutes of Health recently announced several changes in leadership on the Department of Health and Human Services Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents. The panel, a working group of the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Committee (OARAC), consists of...
Ibrutinib in Previously Treated Mantle Cell Lymphoma
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 November 13, 2013, ibrutinib (Imbruvica) was granted...
Ginkgo biloba
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and...
The Best of SIO
The following four abstracts, which describe findings in three clinical studies and one basic science study, were singled out as the top abstracts at this year’s International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology. Self-Administered Acupressure Zick S, Wyatt G, Murphy S; et al: The...
How to Measure the Impact of Dermatologic and Mucosal Adverse Events on Symptom Burden and Quality of Life
Targeted anticancer therapies like epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (mTKIs), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors frequently result in dermatologic adverse events and mucosal adverse events, or, taken together, mucocutaneous ...
American Association for Advancement of Science Elects New Fellows
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has identified 388 individuals who have been named AAAS Fellows. These individuals have been recognized by their peers for their efforts to advance science or its applications. The new AAAS Fellows, whose names were published in the...
Oncology Drug Dosing: Can an Optimal Dose Be Fine-Tuned for Each Patient?
ASCO Chief Medical Officer Richard L. Schilsky, MD, and other oncology drug experts presented a panel on drug dosing at a recent meeting, cosponsored by the Friends of Cancer Research and the Brookings Institution, in Washington, DC.1 The presentations made it clear that issues surrounding drug...
Valganciclovir in Glioblastoma, Selection Bias, and Flawed Conclusions
As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Söderberg-Nauclér et al from the Karolinska Institute have written a provocative letter to The New England Journal of Medicine suggesting that long-term administration of valganciclovir (Valcyte), a drug that targets cytomegalovirus (CMV), improves...
Correctly Assessing Pain Progression and Quality-of-Life Deterioration in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
The therapeutic landscape for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer has changed dramatically in the past 4 years, as five new agents affecting different aspects of the malignant process were proven to prolong life. The results are a great benefit to patients, but at the same time...
Adjuvant Trastuzumab Duration: When Is Enough, Enough?
The duration of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy for breast cancer has been a subject of investigation, scrutiny, and meta-analysis.1,2 With the appreciation that prolonged regimens of cytotoxic chemotherapy of, for example, 1 to 2 years in duration were not superior in reducing breast cancer...
Expert Point of View: Sibylle Loibl, MD
Sibylle Loibl, MD, of the German Breast Group and the Klinikum Offenbach in Germany, discussed the NeoALTTO findings at the European Cancer Congress, noting that this trial is one of several studies that all point to one conclusion: Pathologic complete response rates are lower in HER2-positive...
Transplant Now or Later for High-Risk Aggressive Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma?
The use of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic blood or marrow transplantation for high-risk aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma has been extensively evaluated over the past few decades. This treatment was originally used only for patients with relapsed aggressive lymphoma. However, as...
Call for Expanded Genetic Profiling in Colorectal Cancer
Testing for codons 12 and 13 on the KRAS gene and BRAF testing can predict whether patients with colorectal cancer will respond to anti–epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapies. However, genetic alterations not captured by testing for KRAS codon 12 and 13 mutations may play an important...
No Significant Improvement With Decongestive Therapy vs More Conservative Approach to Treating Arm Lymphedema
Daily manual lymphatic drainage and bandaging followed by compression garments did not result in significant improvement in lymphedema compared to a more conservative approach with compression garments only, according to a study evaluating 95 women previously treated for breast cancer with...
Cell Mechanism Discovery Key to Stopping Breast Cancer Metastasis
Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah discovered a cellular mechanism that drives breast cancer metastasis, as well as a therapy which blocks that mechanism. The research results were recently published online in the journal Cell Reports.1 “Genetic mutations do not...
Assessing Patients for Palliative Care
In 2012, ASCO issued a provisional clinical opinion addressing the integration of palliative care services into standard oncology practice at the time a patient is diagnosed with metastatic or advanced cancer and for patients with uncontrolled symptoms.1 However, despite ASCO’s provisional clinical ...
Stress and Tumor Biology: Insights Into Managing Stress to Help Improve Cancer Care
Stress is ubiquitous in our society, especially for people diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. There is a common misconception that stress is derived from a particular negative event. However, the event itself (the stressors, such as cancer diagnoses and treatment) does not causes stress....
Activation of Innovative Lung Cancer Master Protocol Officially Announced, Enrollment to Begin in March
At a recent meeting in Washington, DC, Friends of Cancer Research and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution officially announced activation of the Lung Cancer Master Protocol, a new research strategy that has the potential to hurdle or bypass known clinical trial...
Diagnosing and Treating Chronic Mucocutaneous Graft-vs-Host Disease
Chronic graft-vs-host disease is a major cause of late, nonrelapse death following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In addition, chronic graft-vs-host disease results in significant functional impairment and decreased quality of life for long-term survivors of stem cell...
Adjuvant Gefitinib in Patients With NSCLC: Bad Idea or Wrong Patient Selection?
Despite optimal surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin-based doublets, the 5-year overall survival for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains suboptimal. In the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) staging project, the...
Meta-Analysis Upholds Benefit in Progression-Free Survival, but Not Overall Survival, With Lenalidomide Maintenance
Multiple myeloma patients derived a benefit from maintenance lenalidomide (Revlimid) treatment in terms of progression-free but not overall survival, according to a meta-analysis of four key trials presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.1 The study does little to...
Inhibition of LAT Transporters and Leucine Uptake: A Step Forward for Therapeutic Strategies in Prostate Cancer
The seminal study by Wang and colleagues reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post suggests a potential new therapeutic option in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. The authors draw attention to the reliance of cancer cells on...
Cancer.Net Launches New Brand of Printed Materials With Four Guides to Cancer
During the second half of 2013, four new guides to cancer, known collectively as the ASCO Answers Guides to Cancer, were released on Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient information website. The guides to breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancer were completely redesigned and reimagined to help newly...
ASCO Honors New Group of Members With FASCO Distinction
Formerly called the ASCO Statesman Award, the Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) distinction recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO. Their efforts benefit ASCO, the specialty of oncology, and, most importantly,...
Ongoing NCI-Funded Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Advanced Cancer
This issue of The ASCO Post launches a Clinical Trials Resource Guide to increase awareness of NCI-funded phase I, II, and III clinical studies for your patients with advanced cancer. All of the studies are listed on the National Institutes of Health website at ClinicalTrials.gov. The clinical...
