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Showing 5151 - 5200Parenteral Opioid Shortage Threatens Appropriate Pain Care for Patients With Cancer
In response to the opioid-overdose epidemic, several measures have been put in place, such as the reclassification of hydrocodone as a Schedule II opioid and new requirements for physician review of prescription drug–monitoring program databases in most states. Moreover, the Surgeon General and...
NCI Awards Grant to Team at Baylor to Establish Center to Focus on Cancer Health Disparities
As part of the Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative, the National Cancer Institute has awarded $6.3 million to Nicholas Mitsiades, MD, of the Baylor College of Medicine, and a collaborative team at Baylor College of Medicine to establish a Minority Patient-Derived Xenograft Development and Trial...
UPMC Opens New Radiotherapy Center in Italy
The University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) recently announced the opening of a new radiotherapy center in Villa Maria, Italy, which will become part of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center network when it opens to patients later this year. The new center, named the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center at...
Inflammation, DNA Damage, and Cancer
The link between inflammation and cancer is a field of growing interest in the oncology community. Biologists have theorized that simultaneous DNA damage and cell division during inflammation could lead to cancer. To shed light on this important issue, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Jennifer...
Undertreatment of High-Risk Prostate Cancer in Latino Men
New research by Lichtensztajn et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network examined disparities in care for Latino men with prostate cancer. A team of researchers from UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Stanford Cancer Institute, and...
ASTRO/ASCO/AUA Guideline for Early-Stage Prostate Cancer Supports Use of Hypofractionated Radiotherapy
Three prominent medical organizations have issued a new clinical guideline for physicians treating men with early-stage prostate cancer using external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT). Developed by a panel of experts from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), ASCO, and the American...
Atlantic Health System Announces Collaboration to Further Patient Access to Innovative Cancer Therapies
The Atlantic Health System, an integrated health-care delivery system, recently announced a partnership with the Translational Genomics Research Institute, an affiliate of City of Hope, and Origin Commercial Ventures to create a new platform to deliver economically viable immunotherapies and other...
Building Improved and Sustainable Health-Care Systems Through Telemedicine
Telemedicine—the remote diagnosis and treatment of patients via telecommunications technology—has changed the way oncology care is delivered in rural parts of the world. Patients in rural areas are now able to connect remotely with their physicians without having to deal with the time, expense, and ...
Charles Gawad, MD, PhD, Receives NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
Charles Gawad, MD, PhD, an assistant member in the Departments of Oncology and Computational Biology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, has been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to receive a Director’s New Innovator Award. Established in 2007, this award supports...
Modern Clinical Trials: Engaging Stakeholders at the Front Lines of Care
Randomized clinical trials have been providing high-quality evidence for decades, but there are limitations to the traditional design. At the 2018 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, George J. Chang, MD, MS, FACS, FASCRS, discussed the need to modernize clinical trials, so they continue to provide...
Expert Point of View: Daniel Heinrich, MD, and Silke Gillessen, MD
Formal discussant of the ERA 223 trial, Daniel Heinrich, MD, of Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway, reminded listeners at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress that radium-223 was developed in Norway. “When the ALSYMPCA results came out, we were celebrating....
Immunotherapy and Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Combination in Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
In the JAVELIN Renal 101 phase III study, the combination of the immune checkpoint inhibitor avelumab (Bavencio), a programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) blocking antibody, plus the tyrosine kinase inhibitor axitinib (Inlyta) significantly improved progression-free survival in previously untreated...
Expert Point of View: Julien Taieb, MD, PhD
The invited discussant for the CheckMate-142 findings was Julien Taieb, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Paris Descartes University in France. Dr. Taieb called the findings “impressive” but said longer follow-up is needed, especially since median outcomes have not yet been reached. After a...
Ivy Brain Tumor Center to Study Treatments for Brain Malignancies
The Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation, in partnership with the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, has awarded a $50 million grant to establish a new translational science program focusing on early-phase, pharmacodynamic- and pharmacokinetic-driven clinical trials for aggressive brain tumors. ...
Treatment With ADT May Be Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Failure in Patients With Prostate Cancer
Androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) use was associated with a higher risk of heart failure in a study of patients with prostate cancer, according to findings published by Kao et al in The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Study Methods, Findings Study authors used data from the Taiwan...
ACS Report Looks at Ways to Improve Outcomes for Cancer Survivors and Caregivers
Growing numbers of cancer survivors, provider shortages, rising health-care costs, and socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes have created an urgent need to provide coordinated, comprehensive, personalized care for cancer survivors. A new report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) creates...
Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Yields Major Response in Colon Cancer Subset
In a small study of patients with early-stage colon cancer, neoadjuvant ipilimumab (Yervoy) plus nivolumab (Opdivo) produced major pathologic responses in 100% of patients with mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient tumors but in none of the patients with MMR-proficient tumors, researchers reported at the ...
Expert Point of View: Richard K. Valicenti, MD, MA, FASTRO
Discussant of the SPPORT trial abstract at the ASTRO Annual Meeting, Richard K. Valicenti, MD, MA, FASTRO, Chair and Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, commented that the interim results of this study along with data from other...
Dealing With the Challenges Presented by the Parenteral Opioid Shortage
The opioid drug problem in the United States is a crisis, with unprecedented numbers of overdose deaths. The reaction to this has resulted in new federal laws and regulations aimed at restricting overuse and overprescribing of opioids. However, these well-intentioned actions, along with other...
Expert Point of View: Nadia Harbeck, MD, PhD, and Fatima Cardoso, MD
Serving as European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) expert at a press briefing, Nadia Harbeck, MD, PhD, Head of the Breast Center at the University of Munich, called the findings “practice-changing” in some parts of the world and “practice-reinforcing” in others. She said the 10-month...
Impact of Palbociclib on Survival in Hormone Receptor–Positive, HER2-Negative Advanced Breast Cancer
Much anticipated overall survival data for palbociclib (Ibrance) plus fulvestrant (Faslodex) in advanced breast cancer were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress.1 Although overall survival in PALOMA-3 was not designed to detect a statistically significant...
NCRI 2018: HiLo Trial: Rate of Thyroid Cancer Recurrence After Adjuvant Lower-Dose Radiation
Patients with thyroid cancer whose disease is at low risk of returning can be treated safely with a smaller amount of radiation following surgery, according to results from the HiLo trial presented by Wadsley et al at the 2018 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference (Abstract...
ME STRONG Joins With ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation to Support Research for Men’s Cancers and Neuroblastoma
ME STRONG, a nonprofit public charity in Deland, Florida, is one of the newest supporters of Conquer Cancer. Linda Ryan, ME STRONG co-founder and 16-year cancer survivor, understands the importance of research: it saved her life decades ago, and she’s relying on experimental treatment as she...
ASCO in the Community: Listening and Learning From Our Patients in Appalachia
2018–2019 ASCO President Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, is putting the words of her presidential theme— “caring for every patient, learning from every patient” —into action. During her term, she and other ASCO leaders will be traveling to local communities around the United States to...
CONVERT Trial: Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy to Treat Elderly Patients With Limited-Stage SCLC
Elderly patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) showed similar survival and toxicity compared to younger patients when treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. These study findings were published by Christodoulou et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. SCLC constitutes ...
Meta-Analysis of Voriconazole Exposure and Risk of Cutaneous SCC
Voriconazole is an antifungal medication that is sometimes used to treat fungal infection in immunocompromised patients, including patients undergoing various transplants. In order to better assess the risk associated with voriconazole use after lung or hematopoietic stem cell transplant and...
Cost of Cancer Care in Community vs Hospital Settings
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Gordan et al found that costs of care for patients with breast, colorectal, and lung cancers were significantly higher at hospital-based vs community-based clinics, largely reflecting higher costs of chemotherapy and provider visits. Study...
PERSIST-5: 5-Year Adjuvant Imatinib in Resected Intermediate- or High-Risk Primary Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor
In the phase II PERSIST-5 study reported in JAMA Oncology, Raut et al found that 5 years of adjuvant imatinib therapy was associated with little risk of recurrence in patients with resected intermediate- or high-risk primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). As noted by the investigators, 3...
2018 Palliative Care: Can an AI-Based App Help Manage Cancer-Related Pain?
A study of 112 patients with metastatic solid tumors found that the use of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based smartphone app reduced both the severity of patients’ reported pain and hospital admissions. After an 8-week period, patients who used the AI-powered app to monitor and address...
2018 Palliative Care: Immunotherapy-Related Adverse Events May Be More Common Than Initially Reported
An analysis of nearly 2,800 patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received the immune checkpoint inhibitors nivolumab (Opdivo), pembrolizumab (Keytruda), or atezolizumab (Tecentriq) found that adverse events may be more common than reported in the initial trials that led...
Developing Patient-Centered Palliative Care From Diagnosis to End of Life
In December, The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School will launch an innovative cancer care model called the CaLM (cancer life re-imagined) Clinic as part of its new cancer center, the Livestrong Cancer Institutes. The goal of the Livestrong Cancer Institutes and the CaLM Clinic is to...
Tackling Financial Toxicity: One Institution’s Roadmap Forward
ALTHOUGH FINANCIAL toxicity has become an important issue in the oncology community, evidence suggests the subject is rarely addressed by oncologists, exacerbating its grave effects on patients with cancer and their families.1 “But I don’t think it’s because health-care providers don’t want to...
Do Incident Learning Systems Prevent Medical Errors?
ACCORDING TO a study by Johns Hopkins, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.1 Lakshmi Santanam, PhD, tackled such sobering data at the 2018 ASCO Quality Care Symposium. “Incident learning systems are not just about medical errors or data; it’s kind of a first...
Challenges and Successes of Adopting an Oncology Care Model
IN ORDER TO rein in the untenable rise in costs while delivering high-value cancer care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation developed a new payment system—the Oncology Care Model. At the 2018 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Cardinale B. Smith, MD, PhD, shed light on the system’s...
End-of-Life Dashboard Drives Transformation With Actionable Personalized Data
A NUMBER OF STUDIES from the palliative care literature have shown that nonbeneficial health-care interventions actually may harm patients’ quality of life, increase patient and caregiver distress, and drive costs. Yet, according to the National Cancer Institute, about 30% of all cancer spending...
Adding the Patient’s Voice to Collaborative Clinical Trial Efforts
THE INTERNATIONAL Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer was the largest in its history. One of the key themes of the meeting was to focus on the patient. Here are highlights of presentations from this conference that demonstrate the role of the...
Radiation to Primary Tumor Improves Survival in Subset of Men With Metastatic Prostate Cancer
MEN WITH newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer do not typically receive treatment to the primary tumor with radiation or surgery. A new analysis of the STAMPEDE trial found that radiation administered to the prostate can improve overall survival in men with newly diagnosed metastatic prostate...
Results Reported for Olaparib Maintenance in Ovarian Cancer
TWO-YEAR MAINTENANCE therapy with olaparib (Lynparza), a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor, achieved a significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, according to results of the phase III SOLO-1...
Cancer Taught Me to Help Patients Find Healing Hope
AS AN INTERNIST, I strived to give patients hope by prescribing therapies that increased their chance—their hope—of the best outcome and by encouraging them with hopeful words. My own hope was to care for patients until I was old. Just weeks after celebrating my 36th birthday, I was diagnosed with ...
Expert Point of View: Fiona Blackhall, MD, PhD
FORMAL STUDY discussant, Fiona Blackhall, MD, PhD, of the University of Manchester, UK, welcomed brigatinib (Alunbrig) as a new first-line option for ALK-positive patients but said, “In the absence of comparisons of next-generation ALK inhibitors, it will take some time to determine if there is...
Immunotherapy Improves Survival in a Subset of Patients With Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
IMMUNOTHERAPY APPEARS to be the new upfront standard of care for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, based on a late-breaking presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2018 Congress1 and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.2 In ...
Final Analysis of SWOG POEMS: Goserelin and Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer
Final results of SWOG Cancer Research Network’s international Prevention of Early Menopause Study (POEMS) showed continued evidence that women who get injections of the hormone drug goserelin along with standard breast cancer chemotherapy are more likely to become pregnant, without developing ...
Increased Survival in Patients With Metastatic NSCLC Receiving Treatment in Academic vs Community Centers
Patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving treatment at academic centers have an increased 2-year survival compared to patients treated at community-based centers, according to findings published by Ramalingam et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. An...
Progression-Free Survival and Health-Related Quality of Life in Randomized Clinical Trials
A review and analysis of randomized clinical trials published by Kovic et al in JAMA Internal Medicine questioned whether interventions that prolong progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with cancer improve their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The systematic review and quantitative...
Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy in Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer
In an Australian phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Suzanne K. Chambers, PhD, of the Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, and colleagues found similar functional outcomes at 2 years with robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and open radical...
Without Genomic Sequencing, I Would Not Be Alive Today
The extreme fatigue I experienced during the winter of my fourth year in medical school, in 2003, was easily attributable to the rigors of my medical training and the lack of sleep that comes from trying to keep up with an intensely busy schedule. I was looking forward to resting and recuperating...
NCCN Relocates Global Headquarters
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) has moved into new headquarters to Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. The new location will allow for greater hosting capacity for meetings, guests, and a growing staff. “International surveys repeatedly show that oncologists...
Family Archivist Holds Joyful Memories Amid Grief of Losing Loved Ones
BOOKMARK Title: The Trail to Tincup: Love Stories at Life’s EndEditors: Joyce Lynnette HockerPublisher: She Writes PressPublication date: May 2018Price: $23.95, hardcover, 288 pages Human mortality is embedded in the day-to-day challenges of clinical oncology; a cancer diagnosis is a reality...
Never a Doubt About a Career in Medicine for Anne S. Tsao, MD
There was no epiphany or family influences, as long as she can remember; Anne S. Tsao, MD, always wanted to be a doctor or, because of her love for caring for sick animals, a veterinarian. Dr. Tsao was born in Fountain Creek, Pennsylvania, but her parents moved to a suburb just outside of Chicago...
Cancer Care in the U.S. Prison System
A health-care system is evaluated by various metrics: one is how it cares for its most vulnerable patients. The United States spends far more on health care than any nation in the world, yet access to high-quality oncology services remains elusive to certain minority populations—none more so than...
