Search Results
Your search for what matches 6123 pages
Showing 5151 - 5200Expert Point of View: Sherene Loi, MD PhD
Sherene Loi, MD PhD, Head of the Translational Breast Cancer Genomics Lab at the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, Victoria, Australia, commented on the N9831 study presentation and referred to her group’s own work on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. These investigators have shown a positive association ...
Ibrutinib Surpasses Ofatumumab as Second-Line Treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) significantly improved progression-free survival, overall survival, and response when compared with ofatumumab (Arzerra) as second-line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) in the phase III RESONATE study. The study results were...
Early Study Explores New Approach to Treating Advanced Cervical Cancer
A small, federally funded study of nine patients treated with human papillomavirus (HPV)-targeted adoptive T-cell therapy gives reason to hope that this type of therapy may be a new effective approach for patients with metastatic cervical cancer and possibly other solid tumors.1 In the study, two...
Combined With Chemotherapy, Cetuximab and Bevacizumab Found Comparable for First-Line Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Treatment
Call it a draw: Cetuximab (Erbitux), an EGFR inhibitor, and bevacizumab (Avastin), a VEGF inhibitor, confer comparable benefits as first-line treatment with chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer, according to the phase III Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB)/Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) ...
Advancing Immune Checkpoint Targeting in Cancer Treatment
James P. Allison, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, Executive Director of the Moon Shots Immunotherapy Platform, and Deputy Directory of the David H. Koch Center for Applied Research of Genitourinary Cancers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, is...
Time to Move Forward With Lung Screening
Start with the most lethal cancer globally—lung cancer—for which standard approaches result in a modest 5-year survival. Then consider the results from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), suggesting in a well done randomized study that significant mortality reduction does occur with low-dose...
Expert Point of View: Nancy E. Davidson, MD, and Claudine Isaacs, MD
This study provides key insights into the longstanding and vexing debate about optimal systemic therapy for these young women. We wonder about the role of tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors, chemotherapy, and ancillary therapies like bisphosphonates,” said Nancy E. Davidson, MD, Director of the...
Exemestane/Ovarian Suppression Reduces Recurrence vs Tamoxifen/Ovarian Suppression in Premenopausal Breast Cancer
A joint analysis of two important phase III clinical trials—TEXT (Tamoxifen and Exemestane Trial) and SOFT (Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial)—showed that exemestane plus ovarian function suppression was superior to tamoxifen plus ovarian suppression in preventing recurrence in premenopausal...
Coping With the Aftermath of Cancer
Even now, 3 years after I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I’m still struggling with how it is possible to have a normal mammogram and 6 months later be confronted with stage II estrogen/progesterone–positive, HER2-positive breast cancer. The news was especially devastating to hear because it...
Expect Questions but Not a Lot of Resistance
Stopping statin therapy is safe for patients with cancer who have a life expectancy of no more than a year, according to a randomized study reported at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. Discontinuing statins did not shorten survival, reduced symptom burden, improved overall quality of life, and led...
Discontinuing Statins Near the End of Life Is Safe, Can Reduce Symptom Burden, and Is Generally Acceptable to Patients
Discontinuing statins for patients near the end of life is safe, saves money, spares patients from swallowing yet another pill and from the symptoms associated with statins, and is generally welcomed by patients. That last bit might come as a surprise to some physicians who worry that discontinuing ...
ASTRO Names Three Radiation Oncologists as Recipients of Society’s 2014 Gold Medal
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has announced the names of three recipients of the Society’s highest honor, the ASTRO Gold Medal. Mary K. Gospodarowicz, MD, FASTRO, Leonard L. Gunderson, MD, MS, FASTRO, and Nancy J. Tarbell, MD, FASTRO, will receive the ASTRO Gold Medal...
FDA Launches 'OpenFDA' Initiative to Ease Access to Public Health Data
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched openFDA, a new initiative designed to make it easier for web developers, researchers, and the public to access large, important public health datasets collected by the Agency. In alignment with the recent Presidential Executive Order on Open...
ASCO Convenes Think Tank to Tackle Disparities in Cancer Care
Despite advances in cancer screening and in more effective therapies to treat the disease, which have led to improved outcomes and increased survival rates for millions of people with cancer, not every American is reaping the benefits of these advances. Disparities in health-care access, quality of ...
ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline: Disease Management in Advanced HER2-Positive Breast Cancer With Brain Metastases
As many as half of all patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer develop brain metastases over time. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently released a clinical practice guideline on disease management for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer and brain...
Navigating Cancer in the Era of Personalized Medicine: Rev 2014 Explores Emerging Issues, Ideas for Action
Diagnosed with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer in 2011, Stephen Wright turned to patient support groups where he learned about the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutation and a new drug that targeted it, crizotinib (Xalkori). He asked—then insisted—that he be tested for the mutation. He found ...
Concurrent Immunotherapy Pays Off in Advanced Melanoma
In advanced melanoma, two immune checkpoint inhibitors may be better than one, according to the promising outcomes of a study reported at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. Concurrent treatment with the anti–CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab, an antibody targeting the programmed death...
AR-V7 Predicts Resistance to Enzalutamide and Abiraterone in Men With Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Androgen receptor (AR) splice variant 7 (V7) appears to be a new biomarker for response and disease progression in patients treated with enzalutamide (Xtandi) or abiraterone (Zytiga). The presence of AR-V7 in circulating tumor cells predicted resistance to both drugs in men with metastatic...
Ipilimumab Reduces Recurrences as Adjuvant Treatment of Melanoma
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) has transformed the treatment of metastatic melanoma, producing long-term responses in about 20% of patients. A phase III study has now evaluated its impact in the adjuvant setting, and the results are a bit less striking. Primary Endpoint The European Organisation for Research...
IOM Workshop Explores Growing Problems in Patient Access to Cancer Drugs
Cancer patients’ out-of-pocket costs are rising dramatically, and insurance premiums, cost sharing, and ancillary expenses can be devastating. Many people go bankrupt as a result of the high costs of health care. Drugs are among the most serious economic culprits. They grow more expensive every...
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
The ASCO Annual Meeting in June confirmed—and expanded—the excitement of the oncology community about molecular medicine and its future. The complex molecular pathways were pictured in living color on many slides in many large auditoriums. Newspapers across the country were equally enthusiastic as...
Women With Small, Node-Negative Breast Tumors Have Excellent Prognosis Without Chemotherapy
Women who have small (≤ 1 cm), node-negative breast tumors “have an excellent prognosis without chemotherapy,” concluded the authors of a prospective cohort study involving 4,113 women with T1a,b, N0, M0 breast cancer. “Size and tumor subtype may identify patients in whom the rate of recurrence...
International Leader in Urology, Professor John Fitzpatrick, Dies
His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, “This was a man!” —William Shakespeare I have too many positive memories of John to regale you with here,” said Roger Kirby, MD, in a tribute to his close friend and colleague, John Michael...
Cancer Survivors Face Unique Challenges Reentering the Workforce
An online survey of 201 unemployed cancer survivors looking for work found that a majority—61%—are at least somewhat concerned that a potential employer would find out about their cancer diagnosis and not hire them. In this survey conducted by Cancer and Careers, 66% of participants said they...
Avoiding Antioxidant-Drug Interactions During Cancer Treatment
Many potential drug-nutrient interactions can affect cancer treatment. It is important to consider these interactions given the significant use of supplements and other self-treatment options during cancer care. Antioxidants account for a large portion of the $32 billion in supplement industry...
Coping With the Aftermath of Cancer
Editor’s note: In the July 10 issue of The ASCO Post, this article by Marie Krejci as told to Jo Cavallo was published; however, the published version was incomplete in that it did not reflect important updates made by Ms. Krejci. We apologize to Ms. Krejci for this error and to our readers for any ...
Prostate Cancer Biomarkers: Improvement in Predicting Clinically Significant Disease
Prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 233,000 American men in 2014. It is one of the leading causes of death by a cancer (killing ~29,500 men annually).1 Hundreds of thousands of men undergo prostate biopsies each year, most for either benign disease or for a cancer that will never lead to their...
From Ireland to America and Back, Patrick G. Johnston, MD, PhD, Thrives on Bringing Research Findings to Clinical Practice
Patrick G. Johnston, MD, PhD, FMedSci, Professor of Oncology and President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, grew up in Derry, a city in Northern Ireland. Derry is distinct in being Ireland’s only remaining fully intact walled city, considered one of the finest examples of a walled ...
Focus on the Ohio Hematology Oncology Society
The Ohio Hematology Oncology Society (OHOS) was formed 2 decades ago to advocate for and provide educational seminars and networking opportunities to hematologists and medical oncologists throughout the states of Ohio and West Virginia. Today, the society is focused on the needs of its nearly 200...
The Road to Progress in Lung Cancer Treatment
Despite promising new agents and therapeutic approaches, 5-year lung cancer survival rates have lagged far behind those of most other malignancies. To shed light on some of the important issues facing lung cancer experts, The ASCO Post recently spoke with internationally recognized lung cancer...
Ongoing Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Children With Cancer
The information in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of children with cancer. The studies include pilot and phase I and II studies evaluating new therapies, functional imaging tests, tests to measure the neuropsychological and behavioral function in...
ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Compendium Offers Oncologists Help With Survivorship Care
It has been almost 10 years since the Institute of Medicine released its influential report, “From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition,” in which it stressed that all patients completing cancer treatment should receive a survivorship care plan. Since then, the need to help...
ASPHO Abstracts Cover Broad Range of Topics
More than 400 abstracts—a record—were submitted for the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology in Chicago. Here is a small sampling of those studies, with comments from the abstract authors. Token Economy to Improve Compliance BMT Bucks form the basis of a...
Federally Funded Trials Praised—and Underfunded
All four studies presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session were at least partially funded by federal dollars, bringing long overdue attention to the value of federally supported cancer research. Perhaps because of this high visibility, ASCO leaders took to the soapbox to sound the...
Expert Point of View: Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD
Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD, Professor and Webb Endowed Chair of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, formal discussant for the SHAPE-2 and LEAN trials at the ASCO Annual Meeting, emphasized the importance of weight loss, but noted that it can be challenging for...
Expert Point of View: Carmen J. Allegra, MD
Carmen J. Allegra, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Florida, Gainesville, who discussed the findings at the ASCO Annual Meeting, said the study upholds what has become the practice of many oncologists—to use adjuvant FOLFOX...
Expert Point of View: Axel Hauschild, MD
Axel Hauschild, MD, Professor of Dermatology at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, in Germany, discussed the evolving utility of intralesional approaches to melanoma in the ASCO Poster Highlights session. In general, he maintained that the overall and complete response rates...
Expert Point of View: Philip McCarthy, MD
Melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide (Thalomid), or MPT, was a widely accepted regimen in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma when the E1A06 trial was launched, noted Philip McCarthy, MD, Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York....
Stakeholders Are Uniting Around Value in Cancer Care
Judging from its visibility at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting, the concept of “value” in cancer care has reached critical mass. “ASCO is leading this difficult discussion on value in cancer care. This had to happen,” said Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, Immediate Past President of ASCO and Chief of the ...
Take-Home Messages From ASCO's Immediate Past President
The ASCO Post recently spoke with ASCO Immediate Past President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, about his term as ASCO President. Dr. Hudis discussed his thoughts on ASCO today and shared his perspective on a number of important issues in oncology, including value in cancer care, big data, and more....
Expert Point of View: Howard A. Fine, MD and Martin J. van den Bent, MD
Session moderator Howard A. Fine, MD, the Anne Murnick Cogan and David H. Cogan Professor of Oncology and Director of the Brain Tumor Center at New York University Cancer Institute, shared his enthusiasm over the findings of the RTOG 9802 study. “I don’t know of any other tumor type where the...
What Do Humans and Laboratory Rats Have in Common?
The requirements for sound evidence of a drug’s therapeutic benefit have translated laboratory experience to human testing. In the laboratory, experimental animals give their lives to lethal testing of drugs and scientific analysis. LD50, the terminology denoting an anticipated 50% death rate of...
Expect Questions From Patients
An updated study reporting a 20% increased risk of advanced prostate cancer and a 19% increased risk of lethal prostate cancer among men who have had vasectomies generated coverage by the medical and major media, including CBS News and The New York Times, and can be expected to prompt questions...
‘Reasonable’ to Advise Men Who Have Had Vasectomies That They Have a Small Increased Risk for Lethal Prostate Cancers
Long-term results from the Health Professionals Follow-up Health Study have shown a 20% increased risk of advanced prostate cancer and a 19% increased risk of lethal prostate cancer among men who had vasectomies.1 According to the study’s lead author, Mohummad Minhaj Siddiqui, MD, it is...
Dignity, Personhood, and the Culture of Medicine
Cancer patients need more than good health care: they need health caring, according to palliative care specialist Harvey M. Chochinov, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba and Director of the Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit, CancerCare Manitoba. Health ...
Cancer Survivor and Patient Advocate Michael S. Katz, MBA, Has Helped Alter the Standard of Care for Myeloma Survivors
Michael S. Katz, MBA, has lived longer than any of his doctors thought he would. A two-time cancer survivor, Mr. Katz was diagnosed, first with multiple myeloma in 1990 and then with colorectal cancer in 2008, and has spent the past 2 decades tirelessly advocating for patients with cancer. The...
Taking Charge of Your Care
The first sign I had that something might be wrong was an uncontrollable itch all over my body. Although I had never had anything like that before, the problem was easy to initially dismiss. I’m a respiratory therapist and visit patients in their homes daily, so I chalked up the itchiness to an...
Focus on the Florida Society of Clinical Oncology
The Florida Society of Clinical Oncology (FLASCO) was founded in 1977, just 13 years after the founding of ASCO. Today, the Society has had such an impact on the practices of medical, radiation, surgical, gynecologic, and pediatric oncologists throughout the state, membership has risen to over...
Michael Douglas Shares His Experience With Stage IV Oropharyngeal Cancer
Academy Award winning actor and producer Michael Douglas was the guest of honor at the opening day of the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies (IFHNOS) 5th World Congress on July 27 in New York (see page 22 for more on the World Congress). He came not to plug the release of ...
Book Excerpt: Family
I've witnessed incredible courage and zest for life among so many patients from so many walks of life—individuals committed to helping others in spite of their own adversity. Forty years ago, when survival for patients with multiple myeloma was a matter of months, I knew that every person I sat...
