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Showing 5201 - 5250Sequestration Will Have Shattering Impact on Entire U.S. Cancer Enterprise
March 1 marked the beginning of sequestration, the unprecedented automatic budget cuts that immediately take effect across the federal government—after months of futile negotiations by the President and Congress. Sequestration will have a shattering impact on the entire cancer enterprise in the...
Large Epidemiologic Studies Re-examine Hazards of Smoking
“Smokers lose at least one decade of life expectancy, as compared with those who have never smoked,” and the increased risk of death from cigarettes smoking “are now nearly identical for men and women,” according to two separate studies published online by TheNew England Journal of Medicine. One...
SIDEBAR: Ask Patients about Their Smoking Status
“Receiving a cancer diagnosis represents a ‘teachable moment’ for delivering smoking cessation and relapse prevention interventions,” concluded a study in the journal Cancer1 about smoking relapse in patients with thoracic cancer or head and neck cancer. Previous research by two of the study’s...
Patients with Cancer Need to Know That It Is Never Too Late to Quit Smoking
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Patients with head and neck or lung...
Fitness: Can Exercise Lengthen Survival in Patients with Cancer?
Regular physical activity has long been associated with decreased risk of disease, including many types of cancer. Such benefits may translate into increased life expectancy of up to 4.5 years, with even the lowest levels of activity providing some survival advantage.1 Most strikingly, however,...
Focus on the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California
For more than 2 decades, the guiding principle of the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California (MOASC) has been to ensure the continuation of the private practice of medical oncology and to provide the highest quality care to cancer patients. Founded in 1990, MOASC is the largest...
IBM's Watson Goes Through Basic Training in Oncology
While IBM’s Watson supercomputer may have defeated two former champions on the TV game show Jeopardy! 2 years ago, it is now facing its greatest challenge yet: deciphering huge amounts of scientific data and interpreting clinical information to help oncologists make personalized evidence-based...
City of Hope Names Robert Stone, JD, as New Chief Executive Officer
After 10 years at City of Hope, in Duarte, California, former FDA acting Commissioner Michael A. Friedman, MD, has decided to retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board of Directors has selected current President Robert Stone, JD, to assume the dual role of President and...
Preparing for the Next Superstorm: Protecting Patients during Natural Disasters
When Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast last October, the magnitude of devastation it left in its wake exceeded even the most dire predictions. Eighty mile per hour winds and record storm surges destroyed antiquated electrical grids and flooded subway stations, leaving much of New York...
Expert Point of View: Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD
“This study confirms previously published racial disparities in access to care, but factors that drive these disparities have not been elucidated,” stated Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, Department of Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. The study was...
Expert Point of View: William M. Grady, MD and Jordan Berlin, MD
William M. Grady, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, a member of the news planning team for the symposium, commented, “There has been considerable interest in determining whether molecular alterations in primary colorectal cancer are more accurate prognostic indicators than ...
Finding New Strategies to More Effectively Treat Pancreatic Cancer
While some progress has been made in understanding the molecular pathogenesis, genetic risk factors, and genomics of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, the disease remains one of the most challenging malignancies. According to Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) figures, 44,000 people were...
Expert Point of View: Nasser H. Hanna, MD
In an accompanying editorial, Nasser H. Hanna, MD, of Indiana University, Indianapolis, suggested that although the question of two chemotherapy drugs vs one in this setting made sense at the time GOIRC 02-2006 was initiated, advances in understanding of the heterogeneity of non–small cell lung...
Colorectal Cancer: A Decade of Progress
The 2013 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium marked the 10th anniversary of the meeting. Richard M. Goldberg, MD, the Klotz Family Chair in Cancer Research, Professor of Medicine, and James Cancer Hospital Physician-in-Chief at The Ohio State University, looked back over the decade to highlight the...
Expert Point of View: Neal J. Meropol, MD and Johanna C. Bendell, MD
Neal J. Meropol, MD, Chief of Hematology and Oncology at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, commented that the quality of the data on ramucirumab is “very high,” and therefore, “we can believe these results.” The magnitude of the benefit,...
Targeted Therapy Gaining Ground in the Second-line Treatment of Gastric Cancer
In gastric cancer, the concept of targeted therapy assumed clinical significance when the addition of trastuzumab (Herceptin) to chemotherapy improved survival by almost 3 months in the ToGA trial.1 Another anti-HER2 agent, lapatinib (Tykerb), now looks promising, as does an agent targeting the...
Did Corticosteroids Worsen Survival in Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer Enrolled in the AFFIRM Trial?
A post hoc analysis of the AFFIRM trial found that on-study use of corticosteroids led to worse outcomes in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer regardless of whether patients were randomly assigned to enzalutamide (Xtandi) or placebo.1 On-study corticosteroid use was associated with...
Expert Point of View: Anthony D’Amico, MD
Now there are mature data from three trials comparing adjuvant radiotherapy vs a wait-and see approach in men following radical prostatectomy, said formal discussant Anthony D’Amico, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Despite...
Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Champion of Integrative Oncology, Continues to Nurture Growth of the Field
Over the past decade, integrative oncology has gained wide acceptance as an evidenced-based way to improve the lives of patients with cancer throughout the continuum of their care. The ASCO Post recently spoke with Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service and Laurance ...
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Introduces Centers of Excellence Program to Further Childhood Cancer Research
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), a registered 501(c)(3) charity, is furthering its commitment to finding cures for all children with cancer by introducing the ALSF Centers of Excellence program. The Centers of Excellence program aims to fund the research of leading childhood cancer...
Focus on the Louisiana Oncology Society
Founded on September 1, 1992, by John M. Rainey, MD, the Louisiana Oncology Society has had numerous legislative successes (see sidebar) since that time, including leading the effort to support Louisiana’s Oral Chemotherapy Parity Law, which was passed in 2012 and is now in effect throughout the...
Recently Reported Long-term Outcomes Could Motivate More Men with Prostate Cancer to Consider Active Surveillance
Fifteen years after being treated with radical prostatectomy or external-beam radiation for localized prostate cancer, “the prevalence of erectile dysfunction was nearly universal,” among men enrolled in a long-term functional outcomes analysis of the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Study (PCOS). There...
NCI Guide Helps Providers Get Adolescent and Young Adult Patients Involved in End-of-life Care
Enabling adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients to become involved in advance care planning can help parents and health-care agents make informed decisions, alleviate distress, and possibly improve the patients’ quality of life, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institute’s...
AACR Briefs Congressional Staffers on Importance of Continued Funding for Research
As we all now know, the start of the sequestration prescribed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 was delayed until March 1, 2013, by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. With Congress unable to strike a deal, the mandatory reductions in Federal spending were triggered on March 1. Those...
Highlights of ACCC Annual Meeting Include Discussion of Trends Shaping the Future of Health Care
The 39th Annual National Meeting of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) was held in Washington, DC, in March. With a focus on business, economics, and policy, the program included the inauguration of a new ACCC President (see page 102), a keynote speech on the future of health care,...
Implementing a National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century
In March 2011, the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in conjunction with ASCO, held a workshop to discuss a collaborative approach to making the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded clinical trials system more viable and productive. That workshop included...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Arms Patients with Knowledge through patientACCESS
Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be a frightening and overwhelming experience, and the first thing many people do upon receiving the news is seek out information, hoping to be empowered through knowledge. At the Conquer Cancer Foundation, we are working to ensure that vital information—focusing on...
Gene Transfer Therapy Is Producing Prolonged Remissions in Patients with Advanced Leukemia
In August 2011, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published their breakthrough findings of a pilot study showing sustained remissions of up to 1 year in a small number of patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who had been treated with genetically engineered...
Expert Point of View: Anthony V. D’Amico, MD, PhD
“Thirty-six months of hormone therapy is the standard of care for the treatment of high-risk prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy,” said formal discussant Anthony V. D’Amico, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Genitourinary...
SIGGAR Trials Compare CT Colonography vs Barium Enema and Colonoscopy in Evaluation for Colon Cancer
The companion UK Special Interest Group in Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (SIGGAR) trials compared computed tomographic (CT) colonography with barium enema and colonoscopy in patients with symptoms suggestive of colon cancer. As recently reported by the SIGGAR investigators in The...
The Risk of Death From Smoking Now Nearly Identical for Men and Women
Researchers from multiple organizations, including the American Cancer Society (ACS), studied the smoking trends among men and women over the last 50 years and found that women’s smoking habits in that time have significantly increased their risk of dying from lung cancer and chronic obstructive...
Genomic Analysis of Squamous Cell Lung Cancer Tumors May Lead to More Targeted Therapies
Last fall, a consortium of more than 300 researchers from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network published the results of their large-scale genetic analysis of squamous cell lung cancer in the journal Nature.1 The study, the first of its kind, compared the tumor cells from 178 untreated...
Does All DCIS Need Treatment? Debaters Take Sides at Surgical Oncology Meeting
There are a few things about ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) on which everyone agrees: Incidence increased dramatically with the advent of mammography screening, not all cases detected will go on to cause symptoms in the patient’s lifetime, and there’s no proven way to tell which cases will...
BRAF Mutations in Colorectal Cancer: The Next Frontier
Some 5% to 10% of patients with colorectal cancer harbor the BRAF mutation, placing them at risk for poor treatment response and worse outcomes. The ASCO Post interviewed S. Gail Eckhardt, MD, an expert in this area who is Professor and Head of the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of...
Important Data and Treatment Advances Reported in GIST and in Pancreatic and Liver Cancers
The 10th annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held recently in San Francisco, was jointly sponsored by ASCO, the AGA (American Gastroenterological Association), ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology), and the SSO (Society of Surgical Oncology). “We seek to present the newest...
Homoharringtonine/Omacetaxine: The Little Drug that Could
First, a clarification: Homoharringtonine is a natural plant alkaloid derived from Cephalotaxus fortunei; from the 1970s until the present, it was the subject of intensive research efforts by Chinese investigators to clarify its role as an antileukemic agent.1-3 Omacetaxine mepesuccinate (Synribo)...
Is Aspirin Protective against Colorectal Cancer?
A growing body of evidence provides biologic and clinical evidence that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents are protective against colorectal cancer. “It is fascinating for me as a medical oncologist and epidemiologist to see how the worlds of colorectal cancer treatment and epidemiology are...
Acts of Kindness Were Key to My Survival
Just 1 month after undergoing a mammogram that was deemed normal with some dense tissue in my left breast, my gynecologist felt a mass in that breast about the size of a cherry tomato during a routine well visit. After watching the lump for a month to see if it was cyclical, she sent me for another ...
Rally for Medical Research Draws Thousands in Person and on Social Media
In estimated 10,000 demonstrators filled the streets in front of Washington, DC’s historic Carnegie Library on April 8 to protest budget cuts at the National Institutes of Health. The Rally for Medical Research was held to “emphasize to our policymakers that medical research must become a national...
ASCO's Pre-Annual Meeting Seminar Series to Offer a New, Fourth Focus: Genetics and Genomics
ASCO’s pre–Annual Meeting seminar series continues this year, offering intimate, discussion-based seminars just before the start of the Annual Meeting in late May. The seminars are an excellent educational opportunity for health providers who are attending the Annual Meeting but would like to drill ...
A Promising New Agent's Road to Approval in CLL Raises Questions, Stirs Controversy
Early trial results in single-agent therapy with the oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib have produced excellent responses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Moreover, ibrutinib is extremely well tolerated, allowing patients to remain on trial and receive the...
SIDEBAR: Prolonged VEGF Inhibition
The so-called TML (Treatment across Multiple Lines) study reported by Bennouna and colleagues investigated the efficacy of bevacizumab (Avastin) beyond progression from first- to second-line therapy in advanced colorectal cancer, a strategy that was supported by data from observational cohort...
Medical Oncologists Underestimate Resectability of Liver Metastases
Medical oncologists are apt to underestimate the resectability of liver metastases in patients with colorectal cancer and therefore often fail to refer potential surgical candidates for surgical consultation, according to a study presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the National Comprehensive ...
CancerLinQ Prototype Demonstrates Use of Big Data in Clinical Care
ASCO has unveiled the prototype of a computer system that will allow oncologists, from their desks, to leverage “big data” to measure the quality of care that their practices provide. The prototype is a major step in the development of CancerLinQ, a system that will eventually allow millions of...
Ibrutinib CLL Trial: Where Is the Equipoise?
The RESONATE trial is randomly assigning patients with refractory or relapsed CLL to either ofatumumab (Arzerra) or the investigational oral agent ibrutinib. Ofatumumab is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody like rituximab (Rituxan), but is more potent as a single agent. It was approved for refractory ...
Does Every Melanoma Patient with a Positive Sentinel Node Need More Lymph Nodes Removed?
When sentinel node biopsy was shown to predict whether early melanoma had spread to regional lymph nodes, it revolutionized care. Before that, dissection of all regional lymph nodes was the norm for most patients. After that, the standard of care became a sentinel node biopsy and then—only if the...
Higher HER2 Expression Linked to Best Results with T-DM1 in Patients with HER2-positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
A biomarker analysis of the pivotal EMILIA trial suggests that women with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer with tumors that have high expression of HER2 derive the most robust benefit from treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate T-DM1 (also now known as ado-trastuzumab emtansine...
Emil 'Tom' Frei III, MD, Trailblazer in the Development of Combination Chemotherapy, Dies at 89
The pages of medical history are dog-eared with breakthroughs that have transformed medicine and saved lives. One of those dog-eared pages belongs to Emil Frei III, MD, known to his colleagues and friends as Tom. In the dawn of oncology, Dr. Frei, along with his associate, Emil Freireich, MD, did...
Saul N. Weingart, MD, PhD, Named New Chief Medical Officer of Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center has appointed Saul N. Weingart, MD, PhD, of Newton, Massachusetts as its next Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Weingart is currently serving as Vice President for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He is a nationally renowned leader in...
Exemestane an Adjuvant Option for Postmenopausal Hormone Receptor–positive Breast Cancer
A phase III open-label trial of exemestane vs anastrozole in postmenopausal women with hormone-dependent early breast cancer found that both agents produced similar median rates of event-free survival—91% for exemestane and 91.2% for anastrozole—as well as similar distant disease-free and...
