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Showing 5301 - 5350Expert Point of View: Ricky A. Sharma, MA, MB, BChir, PhD
Ricky A. Sharma, MA, MB, BChir, PhD, of Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, formally discussed the paper. He disclosed that he is a co-principal investigator for the FOXFIRE study, which is currently evaluating selective internal radiation...
Expert Point of View: Martine Piccart, MD, PhD
Martine Piccart, MD, PhD, Professor of Oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and President of the European Cancer Organisation, said she found it “distressing” to see such large variations in 5-year survival across European countries. “I would like to stress the fact that these...
A Swiss Psychotherapist Gives Her Perspective on Optimal Palliative Care
Over the past few decades, the oncology community has incorporated new evidence-based therapies to address the psychosocial needs of patients with cancer, especially those with advanced disease. To bring a global perspective to this evolving discipline, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Monika...
Practicing the Humanistic and Holistic Approach to End-of-Life Care
In 1990, when Bruce (B.J.) Miller, MD, was an undergraduate at Princeton University, the practice of medicine was far from his mind. Then a student in Chinese and Asian studies and later an art history major, Dr. Miller would come to pursue a career specializing in palliative medicine after an...
Dario Marchetti, PhD, Named Director of the Center for Biomarkers
Dario Marchetti, PhD, recently joined Houston Methodist Hospital as the new Director of the Center for Biomarkers. Over the past 7 years, Dr. Marchetti’s laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine has made key discoveries in the biology and clinical use of circulating tumor cells. Dr. Marchetti’s...
The Complex Interactions of Treatment Costs, Clinical Outcomes, and Patient Expectations
A clinical dilemma that is receiving a great deal of attention in the oncology community is the undue financial burden some patients face during their treatment and into survivorship. While much emphasis is put on methods to reduce and help patients navigate the complex payment system, little is...
Cancer Care in Low-Resource Areas: Some Improvements Over the Years, but Serious Problems Remain
Low- and middle-income countries bear a larger share of the global cancer burden than does the developed world,” said Greta Massetti, PhD, Associate Director for Science, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and Co-Chair of the National Cancer...
Gut Bacteria May Facilitate Efficacy of Anti–PD-L1 Agents
Could the manipulation of bacteria in the gut pack the same punch in melanoma as antibodies targeting the programmed cell death protein and its ligand (PD-1/PD-L1)? It’s possible, at least in mice, according to research from the University of Chicago, recently published in Science.1 The researchers ...
Making a Difference for Patients: An Interview With Dr. Daniel F. Hayes, 2015–2016 President-Elect
Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, began his term as ASCO President-Elect this past June, and will serve as President in 2016–2017. A breast cancer specialist, he is Professor of Internal Medicine, the Stuart B. Padnos Professor in Breast Cancer, and the Clinical Director of the Breast Oncology Program at ...
Evidence-Based Practice Needed in End-of-Life Care
Evidence-based oncology practice is a systematic approach to problem solving for cancer care providers, characterized by the use of the best evidence currently available for clinical decision-making. Over the past several decades, the oncology community, led by its major organizations such as ASCO...
Clinical Trial Design in Older Patients
Geriatrics for the Oncologist is guest edited by Stuart Lichtman, MD, FACP, FASCO, and developed in collaboration with the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Visit SIOG.org for more on geriatric oncology. Increasing age is directly associated with an increasing risk of cancer,...
Mind-Body Therapies Were the Focus at the 12th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology
Among the highlights at the 12th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) was a 1-day joint meeting on acupuncture, oncology, and fascia cosponsored by SIO, the Society for Acupuncture Research, the Fascia Research Society, and the Osher Center for Integrative...
Expert Point of View: Charles E. Geyer, Jr, MD, FACP
Discussant Charles E. Geyer, Jr, MD, FACP, Associate Director for Clinical Research at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center in Richmond, Virginia, singled out the power of this study’s dataset. “In 2002,” he said, “the Institute of Medicine named NSQIP [National Surgical Quality...
Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Appears to Have No Effect on Short-Term Outcomes in Breast Cancer Surgery
Patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy within 30 days prior to breast cancer surgery did not appear to be at increased risk for overall postoperative complications, according to a study presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “Although on unadjusted analysis there were more...
Cancer Care Through Nonpharmacologic Symptom Management
Nonpharmacologic approaches to managing pain have a fairly robust base of science and research supporting their use but are not as widely accepted and understood as drug therapy in the realm of cancer care. In a breakout session at the 2015 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium in Boston, experts...
Expert Point of View: Charles Loprinzi, MD
Charles Loprinzi, MD, Regis Professor of Breast Cancer Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, commented on these study findings to The ASCO Post: “This is a clinical application of the ghrelin agonist story that’s been brewing for maybe a decade. Is it better than megestrol acetate, the drug...
Filial Gaze at Our Noble Profession
As we stood outside patient X’s room going over the vitals, from a distance, I saw the father of the patient by the side of her bed. I saw him standing there and looking down at his child conveying what I guess were words of reassurance and reinforcing the pillars of strength needed for her...
Mixing Metaphors to Change the Language of Cancer
BookmarkTitle: Malignant Metaphor: Confronting Cancer MythsAuthor: Alanna MitchellPublisher: ECW PressPublication date: September 15, 2015Price: $24.95; hardcover, 184 pages Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom...
‘Substantial Number’ of Patients Requiring Palliative Radiotherapy for Stage IV NSCLC Are Overtreated
An analysis of data from 46,803 patients with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received palliative chest radiation therapy found that 49% received radiotherapy for longer than 15 fractions, and 28% received more than 25 fractions. This treatment pattern “is inconsistent with the...
Decline in PSA Testing and Incidence of Early Prostate Cancer Coincide With 2012 Recommendation Against PSA Screening
Two recent studies1,2 found that the rates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening have declined since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against PSA screening in 2012. One of those studies additionally found that the incidence of early-stage prostate cancer also...
Closure
The following essay by Kenneth R. Adler, MD, FACP, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org....
Patient Guides Available Through ASCO University Bookstore
ASCO Answers: Managing the Cost of Cancer Care explains the various costs associated with cancer treatment, including health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. It also provides a list of financial resources available to help offset expenses related to care and tips for organizing...
Hoping for a Cure
Unless you have a type of cancer that can be surgically removed or blasted into oblivion with chemotherapy or radiation therapy rendering a cure, having a chronic cancer like multiple myeloma robs you of a normal life. Learning to accept that fact is an adjustment. I was diagnosed with multiple...
Perceptions of End-of-Life Care Differ Sharply Between African Americans and White Americans
Studies demonstrate that patients with advanced cancer who are not actively engaged in planning their end-of-life care often receive overly aggressive, physically taxing, costly and unnecessary treatment toward life’s end. Recent findings indicate that African Americans appear to be more apt to...
The Lawless and Uncertain World of Medicine
Bookmark Title: The Laws of Medicine: Field Notes From an Uncertain Science Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee Publisher: TED Books/Simon & Schuster Publication date: October 13, 2015 Price: $16.99; hardcover, 96 pages The Emperor of All Maladies, written by the Indian-born American oncologist...
Acute Myeloid Leukemia in the Elderly: Trial Data Stir Hope for the Transplant Option
Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have high relapse rates after induction chemotherapy, low survival rates, and fewer treatment options compared with younger patients. One of the options for both younger and older patients is hematopoietic cell transplantation, but relatively few...
A Primary Care Doctor’s Tough-Love Medicare Fix
Bookmark Title: Curing Medicare: One Doctor’s View of How Our Health Care System Is Failing the Elderly and How to Fix It Author: Andy Lazris, MD Publisher: CreateSpace Publication date: September 13, 2014 Price: $13.75; paperback, 290 pages Several years ago I decided to write a book about...
Opening Doors: ASCO Aims to Increase Workforce Diversity Through Physician Mentoring Program
Olumide Gbolahan, MD, faced a familiar dilemma among aspiring oncologists. Dr. Gbolahan, an internal medicine resident of the Morehouse School of Medicine, wanted extra time and experience in an oncologic elective summer rotation to ease his transition from internal medicine to oncology. Unsure of...
The Promise of Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Cancer Therapy
The concept of using activation of the innate immune system and an inflammatory response against a bacterial component to instigate an antitumor response was studied in the 1960s, which led to the development of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin, now used in the treatment of superficial bladder ...
Surgery for Head and Neck Cancer Improves Survival—in Taiwan
A large study presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna found that patients with advanced oropharyngeal or hypopharyngeal cancer had improved survival if their primary treatment included surgery.1 The caveat is that these patients were treated in Taiwan, and the results may not be...
Breast Cancer Survivors May Expect More Extensive or Frequent Follow-up Testing Than Recommended
Patients who have been treated for breast cancer may overestimate the value of follow-up testing and may expect—or even ask for—more testing than recommended, Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, told participants at the Lynn Sage...
Partnering Therapies for Estrogen Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer Requires Close Monitoring and Patient Communication
Partnering endocrine therapy with new targeted agents for women with estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer “changes the nature of endocrine therapy from something easily tolerated, with not a lot that you have to do as physicians to monitor it,” William J. Gradishar, MD, of the Robert H. Lurie...
More, Earlier, and Better Goals-of-Care Conversations at the End of Life Are Feasible
An intervention called the Serious Illness Care Program helps clinicians to conduct more, earlier, and better conversations about goals of care with their seriously ill patients, according to Rachelle E. Bernacki, MD, MS, who presented the preliminary results of a study using this approach at the...
ASCO and AAHPM Define Primary Palliative Care in Oncology
A new guidance statement from ASCO and the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) could potentially lead to more standardized primary palliative care delivery across oncology settings, according to Kathleen E. Bickel, MD, MPhil, who presented the study findings at the 2015...
Pediatric Regimen Achieves Higher-Than-Expected Survival in Young Adults With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Adolescents and younger adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) had superior outcomes on a “pediatric” regimen compared with adult treatment protocols. A multicenter phase II study included patients aged 18–50, extending the upper limit of “younger,” since most other trials of this approach...
Expert Point of View: Nikolai Podoltsev, MD, PhD
Both the concept of an antibody-drug conjugate combined with less-intensive chemotherapy and the actual regimen used in this study are exciting, according to Nikolai Podoltsev, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology, Yale University Medical Center, New Haven, Connecticut. “This has...
Patients With Incomplete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Benefit From Capecitabine
Treatment with capecitabine increased disease-free and overall survival in breast cancer patients with residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, according to a study reported by researchers from Japan and Korea at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “It has been unclear whether...
Kieron Dunleavy, MD, on Burkitt Lymphoma: Preliminary Report of the DA-EPOCH-R Trial
Kieron Dunleavy, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, discusses a multi-center trial that set out to validate the effectiveness of DA-EPOCH-R-based therapy and whether a risk-adapted approach using the regimen is beneficial for patients with Burkitt lymphoma (Abstract 342).
ESMO Asia 2015: Cancer Drives Patients to Poverty in Southeast Asia
Five percent of cancer patients and their families were pushed into poverty in Southeast Asia between March 2012 and September 2013 because of high disease-related costs, a study (Abstract 52O) by Bhoo-Pathy et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Asia 2015 Congress in Singapore...
ESMO Asia 2015: Afatinib a Better Choice for EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer in First-Line Treatment
Patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-activating mutations in advanced lung cancer seem to benefit more from afatinib (Gilotrif) than gefitinib (Iressa) as first-line treatment, Park et al reported in a study (Abstract LBA2) presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology...
Patients With Thyroid Cancer Report Poor Quality of Life Despite ‘Good’ Diagnosis
Thyroid cancer survivors report poor quality of life after diagnosis and treatment compared with other patients who are diagnosed with more lethal cancers, according to new research from the University of Chicago Medicine. The findings, published by Aschebrook-Kilfoy et al in the journal Thyroid,...
Preoperative Use of Blood-Thinning Drugs Is Safe for Patients With Cancer
Among patients undergoing major cancer operations, the preoperative use of blood-thinning drugs such as heparin does not increase rates of major bleeding or transfusions, and is associated with a decreased risk of blood clots, according to new study results published by Selby et al in the Journal...
FDA Allows Marketing of Cooling Cap to Reduce Hair Loss During Chemotherapy
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the first cooling cap to reduce hair loss in female breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy for marketing in the United States. Hair loss is a common side effect of certain types of chemotherapy, commonly associated with the treatment of...
SABCS 2015: Denosumab Improves Disease-Free Survival for Postmenopausal Patients With Hormone Receptor–Positive Breast Cancer
Adding denosumab (Xgeva) to adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy improved disease-free survival for postmenopausal patients with early-stage, hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, according to results from the phase III ABCSG-18 clinical trial presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast...
ASH 2015: Young Adults With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Have Encouraging Survival With Pediatric Chemotherapy Regimen
Using a pediatric chemotherapy regimen to treat young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) significantly improved their outcomes compared to what has historically been achieved with “adult” treatment protocols, report Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists. Overall survival...
ASH 2015: High Response Rates, Long-Term Remissions in Relapsed/Refractory Pediatric ALL, Lymphomas After CTL019 Immunotherapy
Ninety-three percent of pediatric patients (55 of 59) with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) went into remission after receiving an investigational therapy made from their own immune cells, with continuous remissions of over 1 year in 18 patients and over 2 years in nine...
RSNA 2015: Subsolid Lung Nodules Pose Greater Cancer Risk to Women Than Men
Women with a certain type of lung nodule visible on lung cancer screening computed topography (CT) exams face a higher risk of lung cancer than men with similar nodules, according to a new study (SSA04-02) presented by Boiselle et al November 29 at the Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of...
RSNA 2015: Study Suggests Breast Density Alone Not a Risk Factor for Cancer
Breast density may not be a strong independent factor for breast cancer risk, according to a new study presented (BR267-SD-THA1) by Katavic et al December 2, 2015, at the Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago. Prior research has shown an association between...
Vigorous Exercise and Healthy Habits May Dramatically Reduce Chance of Lethal Prostate Cancer for Men Over 60
A study that tracked tens of thousands of middle-aged and older men for more than 20 years has found that vigorous exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits may cut their chances of developing a lethal type of prostate cancer by up to 68%. While most prostate cancers are clinically indolent, a...
Some Rare HER2 Mutations May Not Be Capable of Causing Breast Cancer Growth
Results of a new laboratory study by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers suggest that some rare “missense” mutations in the HER2 gene are apparently not—on their own—capable of causing breast cancer growth or spread. In a related finding, the research team said...
