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Showing 5301 - 5350Timing and Meaning of Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders in the Palliative Care Setting
Although a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order does not mean “do not treat,” that is how it is often interpreted, according to a study examining the level of care oncology inpatients at a tertiary care hospital received.1 The study found that the interpretation of DNR orders among oncology nurses and...
Issue Highlights
Career and Training Transitioning From Fellowship to Career: Expectations vs Reality Start Expanding Your Oncology Network Today: Five Tips to Get You Networking Mentoring for New Community Physicians: The Toledo Clinic Experience Don’t Call Your Program Director “Dude”… and Other Tips for...
PALB2 Study: Researchers and Patients Must 'Pal' for Progress
The recent publication by Antoniou et al on risk of breast cancer in PALB2 carriers,1 reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post (page 47), is a contribution to the interesting history of the PALB2 gene, and an important milestone in the expansion of hereditary cancer susceptibility testing in the...
Patient-Reported Outcomes in Hematology and Oncology Product Development
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its policies and procedures. In this installment, Virginia Kwitkowski, MS, RN, ACNP-BC, and Elektra Papadopoulos, MD, MPH, discuss FDA’s current approach to the review of study...
Angiogenesis in Ovarian Cancer: Are We Missing the Clinical Target?
Production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is increased during normal ovulation, and can account for much of the reversible toxicity associated with ovarian hyperstimulation.1,2 We also have compelling data from multiple clinical trials to validate the importance of tumor-associated...
What Constitutes High-Volume/Extensive Disease?
"I'm not sure what extensive disease really is, but in some patients, when you see it, you really recognize it. In other patients, it’s not 100% clear,” Dr. Yu commented (Fig. 1). Some patients with multiple medium or large lesions in bone would clearly meet the definition used in the CHAARTED...
When Should Chemotherapy Be Used in Metastatic Prostate Cancer?
Questions abound when it comes to the optimal timing and sequencing of chemotherapy in metastatic prostate cancer, according to Dr. Yu. For example, arguments could be made both for using it earlier, while disease is still hormone-sensitive, or later, after hormonal resistance emerges. “For...
Studies Help Refine Management of Prostate Cancer
Several studies reported at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting address gray areas in the management of prostate cancer, according to Evan Y. Yu, MD, Associate Professor at the University of Washington and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. “In prostate cancer, probably the most excitement has happened...
Hsp90 Inhibitors May Soon Transition Into Clinic
Inhibitors of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) look promising for the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and have the advantage of not needing a specific mutation to target, said Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, Professor and Chief of Medical Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of...
In Advanced Lung Cancer, Targeted Combinations Are Still Works in Progress
For the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), combinations of targeted agents are of great research interest but have not yet been shown to improve outcomes. Single-agent treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, therefore, remains the standard of care for patients with...
9/11 and Cancer: What Do We Know?
On September 11, 2001, the devastating terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center left in its wake a unique toxic site in both mass and quantity of hazardous materials. It took 9 months to remove approximately 2 million tons of wreckage from Ground Zero, during which thousands of...
Will Oncologists Be the First to Cure Heart Disease?
Oncologists love jargon—a language peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group that facilitates communication among members. Our day-to-day communications, medical notes, and journal reports are filled with this type of jargon. Other definitions of jargon are less flattering, including...
ASCO 50th Anniversary Poll Names the Top 5 Advances From the Past 50 Years
ASCO has announced the “Top 5 Advances in 50 Years of Modern Oncology,” based on results of worldwide voting on CancerProgress.Net—ASCO’s interactive website documenting the history of progress against cancer. The “Top 5 in 50” results identify pivotal discoveries in chemotherapy, prevention,...
AACR 2014 Cancer Progress Report Call to Action: Prioritize Federal Funding for Biomedical Research
Last month, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released its 2014 Cancer Progress Report: Transforming Lives Through Research, which highlights the quickening pace of drug development and approval, especially in molecularly targeted agents, that are leading to increased numbers of...
Expect Questions From Patients
The study finding1 that men with moderate pattern baldness on the front and the crown of the head at age 45 had a 40% increased risk, compared to men with no baldness at that age, of developing prostate cancer later in life has received coverage by diverse media, from USA Today2 to TIME3 to the...
Moderate Form of Male Pattern Baldness Associated With Increased Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Men with moderate pattern baldness on the front and the crown of the head at age 45 had a 40% increased risk, compared to men with no baldness at that age, of developing prostate cancer later in life, according to a study led by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and published in...
Social Media Is Helping Me Cope With Cancer
Despite a diagnosis in August 2013 of stage III high-grade spindle cell sarcoma and subsequent disease recurrence, I’m mindful of how fortunate I am that my cancer was found before widespread metastases could take hold, making treatment futile. It was just happenstance, 2 months before, on a long...
Fear
The following essay by Michael Feinstein, MD, is excerpted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was co-edited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org....
Roswell Park Researchers Awarded Nearly $5 Million to Support Research Projects
Several faculty members at Roswell Park Cancer Institute have been awarded nearly $5 million in grant funding from public and private organizations to further their efforts to find new and better ways to detect and treat cancer and improve patients’ quality of life. The 13 awards, including two for ...
The Audacity of Courage
We have toolsWe have ghoulsBut nowhere are there more foolsThan in the rulesfrom those who govern the tools! In the bias That climbs on the shoulders To bring plausibility Through implied causality,Where is ignorance?Where is reality?Where are all the tools of Reason? ...
Integrative Oncology: Mind, Body, and More
Bookmark Title: Integrative Oncology (Second Edition)Editors: Donald I. Abrams, MD, and Andrew T. Weil, MDPublisher: Oxford University PressPublication date: September 3, 2014Price: $65.00; Paperback, 848 pages In 1990, David Eisenberg, MD, from the Harvard School of Public Health, conducted a...
Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Breast Cancer
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for people with breast cancer. The studies include phase I and II, interventional, and observational trials evaluating new therapies; diagnostic tools; genetic counseling; the association ...
100 Years of Progress in Oncology Treatment
In his powerful 2010 best-seller, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (Scribner), Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, chronicles the evolution of cancer from the oldest known description of the disease written on a papyrus from about 1600 BC to the present day’s understanding of the biology of ...
Addressing the Needs of Patients With Children
Often, the children of patients with cancer are the invisible sufferers of the disease and its aftermath. These online resources can help patients talk with their children about a cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, and their potential impact on the children. American Cancer Society:...
Helping Patients Talk to Their Children About Cancer
Although the focus of an oncologist’s attention is understandably attuned to the needs of the patient, when a patient is a parent, quality oncology care should also include attention to the patient’s role as a parent and to the needs of the patient’s children, according to Paula K. Rauch, MD,...
Now in Its 71st Year, CancerCare Looks to Expand Services to Patients and Caregivers
Eleven days before Patricia J. Goldsmith, joined CancerCare as its CEO last May, she received the unexpected news that she had early-stage colorectal cancer. While the diagnosis was shocking, Ms. Goldsmith said it gave her a unique perspective on what it means to have this serious disease and a...
Breaking the Silence About Breast Cancer in the Arab World
In 1974, First Lady Betty Ford spoke publicly about her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Remarkably, at the time of her action, public discussion of breast cancer in the United States was seen as off limits. Four decades later, cultural barriers to women’s health still exist, particularly in...
On Being A Mentee and the Value of the Conquer Cancer Foundation’s Career Development Award
At the ASCO Annual Meeting in June, the Conquer Cancer Foundation presented the 2014 recipients of prestigious grants and awards, including the Young Investigator Award, Career Development Award, and the Advanced Clinical Research Award in Breast Cancer. In announcing the awards, Charles W. Penley, ...
The Value of Lifelong Mentorship in Career Development
While the development of mentorship relationships is critical in launching and nurturing the academic careers of young investigators, it is also an essential component for continued success throughout their careers, according to Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD. Dr. Brown, Director of the CLL Center at...
Treating Sarcomas in 2014
In 2014, about 15,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with some form of sarcoma, and of those, approximately 5,000 adults and children are expected to die of the disease. Sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of mesenchymal malignancies that have historically been difficult to diagnose...
Failure of Cilengitide in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma With Methylated MGMT Promoter
Temozolomide in combination with radiation for newly diagnosed glioblastoma was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005—almost 10 years ago—but we have unfortunately made little progress in improving survival for this incurable brain tumor. Despite recent completion of three...
The Latest Information for Patients From ASCO’s Symposia
The 2014 ASCO Quality Care Symposium is taking place this week, from October 17 to 18, and the new Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium is next week, from October 24 to 25. Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/blog to learn what the research announced prior to the symposia means and how it...
Fellows’ Expectations of Work-Life Balance Not in Line With Realities of Practice
Oncology fellows just years away from entering the profession full time may have unrealistic expectations of their future career, according to data published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study by Tait D. Shanafelt, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues...
ECOG E4402/RESORT Trial: When ‘Black and White’ Results Are Actually Gray
The results of the ECOG E4402/RESORT trial recently reported by Kahl and colleagues,1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, provide interesting new information on the use of maintenance rituximab (Rituxan) vs retreatment with rituximab at progression in patients with low–tumor burden...
Early Study Reports Modified Vitamin D Has Potential in Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
Researchers at the Salk Institute have reported on a synthetic derivative of vitamin D able to collapse the barrier of cells shielding pancreatic tumors, making this challenging cancer more susceptible to therapeutic drugs. The discovery has led to human trials for pancreatic cancer, even in...
Exceptional Responders to Cancer Therapy Study Begins
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently launched “The Exceptional Responders Initiative,” a study to investigate the molecular factors of tumors associated with exceptional treatment responses of patients with cancer to drug therapies. Scientists will attempt to identify the molecular features ...
Despite Growing Awareness, the Global Crisis of Untreated Cancer Pain Persists
Each day, millions of patients with cancer around the world suffer unrelieved pain because they are denied morphine, the gold standard of cancer pain control. The World Health Organization has called access to morphine a human rights issue. Not surprisingly, the crisis in unrelieved cancer pain is...
Ohio State Opens First Fully Integrated Cancer Emergency Department
For patients with cancer who already have compromised immune systems, what may seem like a minor medical issue—ie, fever, dehydration, viral infection—can rapidly escalate into an emergency situation requiring care from a medical team familiar with managing the side effects of cancer treatment....
Attaining the Goal of Preventing Ovarian Cancer
Fifteen years ago, David Fishman, MD, launched the National Ovarian Cancer Early Detection Program as part of the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network. The goal of the research effort was to develop methods to accurately detect ovarian cancer while it was still confined to...
Guidelines and Care: What Comes Next?
The goal of clinical, translational, and basic research is, in the end, the betterment of life on earth. Advances in basic and clinical science ultimately should lead to information that, in turn, enables clinicians to make better treatment decisions for individual patients in order to improve...
ASCO Clinical Practice Guideline: Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy in Advanced HER2-Negative or HER2 Status–Unknown Breast Cancer
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has released a new clinical practice guideline on chemotherapy and targeted therapy for women with advanced HER2-negative or HER2 status–unknown breast cancer. The guideline is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 In formulating the consensus...
REVEL: Winning a Questionable Race
The investigators and sponsors of the phase III REVEL trial should be congratulated and probably commiserated. In this large study, reported by Garon and colleagues in The Lancet and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, 1,253 patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were...
CancerCare® Awarded $1.5 Million Grant From Susan G. Komen®
CancerCare, a leading national nonprofit organization providing free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer, has received a $1.5 million grant to assist people diagnosed with breast cancer. The grant will support a CancerCare program in partnership with Susan G. Komen called...
CTNeoBC Analysis: Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Varies by Breast Tumor Subtype
Women who achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy rarely have local or regional recurrence of breast cancer, but this largely depends on tumor subtype, which remained an independent predictor of locoregional recurrence when pathologic response was taken into account ...
How Accurate Is the Pathologic Assessment of the Partial Mastectomy Specimen?
The pathologic evaluation of lumpectomy margins is “fraught with problems and pitfalls,” said Stuart J. Schnitt, MD, Director of Anatomic Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, who was part of a multidisciplinary discussion of ...
Pathologic Complete Response: Understanding the Subtleties
In the neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer, the importance of achieving a pathologic complete response (pCR) varies substantially by breast cancer subtype. Patients are increasingly interested in this outcome, but it means different things to different patients, according to two breast cancer...
Managing Resistance to Targeted Agents: The Future of NSCLC Therapy
The bane of treating non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with druggable mutations has been the development of resistance to targeted agents. New compounds are meeting the challenge of treating resistant disease, according to Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair of Hematology and...
Best of ASCO Seattle Proves Engaging, Provocative
This year’s Best of ASCO meeting held in Seattle featured topics that both riveted attendees and pushed their buttons, according to program chair Alan P. Venook, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco. “I am extremely pleased with the quality of the presentations from the faculty, but...
Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Benefits Patients With Early-Stage Inoperable or Advanced Oligometastatic Lung Cancer
The door is open for expanded use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with inoperable early-stage lung cancer and for patients with oligometastatic stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to results of two studies presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the...
Tough Questions About Health-Care Reform Put Economist in Hot Seat
Although diverse stakeholders agree that health reform is needed, there is little consensus on the specifics of that reform. Best of ASCO Seattle attendees put a number of pointed questions to health economist Rena Conti, PhD, of the University of Chicago, asking about thorny issues such as cost...
