The challenge in treating patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer is how to render tumors resectable and how to achieve the negative surgical margins that enhance long-term survival odds. Fortunately, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is helping to achieve these important goals, according to...
No significant difference was observed in the risk of recurrence, local recurrence, or death between patients with cervical cancer in whom a radical uterine procedure (mostly radical hysterectomy) was completed or abandoned upon intraoperative detection of positive pelvic lymph nodes. These...
Almost half of patients who received the PARP inhibitor olaparib for newly diagnosed BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer remained disease-free after 5 years, according to data presented by Susana Banerjee, MBBS, PhD, and colleagues during the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract 811MO). Patients...
In a large group of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, consumption of a few cups of coffee a day was associated with longer survival and reduced risk of disease progression, according to findings reported by Mackintosh et al in JAMA Oncology. The findings, based on data from a large...
A new report examining cancer in adolescents and young adults (AYAs, defined as diagnoses occurring between the ages of 15 and 39) provides updated estimates of the contemporary cancer burden in this age group, with predictions that 89,500 cases and 9,270 deaths will occur in this group in 2020 in...
For the first time, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) has improved outcomes in patients with early breast cancer when combined with standard endocrine therapy, Stephen Johnston, MD, PhD, and colleagues reported at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 (Abstract LBA5_PR)....
The Lung ART trial was designed to demonstrate whether there was any benefit to the routine use of modern mediastinal postoperative radiotherapy in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following complete resection and (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy. No difference in disease-free survival...
In a phase I clinical trial for patients with advanced solid cancers marked by KRAS G12C mutations, the KRAS G12C inhibitor sotorasib (AMG 510) showed manageable toxicities and durable clinical benefits. Results from the trial were published in The New England Journal of Medicine, and data from the ...
Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the first results from the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial, which suggested the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib is safe. It showed activity in progression-free and overall survival, as well as in overall response rates and may ...
Researchers have found that certain treatments for cancer may increase the chance of death if they contract COVID-19. These findings from a multicenter study presented by Trisha Wise-Draper, MD, and colleagues at the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020 (LBA71), shed light on ways standard anticancer...
Delays and cancellation of cancer treatments and other safety measures undertaken to minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus have generated a backlog in oncology care and research. The threat of delayed diagnoses looms while oncology professionals face burnout, according to new studies...
Access to cancer treatments is highly unequal across Europe, both for new drugs in development (due to disparities in access to clinical trials) and for currently approved drugs (due to disparities in health-care spending by different countries), according to results from two studies being...
There are approximately 25 million foreign-born immigrants living in the United States, which is more than 13% of the nation’s total population. Of these individuals, it is estimated that about 11 million are undocumented; by far, the largest group of this immigrant undocumented population is...
Higher viral loads may be associated with a greater risk of death among patients with cancer—and individuals without cancer—hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a report by Westblade et al in Cancer Cell. Among hospitalized patients infected with COVID-19, those with hematologic malignancies...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released its inaugural Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2020, which found that while overall cancer death rates are declining and the number of survivors is reaching record highs, progress against cancer is not benefiting everyone equally, with...
Clinicians who treat multiple myeloma can anticipate a host of new treatments: melflufen, cereblon E3 ligase (CEL) modulators, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Director of the Jerome Lipper Multiple...
Patients treated for bladder cancer with a radical cystectomy have worse outcomes if they are smokers, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis by Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). The study appeared in The Journal of Urology.1 “This study is important because...
In the treatment of adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), use of newer antibodies and de-intensification of chemotherapy have greatly improved outcomes, according to Hagop Kantarjian, MD, who has been very involved in much of the research in ALL treatment. Dr. Kantarjian, Professor and...
Results from a phase II trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center suggest that a combination of ipilimumab (anti–CTLA-4) plus nivolumab (anti–PD-1) can generate durable responses in a subset of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, an...
Research published by Zhang et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that an inherited variation in the GATA3 gene strongly influences early response to chemotherapy and is linked to relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Minimal residual disease (MRD)...
For some patients with prostate cancer, surgery and/or radiation are considered standard treatments. However, these procedures may cause side effects, including urinary incontinence or impotency. A recent study published by Abreu et al in the Journal of Urology demonstrated that high-intensity...
According to findings from a small study published by Calabretta et al in Circulation, treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors may worsen inflammation in the arteries that distribute blood from the heart. The research found increased inflammation in the large arteries of 20 Austrian patients...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released new data from the 2020 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). The results, published by Wang et al in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), show 1.8 million...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many stem cell transplant centers (including guidance from the National Marrow Donor Program [NMDP]) recommend that stem cell products be frozen for preservation. However, findings from a study by Duncan Purtill, MD, and colleagues in Blood Advances suggest that the...
In the TRANSCEND NHL 001 study reported in The Lancet, Jeremy S. Abramson, MD, and colleagues found that the autologous CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell agent lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) produced a high response rate in patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell...
A new position statement by ASCO calls for the continuation of flexibilities in reimbursement that have allowed the expanded use of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement, which also calls for further research on telemedicine’s effectiveness and benefits, offers recommendations...
I have been a registered nurse for almost 5 decades and was completely unprepared to hear the words “You have stage IV lung cancer.” I think receiving the diagnosis was especially shocking because the symptoms I began experiencing in the summer of 2015, including some unusual weight gain,...
Cervical cancer is a worldwide public health problem. The incidence of the disease is particularly high in low- and middle-income countries, where low coverage of prevention strategies and high risk of infection persist. To reduce morbidity and mortality, improved screening and prevention are...
Formal discussant of the 2013 ASCO Plenary Abstract 2, Electra D. Paskett, PhD, Professor of Medicine at The Ohio State University, was enthusiastic about the trial results and the potential of visual inspection with acetic acid screening, as well as low-cost human papillomavirus (HPV) screening...
In 2013, at the ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session, it was both surprising and encouraging in the era of personalized medicine for cancer care to hear about a simple low-tech intervention delivered by women in the community that cut the rate of death from cervical cancer in India by about...
Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) announced the beginning of construction on its South Lake Union campus to add a six-story, 150,000 square-foot outpatient cancer treatment clinic. The largest single construction project in SCCA history, the new building will feature a patient-centered design,...
On August 5, 2020, the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin-blmf was granted accelerated approval for treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least four prior therapies, including an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, a proteasome inhibitor, ...
On July 7, 2020, an oral combination of the nucleoside metabolic inhibitor decitabine and the cytidine deaminase inhibitor cedazuridine was approved for treatment of adult patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), including: Previously treated and untreated, de novo, and secondary MDS with the ...
Of the tens of thousands of genes in cellular DNA, one group of genes is tasked with ensuring that every cell reproduces itself exactly when it divides to make new cells. Perhaps the best known of these genes are the BRCA genes, which if inherited with a significant alteration, confer a markedly...
Global oncology refers to the application of the concepts of global health to cancer and implies an approach to the practice of oncology that acknowledges the reality of limited resources in parts of the world. The Global Oncology Young Investigator Award (YIA) from ASCO and Conquer Cancer, the...
Multiple myeloma is a malignant clonal plasma cell malignancy that primarily affects older adults. Although therapeutic advances have led to improvements in disease-specific and overall survival over the past decade, age-related survival disparities continue to exist. The higher prevalence of...
On July 30, 2020, atezolizumab was granted approval for use in combination with cobimetinib and vemurafenib for patients with BRAF V600 mutation–positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings from the phase III, double-blind IMspire150 trial ...
Among the first 45 members selected to join the 10x Genomics Visium Clinical Translational Research Network are 3 scientists from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. The organization is aimed at advancing translational research in some of the world’s leading health problems, including oncology,...
In keeping with her Presidential theme of “Equity: Every Patient, Every Day, Everywhere,” in July, ASCO President Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, announced the Society was joining forces with the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) to increase racial and ethnic minority participation...
On June 30, 2020, avelumab was approved for maintenance treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has not progressed with first-line platinum-containing chemotherapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the randomized, multicenter, ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer. They include narratives, topical essays, historical...
In this period of time, more than ever before, I feel the dichotomy of being a non-Hispanic White American vs a person of color. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, I rode the subway to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Ralph Lauren Cancer Center clinic in Harlem, where I was often the only White person on...
Although most patients with breast cancer are considered to have an overall excellent prognosis, 600,000 people still die annually of the disease around the world. Even in HER2-positive breast cancer, a subtype that has seen a transformation of outcomes in the past 2 decades, there’s still room for ...
Cancer is not for the faint of heart, and sometimes neither is the treatment, according to information presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Education Program.1 Approximately 30% of patients who receive cancer therapy will have cardiovascular complications.2 What’s more, in anthracycline-treated...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Hematology Expert Review, we take a closer look at the monoclonal antibody targeting CD38, daratumumab, in the treatment of amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis and resistant multiple myeloma as well as the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin-blmf,...
Recognizing the COVID-19 crisis “as an opportunity to mobilize the organization to rise in the most difficult challenges” allowed The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, to keep mortality rates low for COVID-19–positive patients with cancer and its employees. So said Peter WT...
With incredibly paced approvals and clinical advancements in the systemic therapy of cutaneous melanoma, the efficacy of immunotherapy in this disease is clear. However, many important questions remain regarding timing and dosing—in other words, which drug (or drugs) makes the most sense and in...
The global impact of the novel coronavirus cannot be overstated, but its effects on cancer care delivery in the United States have been particularly far-reaching. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in fewer cancer screenings and reduction in the treatment of new cancers. As a result, the National...
Tumor immunologist Patrick Hwu, MD, has been appointed the new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Moffitt Cancer Center. He joins Moffitt from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is Division Head of Cancer Medicine. Dr. Hwu begins his new role at Moffitt on...
A team of cellular-therapy specialists from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that patients who develop cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections after allogeneic stem cell transplantation may be able to develop an immunity against the virus, strengthen their immune system, and reduce...