Researchers have examined whether a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-first approach is safe for prostate cancer detection over the long term, according to a recent study published by Hamm et al in JAMA Oncology. Background Several strategies may be deployed for the early detection of prostate...
At the 2024 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 883), Alexey Danilov, MD, PhD, of the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, reported that single-agent epcoritamab led...
In a German phase III trial (CLL12), reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Langerbeins et al found that ibrutinib prolonged the time to symptomatic disease in patients with early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) vs placebo. However, no differences in overall survival were observed....
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) has examined the National Cancer Control Plans and reported their findings in a new comprehensive global review published by Romero et al in The Lancet Oncology. The findings will be presented at the Cancer Planners Forum in May 2025 in Geneva,...
During a shortage of the generic platinum chemotherapy drugs cisplatin and carboplatin that began in early 2023, investigators found no difference in mortality rates among patients with advanced cancer compared with the previous year, according to a recent study published by Reibel et al in the...
Patients with early-stage, node-negative, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer who have a high risk of recurrence based on the OncotypeDX genomic test had better outcomes when treated with adjuvant anthracycline plus taxane-based chemotherapy regimens compared with those...
Cancer care is increasingly complicated by the presence of comorbidities, which affect nearly two-thirds of patients at the time of diagnosis and can influence treatment decisions, participation in clinical trials, and overall outcomes. During 2024 JADPRO Live, M. Edie Brucker, DNP, MPH, ARNP,...
Managing cancer pain in patients with substance use disorder presents a unique challenge for oncologists, requiring a balance between effective symptom management and mitigation of the risks of substance misuse. During the 2024 JADPRO Live, Antonia Corrigan, MSN, ANP-C, ACHPN, emphasized the...
Researchers have found that dietary changes may help reduce cancer cell growth in patients with prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance, according to a recent study published by Aronson et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings demonstrated that a diet low in omega-6 and high...
The phase III ZEST clinical trial, designed to evaluate the PARP inhibitor niraparib for the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in patients with circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), failed to accrue enough patients positive for ctDNA, according to results presented at the 2024 San Antonio Breast...
Patients with intermediate-risk breast cancer had similar rates of 10-year overall survival whether or not they underwent chest wall irradiation after mastectomy, according to results from the BIG 2-04 MRC SUPREMO clinical trial, presented by Ian Kunkler, MA, MB BChir, of the University of...
Mafalda Oliveira, MD, PhD, of Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Spain, presented the primary results of SOLTI VALENTINE, a neoadjuvant randomized phase II trial of HER3-DXd alone or in combination with letrozole for high-risk hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative early breast cancer (Abstract...
Researchers have revealed that high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation may not benefit patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who are in remission following initial treatment, according to new findings presented by Fenske et al at the 2024 American Society of...
The addition of blinatumomab to chemotherapy may improve disease-free survival in pediatric patients newly diagnosed with National Cancer Institute (NCI) standard-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at average or high risk of relapse, according to new findings presented by Rau et al at...
Patients with germline BRCA gene mutations and a history of early-onset breast cancer who underwent a bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy and/or a risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy had lower rates of recurrence, secondary breast and/or ovarian malignancies, and death than those who did not...
John O. Mascarenhas, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discusses early results from the ongoing phase I/IB IMproveMF trial, which is evaluating the safety and activity of the novel combination of imetelstat and ruxolitinib in patients with intermediate- or high-risk myelofibrosis...
A bacterial toxin may accelerate the spread of colorectal cancer to other parts of the body, according to a recent study published by He et al in Cell Host & Microbiome. The findings could pave the way for novel tools to detect metastatic colorectal cancer early and determine which patients may ...
An analysis of the results from the ongoing randomized phase III AQUILA study found that daratumumab monotherapy was well tolerated and demonstrated a clinically meaningful and significant benefit in preventing or delaying progression to active multiple myeloma compared with active monitoring in...
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), an SABCS cosponsor, will honor two researchers for their significant contributions to breast cancer research during the 2024 SABCS. 2024 AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research ...
Metformin may strengthen the effects of immunotherapy and improve recurrence-free survival in patients with lung cancer with overweight or obesity, according to a recently published article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.1 The investigators looked at data from two groups of...
Guest Editor’s Note: The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) held its 21st International Conference in Costa Mesa, California. The conference theme was “Full Circle Translational Integrative Oncology: From Bedside to Bench and Back.” The Southern California vibe fostered collegiality and...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this occasional special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Cameroon. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the...
Improvements in cancer prevention and screening have averted more deaths from five cancer types combined over the past 45 years than treatment advances, according to a modeling study led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study, published by Goddard et al in JAMA...
A novel cell-based immunotherapy may enhance treatment responses and reduce the need for conventional chemotherapy and its associated toxicities in patients with breast cancer, according to a recent study published by Han et al in JAMA Oncology. Study Methods and Results In the phase I clinical...
A self-pay, artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced breast cancer screening program could help improve breast cancer detection rates, according to new findings presented by Sorensen et al at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2024 Annual Meeting (Abstract R5B-SPBR-4). Background Despite ...
Durvalumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, has shown activity in treating a wide range of cancers and has been proposed as a potentially safer and more effective option than cetuximab, according to Loren K. Mell, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical and Translational Research at University of ...
Two weeks after the 2024 election, the Presidency and 119th Congress are coming into focus, with nearly all races called. Republican Donald Trump was elected President, and Republicans regained control of the U.S. Senate (53–47) and maintained control in the House of Representatives (218–212 at...
The soaring number of cancer survivors since the National Cancer Act of 1971 was enacted into law provides a snapshot of the profound progress made against cancer over the past half-century: 3 million survivors in the 1970s,1 compared to more than 18 million today, and that number is expected to...
Researchers from Cleveland Clinic recently presented updated findings from a novel study of a vaccine aimed at preventing triple-negative breast cancer. The findings were presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting.1 According to researchers, including principal...
In a Chinese phase III trial (HELEN-006) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Chen et al found that the de-escalated neoadjuvant treatment with the addition of nab-paclitaxel to trastuzumab/pertuzumab produced a higher pathologic complete response rate (pCR) vs docetaxel/carboplatin plus...
Targeting certain bacterial strains linked to cancer with treatments or vaccines may help to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, urothelial carcinoma, and prostate cancer, according to a novel study published by Mäklin et al in The Lancet Microbiome. Background The bacterium Escherichia coli is...
The results of the HARMOny study published in JACC: CardioOncology by Beekman et al did not reveal a long-term adverse effect of prophylactic surgical menopause on the development of coronary artery calcium—a marker of cardiovascular disease risk—in women with a high familial risk of ovarian...
The 2024 Alexander R. Margulis Award for Scientific Excellence honored the authors of a 20-year follow-up study on the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP). The Margulis Award was presented recently during the 2024 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Scientific Assembly ...
Worldwide, more than a billion people have obesity—including 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents, and 39 million children1—a rate that has nearly doubled since 1980.2 In the United States alone, about two out of three adults are overweight or have obesity, and one out of three have...
Adding chemoradiation to perioperative chemotherapy improves pathologic complete response rates in patients with resectable gastric cancer but does not extend overall survival, according to data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 20241 and published...
Komal Jhaveri, MD, FACP, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and a Breast Medical Oncologist & Early Drug Development Specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. In this video from The ASCO Post Newreels, Dr. Jhaveri shares a...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Mell et al, the phase II/III NRG-HN004 trial of radiotherapy with durvalumab or cetuximab in patients with locoregionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and contraindications for cisplatin was stopped for futility during phase II; the phase III...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with medical oncologist Yüksel Ürün, MD, about his clinical and research career in oncology. Dr. Ürün is Professor of Medicine at the Ankara University School of Medicine in Turkey. After...
Researchers have demonstrated that a targeted intervention may increase screening rates in patients who do not adhere to current colorectal cancer screening recommendations, according to a recent study published by Reuland et al in JAMA Network Open. Background Colorectal cancer screening is often...
In a phase IIb trial (ReNeu) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Moertel et al found that the CNS-penetrant small molecule MEK1/2 inhibitor mirdametinib showed activity in adults and children with symptomatic neurofibromatosis type 1-associated plexiform neurofibroma (NF1-PN). Study...
In a retrospective study (OPBC-05/ICARO) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Giacomo Montagna, MD, MPH, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues found that nodal burden in patients with breast cancer with residual isolated tumor cells after neoadjuvant...
In the final per-protocol analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-811 trial, an overall survival benefit was shown by adding the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab to trastuzumab and chemotherapy in treatment-naive, unresectable, HER2-positive metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.1...
Neoadjuvant therapy for patients with resectable stage III melanoma has recently emerged as a better approach than resection plus adjuvant therapy. At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024, updates of pivotal neoadjuvant studies demonstrated the long-standing benefit of...
Consolidation therapy with the PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor durvalumab is set to become the new global standard of care for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to groundbreaking data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024.1...
An updated overall survival analysis of the phase III HIMALAYA study, now at 5 years, confirms the benefit for the STRIDE regimen of the monoclonal antibodies durvalumab plus tremelimumab in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.1 [The STRIDE regimen consists of a single priming dose of...
Late-breaking findings from the phase IIIb/IV, open-label DESTINY-Breast12 trial support the use of the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer and brain metastases who have experienced disease progression on at least...
For women with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer, KEYNOTE-522 changed the treatment paradigm several years ago. Support for neoadjuvant use of the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy, followed by adjuvant pembrolizumab, was bolstered by the positive overall survival analysis...
A 3-week moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy regimen has been found to be noninferior to the 5-week fractionation when irradiating nodal areas in patients with breast cancer, according to data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024.1 The 5-year results of...
In the neoadjuvant I-SPY2.2 trial, a treatment strategy including the antibody-drug conjugate datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd), partnered with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab, yielded a high pathologic complete response rate, especially in immune-positive and ‘all-negative’ subtypes.1...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 in Barcelona featured several groundbreaking trials with the potential to significantly influence clinical practice. These studies highlighted the benefits of new combination immunotherapy strategies and innovative approaches in the...