Trial results presented by Stadtmauer during the 58th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego (Abstract LBA-1) suggest two therapies that are often added to standard therapy in patients with multiple myeloma do not improve rates of progression-free survival ...
As reported by Erik P. Sulman, MD, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has endorsed the 2016 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) evidence-based guideline on radiation therapy for glioblastoma. The endorsement was based on review of ...
The combined use of genetic markers and minimal residual disease assessment (MRD) has made it easier to identify chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients likely to have a poor outcome after receiving frontline chemoimmunotherapy. Interim results from the phase III German CLL M1 study presented...
In a UK population–based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Khosrow-Khavar et al found no significant association between the use of androgen-deprivation therapy and the risk for dementia in patients with prostate cancer. The study involved a cohort of 30,903 men with newly...
Patients who potentially could benefit most from participation in clinical trials due to poor prognoses often are not included based on eligibility criteria, such as existing medical illnesses. A novel study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center revealed some patients with acute...
Children and young adults with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who receive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD22, a protein found on the surface of leukemic cells, appear to mount a clinical response and, in some cases, achieve remission....
Having a child with cancer led to income reductions for parents and job discontinuation among mothers in a recent study, even after adjusting for prediagnosis sociodemographic factors. Published by Norberg et al in Cancer, the findings indicate that childhood cancer affects parents' income and...
In the largest-ever study on screening mammography outcomes, researchers found that there is no clear cutoff age to stop breast cancer screening. The findings were presented November 28, 2016, at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). This research adds support ...
Greenlee et al found that obesity, overweight, and low levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were associated with an increased risk of taxane-related peripheral neuropathy in women with invasive breast cancer, according to a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ...
Although alcohol consumption is associated with increasing the risk of many cancers, including liver, pancreatic, colon, rectal, and breast, the link between alcohol and higher risk of melanoma is equivocal. Now, a large prospective study by Rivera et al investigating the link between alcohol...
In the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC) 005 prospective biomarker study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Visvanathan et al, a cumulative methylation index was found to be predictive of progression-free survival, overall survival, and disease status at first...
In an analysis of a French trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Balsat et al found that postinduction minimal residual disease was predictive of outcome and benefit from allogeneic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients with NPM1-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The study...
Like many patients in the chronic phase of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), my cancer was discovered during a routine physical, when an off-the-chart white blood cell count signaled a serious problem that my primary care physician attributed to unspecified internal bleeding. Fortunately for me, my...
Launched in 2012 by Harborside Press, publisher of the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO) and The ASCO Post, this year’s JADPRO Live at APSHO conference topped previous attendance records with nearly 1,100 attendees. APSHO, the Advanced Practitioner Society in Hematology and...
Prior to the 20th century, there were very few specific therapies for disease. Many diseases, especially cancers and infections, resulted in accumulations of fluid or pus in body cavities. Physicians had to become masters of the trocar, needle, and catheter. They learned to artfully remove fluid...
It was 1983, and I was in my third year as an attending physician at a major East Coast university medical center and just 5 years out of fellowship. As was common at the time, I saw and treated all malignancies except leukemia and gynecologic cancers. In the middle of a typically busy day at the ...
It should not come as a surprise to anyone who has read Dr. Paul Kalanithi’s brilliant—and unforgettable—memoir, When Breath Becomes Air (Random House, 2016), that nearly a year after publication, it remains on The New York Times best-seller list, its popularity only increasing with time. Written...
In the phase III S-TRAC trial reported at the recent European Society for Medical Oncology meeting and in The New England Journal of Medicine by Alain Ravaud, MD, PhD, of Bordeaux University Hospital, and colleagues, adjuvant sunitinib (Sutent) significantly prolonged disease-free survival vs...
Immunotherapy with anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) and anti–PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1) agents continues to advance in metastatic urothelial cancer, with positive showings in two clinical trials presented at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress. The...
New research shows that excess weight increases the risk that a benign blood disorder will progress to multiple myeloma. The study, by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Being overweight or obese has been...
The ASCO Post is pleased to present this special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the world. For the convenience of the reader, each issue will focus on one country from one of the six regions of ...
A collaboration of international experts is tackling the challenges involved in understanding and managing the treatment of cutaneous lymphomas. The Prospective Cutaneous Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (PROCLIPI) study from the Cutaneous Lymphoma International Consortium brings together...
Although progress in treatment and supportive care for children with cancer has resulted in improved survival of these patients, some survivors experience ongoing medical conditions from their cancer or its treatment, including poor general health, poor mental health, functional impairment,...
On November 17, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) issued an updated clinical practice statement for accelerated partial-breast irradiation for early-stage breast cancer. The updated guideline reflects recent evidence that greater numbers of patients can benefit from accelerated...
Johns Hopkins Medicine specialists reported they have developed a urine test for the likely emergence of cervical cancer that is highly accurate compared to other tests based on genetic markers derived directly from cervical tissue. The new urine test, they said, is different because it analyzes...
As reported by William D. Tap, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues in The Lancet, the addition of the anti-PDGFRα (platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha) antibody olaratumab to doxorubicin resulted in prolonged progression-free and overall survival in phase II...
For the first time, a randomized trial has provided good evidence to support the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for treatment of high-risk soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities or trunk wall.1 But the findings of the study were surprising, because neoadjuvant chemotherapy with one-size-fits-all...
In the phase III IMPRINT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Brian I. Rini, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, and colleagues found no overall survival benefit of adding the multipeptide cancer vaccine IMA901 to sunitinib (Sutent) in the first-line treatment of locally...
Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only potentially curative treatment for myelofibrosis. The ASCO Post asked an expert in this field, Ayalew Tefferi, MD, how and when he uses stem cell transplant in myelofibrosis, which is a topic he outlined in greater detail in the...
November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, the impetus for this article. Pancreatic cancer is a huge health challenge. It's the eighth most common cancer in the United States and the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths but is expected to become the second most common cause of...
In the phase III KEYNOTE-024 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Martin Reck, MD, PhD, of the German Center of Lung Research, Grosshansdorf, and colleagues, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) significantly improved progression-free and overall survival vs platinum-based chemotherapy in...
Here is a brief look at the study findings and clinical implications of several recent and important clinical trials in neoplastic hematology. Attention is focused on myelodysplastic syndromes, multiple myeloma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Myelodysplastic Syndromes Clinical Trial:...
In the phase III PALOMA-2 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Finn et al found that the addition of palbociclib (Ibrance) to letrozole significantly improved progression-free survival in postmenopausal women with previously untreated advanced estrogen receptor–positive,...
More than 100 participants are now enrolled on study drug in ASCO’s Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study. The trial launched in March 2016 at 37 sites, and in November, it welcomed its newest participating clinical sites: Cancer Treatment Centers of America,...
Faltas et al identified factors in the clonal evolution of chemotherapy-resistant urothelial carcinoma, according to a study reported in Nature Genetics. Findings included wide intrapatient mutational heterogeneity and enrichment for clonal mutations involving L1 cell–adhesion molecule...
In a study of population-based data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hawkins et al found that adult cancer survivors receive medication for anxiety and depression at twice the rate of that in adults without cancer. The study involved data from the National Health Interview Survey for...
Clement et al found that 25% of survivors of childhood brain tumors were diagnosed with endocrine disorders over 6.6 years of follow-up, based on a Dutch nationwide study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Hanneke M. van Santen, MD, PhD, of Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, University...
In an analysis of National Cancer Data Base data reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Shailender Bhatia, MD, of the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and colleagues found that adjuvant radiotherapy was associated with a survival benefit in...
In a pooled analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Michel Meignan, MD, PhD, of the Université Paris-Est Créteil, and colleagues found that higher baseline total metabolic tumor volume measured by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomography–computed tomography (FDG...
On October 19, 2016, the platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFR-α)-blocking antibody olaratumab (Lartruvo) was granted accelerated approval in combination with doxorubicin for the treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma not amenable to curative treatment with radiotherapy or surgery and...
On October 18, 2016, the indication for erlotinib (Tarceva) in the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was modified to limit use to patients with tumors with specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in maintenance or second- or greater-line treatment; these mutations...
In an analysis of data from the National Cancer Database reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Go et al found a lower risk of all-cause mortality among patients with multiple myeloma treated at higher-volume facilities. Study Details The study included patients diagnosed with multiple...
I have served as a patient advocate in many different ways since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2000. For many years, my advocacy was focused on issues related to breast cancer. Since 2012, I have also been engaged in identifying and meeting the needs of the rapidly growing...
I still remember the day I met Kensie. It was Valentine’s Day. I had sneaked out of the hospital to get my wife a Valentine’s Day card, taking my place among scores of other husbands and boyfriends in front of the rapidly emptying rack of cards. As I started browsing, my beeper sounded. It was the ...
Nonrhabdomyosarcoma soft-tissue sarcomas account for about 5% of all childhood malignancies and are also diagnosed in adolescents and young adults, as well as in older adults, and can require different approaches to treatment based on a patient’s age and stage of disease. These sarcomas comprise...
As cancer therapies improve and the population as a whole increases, there are rising numbers of elderly patients with cancer. More than half of patients newly diagnosed with cancer are aged 65 years or older.1 In January 2012, it was estimated that more than 8 million cancer survivors were over...
On October 18, 2016, the anti–PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1) antibody atezolizumab (Tecentriq) was approved for the treatment of metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progressing during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy.1,2 Patients with epidermal growth factor receptor ...
In the phase III MINDACT trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Fatima Cardoso, MD, of Champalimaud Clinical Center–Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, and colleagues found that adjuvant chemotherapy may be avoidable in women with early-stage breast cancer who are at high clinical...
In a spirited debate, abounding with citations of clinical trials and other evidence, but not without humor and mutual respect, E. Shelley Hwang, MD, MPH, and Armando E. Giuliano, MD, reviewed the data and their clinical experience managing ductal carcinoma in situ and reached opposite...
Although progress in treatment and supportive care for children with cancer has resulted in improved survival of these patients, some survivors experience ongoing medical conditions from their cancer or its treatment, including poor general health, poor mental health, functional impairment,...