In a European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma/Children’s Oncology Group phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Minard‑Colin et al found that the addition of rituximab to standard Lymphomes Malin B (also known as Lymphome Malin de Burkitt, or LMB) chemotherapy ...
In a 10-year follow-up of the phase III SSGXVIII/AIO trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Heikki Joensuu, MD, and colleagues found that 3 years vs 1 year of adjuvant treatment with imatinib was associated with superior overall survival among patients with high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors. The ...
In 2018, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute launched a large, ambitious screening study called PROMISE (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03689595). The objectives of the study were to identify people with premalignant precursor conditions of multiple myeloma, understand the molecular...
The first symptoms I had of colorectal cancer—blood in my stool and abdominal pain—coincided with surgery I had to remove my appendix in the spring of 2017. My surgeon attributed the symptoms to the appendectomy and to the medications I received both before and after the surgery. In addition to...
An analysis of radiation therapy patterns among more than 12,000 Medicare patients treated for bone metastases found that 23.4% received extended-fraction radiation therapy, “wasting both health-care dollars and precious patient time,” according to the investigators.1 One-third of the treating...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. Accumulating evidence suggests the benefits of physical activity through the cancer continuum....
On May 6, 2020, the oral mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) kinase inhibitor capmatinib was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adult patients who have metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors that have a mutation that leads to MET exon 14 skipping, as detected...
The path that led Donald I. Abrams, MD, to a career in oncology was a circuitous one. Although his love of science began when he was a student at Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio, and continued during college at Brown University, where he received an AB in molecular biology in 1972, he was...
As oncology trainees, we develop skills to synthesize complex data and communicate this information with empathy as we accompany our patients through the trenches of a cancer diagnosis. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented layer of challenges has surfaced, as our patients who are...
GUEST EDITOR Dr. Abraham is Professor of Medicine, Lerner College of Medicine, and Chair of the Hematology and Medical Oncology Department at Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic. In this edition of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with pioneering art ...
Question 1 Which of the following statements about mixed-cellularity classic Hodgkin lymphoma is correct? A. It has a female predominance. B. This type of classic Hodgkin lymphoma is relatively more common in developing nations and is frequently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positivity....
The ASCO Post is pleased to present Hematology Expert Review, an ongoing feature that occasionally quizzes readers on issues in hematology. In this first-part of a two-part installment, Drs. Abutalib and Medeiros highlight the histologically rare lymphocyte-rich type of classic Hodgkin lymphoma,...
On May 14, 2020, pomalidomide was granted accelerated approval to treat adult patients with AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma after failure of highly active antiretroviral therapy and for Kaposi sarcoma in adult patients who are HIV-negative.1,2 Pomalidomide is available only through the restricted...
Breast surgical oncologist Laura S. Dominici, MD, was born and reared in Litchfield, a small town in the southern portion of New Hampshire. “Our house was on a long dirt road, in a very rural area,” she shared. “There were only about 5,000 residents in the town. My mother was a teacher, and my dad...
The text and photograph here are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Anesthesia Era: 1845–1875 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and The Burns...
Early data from a clinical study published in Science Immunology1 suggest that blocking the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) protein provided clinical benefit to a small group of patients with severe COVID-19 infection.1 Roschewski et al observed that the off-label use of the BTK inhibitor...
The PIK3CA inhibitor alpelisib appears to be effective in patients with PIK3CA-positive, hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative advanced breast cancer previously treated with a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor plus an aromatase inhibitor, according to the phase II BYLieve trial.1 More...
The ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program was different in many ways, not only because of the virtual modality forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because of the resilience of the scientific society and my colleagues around the world. I’m in the plenary session of the ASCO 2025 Annual Meeting....
Select Baylor College of Medicine faculty are honored annually through the Michael E. DeBakey, MD, Award for Excellence in Research for outstanding published scientific contributions to clinical and basic science research over a 3-year period. Included among the honorees for this year’s DeBakey...
On May 22, 2020, brigatinib was approved for the treatment of adult patients with ALK-positive, metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved test.1,2 The FDA also approved the Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit as a companion...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) welcomes Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, as President of the organization for 2020–2021. He was inaugurated during the AACR Annual Business Meeting, held virtually on April 29, 2020. Dr. Ribas is Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of...
In the phase III REACH2 trial reported in TheNew England Journal of Medicine, Robert Zeiser, MD, of the Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany, and colleagues found that the JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib improved response rate...
As reported inThe Lancet by Jeff P. Sharman, MD, of Willamette Valley Cancer Institute/US Oncology, Eugene, Oregon, and colleagues, the phase III ELEVATE-TN trial has shown significantly improved progression-free survival with both acalabrutinib/obinutuzumab and acalabrutinib monotherapy vs...
On May 29, 2020, ramucirumab was approved for use in combination with erlotinib for first-line treatment of metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 19 deletion or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutation.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings from the...
As reported in The Lancet by Matthew D. Galsky, MD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Tisch Cancer Institute, New York, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor130 trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with first-line atezolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy vs...
The global toll of breast cancer on women is staggering. In 2018, nearly two million new breast cancer cases were diagnosed, an increase of more than 20% since 2008,1 and mortality rates have increased by 14%, bringing the annual number of deaths worldwide from the cancer to more than 611,625.2...
On May 19, 2020, olaparib was approved for the treatment of adult patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline or somatic homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene-mutated metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who experienced disease progression after treatment with...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On May 15, 2020, the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor...
In the phase II LOTUS trial, the addition of the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to paclitaxel in the first-line treatment of patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer yielded a strong numerical improvement—a median gain of 9 months—in overall survival, in the final survival analysis reported...
First- and second-line treatments of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer have become the standard of care based on solid gains in overall survival, but the prevalence of resistance to these agents is increasing; up to 55% of patients will ultimately develop brain metastases. According to a pair...
ASCO announced record-breaking attendance at its 3-day ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, held online from May 29 through May 31. More than 42,700 attendees from 138 countries have participated thus far, learning virtually about new clinical cancer advances in every area of cancer research....
Worldwide, nearly 1.7 million women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Of that number, nearly 300,000 Americans and more than 500,000 Europeans will be diagnosed with both invasive and in situ breast cancers.1,2 Breast-preserving surgery will initially be performed on approximately 60% of...
Months ago, when I defined a theme for my year as ASCO President, “Equity: Every Patient. Every Day. Everywhere,” I never imagined we would experience a health-care pandemic that would disproportionally impact people of color. Nor could I know this would be the moment when yet another brutal crime ...
Pembrolizumab added to etoposide and platinum significantly improved progression-free survival compared with placebo and etoposide/platinum as first-line therapy in patients with newly diagnosed, extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC).1 These results from the randomized, double-blind, phase...
On June 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with recurrent or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma that is not curable with surgery or radiation. KEYNOTE-629 Efficacy was investigated in KEYNOTE-629, a multicenter, multicohort,...
Harmonization of big data in examining acute and long-term outcomes with contemporary treatment for pediatric and adult patients with Hodgkin lymphoma is yielding a new approach to inform future clinical trial design and enhance clinical decision-making, according to a statement by Rutgers Cancer...
Due to COVID-19, this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting was convened using a virtual format. It was multidisciplinary, featuring more than 250 oral and 2,500 poster presentations from around the world in 24 disease-based and specialty tracks. Among the exciting talks in the session on symptoms and...
Black patients are better represented in taxpayer-funded cancer clinical trials compared to trials run by pharmaceutical companies, although they remain underrepresented in clinical trials, regardless of sponsor. These results were published by Joseph M. Unger, PhD, and colleagues in JNCI Cancer...
As reported in The Lancet by Kuderer et al, a cohort study using the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) database has shown that increased risk of severe COVID-19 in patients with cancer is associated with such factors as age, comorbidities, performance status, hematologic malignancy, and...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Hayashi et al, the Children’s Oncology Group AALL0434 study has shown “excellent” outcomes with Capizzi-based methotrexate/pegaspargase (C-MTX) treatment in patients with newly diagnosed pediatric T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LL). The addition...
DESTINY-CRC01 study discussant, Michael S. Lee, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, called the findings “most promising” for the subsequent anti-HER2 treatment of HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer. The...
Having recently gained approval in metastatic breast cancer, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) is now proving its worth in metastatic colorectal cancer, according to results of the phase II DESTINY-CRC01 study in patients with HER2-positive disease.1 T-DXd is an antibody-drug conjugate...
In a phase I study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mellinghoff et al found that ivosidenib was well tolerated in patients with IDH1-mutant advanced glioma and was associated with prolonged disease control in those with nonenhancing glioma. Study Details The study included 66 evaluable ...
On June 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved oral selinexor (Xpovio), a first-in-class, selective inhibitor of nuclear export compound, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified after at least...
Peter Reichardt, MD, PhD, of Helios Klinikum Berlin-Buch, discusses the 10-year survival analysis of 3 years vs 1 year of adjuvant imatinib for patients with high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumor. The study found that about 50% of deaths can be avoided with longer imatinib treatment (Abstract...
Discussant for the CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA trials, Scott N. Gettinger, MD, of Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut, said: “There is tremendous interest in lung cancer to combine nivolumab plus ipilimumab, driven by the melanoma experience. However, combinations of immunotherapy come ...
It is becoming more challenging to select first-line therapy for advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for patients whose tumors have no EGFR or ALK alterations. The results of two different studies presented at the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program—CheckMate 227 and CheckMate 9LA—support the ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gul et al found that salvage therapy with nivolumab/ipilimumab was capable of producing a response after prior programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) pathway inhibitor therapy in some patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Study Details The...
Over the past month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to agents designed to treat colorectal and pancreatic cancers, in addition to lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia; accepted a new drug application for a treatment for relapsed or...
Data from one of the first clinical uses of augmented reality guidance with electromagnetically tracked tools shows that the technology may help doctors quickly, safely, and accurately deliver targeted liver cancer treatments, according to a research abstract presented during a virtual session of...