In a health system retrospective study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Nhean et al found that implementation of an oral chemotherapy management program was associated with reduced rates of any-grade and severe capecitabine toxicity, less frequent toxicity-related emergency department visits and...
A study designed to enroll an equal number of Black and White men with advanced prostate cancer confirmed key findings that have been evident in retrospective analyses and suggest potential new avenues for treating Black patients who disproportionately die of the disease. Researchers at Duke Cancer ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Kathleen N. Moore, MD, and colleagues, the phase III IMagyn050/GOG 3015/ENGOT-OV39 trial has shown that the addition of atezolizumab to bevacizumab and chemotherapy did not significantly improve progression-free survival in patients with newly...
On May 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with trastuzumab plus fluoropyrimidine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic...
A commonly used risk prediction model does not accurately identify high-risk Black patients with lung cancer who could gain life-saving benefit from early screening—paving the way for improving screenings and guidelines. These findings were published in a research letter by Shusted et al in JAMA...
In an interview study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Yael Schenker, MD, MAS, and colleagues identified challenges and measures for improvement cited by oncologists in the safe and effective prescribing of opioids for their patients with cancer-related pain. Study Details The investigators...
The first study to use x-rays and computed tomography (CT) to detect evidence of cancer among the skeletal remains of a preindustrial population suggests that between 9% to 14% of adults in medieval Britain had the disease at the time of their death. These findings were published by Mitchell et al...
Researchers have demonstrated a possible connection between colorectal polyps in close relatives and the risk of developing colorectal cancer. The study, which was published by Song et al in the British Medical Journal, is of potential consequence for cancer screening procedures. Colorectal cancer...
In an interim analysis of a prospective observational study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Monin et al found that a single dose of the BNT162b2 Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was poorly immunogenic in patients with cancer, with immunogenicity markedly improving at 2 weeks after a second dose...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Lai et al found that although the majority of men who have initiated active surveillance for prostate cancer are followed by urologists, some are managed by physicians in other specialties, and that testing and subsequent treatment patterns vary across...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Eyck et al, 10-year follow-up of the Dutch CROSS trial has shown a continued overall survival benefit with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus surgery vs surgery alone in patients with locally advanced resectable esophageal or gastroesophageal...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review designation to treatments for surgically resected, high-risk, muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma and epidermal growth factor receptor exon 20 insertion mutation–positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)....
Researchers have made progress in unravelling the genetic underpinnings of pediatric neuroblastoma. Two main inherited pathogenic genetic variants have been identified and appear to be associated with worse outcomes: the ALK gene and loss of function in PHOX2B. The research, conducted with the...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Sun et al found that first-line immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy was associated with better overall survival among patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with PD-L1 expression ≥ 50% and KRAS variant vs KRAS...
More news has emerged from this week’s meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC). The group voted 8 to 0 in favor of continuing the accelerated approval for pembrolizumab in sorafenib-pretreated patients with hepatocellular carcinoma; 6 to 2...
As reported by Martin Reck, MD, PhD, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the 5-year follow-up of the pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-024 trial shows maintained overall survival benefit in patients treated with pembrolizumab vs chemotherapy—despite substantial crossover to the...
Concerns about fertility often influence how young women with breast cancer approach treatment decisions and are a reason for forgoing or delaying hormone-blocking therapy, according to findings from a recent study published by Sella et al in the journal Cancer. The findings reinforce the need for...
Roche has announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 10 to 1 in favor of maintaining the accelerated approval of atezolizumab for the treatment of adults with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who are not eligible for...
Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was associated with significant increases in breast reconstruction among non-Hispanic Black women, achieving parity at times with non-Hispanic White women, according to a new study presented by Sharon Lum, MD, and colleagues at the American Society...
Survivors of low-risk breast cancer may experience wide-ranging and significant physical and psychological symptoms after cancer treatment, according to a new study presented by Jessica Schumacher, PhD, and colleagues at the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Annual Meeting. Researchers...
The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly altered breast cancer treatment approaches, with a significant rise in neoadjuvant endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor–positive tumors, enabling immediate evidence-based treatment of women with an extremely common form of breast cancer, while delaying surgery and...
In an analysis of health-related quality of life and patient-centered outcomes in the phase III SOLO-1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Friedlander et al found no clinically meaningful difference in health-related quality of life—and improved quality-adjusted progression-free survival and...
Results from the single-institution phase II MANHATTAN study were reported in JAMA Oncology recently by Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, and colleagues. The investigators found that daratumumab in combination with weekly carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone resulted in high rates of minimal residual...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Aditya Bardia, MD, of the Division of Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and colleagues, the phase III ASCENT trial has shown prolonged progression-free and overall survival with the Trop-2–directed antibody-drug...
Social media platforms are valuable tools for educating patients about serious health topics, but they can also spread false and biased information with potentially harmful results, according to recent research published by Stacy Loeb, MD, MSc, and colleagues in European Urology. Researchers...
Using data from the 2010–2018 National Health Interview Surveys, Chen et al found that just 16% of men who were 18 to 21 years old had received at least one dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine at any age. In comparison, 42% of women in the same age bracket had gotten at least one shot of ...
Ursula Matulonis, MD; Joyce F. Liu, MD, MPH; and Bobbie J. Rimel, MD, discuss a case of a woman with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer who was found to have a germline BRCA1 mutation. They address the question of how to choose the optimal chemotherapy regimen for patients who are...
Disease regression was observed in 82% of women with endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and 43% of women with endometrial cancer after treatment for 6 months with a hormonal intrauterine device in a phase II study reported during the virtual edition of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO)...
Editor’s note: Dr. Gale is an authority on medical response to nuclear and radiation accidents and participated in rescue efforts at the Chernobyl disaster, as well as at Goiania, Tokaimura, and Fukushima, among other radiation and nuclear accidents. Anyone reading the popular press or even...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lv et al found noninferior progression-free survival with induction therapy with the third-generation platinum lobaplatin/fluorouracil vs cisplatin/fluorouracil, followed by lobaplatin- vs cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy, in patients...
In a phase IIa study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jagasia et al found that the oral ROCK2 inhibitor belumosudil produced high response rates and reduced corticosteroid use among patients with chronic graft-vs-host disease after allogeneic bone marrow or hematopoietic cell...
On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to loncastuximab tesirine-lpyl (Zynlonta), a CD19-directed antibody and alkylating agent conjugate, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy, ...
On January 25, 2021, Susan R. Bailey, MD, President of the American Medical Association (AMA), issued the following statement: “The AMA welcomes the President’s decision to reverse the policy that largely barred transgender people from serving in the military, because there is no medically valid...
On March 2, 2021, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) issued the following statement: As one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the NIH [National Institutes of Health], the National Cancer Institute stands with [NIH Director] Dr. Francis Collins and the entire NIH in supporting UNITE. “I ...
Autism spectrum disorder refers to a group of conditions characterized by difficulty in navigating normal social situations and having all-absorbing repetitive behaviors or stereotyped interests. At the milder end of the spectrum is Asperger’s syndrome, generally confined to people with higher...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will present Distinguished Public Service Awards to three individuals whose extraordinary work has exemplified the AACR’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, science policy, advocacy,...
Patients with cancer expressed more interest in complementary and integrative medicine services when these services were recommended by an oncologist or other medical professional or were provided for free in a clinical trial, according to a survey reported in JCO Oncology Practice.1 The survey...
The top two barriers to accessing complementary and integrative therapies, according to a survey of 576 patients with cancer and caregivers, were cost, cited by 56%, and a lack of knowledge about the therapies, cited by 52.1%. “Other barriers included a lack of time (29.2%), location of the...
Everything about my breast cancer diagnosis, from my presentation to diagnosis, was strange. In the spring of 2006, I was performing my monthly breast self-exam when I felt a hard lump in the upper left quadrant of my left breast. Having lost a good friend to breast cancer 4 years earlier, I was...
Sudan is one of Africa’s largest countries, rich in underutilized natural resources but rife with conflicts and civil wars that have been ongoing since it gained its independence in 1956. These problems have reflected negatively on the health-care system. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, is a busy...
On February 5, 2021, umbralisib was granted accelerated approval for the following indications: adult patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma who have received at least one prior anti–CD20-based regimen and adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have...
"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” —Leonardo da Vinci To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel...
Randomized clinical trials are highly regulated initiatives that must comply with multiple requirements while maintaining high epistemic standards, a balance that becomes increasingly difficult as the research questions surrounding immunotherapy and targeted agents become more complex. To shed...
For this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, spoke with Griffin P. Rodgers, MD, MACP, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Rodgers, a physician-scientist,...
In a phase II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Sherif S. Farag, MD, PhD, of Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that the addition of the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4; CD26) inhibitor sitagliptin to tacrolimus and sirolimus prophylaxis resulted in a low ...
On February 9, 2021, cemiplimab-rwlc was granted regular approval for the treatment of patients with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) who were previously treated with a Hedgehog pathway inhibitor or for whom this type of therapy is not appropriate and granted accelerated approval for...
CancerCare, the leading national nonprofit organization providing free support services to anyone affected by cancer, recently welcomed Mark D. Peters II, PharmD, to its team as Vice President for New Business Development and Outreach. Dr. Peters, who has more than 30 years of clinical and...
In a Perspective article in The New England Journal of Medicine, Julia A. Beaver, MD, and Richard Pazdur, MD, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncology Center of Excellence (OCD), discussed issues surrounding “dangling” accelerated approvals of anti–PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies—ie,...
Eight oncology practices in eight different U.S. metropolitan areas with high rates of breast cancer disparities between Black and White Americans have been selected to participate in ASCO’s quality programs, including the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®)and Quality Training Program...
ASCO has released a new guideline regarding the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and targeted therapy in breast cancer.1 “This is the first time ASCO has embarked on a guideline for neoadjuvant therapy,” said Larissa A. Korde, MD, of the National Cancer Institute, and guideline...