Uveal melanoma is the second most common type of skin cancer. Approximately 50% of patients with uveal melanoma will develop metastasis, most commonly to the liver. The disease can appear more than 10 years after the primary lesion has been removed, lying dormant for long periods. There are...
The treatment of cancer of the larynx has changed dramatically in recent years. With organ preservation now possible in many cases, it is more important than ever for patients to receive guidance from every corner of the field. In a recent article in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP),1 a...
The Avon Foundation for Women recently released a new study on the racial disparities in breast cancer mortality in the 50 largest cities in the United States between 2005 and 2014. Published in Cancer Epidemiology,1 the study was conducted by Sinai Urban Health Institute in collaboration with the...
A clinical practice guideline on margins for breast-conserving surgery with whole-breast irradiation in ductal carcinoma in situ has been jointly developed by the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and ASCO.1-3 The recommendations were...
Dear Presidential Candidates: Wouldn’t it be great if history’s Alexander the Great was actually Dr. Alexander Fleming, the doctor-scientist who saved millions of lives by discovering penicillin, rather than the other Alexander, who conquered and killed thousands of innocent people? Wouldn’t it be...
A radiation boost to the local tumor bed following treatment with breast-conserving therapy (ie, local excision followed by whole-breast radiation therapy) improves local control for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ, according to a study of pooled data from 10 academic centers,1 presented at...
“These results apply to about two-thirds of women with advanced breast cancer, ie, those with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer,” noted the formal discussant of this paper, Stephen R.D. Johnston, MD, of the Royal Marsden Hospital, London. “At present with first-line endocrine...
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with an anthracycline plus ifosfamide was associated with significant survival gains in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma of the trunk or extremities who are at high-risk of recurrence, in an interim analysis that led to the early discontinuation of a trial presented by...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Etienne et al, long-term follow-up in the French Stop Imatinib (STIM1) study indicates imatinib can be safely stopped in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with undetectable minimal residual disease sustained for at least 2 years. Study...
Triple-negative breast cancer in African American women is much more likely to lack the androgen receptor protein compared with triple-negative breast cancer in European American women, and this may contribute to the racial disparity in survival outcomes among these two populations, according to a...
African American cancer survivors are more likely than whites to experience lasting debt or forgo necessary medical care as they struggle with the financial burden of cancer, while whites are somewhat more likely to use existing assets to pay for their cancer care, according to a study (C13)...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sun et al found that adding induction treatment with cisplatin, fluorouracil (5-FU), and docetaxel (TPF) to concurrent chemoradiotherapy improved failure-free survival in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Details...
Paul Jacobsen, PhD, has been named Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Control and Population Science’s Healthcare Delivery Research Program. In this position, he will be leading a team at the NCI whose mission is to serve as a catalyst for the field of...
Last month, ASCO recommended to Vice President Joe Biden several immediate and practical actions the Cancer Moonshot Initiative could take during the remainder of his term in the White House—steps that could make a lasting impact in the effort to discover new cancer treatments. ASCO’s...
Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, began his term as ASCO President-Elect in June 2016 and will serve as 2017–2018 President. A thoracic cancer specialist, Dr. Johnson is Chief Clinical Research Officer and institute physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently announced a collaboration with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation to incorporate the Foundation’s wealth of genomic and clinical data about the disease into the NCI Genomic Data Commons. NCI’s Genomic Data Commons is a publicly available database...
When it comes to cancer-causing viruses like human papillomavirus (HPV), researchers are continuing to find that infection with one strain may be better than another. In an analysis of survival data for patients with oropharyngeal cancer, researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC)...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, of Northwestern University, and colleagues, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on management of chronic pain in survivors of adult cancers.1 The guideline was based on literature review by an expert panel,...
The University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center has appointed four new leaders to oversee the direction and operation of its research enterprise. Pavan Reddy, MD, Deputy Director Alnawaz Rehemtulla, PhD, Associate Director for Shared Resources Anne Schott, MD, Associate Director for...
OCTOBER American College of Surgeons Clinical CongressOctober 16-20 • Washington, DCFor more information:www.facs.org/clincon2016 ACCC 33rd National Oncology ConferenceOctober 19-21 • St. Louis, Missouri For more information: www.accc-cancer.org/meetings/slideshow-NOC2015/NOC2015.asp 48th Annual...
A session at the 2016 Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium focused on the special needs of cancer caregivers. In a large survey, caregivers of persons with cancer reported higher levels of stress and significantly more duties than caregivers of other patients. But, according to research from...
ASCO presented Representative Michael Burgess, MD (TX-26) with its first-ever ASCO Congressional Leadership Award on September 21 to recognize his steadfast work to support policies related to cancer research and treatment. This new, annual award honors a member of Congress who is a consistent...
Medical students and practicing pediatricians in Uganda and other East African countries lack access to specialty pediatric training and education in oncology and hematology in their region, despite the need for doctors to provide care for patients with cancer and blood disorders. A new program of...
The ProtecT trial showing similar 10-year survival with active monitoring, surgery, or radiotherapy for prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-detected localized prostate cancer but a greater risk of disease progression/metastasis with monitoring was recently reported by Hamdy and colleagues and is...
As reported by Recht et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a joint ASCO, American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) panel has developed a focused guideline update of the ASCO guideline on postmastectomy radiotherapy. A recent Cancer Care Ontario...
While searching for a noninvasive way to detect prostate cancer cells circulating in blood, Duke Cancer Institute researchers have identified some blood markers associated with tumor resistance to two common hormone therapies. In a study published by Gupta et al in Clinical Cancer Research, a team...
OCTOBER International Cancer Imaging Society Meeting and 16th Annual Teaching CourseOctober 3-5 • Glasgow, ScotlandFor more information:http://www.icimagingsociety.org.uk/index.cfm?task=meetings 9th International Workshop on Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia & Symposia on Multiple MyelomaOctober...
On August 13, 2013, more than 100 cancer researchers and physicians from around the world met in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to discuss 2 challenging problem areas in cancer. One group was focused on the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposure to chemical mixtures in the environment, and the...
Studies show that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors experience distinct challenges and quality-of-life issues from those experienced by either younger or older adult cancer survivors and that those challenges and issues can persist long after the cancer diagnosis and the end of...
This summer, ASCO members continued their efforts to advocate for key issues that are critical to cancer care. ASCO members are uniquely qualified to communicate with Congress about effective policies for the treatment of patients with cancer and the research that drives scientific breakthroughs....
What do up to 60% of cancer survivors have in common? Answer: some type of long-term sexual dysfunction. How many cancer survivors seek professional help for sexual problems? Answer: less than 20%. Even when they do seek help, they may not be successful in finding professionals with expertise in...
Earlier this month, ASCO, in collaboration with the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the Society for Surgical Oncology (SSO), jointly issued an update to a clinical practice guideline for physicians treating women with breast cancer who have undergone a mastectomy. The update...
Clinicians face a number of questions in evaluating and treating patients with stage IIIA non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). One expert in the field, Rafael Santana-Davila, MD, reviewed key issues in managing this disease in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP). The ASCO Post asked Dr....
Today, Vice President Joe Biden announced a series of new steps focused on increasing access to information about clinical trials and improving the efficiency of our clinical research system. These steps include making it easier for participants to find clinical trial opportunities as quickly as...
Federally funded research continues to spur progress against cancer; however, accelerating the pace of progress will require robust, sustained, and predictable annual funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Food and Drug...
The combined use of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) identified non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with rare or novel anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements, not otherwise identified by FISH alone, that showed response to...
A first-of-its-kind joint report from the American Cancer Society and Alliance for Childhood Cancer has compiled the latest information related to pediatric cancer, including statistics and trends; a current list of drugs used to treat pediatric cancers; ongoing pediatric cancer clinical trials;...
Among individuals with advanced cancer, frequent hospitalization is often at odds with patient preference and is increasingly viewed as a hallmark of poor quality care. Hospitalization contributes substantially to costs and regional spending variation in this population, but patterns and reasons...
Radiation oncologists are frequently involved in providing palliative and supportive care for patients with advanced cancers through delivery of palliative radiation. Whether they are confident in their ability to assess and initiate treatments for pain, nonpain, and psychosocial distress is...
Eric Roeland, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses the key papers presented at this year’s Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium.
Although diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a curable disease in most patients aged 65 years or older, these patients are also at higher risk of chemotherapy-related death within the first 30 days of treatment. To quantify the risk of early fatality and identify risk factors, researchers led ...
SEPTEMBER 19th Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of Clinical OncologySeptember 21-25 • Xiamen, ChinaFor more information:www.csco.ac.cn IASLC Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic OncologySeptember 22-24 • Chicago, IllinoisFor more...
Advances in the field of immuno-oncology are revolutionizing cancer care. Ongoing progress with immune checkpoint agents, immune system boosts, cancer vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies continues to yield new and exciting results. However, with the benefits of rapid expansion comes the challenge...
Join fellow physician investigators for the ASCO Research Community Forum 2016 Annual Meeting, to be held September 25–26 at ASCO Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. This will be the Research Community Forum’s 5th Annual Meeting, held each year to bring researchers and research staff from across...
On August 25, 2016, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted a final research plan on screening for intimate partner violence, elder abuse, and abuse of vulnerable adults. The draft research plan for this topic was posted for public comment from May 26 to June 22, 2016. The Task...
It is commonly said that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. It is therefore quite refreshing when really good results are replicated in a subsequent study. As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Younes et al1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, a phase II trial of...
ASCO commended the Cancer Moonshot Initiative Blue Ribbon Panel for its ambitious recommendations to accelerate progress against cancer. “We applaud the Blue Ribbon Panel for its work and the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) National Cancer Advisory Board for convening the panel,”...
Sumanta K. Pal, MD, has had a longer career in oncology than many other colleagues his age. Perhaps the reason for that may center on his starting college at the age 13 and medical school at the age of 17. Today this internationally recognized leader in genitourinary cancers is Assistant Professor ...
In June 2016, the European Hematology Association Congress convened in Copenhagen, Denmark. The educational and scientific program highlighted state-of-the-art clinical practice and the latest findings in hematology research. The ASCO Post brings its readers brief summaries of some of the important ...
A randomized clinical trial found that introducing palliative care shortly after a diagnosis of certain metastatic cancers greatly increases a patient’s coping abilities, as well as overall quality of life. Researchers also found that early integration of palliative care results in an...