Six months before my diagnosis of metastatic colorectal cancer, in 2016, at age 38, I told my mom, “I feel like I’m dying.” Even though more than 10 specialists I had seen over the previous 8 years for unexplained bouts of abdominal pain and bloating, fatigue, and constipation kept assuring me that ...
In 2006, President of Uruguay Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, a radiation oncologist by profession, enacted comprehensive antismoking legislation, eventually leading Uruguay to become the first country in Latin America to prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces. His bold action drew the ire of international ...
Here we discuss a complex and often emotionally wrenching challenge related to informed consent in the provision of pediatric cancer care. For example, what legal and ethical claims do young patients have to information about their cancer diagnosis and treatment recommendations? What are the...
Victoria was a 79-year-old woman living alone in a London suburb. Having no children of her own, she visited us regularly here in the United States. She was one of three sisters and my sister-in-law. I knew her for more than 50 years, and she always reminded me of Audrey Hepburn, both in looks and ...
C. Kent Osborne, MD, Founding Director of the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Dudley and Tina Sharp Chair for Cancer Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, said in a press briefing that the results of the study were clear, but the explanation for the findings is less so....
Over the past year (January to December 2020), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to several novel drugs and new indications for older therapeutic agents used in oncology and hematology. A brief review of new approvals appears here. For complete prescribing information for ...
Stem cell transplants are not frequently offered to older patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). According to a study from the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMTCTN 1102), these patients may indeed achieve a survival benefit from stem cell transplant. As...
A study by Ivy Abraham, MD, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues, investigated the contribution of structural violence, specifically neighborhood socioeconomic status, on the racial/ethnic differences in the survival of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). They found that ...
Electra D. Paskett, PhD, was born in New York City, the daughter of a Greek immigrant who led a notable dance band. As a young child, Dr. Paskett frequented her parents’ rehearsal and dance studio, which was situated above a bustling Woolworth’s Five-and-Dime store. One of the studio’s famous...
In 2017, a workgroup task force, made up of medical students and faculty at George Washington University, Texas Christian University, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center, conducted a literature review to identify best practices for teaching and learning about race and culture in ...
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Bernardo H.L. Goulart, MD, and colleagues found that higher out-of-pocket costs for tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) were associated with reduced adherence to and increased discontinuation of TKI therapy—as well as poorer overall...
Sentinel lymph node biopsy “had similar diagnostic accuracy and prognostic ability as lymphadenectomy in patients with high-grade endometrial cancer at greatest risk for nodal metastases,” according to the SENTOR trial, a prospective cohort study of 156 patients with clinical stage I disease. Using ...
In the phase II HORIZON study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Paul G. Richardson, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the peptide-drug conjugate melflufen and dexamethasone showed activity in patients with heavily pretreated relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma....
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Youn et al, interim results of a Korean phase II trial indicated activity with the combination of pembrolizumab plus the therapeutic DNA vaccine GX-188E in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-16– or HPV-18–positive advanced cervical cancer. GX-188E...
On December 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved margetuximab-cmkb (Margenza) in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which was for...
Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, reviews six important abstracts on CAR T-cell treatments for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): successful 24-hour manufacture of CAR T-cell therapy; ALLCAR19, a novel fast-off rate therapy; donor-derived CD19-targeted...
Lee S. Schwartzberg, MD, of the West Cancer Center, discusses phase III results from the CONTESSA study, which showed that an all-oral regimen of tesetaxel plus a reduced dose of capecitabine significantly improved progression-free survival compared with capecitabine alone in patients with...
Although the exact incidence of treatment-related lymphedema among cancer survivors is unknown—most likely due to its prolonged latency period—it can be a lifelong chronic side effect that negatively impacts survivors’ quality of life. Although the condition is often linked to treatment for breast...
Tebentafusp is a novel bispecific molecule consisting of an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor fused to an anti-CD3 effector that can redirect T cells to target gp100-positive cells. The agent showed clinical benefit, including target lesion reduction, in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma,...
In a National Cancer Database analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Crozier et al found that receipt of neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved overall survival among women aged 70 or older undergoing surgery for stage I to III triple-negative breast cancer. Study...
In a Dutch study reported in JAMA Oncology, van de Poll-Franse et al found that a substantial proportion of patients with cancer had changes in care within 4 to 6 weeks after the first announcement of a COVID-19–related lockdown. Patients with cancer surveyed reported levels of quality of life,...
ASCO has elected Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, a longtime member and volunteer, to serve as its President for the term beginning in June 2022. He will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in June 2021. Five new members were also elected to the ASCO Board of Directors and the...
On December 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first over-the-counter, fully at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. The Ellume COVID-19 Home Test is a rapid, lateral-flow antigen test, a type of test that runs a liquid sample along a...
The randomized phase II PANORAMA 3 trial found that when used in combination with subcutaneous bortezomib and oral dexamethasone, oral panobinostat produced higher response rates with 20-mg dosing regimens and lower toxicity with a 10-mg regimen. The safety profile also appeared to be better than...
Cancer cases in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) have risen by 30% during the past 4 decades, with rates of kidney cancer increasing at the greatest rate, according to findings published by Scott et al in JAMA Network Open. The team said further research into screening, diagnosis, and treatment...
Mortality rates after cancer surgery declined for Black as well as White patients during a recent 10-year period, although the mortality gap between the two groups did not narrow, according to new research published by Miranda Lam, MD, MBA, and colleagues in JAMA Network Open. The findings present...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, the second interim analysis of the phase III KEYNOTE-177 trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with pembrolizumab vs fluorouracil (5-FU)-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment of patients with advanced...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Kunst et al compared five neoadjuvant-adjuvant treatment strategies for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer and identified one that was associated with both improved outcomes and cost savings. The researchers found that a strategy of neoadjuvant...
The number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) assessed at baseline and about 1 month after cancer-directed treatment was associated with overall survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer, according to findings from a large retrospective pooled analysis reported by Wolfgang Janni, MD, PhD,...
In a study presented at the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract GS4-10) and concurrently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Joseph A. Sparano, MD, and colleagues described the development and validation of a new prognostic tool. RSClin integrates the 21-gene recurrence...
On December 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 in individuals aged 16 and older. The EUA allows the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the United...
Just in are the results of the SWOG S1007 RxPONDER trial, which evaluated the benefit of chemotherapy in women with early-stage, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, node-positive breast cancer. Based on the findings, many postmenopausal women may be able to safely skip adjuvant chemotherapy. However,...
The phase II ZUMA-12 trial found that axicabtagene ciloleucel, an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, is a safe and effective therapy for patients with high-risk large B-cell lymphoma. These results were presented by Sattva S. Neelapu, MD, and colleagues at the 2020 ...
Extended follow-up results from the phase III monarchE trial showed that adding the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor abemaciclib to standard adjuvant endocrine therapy continued to improve invasive disease–free survival in patients with high-risk, node-positive, early-stage, hormone receptor...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the 2020 William Dameshek Prize to Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PhD, of Columbia University Institute for Cancer Genetics in New York, for his outstanding research on the impact of NOTCH1 mutations on T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). “I am...
ON OCTOBER 28, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury released the coverage transparency final rule. Building on earlier administration actions requiring hospitals to disclose standard charges and negotiated...
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) has launched the Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, outlining three key steps: vaccination, screening, and treatment. Successful implementation of all three could reduce more than 40% of new cases of the disease and 5 million...
The more senior of this duo grew up with prognostication by disease stage and was taught that all stage IV cancers behaved the same. In the past 3 decades, we have become much more cognizant of the heterogeneity in outcome within stage. Individual Kaplan-Meier plots by stage separate well but hide...
ASCO has helpful, trusted resources to support your patients and their caregivers. Available in three convenient formats, you can choose from fact sheets; topic-specific booklets; and comprehensive, patient-friendly guides. ASCO Answers materials provide trusted, easy-to-understand information...
As part of its ongoing commitment to addressing inequities in cancer care and research, ASCO has launched a new educational series focused on the role of social determinants of health in cancer care and cancer outcomes. The free series, which began October 21, is aimed at educating oncology...
Systematic liquid biopsies are transforming treatment approaches for patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Many GI tumors are detected late, which ultimately reduces 5-year overall survival rates. Liquid biopsies may become increasingly important both in the early detection and treatment...
Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, Professor of Medical Oncology and Director of Breast Medical Oncology at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, has been named the next Chief Medical Officer of ASCO. Dr. Gralow will succeed...
When I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2018, my first thought was, I hope my three young children do not lose two parents to cancer. My husband, Ricky, had survived two bouts of cancer, early-stage colorectal cancer and, most recently, stage I kidney cancer. Like Ricky’s two...
OCE Insights is an occasional department developed for The ASCO Post by members of the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In this installment, Preeti Narayan, MD, a medical oncologist and clinical reviewer on the Breast and Gynecologic Disease Team,...
In a systematic review and network meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Mohamad Bassam Sonbol, MD, of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix, and colleagues, found that atezolizumab plus bevacizumab outperformed other regimens in the first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)...
In a 7-year follow-up of the phase III CALGB 40601/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Aranzazu Fernandez-Martinez, MD, of Lineberger Comprehensive Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and colleagues found that neoadjuvant paclitaxel combined with a dual...
ASCO has released a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline to assist in clinical decision-making for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.1 “Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma has transitioned from a disease where we had a single approved therapy for patients to one where we now...
The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and National Medical Fellowships recently announced their new partnership, which is aimed at improving diversity in clinical trials. Leveraging $100 million of the previously announced commitment to diversity and inclusion from Bristol Myers Squibb and the...
Relapse is the primary obstacle to cure in leukemia. The term minimal residual disease (MRD) was coined in the early 1990s to describe finding a disease-specific marker in the context of a morphologic-appearing remission. The technique first used for MRD detection was the Southern blot (!), but the ...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Nicholas J. Short, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues, found that measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity is associated with superior disease-free and overall survival in patients with...