Asia is currently experiencing an unprecedented rate of growth in its aging population. This “silver tsunami” has translated into a burgeoning number of older patients with cancer, as cancer is a disease of aging. However, unlike their Western counterparts, elderly patients with cancer in Asia are ...
Older patients with cancer generally have multiple comorbidities, with each often requiring separate medications. Studies have shown that polypharmacy and inappropriate drug use are prevalent among older cancer patients, leading to an enormous amount of preventable adverse events, many requiring...
The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust have announced the 2016 class of Pew-Stewart scholars for cancer research. Five scientists from top research institutions in the United States were selected for their dedication to pursuing innovative leads aimed at finding a...
In 2014, ASCO developed a clinical practice guideline to provide a mechanism for physicians to screen, assess, and manage the persistent symptoms of fatigue in adult cancer survivors.1 As summarized below, the guideline calls for regular screening, assessment, laboratory evaluation, and patient...
Fatigue and sleep disruption are common occurrences for most patients diagnosed with cancer. Simply having a serious physical illness like cancer along with its associated pain, hospitalization, and treatment, as well as the attendant psychological impact, all contribute to the onset of fatigue...
Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc. (CTCA) has announced that Rajesh Garg, MD, JD, a highly regarded health-care industry leader with more than 25 years of experience across the health-care spectrum, will become its President and CEO. His appointment was effective June 20, 2016. He...
Nonprofit Global Oncology, Inc (GO) has announced that Donna Barry has been appointed to be its first Executive Director, effective immediately. U.S. and global investments in improving cancer outcomes are minimal—in 2011, only 1.2% of total development assistance for global health was focused on...
Mark A. Dickson, MD, has been fascinated by science and medicine since he was in high school. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1999, Dr. Dickson pursued a medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York. Once he decided on a...
In 2015, four new drugs were approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: panobinostat (Farydak), daratumumab (Darzalex), elotuzumab (Empliciti), and ixazomib (Ninlaro). Of them, the first three are drugs with unique new targets, whereas ixazomib is the...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN) Oncology Research Program (ORP) has awarded eight grants to investigators to support clinical and preclinical studies of mirvetuximab soravtansine (IMGN853) and advance scientific knowledge of its uses in ovarian and other folate receptor alpha...
Question 1: Which statement about the classification of tumors of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues is true? Correct Answer: A. The revised WHO classification defines distant disease entities that can be reliably diagnosed using proposed criteria. Expert Perspective WHO last updated its...
WHO last updated its classification of tumors of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues with a fourth edition of its WHO Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues, in 2008, as part of a series of WHO Classification of Tumours monographs. This year, with the support of the...
Initial encouraging news from a first-in-human trial suggests that the antibody-drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) may turn out to be a new option for patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) whose tumors overexpress delta-like protein 3 (DLL3). Study results were presented at the...
A novel immunotherapy agent, the first in its class, reduced disease progression by more than 50% when added to standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric cancer, according to results from an international phase II trial presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The drug, IMAB362,...
As reported in JAMA, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued new recommendations for colorectal cancer screening. In brief, the USPSTF recommends colorectal cancer screening starting at age 50 years and continuing until age 75 years (grade A recommendation = “The USPSTF...
Don Dizon, MD, Chair of ASCO’s Cancer Communications Committee, congratulated the authors of the OV21/PETROC study. “This is another example of international collaboration. The authors looked at the role of IP therapy in women who got primary chemotherapy before surgery, and at least in this...
So-called liquid biopsy identified cancer mutations in 85% of all advanced tumors, in the largest-ever evaluation of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood.1 In 49% of the cases, these biomarkers were associated with an approved targeted drug, Philip C. Mack, PhD, reported at the 2016 ASCO...
A new biosimilar version of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) is getting close to the finish line in the race to develop biosimilars in oncology. The new antibody, MYL-1401O, demonstrated comparable efficacy and safety compared with trastuzumab as front-line treatment of women with...
Last June, ASCO published its initial concept for a value framework in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).1 The framework, developed by ASCO’s Value in Cancer Care Task Force, is designed to provide a standardized approach to assist physicians and patients in assessing the “value” of a new...
A phase II, multicenter trial published by Alvarnas et al in Blood challenges the generally held belief that individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and aggressive lymphoma are not candidates for standard treatment. According to the researchers, people with HIV-associated lymphoma who...
Researchers at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) presented a molecular imaging technique that allows oncologists to set patients’ radiotherapy doses right at that critical limit of delivering the most powerful dosage to neuroendocrine...
Primary immunodeficiency disorders are a group of more than 300 single gene defects that affect the role of the immune system and prevent it from functioning properly. When Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) researchers evaluated the overall and site-specific incidence of cancer among patients...
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will receive $10.6 million in funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) for two collaborative studies targeting crucial issues in lung cancer. The two multi-investigator research awards, designed to support teams of...
Oncologist Philip A. Salem MD, Director Emeritus of Cancer Research at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, was honored as a physician and author on April 28 by the President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto and his government for Dr. Salem’s lifelong commitment to cancer care worldwide. Dr....
The American Urological Association (AUA) honored its 2016 AUA award recipients during its 111th Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calfornia. These physician researchers, educators, and organizations were honored for their contributions to the field of medicine, the specialty of urology, and the AUA....
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has named a prominent expert in bladder cancer, Cheryl Taylore Lee, MD, to lead its urology, uro/gynecology, and uro/oncologic programs, beginning July 1, pending approval by The Ohio State University Board of Trustees. Dr. Lee will be Chair of the...
There were once two patients with leukemia. Other than their diagnoses and their ages, these two men had nothing in common. Meet Michael Michael was an artist—a sculptor. He had large, sensitive, blue eyes and a quiet, pensive manner. His acute observational power led him to ponder deep questions...
The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship (ASF) announced its selections for the 2016 SPARK! Awards. Edward J. Benz, Jr, MD, President and CEO of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will receive the 2016 Schweitzer Clarion Award for Health Promotion and Education. Dr. Benz is being honored for bringing...
An otherwise healthy, actively working, independent 60-year-old patient came to us with a several months’ history of abdominal pain. He had been seen by other physicians prior to coming to us for a second opinion. Our workup revealed a large cystic lesion emanating from the pancreas but involving ...
According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), environmental toxic exposures are responsible for between 7% and 19% of human cancers. However, the 2008–2009 President’s Cancer Panel Annual Report estimated that the “true...
Multiple myeloma cells uniformly overexpress CD38.1 Daratumumab (Darzalex), a CD38-targeting human IgG1 kappa monoclonal antibody, has been evaluated in a series of phase I/II trials involving patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory myeloma who have received at least two or more prior...
ASCO announced that a total of 58 practices in 39 states and the District of Columbia have joined CancerLinQ™, ASCO’s big data initiative to rapidly improve the quality of care for people with cancer. CancerLinQ is already up and running in a number of practices and drawing on approximately...
Diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer have been the source of heated debate for decades, most of which has centered on the clinical value of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. In 2012, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) gave the PSA test a D grade, which discourages many...
On Monday, May 2, ASCO submitted comments to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) regarding the proposed Enhanced Oversight of the ONC Health Information Technology (HIT) Certification Program rule. The rule would increase ONC oversight of certified health IT, define a process for...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) has received generous support from Lung Cancer Alliance to fund a 2016 and 2017 Young Investigator Award (YIA) in lung cancer. Lung Cancer Alliance has a more than 20-year history of working to save lives and advance research by empowering those living...
The University of Virgina (UVA) Medical Alumni Association has recognized Peter H. Wiernik, MD, as co-recipient of its 2016 Walter Reed Distinguished Achievement Award. Dr. Wiernik received the award along with Charles W. Cummings, MD, former Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck ...
Hormone receptor–positive breast cancer represents the largest therapeutic subgroup of the disease. The development of endocrine therapies has shaped the treatment paradigm for both advanced- and early-stage disease for decades.1 Still, despite their significant impact, advanced breast cancer...
ASCO recently announced that the Contemporary Oncology Team of Athens, Greece, as part of the new international pilot project, is the first international practice to receive Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) certification through the QOPI Certification Program, LLC (QCP). “Achieving...
The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), the world’s largest private funder of melanoma research, has named Michael Kaplan as its new leader. For the past 20 years, Mr. Kaplan has headed various nonprofits and patient advocacy groups, including his most recent position as President and CEO of...
Oophorectomy was the first proposed form of endocrine therapy for women with breast cancer. Over 100 years ago, Thomas Nunn reported a relationship between menopause and regression of breast cancer.1 This incited interest in the induction of menopause as an anticancer therapy, and in 1986, a...
On May 17, 2016, nivolumab (Opdivo) was granted accelerated approval for treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma that has relapsed or progressed after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and post-transplantation brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris).1,2 Continued approval for ...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs.On May 18, 2016, the PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1)...
ASCO President Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) move to regulate electronic cigarettes. “ASCO applauds the FDA for exercising its congressionally mandated authority to regulate cigars, hookah tobacco,...
On June 2, 2016, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, issued the following statement on the release of the final individual patient expanded access form. “Today, the FDA finalized its efforts to streamline the process used by physicians to request expanded...
Compared with a historic control rate, a phase II study of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) has demonstrated clinically meaningful responses in patients with urothelial carcinoma who progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy.1 Hailed as a “major...
A Century of Progress The text and photograph on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology Tumors & Treatment: A Photographic History, by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS. The photo below is from the volume titled “The Antiseptic Era: 1876–1900.” To view additional...
A new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study suggests that African American men and men with a higher tumor stage may benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy following radical prostatectomy.1 According to prespecified analysis of these two “high–risk” subgroups, patients with ≥ T3b disease had a ...
In 2012–2013, members of the President’s Cancer Panel (prescancerpanel.cancer.gov) focused their efforts on accelerating widespread acceptance of and use of approved human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to prevent cancer. The topic is important, because HPVs cause most cases of cervical cancer and...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Howard H. Bailey, MD, of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, and colleagues, ASCO has released a statement on increasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to prevent HPV-related cancers in the United States.1 In the United...
Breast surgeon Deanna Attai, MD, is a virtual mighty mouse as a spokesperson for her professional organization, the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS). She is as big on ideas as she is petite in stature and for actively tweeting on medical topics (@DrAttai). Assistant Clinical Professor...