The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved vorasidenib (Voranigo), an isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) and -2 (IDH2) inhibitor, for adult and pediatric patients aged 12 years and older with grade 2 astrocytoma or oligodendroglioma with a susceptible IDH1 or IDH2 mutation, following...
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare and aggressive malignant head and neck cancer that is highly prevalent in the southern and southwestern provinces of China. Although the incidence of the cancer is less than 1 per 100,000 in Europe, the United States, and the Pacific, data from the International...
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Detecting this disease in its early stages significantly improves survival rates, making low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening an essential component in the fight against lung cancer. Recent studies, particularly from...
The results of routine blood tests could be used to speed up cancer diagnoses among patients with abdominal symptoms, according to a recent study published by Rafiq et al in PLOS Medicine. Background Most patients who report symptoms of abdominal pain or bloating to their physicians are referred...
On August 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) with carboplatin and paclitaxel, followed by single-agent dostarlimab, for adults with primary advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. Dostarlimab was previously approved in July 2023 with carboplatin...
Most patients with extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) are overtreated, according to Emanuele Zucca, MD, of the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland and Institute of Oncology Research in Bellinzona and the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. “Aggressive therapy is not needed in...
Investigators have found that patients with a lower level of education and social media awareness may hold more fatalistic beliefs about cancer compared with those who are more skilled at finding information through social media, according to a recent study published by Stimpson et al in Cancer...
I first met Lyn Denny, MD, PhD, in Ghana, in 2004, when she became the Secretary Treasurer of AORTIC and brought the organization back to life. We’ve been friends ever since. I equate Lyn’s unwavering dedication to bringing health equity to women in Africa to Nelson Mandela’s fight for social...
The global oncology and public health communities are mourning the death of Lynette Ann Denny, MD, PhD, a world-renowned gynecologic oncologist and a leading researcher in the prevention of cervical cancer in low-resource settings. Dr. Denny died on June 9, 2024, in Cape Town, South Africa, of...
In an analysis from the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-42 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Priya Rastogi, MD, and colleagues found that the 70-gene MammaPrint assay findings did not predict the distant recurrence benefit of extended letrozole therapy vs placebo in patients with...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, I interviewed Dario Trapani, MD, a medical oncologist at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan and Assistant Professor at the Department of Oncology and Haemato-Oncology of the University of Milan, in Italy. Dr. Trapani is a...
Patients with BRCA1- or BRCA2-mutated ovarian cancer may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer following treatment, according to a recent study published by Evans et al in Genetics in Medicine. Background Previous research has estimated that the risk of developing breast cancer by the age...
Guest Editor’s Note: Chemotherapy and its side effects can lead to decreased physical activity and poor diet quality, resulting in unfavorable changes in physical functioning and quality of life. However, adopting healthy behaviors during cancer treatments can be challenging because of physical,...
The advancement of retinoblastoma treatment over the past 15 years may have resulted in a higher likelihood of vision preservation without compromising survival, according to a recent study presented by Kocharian et al at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) Annual Meeting 2024 and...
As reported in The Lancet by Martin Dreyling, MD, PhD, of Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital Munich, and colleagues, results in the European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network phase III TRIANGLE trial indicate that the addition of ibrutinib to immunochemotherapy and autologous stem cell...
The oral KRAS G12C inhibitor glecirasib has emerged as a therapeutic option for previously treated KRAS G12C–mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It may potentially improve efficacy and tolerability compared with current U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved agents, according to data...
A new update to the ASCO guideline on managing cancer-related fatigue recommends that health care providers urge their patients to exercise, as well as use cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based programs to help prevent and treat this prevalent symptom.1 It is estimated that between 30% ...
The international meeting in Madrid of the newly formed Alliance for Global Implementation of Lung and Cardiac Early Disease Detection and Treatment (AGILE) was held in May 2024. This diverse forum included health-care professionals, public health leaders, industry representatives, and patient...
Two hallmark toxicities of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy may be rare after 2 weeks following infusion in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), supporting a shorter, more flexible toxicity monitoring period., according to a recent study published by Ahmed et al in...
Eliminating racial disparities in colorectal cancer testing may reduce the rate of colorectal cancer incidence and mortality among Black patients in the United States, according to a recent study published by Alagoz et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Background Although both the ...
The results of a cross-sectional study reported in JACC: CardioOncology by Nwana et al revealed a significant association between the extent to which a neighborhood facilitates walking and the burden of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors among patients with a history of cancer. “[The findings...
In a single-institution phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Pinnix et al found that response-adapted radiation therapy featuring ultra–low-dose radiation therapy was a successful strategy in patients with indolent B-cell lymphoma of the ocular adnexa. As stated by the investigators:...
The search for biomarkers of response to immunotherapy is high on the list of cancer-related research efforts. A new classifier in triple-negative breast cancer is showing promise and is currently being validated in the I-SPY2.2 trial, according to Laura van ’t Veer, PhD, Professor of Laboratory...
In a Utah population–based cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Barnard et al found that women with ovarian endometriomas and/or deep-infiltrating endometriosis had a markedly increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. Those with such severe subtypes may represent an important population...
Researchers have developed a novel prompt, embedded in electronic health records, to flag older patients with early-stage breast cancer who may be at risk of unnecessary sentinel lymph node biopsy, according to a recent study published by Carleton et al in JAMA Surgery. Background “In breast...
In selected patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases, liver transplantation plus chemotherapy significantly boosted overall survival as compared with chemotherapy alone in the multicenter, European TRANSMET trial, presented at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The combined approach led...
Female patients may become pregnant and give birth to healthy children despite treatment-related fertility challenges following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), according to a recent study published by Sockel et al in Blood. The findings highlighted the need for increased...
In a 5-year update of the phase II ATEMPT trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tarantino et al found that 1 year of adjuvant ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) was associated with “outstanding” long-term outcomes in patients with stage I HER2-positive breast cancer. Study Details In...
A recent study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society has found that 4 in 10 cancer cases and about half of all cancer deaths in adults aged 30 and older in the United States (or 713,340 cancer cases and 262,120 cancer deaths in 2019) may be attributed to modifiable risk factors,...
Chronic graft-vs-host disease, an immune-mediated disorder that follows allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), is characterized by debilitating tissue injury with inflammatory and fibrotic pathology leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Historically, the treatment of...
For patients with cancer and cancer survivors, sexual dysfunction and reproductive health concerns are often the elephant in the exam room—a significant quality-of-life issue that both patients and clinicians struggle to discuss openly and effectively. At the recent NCCN Policy Summit on Sexual and ...
The antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab tirumotecan extended overall survival as well as progression-free survival vs chemotherapy in patients with previously treated triple-negative breast cancer, according to the results of OptiTROP-Breast01, a phase III study presented at the 2024 ASCO Annual...
Results from the ECOG-ACRIN EAZ171 trial—reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Schneider et al—showed that germline predictors of taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy were not associated with an increased risk of taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy in Black women with early-stage breast...
Only a minority of adult cancer survivors may have access to specialized survivorship services such as those addressing fertility and sexual health issues, and having survivorship standards in place may help cancer centers better provide services that meet the distinct needs of these patients,...
The hypoglycemic agent metformin failed to slow disease progression in men with low-risk localized prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance, according to the results of the randomized, controlled MAST trial reported at the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 In addition, the use of metformin was...
Transgender women receiving hormone therapy may skew artificially low on prostate cancer screening tests, thereby providing false reassurance and potentially delaying diagnosis and treatment, according to a recent study published by Nik-Ahd et al in JAMA. The findings indicated that transgender...
The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) are applauding efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to broaden eligibility criteria for cancer clinical trials in order to include more diverse patient populations. In joint comments submitted on ...
Researchers have discovered a biomarker that could help identify which patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma may be at greater risk of cancer recurrence, according to a recent study published by Mehra et al in JCO Precision Oncology. Background Approximately 3% to 5% of all cancer diagnoses ...
On April 23, 2024, tovorafenib (Ojemda) was granted accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for patients aged 6 months and older who have relapsed or refractory pediatric low-grade glioma harboring a BRAF fusion or rearrangement or BRAF V600 mutation.1 Tovorafenib is a...
Recent phase III findings support the antibody-drug conjugate belantamab mafodotin-blmf as a treatment option for patients with multiple myeloma in early relapse. Belantamab mafodotin is an antibody-drug conjugate targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) expressed on multiple myeloma cells,...
Early palliative care can be integrated into the course of treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer via delivery by telehealth with outcomes similar to when palliative care is delivered via in-person visits, according to results of the REACH PC trial presented by Joseph Greer, PhD, of...
Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) who undergo frequent immunoglobulin G testing may be less likely to experience severe infections than those who don’t undergo frequent testing, according to a recent study published by Soumerai et al in Blood Advances....
Researchers have found that administering the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib after surgery may improve disease-free survival in a subset of patients with PIK3CA-mutated stage III colorectal cancer, according to a study published by Nowak et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings...
In a European phase Ib/II study (OPTIMIZE-1) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Jean-Luc Van Laethem, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of the CD40 agonist antibody mitazalimab with mFOLFIRINOX (modified fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan) showed activity in previously...
In a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Bandi et al found that only 18% of eligible individuals in the United States were considered up to date—defined as undergoing screening within the past year—for recommended annual lung cancer screening in 2022. As stated by the investigators, “The U.S. ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by W. Robert Lee, MD, MS, and colleagues, a 12-year analysis of the phase III NRG Oncology RTOG 0415 trial has shown continued noninferiority in terms of disease-free survival with hypofractionated radiotherapy vs conventionally fractionated...
When Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, FASCO, graduated from high school in 1970 and enrolled at the University of Illinois in Champaign, she was determined to seek a career in special education, because she wanted to “help people through difficult situations.” Although Dr. Von Roenn ultimately decided to...
Results of the phase III NADINA trial support a new standard of care for the treatment of resectable macroscopic stage III melanoma. Treatment with preoperative ipilimumab plus nivolumab followed by total lymph node dissection, with adjuvant therapy guided by depth of response, led to a highly...
“Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), once a rare entity, now comprises 20% to 30% of newly diagnosed breast cancers detected on mammography and is appreciated to be a widely heterogeneous disease,” said E. Shelley Hwang, MD, MPH, the Mary and Deryl Hart Distinguished Professor at Duke University, who ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zanwar et al developed a prognostic model for overall survival in patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia based on age, albumin level, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level. Study Details In the study, data from 889 consecutive treatment-naive...