Early data on immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have been encouraging. SCLC may catch up to non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where immunotherapy is now standard of care, if these early data are borne out in phase III trials. Phase Ib and II studies of immunotherapy in SCLC were...
The therapeutic paradigm for lung cancer has changed rapidly over the past few years toward individualized therapy. For certain subsets of patients, molecularly targeted agents have resulted in robust gains in overall survival and quality of life. However, for the majority of patients with...
Bookmark Title: Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic Author: Sam Quinones Publisher: Bloomsbury Press Publication date: April 21, 2015 Price: $28.00; hardcover, 384 pages Despite growing awareness within the oncology community and the emergence of the palliative care...
Chris Marshall, FRS, FMedSci, a rigorous scientist with a lasting legacy of game-changing discoveries in cancer research and generous support for his younger colleagues, has died at 66. The cause of death was colorectal cancer. Professor Marshall was the Head of the Division for Cancer Biology at...
In March 2015, Sage Bionetworks and Apple released “Share the Journey: Mind, Body, and Wellness After Breast Cancer,” a patient-centered iPhone app that tracks five common consequences of breast cancer treatment, including fatigue, cognitive function, sleep disturbances, mood changes, and a...
After coping with breast cancer for more than a decade, it is difficult for me to put into words exactly how grateful I am to all the doctors, nurses, and researchers whose efforts have kept me alive for all these years. And not just alive, but thriving. A routine mammogram had discovered two...
The following essay by Grace Wang, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and thebigcasino.org. D.K. came to me ...
Carolyn D. Runowicz, MD, FASCO, has worn just about every hat in the field of oncology—clinician, professor, researcher, administrator, and even cancer survivor. Currently the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Herbert ...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation’s Young Investigator Award (YIA) provides research funding to promising physicians to support the transition from final years of training to faculty appointment and to encourage and promote quality research in clinical oncology. The online application for 2016 YIAs is...
Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) annually publishes several Special Series of reviews—disease-specific issues dedicated to providing readers with concise, authoritative updates on important topics in oncology practice. Each issue of the Special Series explores one specific area of cancer care...
Just 4 months after President Barack Obama’s announcement in December 2014 that there would be an easing of the trade embargo between the United States and Cuba, a deal was struck between Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, and the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM) in Havana,...
It’s been 10 years since floodwaters washed away lives in New Orleans—for most, figuratively or temporarily, but for more than 1,800, literally. We who call this place home all lost something—homes, possessions, jobs, pets, loved ones, our sanity. Mold and muck marked our days for a long time, but...
Emerging laboratory technology will be “moving the bar forward” in terms of molecular markers, genomics, and gene-expression profiling, with the potential for huge payoffs to oncologists and patients, according to Mark Pegram, MD, the Susy Yuan-Huey Hung Professor of Medicine at Stanford School of...
For breast cancer patients with robust family histories, medical oncologists should be testing not only for BRCA1/2 mutations, but also for large duplications and deletions as well as for PALB2 mutations. “These [findings] have proven utility in testing breast cancer patients,” said Louise E....
In recent years, patients with cancer have had the benefit of much high technology: proton-beam radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, various minimally invasive surgery techniques, and robots in the operating room. They all receive hype in the professional and public press, and...
You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust your sails,” said Mindy Greenstein, PhD, consulting psychologist and author, to begin her talk at the 2015 World Congress of Psycho-Oncology, held in July in Washington, DC. The sense of this proverb pervaded the entire session on cancer and aging....
Suicidal thoughts and impulses are among the most challenging symptoms in patients with cancer, and they may occur both during and after treatment. It has long been known that a cancer diagnosis carries an increased risk for suicide, but the problem is not widely addressed. Suicide is one of the...
The International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) has partnered with the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) for the 17th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology, held in late July 2015 in Washington, DC. Its theme, “From National to Global: Implementing the Standard of Psychosocial Care in...
The International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) announced four award winners at the 2015 World Congress of Psycho-Oncology, held July 28 to August 1 in Washington, DC. Arthur M. Sutherland Award: William H. Redd, PhD Dr. Redd is Professor of Oncological Sciences at the Mount Sinai Hospital. He is...
Detectable oral HPV16 DNA in oral rinses post treatment for oropharyngeal cancer appears to be a harbinger of poor prognosis and can predict recurrence. Oral HPV16 DNA rinses are a potential tool for long-term tumor surveillance, according to a study selected for the Best of ASCO® 2015.1 “The goal ...
With immunotherapy changing the face of lung cancer, is there still a place for targeted therapy? Two experts from Emory University debated this issue at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference held in Sea Island, Georgia. Fadlo Khuri, MD, was recently named President...
A few weeks ago, I read an op-ed1 in The New York Times written by Stan Collender, a patient with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer. In his article, he described his participation in a clinical trial for a new drug he is hoping will stem progression of his cancer and...
Two studies of third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors among patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had progressive disease following treatment with a first-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor “show encouraging results,” according to...
Gianni Bonadonna, MD, was considered the “Father of Italian Oncology,” but his scientific contributions to the field and his generous collegial spirit extended far beyond the shores of his native land. Dr. Bonadonna was at the forefront in the battle to convince the surgical establishment that...
BOOKMARK Title: The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-life CareAuthor: Angelo E. Volandes, MDPublisher: BloomsburyPublication date: January 13, 2015Price: $26.00; hardcover, 240 pages A quick Google search on books about end-of-life care will yield pages of hits on the subject. The...
ASCO University has released an updated version of ASCO’s Curricula for Advanced Practice Providers (ACAPP™). This popular series assists with the orientation of advanced practice providers (APPs) into oncology practices—a growing need as increasing numbers of APPs are hired to meet the demand for...
In an interview with The ASCO Post, Robert S. Miller, MD, FACP, Senior Director, Quality and Guidelines, ASCO, and Medical Director, CancerLinQ™, described how the system could work with data specific to radiation oncology. “The system is in the rapid build phase now, what we are calling the...
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 September 2, 2015, rolapitant (Varubi) was approved for use in...
Over 80% of the 15 million people diagnosed with cancer worldwide in 2015 will need surgery, but less than one-quarter of them will have access to proper, safe, affordable surgical care when they need it, according to a major new Commission examining the state of global cancer surgery. The...
Thomas A. Stamey, MD, Professor Emeritus of Urology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a leader in the study and treatment of prostate cancer, died of Alzheimer’s disease September 4. He was 87. A True Pioneer in the Field Dr. Stamey helped lay the groundwork for the...
BOOKMARK Title: Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion PatientsAuthor: Jeremy N. SmithPublisher: Harper WavePublication date: April 7, 2015Price: $26.99; hardcover, 352 pages Health measures are essential tools in assessing public health and safety. Collecting large amounts of data is a laborious ...
The recent study findings that women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ had a low breast cancer–specific mortality and that preventing ipsilateral recurrences did not prevent breast cancer mortality1 might lead some women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ to question the need for...
Women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ have a low risk of dying of breast cancer, according to an observational study looking at data from 108,196 women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ between 1988 and 2011.1 The breast cancer–specific mortality rate for these women was 1.1% at 10...
Rural cancer patients have long had to adjust to difficult geographic and financial barriers to access high-quality cancer care. These problems are exacerbated by today’s fiscal challenges, which have disrupted many of the small community practices that once served rural communities. In 2006, the...
A Century of Progress The text and photographs 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 photos below are from the volume titled “The Anesthesia Era: 1916–1945.” To view...
Despite multiple guidelines from national and international organizations,1,2 the quality of current cancer pain management remains inadequate. The World Health Organization’s three-step analgesic dosing ladder forms the foundation of these guidelines.3 Yet, as noted by William S. Rosenberg, MD,...
The statistics are staggering. Despite the development of novel analgesics and the increasing awareness of the importance of adequately controlling pain from cancer or its treatment, up to 50% of patients undergoing treatment and between 70% and 90% of patients with advanced disease experience some ...
Immunotherapy, once considered a niche treatment for a few specific cancers, has rapidly emerged as an additional pillar of cancer therapeutics. With the proliferation of promising results, clinical trials, and new drug approvals, one cannot help but be amazed that only 3 years have elapsed since...
The latest version of ASCO Answers Advanced Cancer Care Planning is now available. This booklet contains comprehensive information about how patients can communicate directly and honestly about advanced cancer and end-of-life care with friends, family, children, and the health-care team. This...
In early 2016, readers of Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) will be greeted with an expanded journal, featuring a new section of succinct, focused, practical clinical reviews authored by expert opinion leaders in oncology. These reviews are designed to provide busy, full-time clinicians with...
At the third annual Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference, speakers described the prevalence and consequences of overdiagnosis in several medical specialties, including cancer. The Conference, which had the theme “Winding Back the Harms of Too Much Medicine,” was co-sponsored by the National Cancer...
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) announced that the MMRF CoMMpass StudySM, the most comprehensive long-term genomic study ever conducted in myeloma, has reached full enrollment, with 1,000 patients now participating. The global study is mapping the genomic profile of each enrolled...
Based on study findings presented at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, Arif Kamal, MD, MHS, of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, listed six points for clinicians to consider that could change practice now or in the near future for cancer survivors. “Drugs for cancer cachexia are on their...
Recent studies have yielded useful results that clinicians can put into practice, some right now, to help improve the quality of life for patients with cancer. Concerns addressed included cachexia, pain, “chemobrain,” and fertility preservation. At the Best of ASCO®/Chicago meeting, Arif Kamal,...
For the treatment of advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) continues to show results in key trials that now report 18-month data. The updates were reported at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver,...
Lung cancer is becoming an equal-opportunity malignancy—with rates rising among never-smokers, especially females, according to studies presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Denver. British investigators reported that in one large tertiary medical center, the proportion of...
Ductal carcinoma in situ has been a recent topic of debate in the news because of a recent article by Narod et al1 and an accompanying editorial2 about the study in JAMA Oncology. This study, summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post, chronicled the long-term outcomes for women diagnosed with...
Twenty years ago, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) began as a cooperative effort of 12 prestigious cancer centers, working to define and promote national guidelines for the care of patients with cancer. A major goal was to encourage uniformity in the management of malignant...
Integrative oncology had a long road to acceptance by the mainstream medical community; the field is now widely accepted for its healthful benefits, especially in assuaging the more troublesome side effects of cancer treatments. Many well-known oncologists have adapted integrative oncology into...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO). These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...