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Showing 6201 - 6250Crizotinib plus Companion Diagnostic Test Approved in NSCLC
On August 26, 2011, the FDA granted accelerated approval to Pfizer’s crizotinib (Xalkori) for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive as detected by an FDA-approved test. The FDA approved the...
FDA Approves Brentuximab Vedotin in Two Lymphoma Indications
The antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) was granted accelerated approval on August 19 for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Brentuximab vedotin is the first new drug to be approved in Hodgkin lymphoma in more...
Giving Women a Fighting Chance When They Have Breast Cancer
I knew there was a chance I could get breast cancer, I just never thought it would really happen to me. I am one of 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in our country today. Just weeks after getting a clean mammogram and my 41st birthday, I felt a lump in my breast. As a young and otherwise...
Doxorubicin/Cyclophosphamide with Docetaxel Equally Effective in Combination or Sequentially
Five-year disease-free survival and overall survival rates were “indistinguishable” in patients with operable, node-positive, HER2-nonamplified breast cancer treated with the sequential or combination regimens of doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (AC) and docetaxel (T). The Breast Cancer International...
Elderly Patients with Ovarian Cancer Least Likely to Receive Chemotherapy
An analysis of data for 4,617 women aged 65 years or older diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer found that those in the oldest age group, 80 and up, were least likely to receive any chemotherapy. While 53% of patients 80 and older received no chemotherapy, the rate was less than half (22%) for...
Improvements Highlighted in Treatment of Leukemias and Preleukemias
Certain preleukemic conditions and leukemia in high-risk patients have remained challenging to treat despite advances in hematology, according to Wendy Stock, MD, of the University of Chicago. But studies reported at the Best of ASCO® Annual Meeting ‘11 in Seattle show progress even in these ...
ASCO Study Shows Integrating Nonphysician Providers into Oncology Practices Is a Win for Patients and Providers
Is the expanded use of nonphysician providers (NPPs) a viable way to help ease the challenges oncology practices could feel if the number of oncologists entering the field does not keep pace with potential growth in the demand for their services? The ASCO Workforce Advisory Group thought the...
Short-term Androgen Deprivation plus Radiotherapy Improves Outcomes in Intermediate-risk Prostate Cancer
The addition of short-term androgen-deprivation therapy to external-beam radiation therapy improved overall and disease-specific survival in men with nonbulky localized prostate cancer and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels up to 20 ng/mL, as reported recently in The New England Journal of...
FDA Approves Denosumab to Increase Bone Mass in Patients with Cancer
Denosumab (Prolia) recently received FDA approval as a treatment to increase bone mass in patients at high risk for fracture receiving androgen deprivation therapy for nonmetastatic prostate cancer or adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy for breast cancer. Pivotal Trials The approvals were based...
International Prostate Cancer Studies Report Inroads in Managing Bone Metastases
Treatment and prevention of bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer is coming of age, according to several studies presented at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress (ECCO/ESMO/ESTRO). Among the most impressive studies reported was an international phase III trial of radium-223,...
Studies Validate Safety of Breast-conserving Surgery in Young Patients with Breast Cancer
Young age is not a reason, in itself, to recommend mastectomy for early breast cancer in women aged 40 and under, according to two studies presented at the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco. While younger women have been pegged as having more aggressive disease, the results suggest that ...
Novel Management Strategies Assessed in Renal Cell and Prostate Cancers
At the Best of ASCO Miami meeting, William Oh, MD, of the Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, described new trends and remaining questions in the management of renal cell and prostate cancers. Axitinib vs Sorafenib in Second-line RCC Axitinib, a potent and selective...
Multiple Myeloma Research Spotlights Treatment Concerns and Advances
Myeloma data reported at this year’s ASCO meeting raise concern about the safety of a mainstay class of drugs in this disease, while also hinting at good efficacy of some novel drugs and approaches, according to William I. Bensinger, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle....
Similar Outcomes Confirmed in Variety of Lymphoma Treatment Comparisons
Three abstracts reported at the Best of ASCO® meeting in Seattle provide guidance to hematologists when it comes to long-standing gray areas in lymphoma management, according to Oliver Press, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle....
Breast Cancer Studies Explore Wide Variety of Prevention and Treatment Strategies, Offering New Insights
At the Best of ASCO® meeting in Miami, Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Carey K. Anders, MD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented high-impact breast cancer abstracts that will enable clinicians to optimize their use of radiotherapy and biologics. ...
Research Increasingly Points to the Role of Molecular Diversity in Metastatic Lung Cancer
Molecular diversity—its existence, extent, and implications for therapy—was a central theme of key metastatic lung cancer studies presented at this year’s ASCO meeting, according to D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado, Denver, who addressed major findings in advanced lung cancer ...
Tobacco Remains the Dominant Global Risk Factor Underlying Cancer
Despite clear evidence that tobacco causes at least 18 types of cancer, as well as many other diseases, many people all over the world smoke or chew tobacco, or are exposed to secondhand smoke. Although smoking among Americans has declined slowly but steadily over the past 40 years, it remains the...
Fear of the Unknown: Cancer Treatment Can Be Scarier than the Disease Itself
Two years ago, I was feeling fine except for a nagging problem with severe constipation. I believed this was caused by some loperamide I had taken to quell the episodes of diarrhea I experienced following dinner at a local barbecue restaurant. When the symptoms persisted for a couple of months, I...
Physicians Can Help Patients Set Realistic Expectations for Sexual Functioning after Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Models that can be personalized to predict erectile function of individual patients following treatment for early-stage prostate cancer have been developed and validated in a study involving a total of 2,940 men, and are ready for use in clinical practice, according to Martin G. Sanda, MD, the...
Important Briefs from the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium
The 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium was recently held in San Francisco, bringing together a multidisciplinary group of specialists and sponsored by ASCO, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society of...
Time to Reconsider Treatment Paradigm for Elderly Patients with Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer?
Significantly longer median overall survival among elderly patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving doublet chemotherapy rather than monotherapy yielded a 36% reduction in mortality risk in a phase III randomized trial. “We saw a survival benefit with doublet chemotherapy ...
No Improvement in Survival with High-dose over Standard-dose Radiation for Stage III Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Surprisingly, less may be more when it comes to radiation therapy with concurrent chemotherapy for patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to an interim analysis of the randomized phase III Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0617 trial presented at the 53rd Annual ...
Alternative Treatment for Advanced Ovarian Cancer Reduces Neurotoxicity and Alopecia
A randomized phase III clinical trial found that carboplatin/pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil) was not superior in prolonging progression compared to the standard carboplatin/paclitaxel as first-line therapy of patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The carboplatin/liposomal doxorubicin...
Fewer False-positives, Small Increased Risk of Late Diagnosis with Biennial Mammography
Screening mammography every other year reduced false-positive recalls by about one-third compared to annual screening, but was associated with a small increase in the probability of late-stage cancer diagnosis, according to a study funded by the NCI and published in Annals of Internal Medicine. To...
Oxaliplatin Improved Overall Survival in Patients under 70
The addition of oxaliplatin to fluorouracil (5-FU) plus leucovorin improved overall survival in patients younger than 70 years old participating in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) C-07 trial. Patients eligible for the trial had either stage II or III colon cancer and ...
Should Age at Initial Screening Colonoscopy Be Younger for Men?
A study to investigate the most appropriate age for initial screening colonoscopy to improve detection of adenomas, advanced adenomas, and colorectal cancer, and lower colorectal cancer mortality found that the most appropriate age might be different for men and women. “In our study, analysis of...
Researchers Explore Reasons for Higher Risk of Triple-negative Breast Cancer in Underserved African-American Women
Triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, has a bad reputation, and among socioeconomically disadvantaged black women, that reputation is especially well deserved. In fact, according to Lisa A. Newman, MD, Director of the Breast Care Center, University of...
‘Breakthrough’ Approach to Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma via Inhibition of Hedgehog Pathway
The first-in-class Hedgehog pathway inhibitor vismodegib appears to be a successful treatment for advanced basal cell carcinoma, a disfiguring and debilitating disease, according to a pivotal multicenter nonrandomized trial presented as a Best Abstract at a Presidential Session during the recent...
Geriatric Oncology, a Much Needed Discipline for Future Cancer Care
The U.S. health-care system, with its rapidly aging population, faces a multitude of difficult clinical and financial challenges in caring for its burgeoning population of older patients with cancer. Moreover, age-related social and medical issues among older patients need to be addressed by a...
Chemotherapy Generally Safe in Pregnancy
The diagnosis of cancer in a pregnant woman causes concerns for both the mother and her unborn child. But studies suggest that most chemotherapy regimens can be delivered with reasonable safety after the first trimester. Cancer is diagnosed in about 1 per 1,000 to 2,000 pregnancies, mostly breast...
FDA Approves Molecular Test to Detect HPV
Gen-Probe recently announced that the FDA has approved its APTIMA HPV assay, an amplified nucleic acid test that detects high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) that are associated with cervical cancer and precancerous lesions. The test has been approved to run on Gen-Probe’s fully...
Tamoxifen vs Surgery Study Shows Older Patients with Breast Cancer Can Achieve a ‘Personal Cure’
A truly final review—when all the patients in the trial have died and the cause of death is known for each—of a randomized trial comparing tamoxifen to surgery in patients over the age of 70 with operable breast cancer found no differences in the survival rates or deaths attributable to breast...
NCCN Meeting Addresses Issues in Hematologic Malignancies
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 6th Annual Congress on Hematologic Malignancies, held recently in New York, included reviews of the management of hematologic diseases as well as discussions of outstanding issues in the field. The following is a synopsis of some of the important...
Aflibercept Improves Overall Survival in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
The novel fusion protein aflibercept added to standard chemotherapy led to an overall survival benefit in a global phase III trial of second-line metastatic colorectal cancer, reported at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm.1 “Adding aflibercept to FOLFIRI [leucovorin,...
My Cancer Is Incurable, but My Future Is Limitless
Cancer has nearly always been part of my life. When I was 6 years old, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The doctors told my parents that unless I was treated immediately, I wouldn’t live longer than a month. Over the next 3 years, I underwent intensive courses of chemotherapy and...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
Patients concerned about an increased risk of cancer among recipients of organ transplantation need to know that “in the great majority of cases, patients don’t get cancer,” according to Eric Engels, MD, MPH, lead author of the Transplant Cancer Match Study report and Senior Investigator, Division...
Significant Neurologic and Executive Function Impairment among Breast Cancer Survivors
Women who survive breast cancer show significant neurologic impairment, with outcomes appearing to be significantly poorer for those treated with chemotherapy, according to a report in the Archives of Neurology. Investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine in California conducted an...
Male Breast Cancer Differs from Breast Cancer in Women, but Little Data Informs Treatment
Although a rare occurrence, men do get breast cancer, and when they do, it has a distinct biology from that of female breast cancer. About 90% of cases most closely resemble postmenopausal female invasive ductal carcinoma, and 10% are ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which accounts for 25% of...
Prostate Cancer Screening Reconsidered
Prostate cancer is the most prevalent nonskin cancer in men. An estimated 16% of men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, yet only 3% of men die from it.1 Unlike other cancers, prostate cancer is associated with a prolonged lead-time, meaning it can take anywhere from 5 to 12 years to become...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
“The message” of a meta-analysis of 17 randomized trials of breast-conserving surgery with or without radiation, “should be that the benefits of radiation are not temporary, that it provides an increased chance of cure,” Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, told The ASCO Post. The meta-analysis was conducted by ...
Benefits of Radiation after Breast-conserving Surgery Cut Risk of Recurrence in Half
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “After breast-conserving surgery,...
Physician-based Screening Leads to the Detection of Thinner Melanomas with More Favorable Prognosis
Physician-based screening leads to detection of thinner melanomas that were less likely to have negative prognostic attributes such as ulceration and dermal mitosis, according to a retrospective review of patient records and biopsy logs from 394 patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma. The...
Intensified Chemotherapy with R-ACVBP Improves Survival in Younger Patients with Diffuse B-cell Lymphoma
Compared with standard R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan], doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone), intensified immunochemotherapy with R-ACVBP (dose-intensive rituximab, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine [not available in U.S.], bleomycin, and prednisone) significantly improves ...
ASCO President Michael P. Link, MD, Joins Colleagues in Honoring a Friend and Touching the Future through Philanthropy
As an active member of ASCO, and as a leader of the Society in recent years, ASCO President Michael P. Link, MD, has a long history of giving to the Society-affiliated Conquer Cancer Foundation. “Our family has always felt that it’s a good thing to support,” he said. “The Foundation supports...
Young Investigator Award Renamed to Honor ASCO Founder Jane C. Wright, MD
At the 2011 Annual Meeting, the Conquer Cancer Foundation renamed one of its annual awards to honor the legacy of one of ASCO’s groundbreaking founders. The Jane C. Wright, MD, Young Investigator Award (YIA) recognizes Dr. Wright’s leadership at ASCO, her contributions to the field of oncology, and ...
CLEOPATRA Trial Finds Dual HER2 Blockade Improves Progression-free Survival in Advanced Breast Cancer
Women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer are much less likely to have disease progression or die when two agents are used instead of one to target the HER2 signaling pathway, investigators for the international phase III CLEOPATRA trial found. The 808 women studied were randomly assigned to...
Ruxolitinib for Myelofibrosis Therapy: A Good Start but a Long Road Ahead
Following a priority review process for orphan diseases, ruxolitinb (Jakafi) recently became the first drug to receive FDA approval for the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis. Discovery in 2004 of the JAK2V617F mutation in a significant proportion of patients with...
BOLERO-2: Everolimus Thwarts Resistance to Hormonal Therapy in Advanced Breast Cancer
Adding an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to hormonal therapy for advanced breast cancer effectively circumvents resistance, suggest updated results of the randomized BOLERO-2 trial. With a median follow-up of 12.5 months, the likelihood of disease progression or death among...
Don’t Take Away Our Hope
After experiencing the loss of my wife Dina’s first pregnancy during her second trimester, we naturally worried that something would go wrong when she became pregnant again. But when our son Will was delivered at full term, we thought we could finally relax. Born at a whopping 10 lb, Will seemed...
Studies Reveal that Hormonal Factors Influence Lung Cancer Risk in Women
In an effort to understand lung cancer risk factors and develop prevention strategies for the disease, Christina S. Baik, MD, MPH, thoracic oncologist and staff scientist at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has examined epidemiologic trends in lung...
