The approval of several new agents for metastatic melanoma in the past several years has led to changes in how the disease is treated and managed. Treatments such as the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors pembrolizumab, ipilimumab, and nivolumab; BRAF inhibitors; and MEK inhibitors...
The first report from a phase II, multicenter clinical trial has found that a newer, more aggressive form of radiation therapy—stereotactic ablative radiation—can extend long-term survival for some patients with stage IV cancers, while maintaining their quality of life. The study was...
In a Dutch-Belgian study (CYPTAM) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sanchez-Spitman et al found no associations between CYP2D6 genotypes or levels of endoxifen (active metabolite of tamoxifen) and clinical outcomes in patients receiving adjuvant tamoxifen for early-stage breast cancer....
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Ganju et al found that implementation of a cancer care network–wide peer review process aimed at standardizing treatment resulted in increasing use of hypofractionated radiotherapy in early-stage breast cancer at community-based...
In phase Ib results from the JAVELIN Solid Tumor Trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Disis et al found that avelumab produced durable responses in some patients with recurrent or refractory ovarian cancer. In the study, an expansion cohort of 125 women with advanced disease who had received...
Data on the risk factors for the development of skin cancer after a solid organ transplant are limited. In a retrospective cohort study, researchers sought to determine the relationship between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatch and risk of skin cancer after transplant. Their findings were...
According to the American Lung Association’s recently released 2019 State of Tobacco Control report, states and the federal government have not taken meaningful action in establishing policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use, the nation's leading cause of preventable death and disease. ...
In a Singaporean study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lai et al found that tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment outcome did not differ according to mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (MET)-high vs MET-low status in treatment-naive, EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer...
In a population-based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Downing et al found little difference in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between men with advanced vs localized prostate cancer. Sexual function problems were common among all patients—and often not addressed—and use of ...
A new study has found rates are increasing for 6 of 12 cancers related to obesity in younger adults in the United States, with steeper increases in progressively younger ages and successively younger generations. The study, published by Sung et al in The Lancet Public Health, also looked at rates...
A new article in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP)1 looks at how ASCO’s commitment to CancerLinQ® can lead to improvements in the interoperability of electronic health records (EHRs). The article, by Wendy S. Rubinstein, MD, PhD, FACP, FACMG, Deputy Medical Director of CancerLinQ LLC,...
People diagnosed with cancer often say they were stunned when they heard the news of their diagnosis, and were unable to process what their health-care provider said afterward. Give your patients easy-to-understand information they can take home with them. When the Doctor Says “Cancer” is a 1-page...
By including a planned gift to ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation in your estate plans, you can help make a dramatic difference for patients with cancer years—even decades—into the future. With just one small change to your will or trust, your planned gift of any size will deliver a big impact, and...
The benefit of adding venetoclax to a hypomethylating agent or low-dose cytarabine in the front-line treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was evident from a number of studies reported at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (see Table 1). For elderly...
Ravi Vij, MD, Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and Saad Usmani, MD, Director of Plasma Cell Disorders at Levine Cancer Institute, Charlotte, North Carolina, spoke to The ASCO Post about the studies presented on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell...
The burgeoning pipeline of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) in multiple myeloma was on full display at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition. A bispecific antibody also made its debut in this busy...
Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung represents approximately one-quarter (26.4%) of all lung cancers diagnosed in Appalachian Kentucky, where death from lung cancer is higher than the national average. Researchers sought to characterize genetic alterations specifically found in lung squamous cell...
Pancreaticoduodenectomy, or the Whipple procedure, is one of the most complex abdominal surgeries, and is commonly prescribed as a first line of therapy for cancer located within the pancreatic head. Investigators reported that following a 5-day accelerated recovery pathway after surgery helped to...
Each year, The ASCO Post asks Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, to offer his picks for the most important research presented at the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vaarwerk et al found that presence of indeterminate pulmonary nodules at diagnosis of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma did not adversely affect treatment outcome in otherwise localized disease. The study involved 316 patients from the European...
World Cancer Day 2019—February 4—highlights the need for urgent action to increase early-stage cancer detection, screening, and diagnosis to significantly improve patients’ chances of survival. Taking place with the theme of “I Am and I Will,” World Cancer...
In the phase III REACH-2 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhu et al found that ramucirumab improved overall and progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and increased α-fetoprotein levels who had previously received sorafenib. Study...
Clinical trials aimed to improve health and quality of life are the cornerstone of progress in medicine. Support comes from academic medical centers, philanthropy, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), industry, or combinations thereof. Clinical trials need to be hypothesis-driven and address...
As reported by Solomon et al in The Lancet Oncology1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, results from a global phase II study of the third-generation ALK inhibitor lorlatinib showed a high overall response rate and high intracranial response rate for patients with advanced ALK-positive...
KEYNOTE-181’s invited discussant, Harry H. Yoon, MD, Associate Professor of Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said the findings have a “potentially immediate clinical impact” for second-line treatment of esophageal cancer, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and Siewert...
Injection of a genetically modified virus that induces the body’s own immune cells to attack metastatic melanoma effectively treated almost 40% of patients with tumors that could not be surgically removed, according to findings published by Louie et al in the Journal of the American...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stadtmauer and colleagues found that second autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) or RVD (lenalidomide, bortezomib, dexamethasone) consolidation as post-AHCT interventions did not improve outcomes vs single...
In a French phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Scherpereel et al found evidence of activity with nivolumab or the combination of nivolumab plus ipilimumab in patients with relapsed malignant pleural mesothelioma. Study Details In the open-label, noncomparative trial, 125 patients...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pui et al found that minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative status, high hypodiploidy with 44 chromosomes, and MRD-stratified treatment were associated with improved outcomes among children treated for newly diagnosed...
In a Dutch study (IMPROVE) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Polman et al found that human papillomavirus (HPV) testing with a clinically validated polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–based assay had similar accuracy using self-collected vs clinician-collected samples in detecting cervical...
In a phase Ib trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Hassan et al found that the anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 antibody avelumab produced durable responses and a high rate of disease control in some patients with advanced unresectable mesothelioma progressing after platinum and pemetrexed...
Over the past year, major research advances provided new treatment options for patients with rare, difficult-to-treat cancers. In recognition of these achievements, ASCO named “Progress in Treating Rare Cancers” as the Advance of the Year. To continue the forward momentum, ASCO also...
Barrett’s esophagus is the only known precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Although endoscopy and biopsy are standard methods for diagnosing Barrett’s esophagus, their high cost and risk limit their use as a screening modality. Researchers sought to develop a screening method based...
In a prospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ramsey et al identified the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in patients with newly diagnosed cancer and found that a substantial proportion were unaware of...
In a Japanese phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hayashi et al found that standard site-specific treatment based on gene-expression profiling was not associated with better outcomes vs empirical paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with cancer of unknown primary site....
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Eaglehouse et al found that time to breast cancer surgery was delayed for non-Hispanic black vs non-Hispanic white women in the Military Health System but that this difference did not account for poorer overall survival in non-Hispanic black ...
A new report published by Wang et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network found that using Oncotype DX—the most commonly used test for predicting the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy to reduce the risk of disease recurrence—is not...
New research indicates that cancer survivors carry greater financial burdens related to medical debt payments and bills compared with individuals without a cancer history, with the greatest hardships in younger survivors. Published by Zheng et al in Cancer, the study also found that among...
In a letter to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, Goodman et al reported a long-term follow-up of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial indicating that finasteride treatment was not associated with an increased risk of death from prostate cancer. Study Details As previously...
In a single-center retrospective case series analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Smith et al found that a watch-and-wait approach was associated with a high rate of rectal preservation and pelvic tumor control in patients with rectal cancer with complete clinical response to neoadjuvant therapy,...
As reported by Willemze and colleagues in Blood, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) have released a 2018 update of their classification of primary cutaneous lymphomas. As noted by the authors, “Primary cutaneous...
Invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is typically treated surgically, with guidelines in place recommending surgical margins for excision based on the SCC being classified as low or high risk. Researchers undertook a study to examine recurrence rates of SCC after surgical excision, taking into...
In a phase I trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Craddock et al found evidence that the sequential combination of azacitidine and lenalidomide may be an effective salvage therapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) relapsing after allogeneic stem cell transplantation...
In a prospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Potter et al found that complications following immediate implant-based breast reconstruction—with or without mesh—were higher than considered acceptable by UK national standards. As noted by the investigators, the study was ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Gray et al found that constitutional loss of function single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the pattern recognition receptors FPR1, TLR3, and TLR4 were not associated with preferential benefit of oxaliplatin in colorectal cancer. As...
Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) make up a small fraction of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas—just 15%—in the United States.1 Although rare in the United States, the incidence of PTCL is common across Asia, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. Although the reason for such global variation in PTCL is...
THE COMMUNITY Oncology Alliance (COA) recently announced that Michael Diaz, MD, a practicing medical oncologist at Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, has been elected President of COA. His 1-year term began on January 1, 2019. In addition, Kashyap Patel, MD, a practicing...
THE IMPASSION130 trial—reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Schmid et al1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—was an eagerly awaited study in newly diagnosed metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. To briefly review, 902 patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to...
THE MULTIPLE MYELOMA Research Foundation (MMRF) has announced the launch of MyDRUG, the first platform trial exclusively in multiple myeloma, which aims to investigate targeted treatments for patients with high-risk myeloma. MyDRUG represents the culmination of the MMRF’s Precision Medicine Model,...
Surgery is an integral part of treatment of elderly patients with solid malignancies. The times we are living in will be remembered by health-care providers for the significant “contradictions” in the medical and surgical care of elderly patients with cancer. On the one hand, it has been...