In a phase II study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Agrawal et al found that a single treatment with psilocybin (COMP360) with a 1:1 therapist-to-patient ratio reduced symptoms of depression in patients with cancer and major depression disorder treated at a single community cancer...
Although the 5-year relative survival rate for multiple myeloma is improving—up from 34.6% in 1998 to 53.9% in 2016—due to the approval of more effective therapies, multiple myeloma remains incurable, and new treatment options are needed, especially in the relapsed/refractory setting. A small phase ...
An analysis of lung cancer incidence rates showed wide variations among the racial and ethnic subgroups in Florida’s Black and Hispanic population, according to data presented by Cranford et al at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023 (Abstract 1902/8). Study...
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have outlined opportunities for achieving President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot national goal of reducing the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years. A study published by Shiels et al in Cancer...
mRNA-4157/V940, a personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine, in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab improved recurrence-free survival compared with pembrolizumab alone in patients with high-risk melanoma, and clinical benefit was observed regardless of tumor mutational...
In a retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Weelderen et al, of the International Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group (I-BFM-SG), found that KMT2A fusion partners and measurable residual disease (MRD) at end of induction phase 2 were independent predictors of...
In a trial (MEDIASTrial) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bousema et al found that immediate lung tumor resection after negative systematic endosonography was noninferior to confirmatory mediastinoscopy in the detection of unforeseen N2 disease in patients with non–small cell lung...
Researchers have found that digital breast tomosynthesis may have improved breast cancer screening performance in community practices and could be effective at identifying more invasive cancers compared with digital mammography, according to a new study published by Lee et al in Radiology. The...
The approval process health insurers impose on medical services or drugs is generating a toll that exceeds the purported benefits, according to a physician survey recently released by the American Medical Association (AMA) and shared in a letter to federal health officials.1 Although health...
The management of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer has been evolving at a fast pace, thanks largely to the discovery that immune checkpoint blockade can be effective in this subtype. At the 2023 Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Priyanka Sharma, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Christopher J. Sweeney, MBBS, and colleagues, the primary overall survival analysis of the phase III ENZAMET trial showed a significant benefit with enzalutamide plus testosterone suppression vs standard nonsteroidal antiandrogen treatment plus testosterone...
New long-term data from the CHRYSALIS study evaluating amivantamab-vmjw in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations whose disease progressed on prior platinum-based chemotherapy were presented by Lopez et al at the 2023 European Lung Cancer...
On March 29, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval to the anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with unresectable or metastatic microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair–deficient (dMMR) solid tumors, as...
Adding immunotherapy to standard chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced or the first recurrence of endometrial cancer significantly improved progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy alone, according to data presented by Mansoor Raza Mirza, MD, and colleagues at the March...
Cancer is a leading cause of death in every country worldwide.1 In 2020, almost 10 million people died of cancer, a number that is expected to rise to 16.3 million by 2040.2 In addition, cancer incidence continues to grow, driven by an aging and growing population and changes in the prevalence and...
As reported in The Lancet by Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues, updated results of the phase III DESTINY-Breast03 trial showed significantly improved overall survival with...
In an analysis from the French GAZEL study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Thomas Van Sloten, MD, PhD, of the Université Paris Cité, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, and colleagues found that better cardiovascular health (CVH) scores at baseline and improvement in ...
According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death in both men and women in the United States. However, it ranks second in cancer-related deaths overall and is the leading cause of cancer...
The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series is intended to facilitate the availability of evidence-based information on integrative and complementary therapies sometimes used by patients with cancer. In this installment, Yen Nien (Jason) Hou, PharmD, DiplOM, LAc, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus...
Breast cancer screening and imaging-based surveillance after treatment remain suboptimal, largely because of confusion in the guidelines and the fact that dense breasts are too often ignored, according to Elizabeth Morris, MD, FACR, FSBI, FISMRM, Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiology...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Lazzeroni et al, the 10-year follow-up of the Italian phase III TAM-01 trial has shown that 3 years of low-dose tamoxifen vs placebo continued to be associated with a reduced risk of recurrence of invasive breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ...
In an analysis by Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by Teen Cancer America and reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Parsons et al estimated the costs incurred after a cancer diagnosis by adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in the United States. Study Details The objective of the...
A study aimed at determining the optimal duration of lenalidomide maintenance after autologous stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma has not answered that question, per se, but has yielded some hints that may inform future clinical trials. The follow-up analysis of the UK NCRI Myeloma XI...
In a study of over a million patients, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) showed improved breast cancer screening outcomes over screening with standard digital mammography alone. The results were published by Conant et al in Radiology. Breast cancer screening with two-dimensional (2D) digital...
In the GET FIT study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Winters-Stone et al found no significant difference in incidence of falls with programs of tai ji quan (also known as tai chi) or strength training vs a stretching control group among postmenopausal women who had received...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Network Open, Cooperberg et al found that the use of active surveillance (AS) for low-risk prostate cancer in U.S. patients has more than doubled in recent years but remains suboptimal and exhibits wide variations at the urology practice and individual practitioner...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Mauz-Körholz et al, children and adolescents with early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma enrolled in the EuroNet-PHL-C1 study who had an adequate response to an OEPA chemotherapy regimen (vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, and doxorubicin) and did not receive...
Among the high-quality abstract presentations at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), a few always stand out as particularly meritorious. Each year, The ASCOPost asks our Associate Editor, breast cancer specialist Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, to give us his picks. Dr. Abraham is Chairman of ...
In an Australian phase III trial (ONTRANS) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Allen et al found that 1 year of treatment with nicotinamide (vitamin B3) vs placebo did not reduce the risk of keratinocyte cancers or actinic keratoses in immunosuppressed solid organ transplant...
After analyzing the U.S. radiation oncology workforce, investigators projected a relative balance between the supply of radiation oncologists and the demand for radiation therapy services through 2030, according to an American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Workforce Taskforce review...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eng et al found that exposure to antibiotics within 1 year of starting immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy was associated with poorer survival among patients with cancer who were aged 65 years and older. Study Details The population-based...
In an analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sara M. Tolaney, MD, MPH, and colleagues described 10-year survival outcomes from the phase II APT trial assessing adjuvant paclitaxel/trastuzumab in patients with node-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer. Study Details The U.S. multicenter trial...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and colleagues, extended follow-up of the phase III CLEAR trial has shown maintained progression-free and overall survival benefits with first-line lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab vs sunitinib in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell...
In a phase I/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Flaadt et al found that treatment with the anti-GD2 antibody dinutuximab beta plus low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) following haploidentical stem cell transplantation (haplo-SCT) is feasible in patients with relapsed high-risk...
In a Canadian population–based retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Hallet et al found that increased familiarity among surgeon-anesthesiologist dyads—measured by annual number of procedures performed together—was associated with better short-term postoperative outcomes in complex...
In an analysis of National Cancer Database data reported in JAMA Oncology, Peiffer et al found “minimal prognostic differences” between HER2-low vs HER2-negative breast cancer, with the findings not supporting classification of HER2-low disease as a distinct disease subtype. Study Details The...
According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death in both men and women in the United States. However, it ranks second in cancer-related deaths overall, and is the leading cause of death in ...
In an analysis from the French GAZEL study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Van Sloten et al found that better cardiovascular health scores at baseline and improvement in scores over 7 years were associated with a reduced risk of incident cancers. As stated by the investigators, “The commonality...
Although immune checkpoint inhibitors have substantially improved clinical outcomes in many cancer types, they have also been found to induce immune-related adverse events, including myocarditis, in about 1% of patients receiving the agents, which can lead to a mortality rate of up to 50%. Current...
In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stroot et al identified the prevalence of high-grade serous carcinoma at risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy in asymptomatic BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant carriers. Study Details The study included asymptomatic BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant...
In a phase III randomized trial conducted in India, the addition of weekly carboplatin to standard taxane/anthracycline–based neoadjuvant chemotherapy improved pathologic complete response rates, event-free survival, and overall survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancer patients aged...
Investigators have estimated the environmental impacts of prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and prostate biopsies, according to a new study published by Michael S. Leapman, MD, MHS, and colleagues in European Urology. The findings suggest that more carefully selecting patients for...
Clinical trials set the treatment standards for cancer care. However, for select populations, such as those who are older, Black, or facing socioeconomic challenges, access to clinical trials and health care generally remains limited. Barriers to clinical trial participation are numerous and...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Ian H. Kunkler, MB, BChir, MA, FRCR, and colleagues, the phase III PRIME II trial has shown a higher risk of local recurrence with the omission of adjuvant radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in patients aged ≥ 65 years with hormone...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Brown et al, the phase II/III STAR trial showed that noninferiority in overall survival and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) could not be concluded for temporary treatment cessation vs continuous treatment with first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy in ...
Combination regimens beyond lenalidomide/dexamethasone were shown to significantly delay—and potentially prevent altogether—progression from smoldering disease to active multiple myeloma, according to researchers who reported findings from two studies at the 2022 American Society of Hematology...
In a retrospective, population-based, case-control study reported in JAMA Network Open, Larsen et al found that patients receiving anthracyclines for breast cancer or lymphoma were at a significantly elevated risk of congestive heart failure vs noncancer controls. No significant difference in risk...
In the phase I/II MonumenTAL-1 trial, the novel bispecific antibody talquetamab produced responses in more than 70% of heavily pretreated patients with multiple myeloma.1 Of note, the safety profile confirmed results of the phase I portion of the study (recently published in TheNew England Journal...
In a phase II trial, treatment with the JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib resulted in clinical activity in two-thirds of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) with splenomegaly or an otherwise high disease symptom burden. The magnitude of symptomatic benefit was similar to that observed in...
A decline in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels following treatment with the androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide may effectively predict improved survival rates among patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to a post hoc analysis of data from the PROSPER ...