It was February 1996, and the first annual meeting of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) was drawing to a close, when Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bruce R. Ross, MD, invited comments from the floor. An oncologist who had attended at the urging of a friend—somewhat reluctantly—stood ...
Living in the era of COVID-19 has heightened fear and anxiety among patients with cancer. On the one hand, they are at higher risk of serious COVID-related illness. On the other hand, delaying cancer-focused treatment raises concerns of disease progression. This pandemic has led to dramatic...
Although NTRK gene fusions occur in less than 5% of gastrointestinal cancers, it looks like they can be targeted successfully with NTRK inhibitors. In a pooled analysis of three clinical trials, 50% of such patients responded to entrectinib, in an updated analysis presented during the 2020 virtual...
David Sallman, MD, an assistant member of the Malignant Hematology Department of Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, commented on the IMerge and QUAZAR studies for The ASCO Post. As background, he noted the “predominant struggle” of patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic ...
Patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who are dependent on red blood cell transfusions have limited options, especially if they are no longer responding to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Research presented during the virtual edition of the 25th European Hematology Association ...
Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Hematology at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, underscored the importance of the HD17 trial results. “These data show, in a randomized fashion, that a PET-directed approach when using more intensive chemotherapy allows for the...
The overwhelming majority of patients with early-stage unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma may no longer require radiotherapy to treat their disease, according to data presented during the virtual edition of the 25th European Hematology Association (EHA) Annual Congress.1 The findings of the randomized,...
There is a strong rationale for incorporating immunotherapy into the treatment of early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), given the breakthrough results with PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors as monotherapy, combined with immunotherapy, or combined with chemotherapy in advanced-stage NSCLC. As...
As outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic spiked across the country earlier this year, federal health officials and cancer societies advised people to delay seeking routine cancer screenings, including mammograms and colonoscopies, to keep them out of medical centers and away from potential exposure to ...
More than 70% of women with multiple tumors in a single breast reported good or excellent satisfaction with the cosmetic results of breast-conserving therapy, Alliance (ACOSOG) Z11102 investigators reported at the 2020 American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Virtual Scientific Session.1 In...
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) recently announced the establishment of the Marie-Josée Kravis Women in Science Endeavor (WiSE) to provide financial and professional support to women scientists pursuing biomedical research at MSK, pledging its commitment to gender equity in science and ...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced the addition of two new members to its Board of Trustees, along with a new Chair and Vice Chair. Kathy Surace-Smith, JD, will take over the Board Chair position from Matt McIlwain, MBA, who now becomes immediate Past Chair. Ms. Surace-Smith, who is...
Nancy E. Davidson, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, talks about a panel she moderated in which speakers discussed the importance of communicating with patients to ease their concerns about cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic, allocating protective gear for the most vulnerable...
Cancer-related anxiety has negative impacts on emotional, physical, and social well-being, with data indicating older patients are likely to remain undiagnosed, leading to poor outcomes. In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Integrative Oncology series, Drs. Trevino, Saracino, and Roth highlight...
Findings from a study published by Eisfeld et al in the journal Leukemia could refine an important set of prognostic and treatment recommendations for younger adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The retrospective study evaluated the molecular characteristics and outcomes of 863...
In the French phase II TROPHIMMUN trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Benoit You, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that avelumab normalized human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels in approximately half of women with gestational trophoblastic tumors resistant to single-agent...
In a 3-year follow-up analysis of the phase II I-SPY 2 trial reported in JAMA Oncology, researchers in the I-SPY 2 Trial Consortium found that pathologic complete response was associated with improved event-free and distant recurrence–free survival—irrespective of molecular subtype or neoadjuvant...
In a phase Ib trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Richard S. Finn, MD, and colleagues found that the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab produced durable responses in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma who had received no prior systemic chemotherapy. As...
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued designations and accepted applications for novel agents, as well as approved companion diagnostics. We summarize these regulatory movements below. Breakthrough Therapy Designation for MK-6482 in von Hippel-Lindau...
In a subgroup analysis of an Australian phase II trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Klein et al found that the combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab was active in patients with advanced biliary tract cancers. Study Details The phase II trial is enrolling patients with advanced rare cancers. The...
In a pooled analysis of two parallel single-center phase I/II studies reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ramos et al found that anti-CD30 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy produced responses in a high proportion of patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma. As...
In the phase III HALO 109-301 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that the addition of pegvorhyaluronidase alfa (PEGPH20) to nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (AG) did not improve overall survival or progression-free survival in patients...
On August 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to belantamab mafodotin-blmf (Blenrep), an anti-B-cell maturation antigen antibody-drug conjugate, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least four prior therapies,...
In a French phase III trial (PROPHYLOCHIP–PRODIGE 15) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Goéré et al found that second-look surgery plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) did not improve disease-free survival vs standard surveillance in patients at high risk of developing colorectal...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Eastham et al, the phase III CALGB 90203/Alliance trial has shown no improvement in 3-year biochemical progression-free survival (BPFS) with the addition of neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy to radical prostatectomy in patients with localized...
In a Chinese phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Zhou et al found that pyrotinib produced durable responses in patients with HER2-mutated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had received prior platinum-based chemotherapy. Study Details The multicenter study...
Although the United States spends billions of dollars each year on cancer research, very little of that funding is dedicated to mental health research in patients with cancer, despite the fact that cancer survivors have a six-time higher risk for psychological disability than people without...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Cristina Saura, MD, and colleagues, the phase III NALA trial has shown significantly prolonged progression-free survival with neratinib/capecitabine vs lapatinib/capecitabine in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who had received...
In the German-Austrian phase II SORMAIN trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Burchert et al found that maintenance treatment with sorafenib vs placebo was associated with significantly prolonged relapse-free survival after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) in...
In an interim analysis of a joint Children’s Oncology Group and NRG Oncology phase II trial (ARST1321) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Aaron R. Weiss, DO, and colleagues found that the addition of pazopanib to preoperative chemoradiotherapy significantly increased the rate of pathologic...
An updated cervical cancer screening guideline from the American Cancer Society released today has called for less—and more simplified—screening. The guideline was published by Fontham et al in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The updated guideline recommends that individuals with a cervix...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Kang et al, the Japanese-Korean phase III SOLAR trial showed that oral tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil, a combination known as S-1, plus leucovorin and oxaliplatin was associated with a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs S-1 plus cisplatin in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Grob et al, the first interim analysis of the phase II KEYNOTE-629 trial has shown that treatment with pembrolizumab resulted in durable responses in patients with recurrent or metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. The study supported the...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Daniel O. Persky, MD, and colleagues, the phase II Intergroup National Clinical Trials Network Study S1001 has shown good outcomes with positron-emission tomography (PET)-directed therapy in patients with limited-stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma ...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Matteo Lambertini, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that pregnancy after breast cancer in women harboring deleterious germline BRCA mutations did not appear to be associated with worsened maternal prognosis or fetal...
Study discussant Michele Teng, PhD, of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia, commented: “Cancer immunotherapy is a new pillar of cancer treatment. The aim is to improve the overall survival of patients with cancer, but there is room for improvement, and various...
Tiragolumab, an anti-TIGIT antibody, plus the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab exhibited early clinical activity and was tolerated in patients with advanced solid tumors, including those with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that was PD-L1–positive and untreated with prior checkpoint...
As reported in The Lancet by Meletios Dimopoulos, MD, and colleagues, the phase III CANDOR trial has shown prolonged progression-free survival with carfilzomib, dexamethasone, and daratumumab (KdD) vs carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma....
In a retrospective cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chao et al found that survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer were at increased risk of numerous chronic comorbidities vs the general population. Study Details The study involved data from 6,778 ≥ 2-year...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Tamirisa et al found evidence that adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved survival among patients age ≥ 70 years with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive breast cancer and multiple comorbidities. Study...
The study’s invited discussant, Philip A. Philip, MD, PhD, FRCP, Professor of Oncology, Pharmacology, and Medicine and the Kathryn Cramer Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, asked whether another triplet regimen was...
In a small single-center randomized trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, David Hui, MD, MS, MSc, and colleagues found that increasing haloperidol dose, rotating to chlorpromazine, and combining haloperidol and chlorpromazine each appeared to improve refractory agitation in patients with terminal...
In patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, treatment with liposomal irinotecan plus fluorouracil (5-FU), leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (NALIRIFOX) resulted in a median progression-free survival of 9.2 months and a median overall survival of 12.6 months, ...
On July 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus), a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma. “Tremendous...
In higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a global phase II open-label study found that the combination of pevonedistat plus azacitidine was associated with a trend toward improved event-free survival and numerically longer overall survival, as compared with azacitidine alone, according to...
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane because it often results in physical death. I see no alternative to direct action and creative nonviolence to raise the conscience of the nation.” —Martin Luther King, Jr, speaking before the Medical...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the “Art of Oncology,” as published previously in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These articles focus on the experience of suffering from cancer or of caring for people diagnosed with cancer, and they include narratives, topical essays,...
In hindsight, the symptoms I began experiencing in the winter of 2013, including pains in my chest and shoulders and a persistent cough, should have rung loud alarm bells. However, having undergone a pancreatectomy and splenectomy to cure a history of mucinous cystic neoplasms of the pancreas 5...
LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr, MD, the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC, died on May 25, 2019, at the age of 89. The ASCO Post paid tribute to Dr. Leffall in its July 10, 2019, issue. Here, as part of our 10-Year Anniversary Series, we...
ASCO’s CancerLinQ® has launched the SmartLinQ™ QOPI® Certification Pathway, an application that empowers oncology practices to automate quality measure tracking and reporting for participation in ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Certification Program, a 3-year certification...