In a population-based cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Zhai et al found that adjuvant therapies were associated with improved overall survival among patients with stage I (T1 N0 M0) triple-negative breast cancer, with adjuvant chemotherapy being associated with improved breast...
A systematic meta-analysis has shown that statin users had a significantly reduced risk of colorectal cancer. The study included patients with and without inflammatory bowel disease, which is associated with an increased risk of this type of cancer. The largest chemopreventive effect was observed...
A research brief by Carrot-Zhang et al published in Cancer Discovery investigating inherited lung cancer risk—especially in nonsmokers—in Latin America has found that independent of smoking status, variation in EGFR and KRAS mutation frequency in Latin American patients with lung cancer was...
In a single-institution study reported in a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, Aydillo et al found that SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be detected in patients with COVID-19 receiving immunosuppressive treatment for cancer for as long as 78 days after the onset of virus symptoms. The ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued regulatory decisions for agents to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), small cell lung cancer (SCLC), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), biliary tract cancer, and graft-vs-host disease. Priority Review for Loncastuximab Tesirine...
Findings from a subgroup analysis of the phase III PAOLA-1/ENGOT-ov25 study presented by Fujiwara et al at the ESMO Asia Virtual Congress 2020 showed that the addition of olaparib to bevacizumab maintenance following standard platinum-based therapy plus bevacizumab provided a progression-free...
Social needs—such as food and economic insecurity, poor housing and neighborhood conditions, and lack of access to transportation—were common in a group of Black cancer survivors in Detroit. These factors were associated with lower health-related quality of life, according to findings published by...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Ferrario et al found a sizable increase in end-of-life intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and a small but significant increase in emergency department visits over time among commercially insured women younger than age 65 with metastatic breast cancer...
For patients who develop severe diarrhea or colitis while receiving checkpoint inhibitors, the immunosuppressive agent vedolizumab is preferred over infliximab, according to an expert on the topic from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. A retrospective comparison of outcomes with...
On December 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pralsetinib (Gavreto) for adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer who require systemic therapy, or for patients with RET fusion–positive thyroid cancer...
On December 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved gallium-68 PSMA-11—the first drug for positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive lesions in men with prostate cancer. Gallium-68 PSMA-11 is indicated for patients with suspected ...
Among patients with glioblastoma receiving an immune checkpoint inhibitor, those who received the corticosteroid dexamethasone at baseline for cerebral edema had significantly worse overall survival, according to results of a study published by Iorgulescu et al in Clinical Cancer Research....
In a study reported as a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Hill et al found a low degree of concordance in risk categorization among commonly used smoldering multiple myeloma risk models. Study Details The study involved application of the Mayo Clinic Risk Stratification Model 2008, the Programa...
The Immunoscore assay can assess the risk of disease recurrence in Asian patients with early-stage colon cancer and may be used together with TNM classification to guide clinical decision-making, according to findings presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Asia Virtual...
In a Swedish nationwide cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Marklund et al found that women who had undergone fertility preservation had a higher live birth rate, were more likely to use assisted reproductive technology, and had better overall survival after breast cancer than women who had not ...
In a retrospective case series reported in JAMA Oncology, Burns et al described clinical characteristics, treatment, experiences, and outcomes among transgender patients with cancer. As stated by the investigators, “Approximately 0.5% to 0.6% of the U.S. population identify as transgender, defined...
A study investigating a computational method that integrates deep learning on histology specimens with clinicodemographic variables has found that the artificial intelligence may help predict response to immune checkpoint blockade among patients with advanced melanoma. This computational approach...
Oncology providers familiar with ASCO’s guideline on older adults with cancer are two to four times more likely to conduct a geriatric assessment on patients with cancer over the age of 65, according to the first international ASCO survey aimed at determining if and how often cancer providers are...
Significant changes are coming to the office and outpatient Evaluation and Management (E&M) services Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes (99202-99215). Practices, physicians, and staff who have not done so already must begin preparing for these changes today to ensure a successful...
Job loss is stressful no matter the circumstances. Recently, millions of people have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. To make matters more difficult, job loss in the United States can often mean a loss of health insurance. For people with cancer, losing a job is especially challenging...
The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) project is ending 2020 by surpassing a goal established 20 years ago, reporting more than 1 million nurses and other professionals trained using the ELNEC curriculum. Administered through a partnership between the American Association of Colleges ...
A team of researchers from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center in Ann Arbor received an $11.2 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study how to use the microbiome to limit complications of stem cell transplants for blood cancers and other diseases....
Global Cancer Institute (GCI), which is focused on improving survival rates for underserved patients with cancer worldwide, recently announced it has extended its programs to Bangladesh. The extension begins with the launch of monthly tumor boards, which help physicians and oncologists in...
In a phase III trial (SORCE) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tim Eisen, FMedSci, FRCP, PhD, of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and colleagues found no disease-free survival benefit with 3 years of sorafenib vs placebo as adjuvant therapy in patients with renal...
Four experienced oncologists who have been treating patients with cancer in South Florida for many years are joining Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System and the region’s only cancer center to achieve a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation....
In states that have expanded Medicaid availability as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), mortality rates for three major types of cancer are significantly lower than in states that have not expanded Medicaid availability, according to a recent study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer...
Nationally recognized oncologic surgeon Sandra L. Wong, MD, MS, FASCO, FACS, was born and raised in Stockton, California, a city on the San Joaquin River, in California’s Central Valley. “My parents were both immigrants, but unlike the stereotypical picture of hard-driving immigrant parents who...
My patient with metastatic colon cancer was sitting across from me after being absent for several months. His cancer had been under excellent control on chemotherapy, but now he was having worse pain and shortness of breath. Despite our calls, he had not kept his appointments. We were 6 feet apart, ...
Although William Dameshek, MD, is renowned for his work in hematology, especially in advancing the understanding of myeloproliferative disorders and their interrelatedness, his early interest in medicine was instead focused on such diverse diseases as hyperthyroidism and typhus fever. Born on May...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Karim Fizazi, MD, of the Institut Gustave Roussy, University of Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, and colleagues, the phase III ARAMIS trial has shown significantly prolonged overall survival with darolutamide vs placebo in men with nonmetastatic...
In an Italian phase II trial (GIMEMA LAL2116) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robin Foà, MD, of Sapienza University of Rome, and colleagues, found that first-line induction and consolidation treatment with dasatinib and blinatumomab produced a high rates of molecular response as...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Meletios A. Dimopoulos, MD, of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and colleagues, the phase III TOURMALINE-MM4 trial has shown that postinduction maintenance with ixazomib prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in...
The US Oncology Network, the largest organization of its kind dedicated to advancing local cancer care and better patient outcomes, continues to expand its reach into local communities by welcoming Alliance Cancer Specialists and Northwest Oncology. The addition of these two independent and...
In an analysis from the phase III ExteNET trial reported in Clinical Breast Cancer, Arlene Chan, MD, of the Breast Cancer Research Centre of Western Australia and Curtin University, Perth, and colleagues, found significant improvements in efficacy outcomes with administration of neratinib vs...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues, the phase III IMpower110 trial has shown significantly prolonged overall survival with first-line atezolizumab vs platinum-based chemotherapy in metastatic non–small cell lung...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Stephen R.D. Johnston, MD, PhD, of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, and colleagues, an interim analysis in the phase III monarchE trial has shown that adjuvant abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy significantly improved invasive...
Hematologic oncologist Ola Landgren, MD, PhD, was recently appointed the inaugural leader of a new research program, Experimental Therapeutics, at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Health System and the Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Landgren, who was Chief of...
The American Cancer Society (ACS) Cancer Action Network has released new policy recommendations to increase the uptake of biomarker testing and to advance the use of precision medicine in cancer care. A recent report by the ACS Cancer Action Network and the LUNGevity Foundation found that although...
Heloisa Soares, MD, PhD, gastrointestinal and neuroendocrine tumor medical oncologist and researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah, received two awards from external organizations honoring her contributions to the field of...
Lung cancer continues to be the most deadly solid cancer in the world, despite the fact that survival rates have been improving over the past decade. However, Black patients have worse outcomes and shorter lifespans after being diagnosed with lung cancer. A study published in the Journal of...
The Rutgers School of Public Health has received a $1.5 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to support volunteer firefighter cancer research. This grant will enhance the research currently underway in collaboration with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, which is geared...
Numerous studies over the past 4 decades have chronicled the lack of progress in improved outcomes for adolescents and young adults (AYAs)—defined by the National Cancer Institute as those ranging in age from 15 to 39—diagnosed with cancer compared with children and older adults diagnosed with the...
The Colorectal Cancer Alliance, a national nonprofit committed to ending colorectal cancer, has launched a comprehensive marketing campaign. The effort will alert the public to the continued risk of colorectal cancer and the necessity of life-saving screening, which can be conducted safely during...
New diagnostic criteria and modern imaging techniques, a wealth of new therapeutics, and an update on current thinking as to when to treat patients with smoldering myeloma were highlighted during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 2020 Virtual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™....
Despite decades of research, multinational clinical trials, regular guideline updates by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and coordinated efforts by ASCO and other major oncology organizations, the management strategy for prostate cancer remains controversial. To keep the oncology community ...
“Both KarMMa and CARTITUDE-1 trials presented during the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program showed exceptional results, not only in obtaining higher responses in the majority of patients but also in attaining high-quality responses,” said Ajay K. Nooka, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of...
Based on early results in clinical trials, interest in the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma has been high, especially for products targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). During the ASCO20 Virtual Scientific Program, further support for CAR T-cell...
Adam Bass, MD, a physician-scientist in the field of cancer genomics and gastrointestinal cancer, will join the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian as the founding Director of the Center for Precision Cancer Medicine and Director of...
New Jersey Brain and Spine has announced that Timothy Vogel, MD, PhD, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, has cofounded a new laboratory for pediatric neuro-oncology with Derek Hanson, MD, at the Center for Discovery and Innovation at Hackensack University Medical Center. Dr. Vogel also serves as ...
The SOLAR-1 invited discussant, Fatima Cardoso, MD, Director of the Breast Unit at the Champalimaud Clinical Center in Lisbon and Chair of the ABC Global Alliance, commented: “The overall survival results, though numerically different by almost 8 months, unfortunately do not reach statistical...