In a substudy of the IBIS-II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sestak et al found that risedronate treatment reduced anastrozole-related bone loss over 3 years in postmenopausal women at increased risk for breast cancer. Study Details The study involved assessment of bone mineral density...
In a phase III trial (Southwest Oncology Group Intergroup S0008) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Flaherty et al found that a shorter course of biochemotherapy consisting of cisplatin, vinblastine, dacarbazine, interleukin-2, and interferon alfa-2b produced better relapse-free...
In a large retrospective study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Xing et al found that presence of the BRAF V600E mutation was an independent predictor of recurrence of papillary thyroid cancer. The study involved 2,099 patients with papillary thyroid cancer consecutively selected over ...
The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed that low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening reduced lung cancer mortality compared with chest radiography. In a cost-effectiveness analysis in NLST reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Black et al found that low-dose CT screening was...
In a study on use of the most common definitive therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Medicare patients reported in JAMA Surgery, Shirvani et al found that lobectomy was associated with improved outcome vs sublobar resection and that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy may be of...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Shaughnessy et al found that the addition of iniparib to gemcitabine and carboplatin did not improve overall survival or progression-free survival in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. An exploratory...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Iyengar et al found that stereotactic body radiation therapy plus erlotinib (Tarceva) resulted in infrequent recurrence in radiation therapy–treated sites and was associated with prolonged progression-free survival and overall...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Lucas et al found wide variation in raw hospital readmission rates after colorectal cancer surgery but little variation in readmission in risk-adjusted analysis. Thirty-day readmission rates have been reported at 10% to 14% in this setting. Study Details The...
A recent analysis of a large clinical database indicated that postdiagnosis aspirin use was associated with a 57% reduction in prostate cancer–specific mortality among men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer. In a study in a prospective cohort reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,...
The 20-year follow-up of the Swedish randomized SweDCIS trial, reported by Wärnberg et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, shows a continued benefit of radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in preventing ipsilateral disease. A nonsignificant...
In a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database analysis reported in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Sperry et al found that sentinel lymph node biopsy was not associated with improved disease-specific survival in propensity score–matched patients with head and...
In the phase III Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) E-3193 (Intergroup 0142) trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Tevaarwerk et al, adding ovarian function suppression to tamoxifen was associated with worse patient-reported outcomes in premenopausal women with...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Taplin et al found that the addition of neoadjuvant abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) to the luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist leuprolide acetate resulted in greater suppression of intraprostatic androgens in...
In the phase III Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 40302/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Burstein et al found that the addition of the dual EGFR-HER2 inhibitor lapatinib (Tykerb) to endocrine therapy with fulvestrant (Faslodex) did not improve progression-free...
In a prospective Chinese study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Seto et al found a 2-year rate of hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation of 41.5% in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative and anti–hepatitis B core antigen antibody (anti-HBc)–positive patients receiving...
In a noninferiority phase III EORTC 10981-22023 AMAROS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Donker et al found that axillary radiotherapy provided comparable disease control and was associated with less morbidity compared with axillary surgery in breast cancer patients with a positive sentinel...
In a report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jones and colleagues found that vigorous exercise reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events in adult survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma. Study Details In the study, 1,187 survivors of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Friedman and colleagues, the Children’s Oncology Group study AHOD0031 has shown that early response to dose-intensive chemotherapy can be used to tailor subsequent therapy in pediatric intermediate-risk Hodgkin lymphoma. Study Details In...
In a Danish population-based cohort study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Daugaard and colleagues found that surveillance for stage I nonseminoma testicular cancer after orchiectomy was associated with high cure rate and low treatment burden over long-term follow-up. Study Details The...
There has been a dramatic increase in the use of laparoscopic colectomy for colon cancer. In a Medicare data study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Reames and colleagues found that use of laparoscopic colectomy varied from 0% to 66.8% across hospital referral regions in the United...
Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group (IRSG) studies have shown improved failure-free survival with VAC (vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide) given with a total cumulative cyclophosphamide dose of 26.4 g/m2 compared with VA (vincristine and dactinomycin) in patients with subset 1...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Long and colleagues found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) improved response rate and progression-free survival compared with dabrafenib alone in...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Larkin and colleagues found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib improved response rate and progression-free survival compared with vemurafenib alone in...
In an Italian study (Cancer-DACUS) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Napolitano et al found that patients with no residual vein thrombosis after 6 months of low–molecular weight heparin for a first episode of cancer-related deep-vein thrombosis of the lower limbs had low risk for...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shaw et al found that crizotinib (Xalkori) produced a high response rate in patients with ROS1-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Chromosomal rearrangements in ROS1, which encodes the proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chow and colleagues developed risk scoring that can identify likelihood of heart failure among childhood cancer survivors. Study Details The study involved survivors in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) free of significant...
In the NCIC-CTG LY.12 study, a phase III international noninferiority trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Crump and colleagues found that gemcitabine, dexamethasone, and cisplatin (GDP) was associated with a noninferior response rate and similar transplantation rate compared with...
In a French analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bonastre and colleagues found that use of the 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) was unlikely to be cost-effective in deciding whether to administer adjuvant therapy in patients with node-negative breast cancer. Use of Adjuvant! Online...
The Dutch and Belgian NELSON trial is assessing the effect of increasing interval low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer on lung cancer mortality. In an analysis among screened Dutch participants reported in Lancet Oncology, Horeweg and colleagues identified screen-detected...
The Dutch and Belgian NELSON trial is assessing the effect of increasing interval low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer on lung cancer mortality. In an analysis of screening test performance among Dutch participants reported in Lancet Oncology, Horeweg and colleagues found...
The phase III ALSYMPCA trial showed that radium-223 (Xofigo) increased overall survival vs placebo patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic bone metastases. In a prespecified subgroup analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hoskin et al found that overall survival...
Data suggest that cancer treatment puts patients at risk of cognitive impairment and that many patients exhibit impairment prior to treatment. In an observational cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ganz et al found that language and communication cognitive complaints were...
In a UK phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tristram et al found that topical cidofovir and topical imiquimod were active in the treatment of vulval intraepithelial neoplasia, suggesting that such treatment may constitute an alternative to surgery. Study Details In the open-label...
Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk of primary colorectal cancer, as well as increased risk of breast, endometrial, esophageal, pancreatic, and kidney cancers. In a pooled analysis of prospective cohort studies reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gibson et al found...
In an analysis in the CLEOPATRA trial population reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Baselga et al found that HER2 was the only biomarker suitable for use in selecting patients for first-line pertuzumab (Perjeta)/trastuzumab (Herceptin)-based treatment in patients with HER2-positive...
Earlier planned joint analyses of outcomes in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B-31 trial and North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) N9831 trial showed that adding trastuzumab (Herceptin) to adjuvant chemotherapy improved disease-free survival and overall...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Backhus et al found that imaging guideline recommendations for staging of locally advanced lung cancer were often not followed in a national Veterans Affairs (VA) cohort. Study Details The study involved 3,808 patients with stage IIB, IIIA, ...
The pathophysiology of steroid refractoriness in graft-vs-host disease in allogeneic stem cell transplantation is not completely understood, although there is evidence that endothelial cell stress, which involves endothelial thrombomodulin, plays a role. In a study reported in the Journal of...
In a phase III ARCHER 1009 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ramalingam et al found no progression-free survival benefit of the irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor dacomitinib vs erlotinib among all patients with pretreated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or among those...
In the phase III NCIC CTG BR.26 Trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ellis et al found that treatment with the irreversible pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor dacomitinib was not associated with an overall survival benefit compared with placebo in patients with pretreated advanced or...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Lau et al found that implementation of a multidisciplinary hepatopancreaticobiliary surgical program in a Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care region resulted in improved care and outcomes. The study involved analysis of practices and outcomes ...
In a study in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study population reported in The Lancet Oncology, Green et al found that increasing alkylating agent exposure was associated with impaired spermatogenesis in adult male survivors of childhood cancer who did not undergo radiation therapy as part of their...
In a subgroup analysis of the pooled results of the EINSTEIN-DVT and EINSTEIN-PE trials reported in The Lancet Haematology, Prins et al found that the recurrence rate for venous thromboembolism in cancer patients receiving anticoagulant therapy with oral rivaroxaban (Xarelto) was similar to that in ...
In a phase III French Intergroup trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Guimbaud et al found that FOLFIRI (fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin, and irinotecan) significantly prolonged time to treatment failure compared with ECX (epirubicin, cisplatin, and capecitabine) in first-line...
Efforts at implementing survivorship care plans have met with limited success in oncology practice, in part due to the time required to complete survivorship care plans, lack of role clarity, and lack of reimbursement for time to complete the documents. In response, ASCO convened a Survivorship...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Maude et al reported achieving sustained remissions in children and adults with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using autologous CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells. Study Details In the...
Neratinib is an irreversible pan-tyrosine kinase inhibitor with activity against HER1, HER2, and HER4. In a phase I/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Saura et al found that the combination of neratinib and capecitabine exhibited high activity in patients with trastuzumab...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sudo et al found that many patients undergoing definitive chemoradiotherapy (bimodality therapy) for esophageal cancer can derive substantial survival benefit from subsequent salvage surgery, supporting a practice of intensive...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Inamura et al found that hypomethylation in long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) is associated with greater colorectal cancer–specific and overall mortality in high-degree microsatellite instability vs...
ASCO has endorsed the recently developed joint College of American Pathologists (CAP), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and Association of Molecular Pathologists (AMP) guideline on molecular testing for selection of patients with lung cancer for EGFR and ALK inhibitor ...