Search Results
Your search for ,ITS matches 8694 pages
Showing 7101 - 7150Serving the Underserved: Dr. Gina Villani and ASCO’s Health Disparities Committee Work to Minimize Cancer Care Gaps
It has been a little over a decade since the Institute of Medicine landmark report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care found overwhelming evidence of racial disparities in the U.S. health-care system. Since then, ASCO has been dedicated to minimizing these...
Expert Point of View: Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Chair of the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Guideline Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and former Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, put the latest maintenance trials into perspective for The ASCO Post....
Novel Agents Show Activity in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
PI3K-mediated activation of downstream effectors allows tumors to escape from negative growth control, and this action may be checked with PI3K inhibitors. At the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, researchers reported results in patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma...
ASH Studies Refine Myeloma Treatment and Show Promise for New Agents
Multiple myeloma researchers moved the field forward at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, presenting evaluations of treatment schedules and reports of encouraging activity with compounds in development. Alternating vs Sequential Regimens In 231 newly diagnosed elderly...
New Society Launched for Advanced Practitioners in Hematology and Oncology
The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) announced its launch as a new organization focused on meeting the unique educational and professional needs of the advanced practitioner in hematology and oncology. The formation of the Society was made public on January 26,...
ASCO's Education and Professional Development Services
Last September, Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, left her position as Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago to join ASCO as its Senior Director of Education, Science and Professional Development. In her new position, Dr. Von Roenn will provide strategic...
Paving the Way for the Surgeon General’s Report
The connection between smoking and lung cancer is universally accepted as scientific fact, and those who choose to smoke are painfully aware of the risk it poses for addiction and subsequent cancer. However, to fully appreciate the significance of the Surgeon General’s report, one must turn back to ...
Highlights of the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2014
A state-by-state update on the progress of antismoking initiatives. States are graded on four metrics: tobacco prevention, smoke-free air, cigarette tax, and cessation coverage. For example, Kentucky received 4 F’s, while New York received grades of, F, A, A, and F, respectively. Major parts of the ...
The Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco Turns 50: Much Success, Much Work Ahead
On January 11, 2014, the nation commemorated the 50th anniversary of a document that transformed our public health landscape and has saved millions of lives: Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. This groundbreaking report, which...
Immunotherapy Duo Improves Survival in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer
Overall survival was improved in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients through an innovative immunotherapy strategy in a multicenter study reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 “This is the first time a randomized study has shown that immunotherapy is effective in pancreatic...
About City of Hope
City of Hope was founded in 1913, but its focus on cancer research and care began in the late 1940s. The center has performed 11,000 hematopoietic stem cell transplants as of 2012 with patient outcomes that consistently exceed national averages. City of Hope received its NCI designation as a...
City of Hope’s New Chief Scientific Officer and Cancer Center Director Reflects on His Career Path and the Future of Cancer Care
City of Hope in Duarte, California, has named Steven T. Rosen, MD, as its first Provost and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Rosen will guide the scientific direction of the center’s medical research, treatment, and education. He will also assume directorship of the comprehensive cancer institute,...
David A. Fullerton, MD, Named President of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
David A. Fullerton, MD, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, was elected President of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) at the Society’s 50th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. “STS has been a preeminent medical society for many years,” said Dr. Fullerton. “It is truly a great...
Overdiagnosis of Breast Cancer: New Research Directions
Currently, one of the most challenging problems in oncology is to accurately predict whether neoplastic lesions detected by screening tests will progress. The focus on developing ever-more sensitive cancer screening tests has produced the clinical dilemma of overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis occurs when ...
The Canadian National Breast Screening Trial Had So Many Flaws That Its Results Should Not Be Used to Guide Screening Recommendations
If a randomized, controlled trial of therapy for breast cancer was submitted for publication in which 1. The drug being tested was old and ineffective, and 2. prior to randomization, the women underwent a clinical breast examination and the study coordinators knew who had the largest cancers, and...
Leaders of ASCO, ASH, ASTRO, and NCCN Embrace Collaboration With Advanced Practitioners
Nearly 250 advanced practitioners assembled at the first annual JADPRO Live educational symposium in St. Petersburg, Florida, hosted by the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO). Leaders from four prominent oncology organizations championed collaborative practice as not only...
Encouraging Early Results With Novel Agents in CLL
Two novel agents have shown promising activity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), including poor-risk patients: the Bcl-2 inhibitor ABT-199 and the small-molecule PI3K inhibitor IPI-145. Both drugs achieved excellent response rates in heavily pretreated relapsed/refractory patients including...
FDA Approves Ibrutinib for the Treatment of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least one previous therapy. Ibrutinib, an oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was previously granted...
In Stage IV Breast Cancer, the Primary May Not Need to Be Removed
Mastectomy is unnecessary in many women with stage IV breast cancer, according to a study from Indian investigators, reported at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 The study randomly assigned 350 patients with metastatic breast cancer to mastectomy, complete axillary dissection, plus...
Cancer.Net Expands Its Social Media Presence With Launch of Blog
In an effort to continue to bring patients and those who care about and for them the most timely, comprehensive cancer information, ASCO’s patient education website, Cancer.Net, has added a new interactive resource—the Cancer.Net Blog (www.cancer.net/blog). “We decided that a blog made sense for...
Amplifying the Signal: Foundation Donor Takes His Advocacy Into the Twittersphere
Michael A. Thompson, MD, PhD, a Medical Oncologist for Aurora Cancer Care and the Medical Director of Early Cancer Research at Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, has become something of an expert on the Conquer Cancer Foundation. It began in 2006, when he received a Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO...
Innovative I-SPY 2 Trial Yields First Results in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
An innovative approach to streamlining the testing of novel agents in breast cancer has yielded some of its first results, which were reported at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 Adaptive Trial Design The veliparib/carboplatin plus standard neoadjuvant therapy regimen is currently...
HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patients With Small Tumors Benefit From Low-Toxicity Regimen
There may be a benefit for treating small HER2-positive tumors—a breast cancer subset for whom treatment recommendations have not been established but for whom there is still risk of recurrence—and this can be done with little toxicity, according to a multicenter study presented at the 2013 San...
ASCO Applauds CVS Caremark’s Move to Stop Selling Tobacco
CVS Caremark recently announced that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its more than 7,600 CVS/pharmacy stores across the United States by October 1, 2014, making CVS/pharmacy the first national pharmacy chain to take this step in support of the health and well-being of...
ASCO Supports Reinforcing FDA Capacity to Monitor Nation’s Drug Supply
“The GAO report identifies production lapses due to quality problems and constrained manufacturing capacity as being the central causes of the widespread incidence and persistence of drug shortages. “The report also emphasizes that the FDA has made significant progress in preventing shortages by ...
U.S. Government Accountability Office Issues Report on Drug Shortages
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report evaluating drug shortages and the associated public health threats, including prolonged duration of a disease, permanent injury, and death.1 This report follows a recommendation by GAO in 2011 that the U.S. Food and Drug...
Expert Point of View: Michael J. Morris, MD, and Maha H. Hussain, MD, FACP, FASCO
Commenting on the ALSYMPCA follow-up study presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, Michael J. Morris, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said that radium-223 was a very effective and safe drug, but its actual target and mechanism of action are...
Expert Point of View: Daniel J. Canter, MD
“Cytoreductive nephrectomy is routinely used in metastatic renal cell carcinoma, but its use is not as firmly established in the targeted therapy era. And its use is not without risk,” said formal discussant of the International Metastatatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) trial,...
Congress Agrees on Repeal of Sustainable Growth Rate
The U.S. Congress recently did something rarely seen on Capitol Hill: Leaders from both sides of the aisle agreed on a piece of legislation. On February 6, 2014, the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees and the Senate Finance Committee announced its agreement on a bill—the SGR...
Task Force Recommends Against Beta-Carotene or Vitamin E Supplements for Primary Cancer Prevention
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against the use of beta-carotene or vitamin E supplementation for the primary prevention of cancer or cardiovascular disease, according to an updated recommendation statement published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “The USPSTF found...
For Metastatic Colorectal Cancer, Bevacizumab Is More Commonly Included Than Anti-EGFR Antibody Therapies
Analysis of a large cohort of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who received chemotherapy at academic, private, and community-based oncology practices using the same chemotherapy order entry system showed that “bevacizumab has been more consistently integrated into treatment regimens than...
Dermatologists Defend Mohs Surgery as Effective and Cost-Efficient With Low Rate of Recurrence
The headline, “Patients’ Costs Skyrocket, Specialists’ Incomes Soar,” aptly encapsulates the theme of a recent article in The New York Times,1 part of a series entitled, “Paying Till It Hurts.” “Oncologists benefit from the ability to mark up (and profit from) each dose of chemotherapy they...
Ongoing Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancers
This Clinical Trials Resource Guide is meant to increase awareness of currently recruiting NCI- or academic institution–sponsored clinical studies for your patients with gastrointestinal cancers. All of the studies are listed on the National Institutes of Health website at ClinicalTrials.gov, and...
Focus on the Virginia Association of Hematologists and Oncologists
The state of Virginia encompasses a vast area of 40,000 square miles and is divided into five regions: the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, and the Appalachian Plateau. The diverse geography of the state creates unique challenges for...
Major Cancer Milestones in History, From ASCO’s CancerProgress.Net
To help tell the story of progress against cancer, ASCO launched CancerProgress.Net in 2011. The site is intended as a resource for media, policymakers, oncologists, advocates, and the public. One central feature of the site is an interactive timeline of major milestones in cancer treatment,...
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Plus Hypnosis Controls Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Radiotherapy
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 Guy H. Montgomery, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and colleagues found that an intervention consisting of cognitive-behavioral therapy plus hypnosis produced better control of fatigue than supportive meetings with...
The Ketogenic Diet in Cancer Control
Ketogenic (or very-low-carbohydrate) diets have been employed since the 1920s as nonpharmacologic therapies for epilepsy and, in some instances, have obviated the need for medication for that disease. Since the 1960s, the ketogenic diet has become better known as a means of managing obesity. This...
Telemedicine: Efficiency in Cancer Screening and Outreach
As defined by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration teleheath is “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration.” It has ...
How Decoding the Genomes of Exceptional Responders Is Leading to More Effective Treatment for All Patients With Cancer
In 2012, David B. Solit, MD, Geoffrey Beene Chair and Director of the Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, and his colleagues published the results of a phase II study1 of 45 patients with advanced bladder cancer. The purpose of the clinical...
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Committee Identifies Eight Palliative Care Priorities in Pediatric Oncology
About 2½ years ago, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis conducted a series of focus groups to better understand the palliative care priorities of bereaved parents. Their findings were never intended to be generalized, but rather to be used to formulate a strategic plan for an...
Impact of Delayed Initiation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Varies by Tumor Subtype
The optimal time interval between surgery and initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer is not well established. Although most physicians aim to initiate adjuvant chemotherapy within a few weeks of surgery, clinical factors may cause delay. The influence of delay on relapse...
CD137 Identifies and Enriches for Tumor-Reactive T Cells
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Ye and colleagues showed that CD137 can be used to identify tumor-reactive T cells and to enrich for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and tumor-associated lymphocytes for use in adoptive immunotherapy. In the study, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from...
Dual PI3K/mTOR Inhibitor Effective as Radiosensitizer for Glioblastoma
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, del Alcazar and colleagues assessed the effects of the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 as a radiosensitizer in glioblastoma. No DNA double-strand break repair inhibitors have been successful in treating glioblastoma. However, in prior studies in...
National Program to Screen Ashkenazi Women in Israel for BRCA Mutations Is Being Explored
Citing a World Health Organization report that lists Israel as having one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the world, The New York Times reported on a proposed screening program to identify women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.1 “A number of influential geneticists and cancer doctors from...
ASCO’s Membership Grows to Nearly 35,000
ASCO has much to celebrate this year—namely, the Society’s 50th Anniversary. This occasion brings with it many other notable milestones. 2014 is a prime time to reflect on the remarkable growth of ASCO, from seven founders and 51 physicians at its first Annual Meeting to nearly 35,000 members...
ASCO Holds Leadership Summit to Address Value in Cancer Care, Cost of Cancer Drugs and Technologies
ASCO convened a leadership summit in late January with pharmaceutical representatives, insurance payers, patient advocates, and physicians to initiate a dialogue on the challenge of defining value in cancer care. This meeting was held amid growing concerns about the sustainability of continued...
Charting the Successes: CancerProgress.Net Chronicles More Than 50 Years of ASCO and Progress Against Cancer
On this historic year, as ASCO proudly commemorates its 50th anniversary and decades of evolutionary change and growth, it also celebrates the significant progress that has been made against cancer throughout history. ASCO’s anniversary website, CancerProgress.Net, chronicles these achievements and ...
Staging of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Neoplasms originating from skin keratinocytes are increasing in frequency in the United States and include a spectrum of diseases culminating in the development of invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Although most cases of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma can be treated conservatively with ...
Melanoma and Prostate Cancer: Two Sides of One Coin?
In a recent study, reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Li et al present data from two long- term prospective studies—the Physicians Health Study (PHS, from 1982 to 1998), and the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study (HPFS, from 1986 to 2010)—both of which suggest a strong association between...
FDA Orders Cessation of Sale, Distribution of Four Tobacco Products
FDA has issued orders to stop the further sale and distribution of four tobacco products currently on the market. The action marks the first time the FDA has used its authority under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to order a manufacturer of currently available tobacco...
