In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Jonathan U. Peled, MD, PhD, of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), New York, and colleagues found that intestinal microbiota from patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell...
Earlier this month, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced that the group’s Annual Meeting would be held in a two-part virtual format and not in person. Instead, segments of the meeting program will be presented in late April and in June 2020. The decision was made not to...
A study showing that statins used alone or in combination with metformin was associated with reduced prostate cancer mortality and all-cause mortality among men with high-risk prostate cancer may raise more questions about these already commonly used drugs.1 “Metformin is the first-line therapy for ...
A population-based retrospective cohort study involving 12,700 patients found that men with high-risk prostate cancer who took a statin alone or in combination with metformin had reduced all-cause and prostate cancer–specific mortality. The associations between the medications and reduced...
In the fall of 2009, I began experiencing some abdominal discomfort, pain in my right shoulder, and severe fatigue that were easily explained away as the result of gallstones and by my career as a paramedic. I had many of the risk factors for gallbladder disease, and both my mother and sister...
On March 10, 2020, the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) was granted accelerated approval for treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who have been previously treated with sorafenib.1-3 Supporting Efficacy Data The approval was based on findings in a cohort...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of 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, historical...
I read with great interest Jo Cavallo’s article “Maintaining Blood Donations During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. My wife and I have been British residents in the United States for over 6 years and are frustrated that we cannot donate blood, especially during this raging global COVID-19 pandemic, when...
To more accurately reflect the mission and vision of the program, Fox Chase Cancer Center recently announced that the name of the Pain and Palliative Care Program has been changed to the Supportive Oncology and Palliative Care Program (SOPCP). The program has also received, for the third time, the ...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Narek Shaverdian, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues found that most patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer reported that anticipated adverse effects did not occur or were no worse than expected.1 However, ...
In this edition of Living a Full Life, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with hematologist Parameswaran Hari, MD, MRCP, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. In addition, Dr. Hari holds the Armand J. Quick/William F. Stapp Chair...
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, Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, focus on the Budwig...
In a Children’s Oncology Group analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gupta et al found that discontinuation of pegylated asparaginase (PEG-ASNase) was associated with poorer disease-free survival among pediatric patients with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However,...
As reported in The Lancet by Jeff P. Sharman, MD, and colleagues, the phase III ELEVATE-TN trial showed significantly improved progression-free survival with both acalabrutinib/obinutuzumab and acalabrutinib monotherapy vs chlorambucil/obinutuzumab in patients with treatment-naive chronic...
In an update of a phase I trial of anti-CD22 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in children and young adults with relapsed or refractory CD22-positive B-cell malignancies reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shah et al described findings in cohorts receiving treatment at doses...
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has released a new surgical resource document, “Local Resumption of Elective Surgery Guidance,” as a guide for health-care facilities preparing to resume elective surgery once COVID-19 has peaked in their area. Health-care facilities have been allocating...
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, FAACR, as their President-Elect for 2020–2021. He will officially become President-Elect on April 29, 2020, during the AACR’s Business Meeting of Members. He will assume the presidency in...
In a letter published in the journal Blood, Steven P. Treon, MD, PhD, and colleagues reported a potential protective effect against pulmonary injury with the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were receiving the agent for Waldenström’s...
Patients with cancer and those who have recently completed treatment are finding it challenging to get necessary health care in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many are experiencing financial stress trying to afford care in an increasingly difficult economic environment. Delays in Care...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Matthew D. Galsky, MD, and colleagues found that maintenance pembrolizumab produced additional responses and improved progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer who had at least stable disease...
The coronavirus pandemic is being compared to a battlefield, with health-care workers seen as the front-line soldiers in the war against the disease. There is certainly truth to that, insofar as doctors and nurses in many countries now face an unprecedented workload in saving lives, along with the...
A high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging technique, when combined with quantitative measurement of tissue elasticity, could accurately detect cancer within the resected margins of surgical specimens taken from patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery, according to a study published by...
In an article published in Annals of Oncology, members of the National University Cancer Institute of Singapore (NCIS) workflow team described a segregated-team workflow model that allowed continuation of cancer care at the comprehensive cancer center during the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore....
On April 17, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to tucatinib (Tukysa) in combination with trastuzumab/capecitabine for adult patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, including patients with brain metastases, who have received one or...
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement encouraging patients who have fully recovered from COVID-19 for at least 2 weeks to donate plasma, in order to ramp up supply of convalescent plasma for treatment of infected individuals. The agency also announced that spun...
In a report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), hospitals reported the most significant challenges they are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey Methods Brief telephone interviews were conducted from March 23 to March 27, 2020, with one or more administrators ...
In the single-institution phase II PROLUNG trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Arrieta et al found that the addition of pembrolizumab to docetaxel improved objective response rate and progression-free survival in immunotherapy-naive patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who...
The American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS), the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons, and the American College of Radiology (ACR) have released new joint ...
Aspirin may be associated with a reduction in the risk of developing several cancers of the digestive tract. The largest and most comprehensive analysis to date of the link between aspirin and digestive tract cancers, published by Bosetti et al in Annals of Oncology, found reductions in the risk of ...
In an article published in The Oncologist, an international collaborative group outlined issues and potential management approaches for the treatment of patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key issues facing cancer treatment and some of the potential measures for addressing these...
In the Spanish phase II DURVAST trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Gonzalez-Cao et al found that treatment with durvalumab was feasible, safe, and active in patients with solid tumors and virologically controlled HIV-1 infection. As stated by the investigators, “Concerns about the safety and...
The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has dramatically disrupted societal life within a very short time. Patients with cancer in particular can be affected by delays in routine medical care in addition to experiencing heightened anxiety and stress associated with the threat...
As reported in JAMA Oncology by Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, and colleagues, the phase III MYSTIC trial showed no overall survival benefit with durvalumab vs chemotherapy, or overall or progression-free survival benefit with durvalumab/tremelimumab vs chemotherapy, as first-line treatment in patients with...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Villano et al found that increased hospital surgical volume was associated with overall improved survival in patients undergoing surgery for retroperitoneal soft-tissue sarcoma. However, increased volume was associated with poorer survival in patients...
A recently published article by Schatz et al offers new clarity around the use of prescription opioids in pain management for people with a diagnosis or history of cancer and chronic pain. The joint publication, which appeared in both JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and...
In an article published in the journal Immunotherapy, Melissa Bersanelli, MD, of the Medical Oncology Unit, University Hospital of Parma, Italy, discusses controversies regarding the use of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that...
In a study published by Olsen et al in JAMA Dermatology, researchers found that in predominantly fair-skinned populations, melanoma incidence differed by age and anatomic site in men and women. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of sex- and site-specific trends was performed for white patients...
Patients with localized colon cancer may benefit from a short course of neoadjuvant immunotherapy, according to findings from the exploratory phase II NICHE study published by Myriam Chalabi, MD, and colleagues in Nature Medicine. Study Results Forty patients with two colon cancer subtypes—either ...
ASCO has released a set of recommendations to support the oncology community as health-care institutions across the United States face potentially difficult decisions around the allocation of scarce health-care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. In some geographic areas, the ongoing crisis is...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Troeschel et al found that postdiagnosis obesity was associated with higher cardiovascular disease mortality and all-cause mortality, and postdiagnosis weight gain was associated with higher all-cause and prostate cancer–specific mortality in ...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Sarah B. Goldberg, MD, MPH, and colleagues, continued follow-up of the non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cohort of a single-institution phase II trial showed that pembrolizumab produced responses in patients with brain metastases and programmed cell death...
Over the past week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to an immunotherapeutic agent for solid tumors with a high tumor mutational burden and to a combination treatment for the first-line treatment of metastatic or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer. The agency...
On April 10, ASCO launched the ASCO Survey on COVID-19 in Oncology Registry (ASCO Registry) to help the entire cancer community learn about the pattern of symptoms and severity of COVID-19 among patients with cancer, as well as how COVID-19 infections impact the delivery of cancer care and patient...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s® (NCCN®) Best Practices Committee has published a preprint article in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network detailing their recommendations for keeping patients with cancer, as well as their caregivers and health-care staff, as safe...
In a study reported in the Journal of Surgical Oncology, Timothy M. Pawlik, MD, MPH, PhD, and colleagues found that approximately half of patients undergoing resection of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) had a “textbook outcome”—a result associated with significantly improved disease-free...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in the Annals of Oncology, Li Zhang, MD, of the Department of Oncology, Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, and colleagues described characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 infection in 28 patients with cancer from...
On April 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved selumetinib (Koselugo) for pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) who have symptomatic inoperable plexiform neurofibromas. Selumetinib, a kinase inhibitor, is the first therapy approved for...
Cancer and its treatment can cause infertility in both men and women. Educate your patients about this potential side effect by giving them the ASCO Answers fact sheet Your Fertility and Cancer Treatment. This fact sheet covers: An overview of what the terms fertility and infertility mean What...
Monthly giving is an efficient and effective way to help conquer cancer all year long. Monthly gifts to Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation®, are processed automatically, which helps reduce costs and allows your donation to have the greatest possible impact in funding the research advancing...
Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient information website, reports a current survival rate for stage I testicular cancer at 99%, but in 1974, men faced an overall survival rate of 5%. Surgery was the only viable treatment option, and if it failed, the prognosis was fatal. Lawrence Einhorn, MD, FASCO, was a...