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Showing 7201 - 7250Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, Reflects on His Career Path and His Tenure as ASCO CEO, and Predicts a Bright Future for Radiation Oncology
Choosing a career path is one of life’s most challenging decisions, but for Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, deciding to become a doctor was inherently natural. He was born with a great mentor and role model: his father. “I was born and raised in Detroit. My father was a general practitioner in...
Monitoring Survivors of Childhood Cancers for Late Effects of Treatment
This past January, ASCO held its inaugural Cancer Survivorship Symposium, which brought together the fields of medical oncology and primary care to address the critical need for coordinated care for cancer survivors. Among the presenters at the symposium was Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, who gave the...
Occupational Therapy for Adults With Cancer: An Unmet Need
Adults with cancer are at high risk for functional limitations that would negatively affect their quality of life. Occupational therapy offers a range of supportive services, with the specific goal of helping these patients engage in life as independently as possible. To provide a better...
A Perilous Time for Refugees With Cancer
The numbers are difficult to fathom. According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in 2015, over 60 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of conflict, persecution, generalized violence, or human rights violations.1 Over 9 million of those ...
A Toolkit for Dealing With the Trauma of a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
This year, an estimated 180,890 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer; about 21,120 men die of the disease each year. On top of these sobering statistics, from screening to diagnosis and treatment, prostate cancer is fraught with controversy, creating untoward anxiety...
A Physician’s Guide to Pain and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients
Despite growing awareness and the existence of guidelines, undertreatment of cancer pain remains a persistent dilemma in the oncology community. Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that more than 33% of patients suffering from invasive cancer do not receive...
Leading Surgical Oncology Societies Call for Global Curriculum to Address Variations, Inadequacies in Training
The lack of an adequately trained workforce of surgical oncologists can be a major detriment in efforts to address the rising global cancer burden, according to two leading international surgical oncology societies. In two jointly published reports,1,2 the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and the ...
ASCO’s State Affiliate Council Improves Communication Between ASCO and Community Physicians
ASCO established a State Affiliate Council in 2012 consisting of representatives from each of the Society’s 48 state or regional oncology societies. The Council met on April 21–22 at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The ASCO Post talked with Paul Celano, MD, FACP, President, Maryland/DC...
AUA, SUO Release New Clinical Practice Guideline on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
The American Urological Association (AUA), together with the Society for Urologic Oncology (SUO), has released a new clinical practice guideline on non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer. This new document outlines guidance on a variety of topics, including diagnosis and treatment, as well as a...
ASCO Past-President Anticipates a New Position With an Ongoing Goal of Advancing the Field of Oncology
After an extensive national search, Hartford HealthCare has appointed ASCO Past-President Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, as the first Physician-in-Chief of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute. As Physician-in-Chief, Dr. Yu will be responsible for working closely and collaboratively with...
Increased Physical Activity Associated With Lower Risk of 13 Types of Cancer
A new study of the relationship between physical activity and cancer has shown that greater levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with a lower risk of developing 13 different types of cancer. The risk of developing seven cancer types was 20%, or more, lower among the...
Suresh Senan, MRCP, FRCR, PhD, Receives 2016 Heine H. Hansen Award
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) have announced the 2016 Heine H. Hansen (HHH) Award recipient: Suresh Senan, MRCP, FRCR, PhD. The award was presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2016, held on...
Al B. Benson III, MD, Elected President of the National Patient Advocate Foundation Executive Board
Al B. Benson III, MD, Associate Director for Cooperative Groups at the Lurie Cancer Center, has been elected President of the National Patient Advocate Foundation’s (NPAF) Executive Board. An oncologist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Feinberg School of...
Curb Your Enthusiasm: No Benefit of Adjuvant Sorafenib or Sunitinib in Nonmetastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer of the kidneys. Up to 30% of patients present with advanced/metastatic disease, and recurrence can develop in patients at high risk treated by nephrectomy for localized tumors. Renal cell carcinoma is notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and...
ExteNET Trial of Neratinib: One Size Does Not Fit All in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
Neratinib is an oral anti-HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has shown promising activity in the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.1 It differs from monoclonal antibodies such as trastuzumab (Herceptin) because, as a small molecule, neratinib blocks the ATP binding site on the...
Neratinib Improves Invasive Disease–Free Survival in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
In the phase III ExteNET trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Arlene Chan, MD, of the Breast Cancer Research Centre-Western Australia, Perth, and colleagues found that 1 year of treatment with the HER1, HER2, and HER4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib improved invasive disease–free survival...
Survey Finds Most Americans Unlikely to Enroll in Clinical Trials
According to a new survey of more than 1,500 consumers and nearly 600 physicians conducted on behalf of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), only 35% of Americans indicated that they were “likely” to enroll in a clinical trial. Other studies have shown that only 4% of cancer...
Body Mass Index and Mortality in Patients With Colorectal Cancer
Overweight colorectal cancer patients were 55% less likely to die from their cancer than normal-weight patients who have the disease, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published by Kroenke et al in JAMA Oncology. Of cancers affecting both men and women, colorectal cancer is the...
Is Male Breast Cancer Overlooked in Clinical Trials?
Three and a half years ago, Oliver Bogler, PhD, a cancer biologist and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, saw his personal and professional worlds collide. He received a cancer diagnosis—one that mirrored his wife’s. “Some might say that ...
Dr. Susan Love: Time to Address ‘Collateral Damage’ of Breast Cancer Treatment
The “collateral damage” of cancer treatment is a topic that is familiar to Susan Love, MD, MBA. As a breast cancer surgeon and chief visionary officer of Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, she has learned much about the consequences of cancer treatment. But she came by an important aspect of her...
Young Women Require Formal Assessment to Identify Breast Cancer Risk
Half of the young women presenting to an academic surgical breast practice would qualify for mammography screening starting at age 40. According to the newly updated guidelines, these young at-risk women may be missed, researchers reported at the 2016 American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBS)...
ODAC Advises the FDA to Wait for Phase III Results for Rociletinib in Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) met April 12 to consider a New Drug Application by Clovis Oncology for rociletinib, an investigational therapy for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients...
FDA Grants Selumetinib Orphan Drug Designation for Adjuvant Treatment of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer
Earlier this month, AstraZeneca announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation for the investigational MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib for adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III or IV differentiated thyroid cancer. Selumetinib inhibits the MEK...
10 Things You Need to Know About the Cancer MoonShot 2020 Program
In the fall of 2015, Vice President Joe Biden called for a “moonshot” to cure cancer. In his final State of the Union Address on January 12, 2016, President Barack Obama reemphasized that goal, stating, “Let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.” To achieve that goal, the...
Expect Questions About the New Rule on E-Cigarettes
“There are a lot of myths around new and emerging tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and unfortunately, the biggest misconception is that these products are fairly or entirely harmless and risk-free,” Alexander V. Prokhorov, MD, PhD, said in an interview with The ASCO Post about a new...
New FDA Rule Prohibits Sale of E-Cigarettes to Anyone Under Age 18 and Requires Warning Labels
A new rule extending U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight to all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), and banning the sale of these products to anyone under the age of 181 was hailed as a major advanced by many leaders of medical and health organizations....
Highlights From the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting
This year’s Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) featured outstanding research in the field of cancer, as well as an inspiring talk by Vice President Joe Biden (see the May 10 issue of The ASCO Post). Here are some summaries of studies that warrant attention; they...
Study Finds Many Terminal Patients Unaware of Their Impending Death
A sizable portion of patients with advanced cancer lack an understanding of their prognosis and impending death, according to a study by Epstein et al. However, those patients who had recent discussions of prognosis/life expectancy with their oncologists had a better understanding of the terminal...
Ushering in a New Era in Personalized Medicine
When Waun Ki Hong, MD, and his pregnant wife, Mihwa, made the journey from Korea to Manhattan in 1970, he had just $451 in his wallet, and the only job he could get was as an intern in Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, a community hospital in the Bronx. The work was grueling—24-hour shifts every 2...
$3 Million NCI Grant Awarded to Study Links Between Liver Cancer and HIV
Vincent Lo Re, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Amy Justice, MD, PhD, Professor of General Medicine and Public Health at Yale School of Public Health, have been ...
CancerLinQ Completes Agreements With 36 ‘Vanguard’ Practices
CancerLinQ LLC announced on April 21 that it has completed agreements with 36 oncology practices from around the country to begin implementing CancerLinQ™, the groundbreaking health information technology platform that will harness big data analytics to help oncologists rapidly improve high-quality ...
Breast Cancer Research Foundation: Revitalizing Academic Research in Breast Cancer Through Drug Research Collaborative
When Evelyn H. Lauder was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989, she became a vocal spokesperson for women’s health, and in 1993, along with Larry Norton, MD, now Deputy Physician-in-Chief for Breast Cancer Programs and Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan...
How Immunotherapy Is Revolutionizing Cancer Care
More than 100 years after William B. Coley, MD, used bacterial toxins to goad the immune system into recognizing cancer cells as foreign to the body and mount an immune response to go after and kill them, the recognition of immunotherapy as a powerful anticancer therapy is finally being...
Expert Point of View: Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD
“When we treat our patients, overall survival is the gold standard. We are all waiting for phase III overall survival data from CheckMate 067,” said formal discussant Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD, Professor; Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform; and Co-Director of the Parker Institute for ...
Meta-analysis of Breast Cancer Studies Demonstrates Value of Pathologic Complete Response
In a meta-analysis of neoadjuvant studies totaling over 18,000 patients, achievement of pathologic complete response was associated with significantly reduced disease recurrence and mortality across the various breast cancer subtypes. Laura Spring, MD, a senior medical oncology fellow at...
Maximizing Cancer Cure: How Do We Get There?
Is cancer really “curable,” and if so, how? For a “Cancer Dialogue” held during the 2016 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, half a dozen stellar participants from the research, industry, regulatory, and advocacy communities convened to debate the topic. The ASCO Post was ...
Upfront Transplant Remains Standard of Care in Multiple Myeloma
Upfront autologous stem cell transplant remains the standard of care in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, even in the era of novel agents, according to a phase III study of the European Myeloma Network.1 “Our findings show that autologous stem cell transplant should remain the...
What ASCO Can Do for You—and for Our Patients
This is an exciting time to be an oncologist. I often say I wish I were 30 again and just starting out in my oncology career. Never before have we had such sophisticated technology for evaluation of the tumor or such a potent arsenal of targeted and effective therapies to treat cancer. Further, the ...
Oncology and Diplomacy in the Middle East
The Middle East is a vast region comprised largely of developing nations with complicated sociopolitical challenges, violent internecine disputes, and deeply fragmented health-care systems. Not surprisingly, the region’s suboptimal health care contributes to the late diagnosis and poor survival...
A Psychotherapist’s Approach to End-of-Life Care
BookmarkTitle: Dying: A TransitionAuthor: Monika Renz, PhD; translated by Mark Kyburz and John PeckPublisher: Columbia University PressPublication date: October 2015Price: $38.00; hardcover, 176 pages The night before Julius Caesar was assassinated, he had dinner with his friend Marcus...
In Celebration of a Remarkable Career at ASCO
In March, ASCO announced that Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, was stepping down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the end of June, ending his 10-year tenure as head of the Society and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO. Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, Chief of Breast Medicine Service and Vice...
Site of Tumor Impacts Survival and Choice of Treatment in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
In metastatic colorectal cancer, the anatomic location of the tumor within the colon appears to make a difference in overall survival as well as response to pivotal treatments, according to a retrospective analysis of the pivotal CALGB/SWOG 80405 (Alliance) trial.1 “While previous studies had...
Liquid Biopsy–Based Test Appears Comparable to Standard Tissue Testing in Detecting BRAF V600 Mutations
Cell-free (cf) DNA from plasma offers a minimally invasive approach to obtain material for BRAF mutation analysis for diagnostics and response monitoring. A study by Janku et al investigating whether the detection of BRAF V600 mutations in plasma cfDNA from patients with advanced cancers using the...
Characterization of Molecular Differences in Cancer Between Male and Female Patients
It is well known that men and women differ in terms of cancer susceptibility, survival, and mortality, but exactly why this occurs at a molecular level has been poorly understood. A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reviewed 13 cancer types and provided a molecular...
Specific Version of the FCGR2A Gene Identifies Colorectal Cancer Patients Likely to Benefit Most From Cetuximab
Among patients with metastatic colorectal cancer harboring normal forms of the KRAS gene, only those who had two copies of a specific version of the FCGR2A gene (FCGR2A H/H) had a statistically significant increase in median overall survival when cetuximab (Erbitux) treatment was added to best...
T-Cell Bim Levels May Reflect Responses to Anti–PD-1 Cancer Therapy
A protein called Bim may hold the clue to which patients may be successful on immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma, according to the results of a study by Mayo Clinic researchers led by senior author Haidong Dong, MD, PhD, and published by Dronca et al in JCI Insight. “Immune checkpoint...
ASCO 2016: Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Remains Relevant in Multiple Myeloma, Even in Era of Novel Agents
Early findings from a phase III clinical trial (EMN02/HO95 MM) showed that patients with multiple myeloma who received an autologous stem cell transplant survived longer without disease progression than those who received only chemotherapy using novel agents. This is the largest study reported to...
ASCO 2016: Precision Medicine Yields Better Outcomes for Patients in Phase I Clinical Trials
A meta-analysis of 346 phase I clinical trials involving more than 13,000 patients found that patients whose treatment was selected based on the molecular characteristics of their tumor had significantly better outcomes. The study was featured in a press briefing today and will be presented by...
AATS 2016: Strategies for Increasing Survival In Soft-Tissue Sarcoma Patients With Lung Metastases Undergoing Resection
Up to 50% of patients with soft-tissue sarcoma develop lung metastases. Effective systemic therapies for metastatic soft-tissue sarcoma are currently limited; when possible, pulmonary metastasectomy is the preferred treatment. However, guidelines for the performance of pulmonary metastasectomy for...
ATS 2016: Untreated Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Associated With Increased Aggressiveness of Cutaneous Melanoma
Untreated severe obstructive sleep apnea is associated with increased aggressiveness of malignant cutaneous melanoma, according a multicenter, prospective study. The new study, which involved researchers from 24 teaching hospitals that are part of the Spanish Sleep and Breathing Network, was...
