I read with great interest and appreciation the Law and Ethics in Oncology column, “Should You Become an Expert Witness in a Legal Proceeding? Here Are the Pros and Cons,” by Thaddeus Pope, JD, PhD (August 25, 2019, issue of The ASCO Post). I am an oncologist and have been an expert witness in a...
Most Latinx people who are LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex) reported being reluctant to share their gender identity and/or sexual orientation with a health-care provider, and a majority have never received cancer information tailored for their community, according...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of the 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,...
Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, has been appointed Clinical Development Leader of Pfizer Oncology. Dr. Papadimitrakopoulou will be based in New York City. Recognized around the world for her expertise in personalized genomics-driven cancer therapies, immunotherapies, translational research, and ...
Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes nearly all cervical cancers and is attributed to some cancers of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, and oropharynx. Although most HPV infections are asymptomatic and usually resolve within 1 to 2 years, persistent infections can lead to precancer and cancer. According ...
Columbia University awarded the 2019 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize to three scientists: Lewis C. Cantley, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York; David M. Sabatini, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and ...
RESEARCHERS FROM Fox Chase Cancer Center have discovered a link between higher patient volume at cancer facilities and improved survival in two studies of patients with advanced cancer.1,2 These data underscore the ability of a higher-volume facility to provide patients with more experience and...
City of Hope recently announced that several of its researchers and faculty have been named as the recipients of several awards and grants. These accolades recognize individuals for their work in their respective fields of human genetics education, genomic research, and leptomeningeal disease....
Findings from a large smoking cessation study in patients with cancer indicate comprehensive tobacco treatment is effective in helping individuals successfully quit and abstain from smoking. The prospective study, published by Paul Cinciripini, PhD, Chair of Behavioral Science at the MD Anderson...
The management of rectal cancer has evolved over the past decades, yielding several major practice changes that have substantially improved outcomes. However, rectal cancer treatment remains challenging and even with improved outcomes can result in life-altering morbidity. To shed light on the...
The Kidney Cancer Association has announced the recipients of the Advanced Discovery Awards (ADAs) and Young Investigator Awards (YIAs). In April, the Kidney Cancer Association approved $1.3 million in new grant funding to advance early detection and new treatments of kidney cancer. Established...
GUEST EDITORS Dr. Abutalib is Associate Director, Hematology and Cellular Therapy Program and Director, Clinical Apheresis Program Cancer Treatment at Centers of America, Zion, Illinois; Associate Professor, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science; and Founder and Co-Editor of...
Endometrial cancer remains the most common gynecologic malignancy affecting women in the United States. There are over 60,000 new cases diagnosed and more than 12,000 deaths annually. Traditional management includes surgical staging, with optimal disease cytoreduction as able, and adjuvant...
As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Shanafelt and colleagues recently published the interim analysis of E1912, a U.S. Intergroup–led randomized phase III trial comparing ibrutinib/rituximab, followed by ibrutinib to disease progression vs 6 months of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and...
A metabolic imbalance in some patients with cancer, following treatment with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab, may be associated with resistance to immunotherapy and shorter survival, according to scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in collaborative work with the Broad Institute of...
The Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center recently announced that Lisa M. DeAngelis, MD, has been named Physician-in-Chief and Chief Medical Officer. An expert in brain cancer, Dr. DeAngelis previously served as Chair of the Department of Neurology and was Co-Founder of MSK’s Brain Tumor...
Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, has been appointed the new Chair of the Hematology/Medical Oncology Department at Cleveland Clinic. In this capacity, he will recruit and develop staff as well as guide the department’s focus on patient access and a multidisciplinary approach to care. Dr. Abraham currently...
I gave my first national presentation of my original clinical research on a topic that was to become a professional obsession: finding a cure for esophageal cancer. (Spoiler, I failed.) It was late May 1982. Writing about this now is undoubtedly predicated on my recent retirement, my desire to...
GUEST EDITOR Addressing the evolving needs of cancer survivors at various stages of their illness and care, Palliative Care in Oncology is guest edited by Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, FASCO. Dr. Von Roenn is ASCO’s Vice President of Education, Science, and Professional Development. It has been well...
Studies show that people suffering from serious mental illness are at increased risk for poor cancer outcomes and mortality due to inequities in their cancer care. Although psychiatric care at the time of diagnosis may improve care, current models for integrating psychiatric interventions and...
A recent analysis published by Yadav et al in Cancer reviewed how the treatment of male breast cancer has evolved over the years 2004 to 2014. In addition, certain patient-, tumor-, and treatment-related factors were found to be linked with better survival. Male breast cancer comprises 1% of all...
A study published by Freeman et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network found that generally, providers with more experience treating multiple myeloma have better outcomes than those with more limited experience. Providers who saw the most cases were more likely to be...
Nicholas D. James, PhD, MBBS, of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, discusses results from a long-term follow-up of a cohort treated with docetaxel in the STAMPEDE randomized trial, confirming that the treatment showed benefit in patients with both high- and low-volume disease (Abstract...
Nicholas D. James, PhD, MBBS, of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, discusses the efficacy of prostate radiotherapy plus androgen-deprivation therapy with or without docetaxel in patients with prostate cancer with only lymph node metastases or less than four bone metastases (Abstract 844O).
Jorge J. Castillo, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the many advances in treating relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma, including novel immunomodulators, proteasome inhibitors, and monoclonal antibodies, as well as emerging treatments such as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell...
Rafael Bejar, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, discusses the tailored nature of MDS treatment, including somatic mutations that could alter treatment decisions, and novel therapies with predictive biomarkers.
Nina Shah, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, discusses the debate on fixed duration vs waiting until disease progression, a key question for clinicians treating patients with multiple myeloma.
Richard I. Fisher, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses the improvement in survival for patients with follicular lymphoma, new targeted biologic agents providing alternative treatments, and chemoimmunotherapy (a standard in many cases).
Nitin Jain, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the debate on evolving strategies in first-line treatment of CLL.
William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, offers commentary on the debate about evolving strategies in first-line chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the clinical trials on such agents as ibrutinib, BTK inhibitors, and venetoclax, and the interest in...
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the nature of biologic molecules and their importance in future therapeutic innovation.
Exposure to e-cigarette smoke caused mice to develop lung cancer, according to findings from a preclinical study published by Tang et al in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The study found that 9 of 40 mice (22.5%) exposed to e-cigarette smoke...
End-of-Life Oncology is a new occasional column in The ASCO Post that will explore how to ensure the care received by terminally ill patients is in alignment with their end-of-life goals and wishes. In this inaugural installment, The ASCO Post talked with Lillie D. Shockney, RN, BS, MAS,...
Today, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet announced its decision to award the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, MD; Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, FRS; and Gregg L. Semenza, MD, PhD, for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen...
Recurrent high-grade glioblastoma has a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival of 6 to 9 months. Treatment is limited, partly because immunotherapy has not yet been shown to be effective in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of this tumor. A novel treatment approach involving...
Patients with advanced lung cancer might soon be offered a blood test that could help decide the best treatment for them, instead of relying on tumor biopsy analysis. New data from the BFAST trial presented by Gadgeel et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2019 (Abstract ...
In the past few weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued regulatory decisions in prostate cancer, urothelial cancer, myelofibrosis, breast cancer, pediatric brain cancer, leukemia, and skin cancer. Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Niraparib in Metastatic...
Induction chemotherapy with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine or sequential FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan) followed by surgical exploration induced high conversion rates in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, and conversion was associated with...
Superior recurrence-free survival benefit was observed with nivolumab vs ipilimumab—and was consistent across disease stage, programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression levels, and BRAF mutation status—in patients with resected stage III/IV melanoma and a high risk of recurrence, according to ...
In late August, experts from around the globe convened in Basel, Switzerland, at the 2019 Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) to discuss controversial areas related to the management of advanced prostate cancer. Although the full proceedings of the conference will be published in...
Fit elderly patients aged 70 years and older with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were able to undergo rigorous treatment that provided benefit similar to that observed in younger patients. However, elderly patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma classified by geriatric assessment ...
Patients with thymic carcinoma that has progressed following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy may benefit from treatment with lenvatinib, according to findings from a phase II study reported by Itoh et al at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2019 (Abstract ...
Patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma demonstrated prolonged progression-free survival with the addition of atezolizumab to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy vs treatment with chemotherapy alone, according to phase III data from the IMvigor130 study presented by...
Recurrent high-grade glioblastoma has a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival of 6 to 9 months. Treatment is limited, partly because immunotherapy has not yet been shown to be effective in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of this tumor. A novel treatment approach involving...
Nicoletta Colombo, MD, of Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, discusses the efficacy of lenvatinib/pembrolizumab in metastatic endometrial cancer. The combination showed antitumor activity, regardless of tumor microsatellite instability or DNA mismatch repair status (Abstract 994O).
Maha H.A. Hussain, MD, of Northwestern University Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the phase III PROfound trial results on the efficacy of olaparib in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer whose tumors harbor alterations in DNA damage response genes and who...
Antonio González Martín, MD, PhD, of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, discusses study findings showing niraparib therapy significantly improved progression-free survival in patients with advanced ovarian cancer across biomarker subgroups (Abstract LBA1).
Ronald de Wit, MD, PhD, of the University Medical Center Rotterdam, discusses study findings which showed that cabazitaxel improved radiographic progression-free survival as well as overall survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (Abstract LBA13).
Thomas Powles, MD, PhD, of Queen Mary University of London, and Enrique Grande, MD, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, Madrid, discuss findings of the phase III IMvigor130 trial on the efficacy and safety of atezolizumab as monotherapy or combined with platinum-based chemotherapy vs placebo plus...
Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase III study findings showing improvement in progression-free survival among patients with an isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) mutation who received ivosidenib compared with a similar group that received placebo ...