“THIS IS a wonderful presentation and a very exciting trial,” said formal discussant Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Despite the remarkable advances achieved with anti–programmed cell death protein 1 and ligand 1 (anti–PD-1/anti–PD-L1) treatment, “there...
HAROLD BURSTEIN, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, where he is Associate Professor of Medicine, commented on the SANDPIPER trial during a press briefing at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting. PIK3 mutations are probably the most common mutation in breast cancer, and...
IN PATIENTS with advanced breast cancer harboring a PIK3CA mutation, the addition of the PI3 kinase (PI3K) inhibitor taselisib to endocrine therapy with fulvestrant (Faslodex) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with fulvestrant alone, in the international phase III SANDPIPER...
ASCO EXPERT David Graham, MD, FASCO, Medical Director at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina, was enthusiastic about this new technology. “This is an important first step showing there is an easier way to detect lung cancer at earlier stages. If the promise of this report...
IF THE INITIAL promise of research presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting bears fruit, we may one day have a simple blood test to screen for early-stage lung cancer and possibly other cancers. Although it is still very early days for this test, an initial report from the ongoing Circulating...
“TODAY WE HAVE good news, because IMpower 150 is another clear positive trial on the combination of chemotherapy with immunotherapy. This is true in terms of progression-free and overall survival, which are both statistically significant [for atezolizumab (Tecentriq) plus bevacizumab (Avastin)...
BRUCE D. CHESON, MD, Director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC, agreed that rituximab (Rituxan) plus lenalidomide (Revlimid; R2) is a reasonable first-line option, considering the findings of the RELEVANCE trial. “Dr. Fowler showed ...
IN PATIENTS with previously untreated advanced follicular lymphoma, the chemotherapy-free combination of rituximab (Rituxan) plus lenalidomide (Revlimid), the so-called R-squared (R2) regimen, yielded outcomes as good as those in patients who received standard rituximab-chemotherapy, in the interim ...
THE ADDITION OF 6 months of maintenance chemotherapy in the treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma improved 5-year survival by 13%, in the European RMS2005 Maintenance study reported at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “At the end of this long, not-easy study, we concluded that maintenance is an effective and ...
SUSAN O’BRIEN, MD, Associate Director for Clinical Science, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine Health, told The ASCO Post that the pairing of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta) “is clearly a very powerful combination.” The next question, she...
Imagine health care in the not too distant future… JOHN IS GOING about his usual Saturday at home, when his health-care–enabled smart watch alerts him to a sudden rise in his heart rate. As he is wondering about the reason, he feels a sharp pain in his left lower quadrant. The tachycardia...
“THIS TRIAL is a clear winner for the treatment of squamous non–small cell lung cancer [NSCLC],” stated formal discussant Charles Drake, MD, PhD, of Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, New York. “The concept underlying the combination of checkpoint...
THE COMBINATION of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus platinum-based chemotherapy improved overall survival, response rates, and duration of response in patients with advanced squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with chemotherapy alone irrespective of programmed cell death ligand 1 ...
A research team led by a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital epidemiologist has conducted the largest analysis to date of how adult survivors of childhood cancer view their health risk. The scientists found that a surprisingly high number of survivors showed a lack of concern for their...
The following essay by Sushil Bhardwaj, MD, is adapted, with permission, from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which was coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms of action, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Earlier this year, apalutamide (Erleada) was approved for ...
To dig a bit deeper into some of the issues touched upon in the new book, The Key to Prostate Cancer: 30 Experts Explain 15 Stages of Prostate Cancer, The ASCO Post recently spoke with the author, Mark Scholz, MD. Dr. Scholz is a medical oncologist who exclusively treats men with prostate cancer....
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center researchers have published a new guide to help clinicians navigate a recent revolution in care for advanced Merkel cell carcinoma. The guide was published in JNCCN–Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and it accompanies NCCN’s new...
With the development of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test in the early 1990s, the urology community advocated for population screening of all men of a certain age, igniting a heated argument about the test’s clinical value vs potential harms that has not abated to this day. Moreover, from...
A new genetic test in bladder cancer could be key to reducing the cost of care while avoiding overtreatment in some patients, according to research published by Waldman et al in Clinical Cancer Research. Deciding whether to treat bladder cancer aggressively can be difficult—predictive...
Eight years ago, I was having a series of colds I couldn’t shake and pain that radiated throughout my back. Still, my symptoms weren’t concerning until, on Halloween morning in 2010, I stepped out of bed and fell to the floor in excruciating pain, unable to move. A visit to the emergency room and a ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently accepted a new drug application and granted Priority Review designation for glasdegib, an investigational oral smoothened inhibitor being evaluated for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in...
GUEST EDITOR Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Jun J. Mao, MD, MSCE, Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine and Chief, Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. “Mindfulness” has gained significant popularity in the lay press in recent...
GUEST EDITOR Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology explores the unique physical, psychosocial, social, emotional, sexual, and financial challenges adolescents and young adults with cancer face. The column is guest edited by Brandon Hayes-Lattin, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine and Medical...
Despite significant gains in improved access to public places, transportation, and job opportunities for people with disabilities since the enactment of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, the long history of discrimination in the social and medical treatment of people with disabilities is ...
The implementation of educational interventions among heavy equipment operators, or operating engineers, in Michigan significantly increased the use of sunscreen and decreased the number of sunburns, reported Duffy et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. “The rates of...
The likelihood of severe complications after emergency colon cancer surgery is significantly higher over the weekend, according to a study published by Huijts et al in JNCCN – Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The research was led by Perla Marang-van de Mheen, PhD, of the...
“Biosimilars foster competition and can lower the cost of biologic treatments for patients, yet the market for these products is not advancing as quickly as I hoped. I believe that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can do more to support the development of biosimilars, as well as...
New research led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators suggests that patients treated for nonmetastatic colon cancer may sharply reduce the risk that the disease will return by following a diet low in carbohydrates and other foods that raise insulin levels. In a study published by...
As of June 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has restricted the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and atezolizumab (Tecentriq) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer who are not eligible for cisplatin-containing therapy. The restriction results from a...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology, Psallidas et al developed a model that is predictive of 3-month survival in patients with malignant pleural effusion. Study Details The PROMISE study involved an analysis of 5 independent data sets from randomized trials to discover, validate, and prospectively ...
Austrian researchers have discovered that a small number of patients taking targeted drugs known as Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors to treat myelofibrosis may develop aggressive lymphomas. They also speculate that screening for a preexisting B-cell clone before starting therapy may help prevent this...
THANK YOU for publishing the excellent article “We Need to Fill the Gap Between Pediatric and Adult Oncology Care” by Sarah Stream (as told to Jo Cavallo) in the March 25, 2018, issue of The ASCO Post. Sarah’s story and her connection to Teen Cancer America actually go much deeper than she reported ...
I hold a cold, lifeless mouse instead of my patient’s heated hand, checking off the tiny box marked “Anxiety,” while she squirms under twisted blankets. I don’t remember when or how or why it happened, that the static screen wedged itself between my patients and me and compliance with the digital...
When I was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in 2013, I used to joke that if I had to get cancer, this wasn’t a bad one to have. At just 32, I was otherwise healthy, and my prognosis for a cure was good, according to my oncologist. So I felt confident that once I underwent...
Cardiovascular complications, such as anthracycline-related heart failure, are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in survivors of childhood cancer, often developing at a time when these survivors are least engaged in long-term survivorship care, prompting the need for new paradigms in...
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, recently issued the following statement: Over the past decade, advances in our understanding of the basic biology of serious and life-threatening diseases has led to the development and FDA approval of targeted treatments for ...
Building on the efficacy of colorectal cancer screening, the American Medical Association (AMA) endorsed a plan at its Annual Meeting to work with physicians and payers to make the screening more available and affordable. Challenges with insurance coverage remain a barrier to colorectal cancer...
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. Gary Deng, MD, PhD, and Jyothirmai Gubili, MS, present information on the potential health benefits ...
THE HARVARD BUSINESS School Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator, a multidisciplinary initiative with aims to advance precision medicine, focuses on four workstreams: Direct to Patient, Data & Analytics, Clinical Trials, as well as Venture and Investment. It was recently announced that under...
Valentina Nardi, MD, is a staff pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and her current clinical work includes implementing molecular assays for hematologic malignancies at the Center for Integrated Diagnostics. “I was born in Rome, but I did my high school and college education in Genoa. I ...
It may sound too good to be true, but asking patients a simple question about what is on their bucket list can actually spark a dialogue about how best to make their cancer care and survivorship fit into their life plans, as well as be an effective way to identify their end-of-life care goals,...
AT THE 71ST World Health Assembly in Geneva, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) delivered two statements positioning cancer as a priority on the global agenda of the World Health Organization (WHO). Presenting its recommendations for action to the international community, ESMO...
Terminally ill patients with cancer will sometimes ask their clinicians for help with assisted or hastened death.1 Although palliative care and hospice care can usually address the concerns of most patients, some have physical or existential suffering that is refractory to comfort and supportive...
The QOPI® Reporting Registry, a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) brought to you by ASCO and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), is your one-stop shop for 2018 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting. The new...
RESEARCHERS AT the University of California (UC), Davis, have shown that patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who received their care at a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center in California had a dramatically reduced risk of early mortality. Using data from the California Cancer...
Tell your patients about Cancer.Net’s award-winning mobile app! Recently updated, the newest version features several performance upgrades to improve the user experience, plus all the same great features offered before, including filtering capabilities, calendar integration, and native Spanish...
A career in oncology can be extremely rewarding. Fast-paced advances in research and treatment, exciting changes in the practice environment, and the opportunity to build strong relationships with and provide critical support to patients can be incredibly professionally satisfying—but they can...
THE RECENTLY issued 8th revision to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Breast Cancer Staging System incorporates tumor biology and prognostic stage groups and thus has become more accurate and clinically relevant, according to two speakers at the 2018 Miami Breast Cancer Conference.1,2...
The ASCO updated guidelines on the treatment of metastatic non-castrate prostate cancer penned by Morris and his colleagues1 provide valuable information annotated to the strengths of evidence in recently reported prostate cancer studies. CHAARTED, GETUG-AFU 15, LATITUDE, and STAMPEDE have...