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Showing 7451 - 7500Unique Fellowship Aims to Lessen Global Cancer Burden by Training Foreign Medical Graduates in Surgical Oncology
Many low- and middle-income countries do not have a defined medical specialty in surgical oncology, and lack an educational infrastructure to respond to the local burden of cancer, but a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) fellowship is succeeding in addressing this problem by training...
ASCO Issues Report on State of Cancer Care in America: 2016
The State of Cancer Care in America: 2016, published online in the Journal of Oncology Practice1 and presented earlier this month at a Congressional briefing in Washington, DC, is ASCO’s third annual assessment of national trends in cancer care delivery. The report highlights many promising cancer...
Somebody’s Watching You: Meet the Tweet Trackers of the Social Oncology Project
In a one-story concrete industrial building across the street from a lumberyard in Austin, Texas, Greg Matthews and his computers are tracking everything that more than 500,000 U.S.-based physicians post publicly on social media. Every tweet. Every public blog, Facebook, or Instagram post. Every...
The Perplexing Increase in Bilateral Mastectomies
The increased rate of bilateral mastectomies, as shown in recently released data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is “perplexing,” Ismail Jatoi, MD, PhD, told The ASCO Post. “We are seeing more and more women with unilateral breast cancer opt for bilateral mastectomy,...
A Cancer Patient’s Harried Survivorship Story
There are approximately 14 million cancer survivors in the United States, a number that is steadily increasing, thanks to our advances in detection and treatment. However, surviving cancer can leave a host of physical, emotional, and financial hardships for years after diagnosis and treatment. In ...
A Hard Look at the Connection Between Germs and Mental Illness
The relationship between disease and microbes was first proposed in the 17th century, but the basic standards for proving that infection causes disease were not laid down until 1883, when the German bacteriologists Robert Koch and Friedrich Loeffler provided the first evidence of the processes...
A Doctor’s Prescription for a Long Life
Longevity is a common goal among humans. And like all things human, it is not distributed equally. According to world health data, Japan is number one on the longevity list; its 130 million citizens have a life expectancy of about 84.74 years. The sub-Saharan country of Chad is number 224, having ...
A Gene Hunter’s Advice on How to Take Control of Your Genetic Inheritance
Since the late 1970s, researchers have identified several gene mutations that are implicated in cancer. Many of these mutations are acquired during our lifetime, but, as we know, some are inherited in families. Identifying heritable cancer-causing genetic mutations is a double-edged sword,...
A Drop of Blood
I was a third-year internal medicine resident, rotating through the oncology service, when I was asked to perform my first circumcision. My team was rounding on Tom, a 52-year-old gentleman currently receiving third-line treatment for metastatic esophageal cancer; we were discussing at length his...
A Fight to Remember
In 2006, one of my close friends, Robert O’Connor, won the mayoral race for my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Everyone loved Robert, affectionately known as “Bob” and often referred to as “The People’s Mayor.” Bob was “Mr. Pittsburgh,” and it was his promise to reverse the city’s...
Benefiting From Mind-Body Therapy
My diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer at age 35 was a shock, also because I come from a family with no history of cancer. In disbelief, I was literally speechless—I lost my voice completely for several days. I grew up in the former Soviet Union and then in the newly independent Kyrgyzstan. My...
Study Shows Breast-Conserving Therapy Beats Mastectomy, but Questions Remain
Breast-conserving therapy (lumpectomy plus radiation therapy) appears to improve 10-year overall survival for women with early breast cancer compared with mastectomy, according to a very large population-based study from the Netherlands.1 However, the study raises more questions than it answers,...
‘Know Your Tumor’ Program Aids Patients With Pancreatic Cancer
Patients with pancreatic cancer can obtain molecular tumor profiling through the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Know Your TumorSM precision medicine initiative, a partnership with Perthera, a personalized medicine service company that facilitates the multi-omic profiling and generates the...
The Time Is Now for the Worldwide Cancer Community to Be Proactive
The ASCO Post recently spoke with nationally recognized surgical oncologist Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, Jerald L & Carolynn J. Varner Professor of Surgical Oncology & Global Health; Vice Chair of Education; and Program Director, General Surgery Residency, University of Nebraska ...
New High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Advances Treatment for Prostate Cancer
For the estimated 220,000 men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, deciding on a method of treatment can be a challenge. Some with early-stage cancer pursue active surveillance, while others with more severe cancer immediately pursue surgery, including prostatectomy. Others fall...
Introduction of New Diagnostic Devices in Oncology: New Is Not Necessarily Better
“New!” “Improved!” “Throw out that old [fill in the blank] and go buy a new [fill in the blank]!” Sound familiar? The key to marketing is to convince customers that they need a product without which they had previously been quite happy. All too often, this strategy is accompanied by a caveat emptor ...
Modified CAR T Cells Overcome Immune Suppression, Effective Against Solid Tumors in Preclinical Models
Adding a genetically engineered “switch receptor” to second-generation CAR T cells blocked PD-1–mediated immune suppression, and made the immunotherapy effective against solid tumors in preclinical models, according to a study published by Liu et al in Cancer Research....
Neratinib Improves Invasive Disease–Free Survival After Trastuzumab-Based Therapy in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
Chan et al found that 1 year of treatment with the HER1, 2, and 4 tyrosine kinase inhibitor neratinib improved invasive disease–free survival vs placebo after trastuzumab (Herceptin)-based adjuvant therapy in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, in the phase III ExteNET...
Hypofractionated Radiotherapy Not Noninferior to Standard Radiotherapy in Late Genitourinary and Gastrointestinal Toxicity in Prostate Cancer
Hypofractionated radiotherapy was not noninferior to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy in late genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity in patients with prostate cancer in the Dutch phase III HYPRO trial. These findings were reported by Aluwini et al in The Lancet Oncology. An earlier...
ASTRO Expands Its Advocacy and Government Relations Team With New Assistant Director
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently welcomed Stephanie Quinn as its Assistant Director of Congressional Relations, a key position on the Society’s government relations and advocacy team. As ASTRO’s chief liaison to Capitol Hill, Ms. Quinn will lead efforts to educate...
Is This the Dawn of Cancer Biosimilars?
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, did more than make it possible for millions of Americans to afford health care; it also established an abbreviated approval pathway for biologic products that are “biosimilar” to, or shown to be “interchangeable” with, a U.S....
ASCO University® Launches New Certificate Programs for Advanced Practitioners
The role of advanced practitioners in oncology is growing as the demand for team-based care increases—and with that growth comes a need for training materials specifically tailored to this group. ASCO University®, ASCO’s home for lifelong learning, has collaborated with the Association of Physician ...
Cancer Survivorship Research: Learning From the Past to Improve Future Outcomes
Soon after effective therapies for some childhood malignancies were first identified, early leaders in our field had concerns about what would happen to surviving patients as they aged. In 1975, Giulio D’Angio, MD, one of the founders of modern pediatric radiation oncology, presciently called for...
Expert Point of View: David Raben, MD
“Proton therapy may very well offer reduced late toxicities. Reflecting back on past reirradiation studies both within and outside of the cooperative groups, it seems that the late toxicities in this retrospective study were somewhat similar,” said David Raben, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology...
Expert Point of View: David Raben, MD
“As radiation oncologists, we have pushed some important envelopes to try to mitigate long-term toxicity,” said David Raben, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado. “We’ve been able to utilize intensity-modulated radiation techniques to...
Mutational Profile May Impact Treatment Decisions for Smokers With Human Papillomavirus–Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer
Smokers whose oropharyngeal tumors are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) might need more aggressive treatment for their disease, according to research presented by Jose Zevallos, MD, at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Scottsdale, Arizona.1 Over time,...
Annual Report Cites Continued Decline in Most Cancer Mortality but Trends Toward Increased Liver Cancer Incidence, Mortality
Earlier this month, experts from four major institutions issued the annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer (1975–2012). This year’s report showed that death rates continued to decline for all cancers combined, as well as for most cancer sites for men and women of all major racial and...
Surgeons—Yes, Surgeons—Have a Role in Translational Cancer Research
Surgeons are clearly more comfortable in the operating room than the laboratory, but there is a place for them in translational cancer research as well, according to one surgeon who has led cutting-edge research in pancreatic cancer. “Translational studies require access to patients, to tissue, and ...
Phone Triage System Offers Potential to Reduce Patient Visits to the Emergency Department for Cancer Treatment–Related Symptoms
A quality improvement initiative to reduce the reliance of patients on visits to the emergency department for treatment of side effects related to cancer treatment was reported to be highly effective, according to early findings from a new study. 1 The strategy, involving a telephone triage...
Update on CancerLinQ: A Rapid Health-Care Learning System
On March 26, 2013, ASCO announced that it had completed a prototype of CancerLinQ™, the Society’s groundbreaking health information–technology initiative to achieve higher quality, higher value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. At this year’s 2016 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Robert S. ...
Anticoagulation in Patients With Cancer: Understanding the Complexities of Prophylaxis and Management
Venous thromboembolic events are more prevalent in patients with cancer than in persons without it. Cancer is associated with a high rate of venous thromboembolism recurrence, bleeding, requirement for long-term anticoagulation, and reduced quality of life. Moreover, thrombosis is the second most...
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: The Golden Drug Only for Golden Agers?
As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Burger and colleagues recently reported findings of the RESONATE-2 trial of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) vs chlorambucil (Leukeran) as initial therapy for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).1 The study met its primary endpoint of...
Specific Form of CYP3A7 Gene Associated With Poor Outcomes for Patients With Several Cancer Types
Among patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), those who had a specific form of the CYP3A7 gene (CYP3A7*1C) had worse outcomes compared with those who did not have CYP3A7*1C. This may be related to how the patients metabolize the therapeutics used to treat...
Processed Meat Consumption May Increase Risk of Breast Cancer for Latinas
Latinas who eat processed meats such as bacon and sausage may have an increased risk for breast cancer, according to a new study that did not find the same association among white women. The study, published by Kim et al in Cancer Causes & Control, suggests that race, ethnicity, genetics,...
Laboratory Study Explores How High-Fat Diet Influences the Development of Intestinal Tumors
A study published by Beyaz et al in Nature reveals how a high-fat diet makes the cells of the intestinal lining more likely to become cancerous. It joins a growing body of research that finds obesity and eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet are significant risk factors for many types of cancer....
Finnish Study Identifies Increased Cancer Risks in Patients With Neurofibromatosis Type 1
In a Finnish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Uusitalo et al found that patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) were at increased risk of other cancers in addition to nervous system disease. The study included data from a population-based series of patients with...
Study Evaluates Patient/Oncologist Perceptions of Whole-Exome Sequencing in Advanced Cancer
A majority of people with advanced cancer want to hear findings from DNA sequencing and to learn how those results may affect their health and treatment options, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report. Their findings were reported by Gray et al in Genetics in Medicine. The discovery...
Fosaprepitant Combination Reduces Risk of Emesis During Chemoradiotherapy for Cervical Cancer
The addition of fosaprepitant (Emend) to palonosetron and dexamethasone reduced the risk of emesis during 5 weeks of chemoradiotherapy for cervical cancer, according to the phase III GAND-emesis trial reported in The Lancet Oncology by Ruhlmann et al. Study Details In the double-blind trial, 234...
ASCO Report Finds U.S. Cancer Care System Ill-Equipped to Deliver New Advances to Patients
As the nation embarks on an ambitious “moonshot” to accelerate progress against cancer, our system for delivering today's cancer treatments must be better prepared to bring advances to all patients, warns a new report from ASCO. The State of Cancer Care in America: 2016, published...
Single Dose of Trastuzumab Kickstarts Immune Response in Certain Breast Cancers
A tumor’s immune response to a single dose of the HER2 inhibitor trastuzumab (Herceptin) predicted which patients with HER2-positive breast cancer would respond to the drug on a more long-term basis, according to the results of a study published by Varadan et al in Clinical Cancer Research....
Severe Adverse Event Clusters Identified Using NCI Common Terminology Criteria in Advanced Prostate Cancer
Using the National Cancer Institute’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE), researchers from Columbia University, New York, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, identified six severe adverse events clusters in patients with advanced prostate cancer. The...
Combination Therapy May Be Better Than Radiotherapy Alone to Treat Aggressive Brain Cancer, According to Early Study
Radiotherapy effectively damages brain tumors, but the cancer cells can repair themselves in order to live on. Now, researchers at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University have tested a strategy that combines radiotherapy with a drug that shuts down the ability of tumor to mend...
U.S. Senate Confirms Robert M. Califf, MD, as FDA Commissioner
On February 24, 2016, Stephen Ostroff, MD, Acting Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement to announce that the U.S. Senate voted in support of the confirmation of Robert M. Califf, MD, to be Commissioner FDA. In the statement, Dr. Ostroff said, “Dr. Califf has...
Melanoma-Specific Survival Significantly Higher With Wider Excision Margins
Among patients with high-risk, primary cutaneous melanomas, the risk of death from melanoma, at a median follow-up of 8.8 years, was significantly higher among those randomized to surgery with a 1-cm excision margin than among those randomized to surgery with a 3-cm excision margin. Although...
Questions From Younger Patients About Colorectal Cancer Should Be Addressed Promptly
A study in Cancer1 finding an increasing rate of colorectal cancer among patients under the age of 50 should serve to raise awareness about the need for testing among those with “red-flag” symptoms and earlier screening for those at high risk, the study’s corresponding author, Samantha Hendren, MD, ...
‘Red-Flag’ Symptoms That Could Signal Colorectal Cancer in Patients Under 50 Years Old Should Be Taken Seriously
In clinical practice, Samantha Hendren, MD, MPH, has been “shocked by what a large proportion of patients we are seeing who are under 50 and presenting with colorectal cancer,” often with advanced disease due to delayed diagnosis. “And that is because patients and physicians don’t even think of...
Adding Targeted Therapy to Chemoimmunotherapy in Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Questions as to Optimal Strategy Remain
The HELIOS study is an international phase III trial of bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) in combination with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) vs placebo in patients with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia. As reported by Chanan-Khan in The Lancet Oncology1 and reviewed in this...
Hyperthermic Laser Surgery Disrupts Blood-Brain-Barrier in Glioblastoma, Opening Path for Chemotherapy
Neurosurgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis used hyperthermic laser ablation to shrink tumors in patients with recurrent glioblastoma and noted a temporary disruption of the blood-brain barrier, thereby enabling them to deliver chemotherapy to the peritumoral region....
ASCO’s Incoming President-Elect Charts His Course for 2017
Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, was elected ASCO President for the 2017–2018 term this past December and will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting, June 3–7, 2016, in Chicago. As an ASCO member since 1986, Dr. Johnson brings over 30 years of experience with ASCO to the...
Pediatric Oncology Groups Endorse Ethical Framework for Rationing Scarce Drugs
The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPHO) have endorsed formal clinical recommendations for rationing chemotherapy and supportive care agents during times of shortage. The guidance is needed because persistent shortages of many standard...
