Earlier this month, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) published new state-of-the-art guidelines on the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia. The guidelines were published in the journal Blood Advances.1 The 2019 ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines on Immune Thrombocytopenia, developed in...
For the country, and for me personally, 2001 was a watershed year. In May, my mother died; the following month my brother, Dom, then 57, called to tell me he had just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Except for some fatigue Dom had complained about at our mother’s funeral, there were no...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized three Choosing Wisely® Champions, practitioners working to tackle the overuse of hematology tests and treatments, at its 2019 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando: Stephen L. Wang, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, Santa...
Children from lower-income neighborhoods were 2.4 times more likely to die during treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) than children from middle- and high-income neighborhoods, according to findings from a study that analyzed nearly 1,500 clinical trial participants. While previous research...
In a phase I/II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Geoerger et al found little activity of atezolizumab alone in pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory malignancies (including solid tumors, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Hodgkin lymphoma) with known or expected programmed...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pohlkamp et al identified factors associated with levels of prolonged grief symptoms in parents of children who have died of cancer, with factors being found to differ between mothers and fathers. As stated by the investigators,...
When Desirée Walker was diagnosed with breast cancer, she considered not treating it—but more frightening to her than the side effects of chemotherapy was missing the chance to watch her children grow. In “Mother Knows Best”—part of the Your Stories Featured Conversations series from Conquer...
I was just 39 in 2015 when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I have a wife and three young children whom I love, a challenging and fulfilling career, and I wasn’t ready to die. When I was first diagnosed, I met with a medical oncologist who had little experience treating this type of cancer....
Stanley L. Schrier, MD, Past President of the American Society of Hematology (ASH, 2004–2005) and Professor Emeritus of Hematology at Stanford Medicine in Palo Alto, died on August 16. He was 90 years old. Instrumental to Growth at Stanford Dr. Schrier was a 1954 graduate of Johns Hopkins...
In late 2018, calaspargase pegol-mknl, an asparagine-specific enzyme, was approved for use as a component of a multiagent chemotherapeutic regimen for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in pediatric and young adult patients aged 1 month to 21 years.1,2 The new product provides for a longer interval ...
The text and photograph on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology: Tumors & Treatment, A Photographic History, The Anesthesia Era: 1845–1875 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, and Elizabeth A. Burns. The photograph appears courtesy of Stanley B. Burns, MD, and...
In this installment of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Navneet S. Majhail, MD, MS, about his journey from India to the Cleveland Clinic, where he is Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. He is also President of the American Society for...
This year’s meeting of the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit: Cancer and Universal Health Coverage, held on October 15–17 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, brought together more than 350 global health leaders, including ministers of health, first ladies, and industry leaders, from 82 countries to discuss how...
“The majority of breast cancers are hormone receptor–positive, and treatments that target the estrogen receptors are very effective, but they also cause havoc in many tissues that are dependent on estrogen for normal functioning. As a result, breast cancer survivors suffer from ongoing symptoms and ...
For Her Royal Highness Princess Dina Mired of Jordan, ensuring that every patient with cancer receives high-quality care is not an abstract goal—it is personal. Princess Dina saw firsthand the life-and-death differences that access to state-of-the-art oncology care makes in a patient’s life when...
In a Canadian study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Warmerdam et al found that mothers and siblings of children with cancer were significantly more likely to have mental health–related outpatient health-care contacts than their general population counterparts. The study involved...
In an analysis of the German ALL-REZ BFM 2002 trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eckert et al found that postinduction minimal residual disease (MRD)-based treatment stratification resulted in “excellent survival” in pediatric patients with late relapse of B-cell precursor acute...
It is with great sadness that we report Craig Alguire, MD, 42, died on October 11, 2019, at his home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme in 2015, Dr. Alguire chronicled the effects the cancer was having on his life in his Patient’s Corner column, published in...
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,...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Plotkin et al found that high-dose bevacizumab induction therapy did not appear to produce better outcomes compared with lower-dose treatment in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) and progressive vestibular schwannomas. As...
The American Thyroid Association held its 2019 Annual Meeting from October 30 to November 3 in Chicago. Below are brief summaries of important oral presentations on thyroid cancer from the meeting. Incidence and Incidence-Based Mortality in a State Results of a retrospective analysis of thyroid...
A diagnosis of cancer always comes as a surprise. Life does not prepare any of us for telling our friends and family that we have cancer, and this can be especially difficult for young adults and teenagers. Cancer interrupts their lives at a time when it is least expected. Life goals,...
A phase II study evaluating whether combining an investigational anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody with induction chemotherapy improved outcomes in children with newly diagnosed high-risk neuroblastoma found that the therapy significantly improved 2-year event-free survival. Furman et al published the...
In a Children’s Oncology Group (COG) study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kahn et al found that event-free survival in pediatric and adolescent patients with Hodgkin lymphoma was similar by race and ethnicity in COG trials, but that adjusted overall survival was better in white...
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,...
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 ...
In a Children’s Oncology Group study (COG ARET0332) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chévez-Barrios et al found discrepancies between central and institutional identification of high-risk features of enucleated unilateral retinoblastoma, and that use of adjuvant chemotherapy based on...
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,...
The term “sexual and gender minorities” encompasses people whose sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or reproductive development varies from traditional, societal, cultural, or physiologic norms1 and includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. More than 3 ...
Earlier this week, Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Ned Sharpless, MD, testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the FDA’s planned regulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems and investigation of vaping illnesses. His remarks are...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new national coverage determination (NCD) announcing that Medicare will now cover U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy for certain patients with cancer. As outlined in ...
Physicians and nurses in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have fewer training opportunities, limited medical and educational resources, and insufficient palliative care options for their patients,1 all while these regions are leading the world in new cases of cancer diagnosis.2 An emerging...
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane….” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Progress has been made in expanding access to health care for low-income populations, but the quality of care still lags behind and can result in less successful outcomes...
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,...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that childhood cancer survivors with pathogenic neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) variants had a greater risk of subsequent neoplasms than survivors without NFI variants and that radiotherapy was...
Earlier this month, The Lasker Foundation announced the recipients of its 2019 Lasker Awards for clinical and basic research and public service. Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award H. Michael Shepard, PhD,formerly of Genentech, Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, of the University of California,...
In the POLO trial, which is discussed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Golan and colleagues evaluated the potential benefit of maintenance olaparib after disease stability or response to a minimum of 4 months of platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer and a...
The battle against cancer is typically waged by the surgeon and oncologist, but a Lexington, Kentucky–based, award-winning restaurateur and chef discovered her role as a foot soldier when she applied her culinary skills to deal with the debilitating side effects of her mother’s lung cancer...
On September 10, The Lasker Foundation announced the winners of its 2019 Lasker Awards: Max D. Cooper, MD, of Emory University, and Jacques Miller, AC, FRS, FAA, of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, will receive the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award; H. Michael...
On August 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule to require new health warnings on cigarette packages and in advertisements to promote greater public understanding of the negative health consequences of smoking. The proposed warnings, which feature photo-realistic...
Over the past few decades, our understanding of transplant immunology has moved from basic allograft rejection to the current molecular level that offers life-saving treatments for patients with cancer. The scientific elegance of this remarkable therapy’s arc from experimental to standard of care...
“Live while you’re living, friends,” writes Julie Yip-Williams in her memoir, The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After. It was The New York Times bestseller when she died of stage IV colon cancer at the age of 42. She is the most recent of several...
ASCO is pleased to announce the 2019–2020 participants in its Leadership Development Program and Education Scholars Program. Leadership Development Program The ASCO Leadership Development Program, which began in 2009, is a year-long program designed to train future leaders in oncology by supporting ...
ASCO has released an ethical framework for researchers on incorporating research biopsies in cancer clinical trials. The framework, published in a statement in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on July 25, provides guidance on when to include optional and mandatory biopsies based on both participant ...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded 53 grants to researchers in the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) to conduct multisite cancer clinical trials and cancer care delivery studies in their communities. In addition to 7 research hubs, these NCI grants went to 32 community...
During 2012–2016, an average of approximately 34,800 human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers were reported each year, according to a new study published by Senkomago et al in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Among the cancers probably caused by HPV, 92% are attributable to the HPV types ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pelland-Marcotte et al found that survivors of childhood leukemia remained at significantly increased risk of infection compared with matched controls during an extended period following completion of treatment. Study Details The...
A growing number of middle and high school students are being exposed to secondhand aerosols from electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by living with or being around individuals who are vaping, according to data from a national survey. Such exposure increased rapidly in 2018 compared to the years...
I found my cancer quite accidentally. In March 2018, as I was taking a shower, my hand casually brushed against my right mastoid bone, and I noticed the area sounded hollow. Around the same time, I realized I had developed a sense of fullness in that ear as well. I had been feeling tired, but that...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded 53 grants to researchers in the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) to conduct multisite cancer clinical trials and cancer care delivery studies in their communities. In addition to seven research hubs, these NCI grants went to 32...