Two novel biomarkers have been found to correlate with improved outcomes with immunotherapy in metastatic breast cancer and may help to identify the patients most likely to benefit from this treatment, according to exploratory studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
Cancer-related fatigue is a prevalent and potentially persistent issue among breast cancer survivors. A study presented by Di Meglio et al at the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2020 (Abstract 183O) has now shown that existing recommendations and proven strategies for reducing fatigue—which can...
Final analysis of the LOTUS trial has shown numerically longer overall survival with ipatasertib plus paclitaxel vs placebo plus paclitaxel in patients with inoperable locally advanced/metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. In all biomarker-defined subgroups (PTEN normal or low, PIK3CA/AKT1/PTEN ...
At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Breast Cancer Virtual Meeting 2020, Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, of Baylor University Medical Center, reported results from an interim analysis of the PHranceSCa study (Abstract 80O). The study investigators found that over 80% of patients preferred...
Telephone outreach coupled with scheduling assistance significantly increased screening mammography setup and follow-through in a population characterized by low rates of screening mammography and high rates of advanced breast cancer at diagnosis. These are findings from a new study conducted by...
The majority of women with multiple tumors in a single breast reported good or excellent satisfaction with the cosmetic results of lumpectomy, despite loss of significant breast volume and often multiple incisions. These findings are from an ongoing multicenter prospective trial examining the...
On May 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) and two cycles of platinum-doublet chemotherapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic or recurrent non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no epidermal...
On May 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved brigatinib (Alunbrig) for adult patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as detected by an FDA-approved test. The FDA also approved the Vysis ALK Break Apart FISH Probe Kit...
Recently, an article and accompanying infographic published in JCO Oncology Practice examined the impact pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have on cancer care delivery. The article is part of ASCO’s State of Cancer Care in America series, which explores challenges and opportunities in today’s...
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, is raising money through COVID Impacts Cancer, an emergency campaign to support patients with cancer, cancer care teams, and researchers. This fund will aid in advancing vital cancer research and expanding support for patients and oncology providers during and...
On her wedding day, a father—who happens to have colorectal cancer—walks his daughter down the aisle. His oncologist, Rona Yaeger, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, helped him mark this milestone. Currently, patients with BRAF-mutant colorectal cancers face a poor prognosis. Dr....
The fundamental goal of scientific meetings is to share knowledge and accelerate scientific advances. Investigators use different types of presentations to disseminate and share their valuable work with others in the field. This is an important aspect of promoting their scientific careers. These...
The doctor-patient relationship, a time-honored tradition based on trust and cooperation, is critical for vulnerable patients, as they experience a heightened reliance on the physician’s competence, skills, and good will. That same trust is critical on the public health stage, when a nation is...
GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer (GO2 Foundation) has promoted Jennifer C. King, PhD, to the role of Chief Scientific Officer. In her new position, Dr. King will be responsible for leading scientific and research priorities for a global patient advocacy group dedicated to saving, extending, and...
The symptoms of low-grade oligodendroglioma first appeared in the summer of 2003, when I was 12, but they were vague enough—mild headaches and occasional weird sensations on my right side—to ignore. In the fall, I tripped and fell during a game of rollerblade hockey with my classmates and started...
The ASCO Post is pleased to reproduce installments of 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, historical...
In 2003, Nina Kadan-Lottick, MD, MSPH, established the regional Yale HEROS multidisciplinary research and clinical program for long-term survivors of childhood cancer survivors, which is the first of its kind in Connecticut and one of the first in the United States. She intends the HEROS program to ...
In 1980, Paul G. Marks, MD, became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), the oldest and largest private cancer center in the world. Over his 19-year reign, he is credited with setting MSK on a more scientific course by encouraging innovative...
Most who leave a mark in life are noted for a single contribution; few are remembered for the breadth of their contributions. Such a man was John W. Yarbro, MD, PhD, who, near the end of his rich life, stepped foot on Antarctica, completing his desire to have visited all of the world’s seven...
Rosemary Yancik, PhD, a medical sociologist, was best known for her talent of bringing a group of experts together who shared her interests in improving the prevention and management of cancer in elderly patients. She served many years at the National Institutes of Health in both the National...
My journey in cancer medicine started in June 1968, when I traveled from Lebanon to New York to begin my fellowship in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Since then, and on a daily basis, I have been actively engaged in the treatment of patients with cancer and in cancer...
The human drama within the oncology world is a never-ending story of triumph, tragedy, and all of the valiant efforts and human emotions in between. The doctor-patient relationship in oncology is deeper and longer than in most medical specialties due to the life-and-death stakes at play after a...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, The ASCO Post will be interviewing oncologists on how they and their centers are dealing with the crisis. Here, we speak with Alexander Melamed, MD, MPH, a gynecologic oncologist and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia...
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences recently announced its newest members, with the election of 276 artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Among those inducted were numerous researchers and scientists involved in the care of patients with...
Insomnia is a persistent sleep disorder that affects nearly 60% of people with cancer, diminishing their quality of life.1,2 Chronic insomnia disorder is defined by trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early three times per week for 3 months or more.3 Standard care comprises...
Reports suggest that the severity of coronavirus infection may be significantly more pronounced in men than in women.1 Studies have demonstrated that estrogen reduces both influenza virus replication in human female nasal epithelial cells2 and moderates the cytokine storm in murine models of this...
A clinical trial investigating a two-drug immunotherapy combination will soon be available to patients with cancer infected with COVID-19 at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized clinical researchers at the center to conduct...
As part of a series of interviews with cancer experts during the COVID-19 pandemic, The ASCO Post spoke with Hagop Kantarjian, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, about the impact of the pandemic on treatment of...
During the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, patients with cancer are at high risk of severe respiratory illness from infection because cancer and its treatments weaken their immune systems. Patients who smoke may be even more immunocompromised and at greater risk of COVID-19. A research study...
Jeff Patton, MD, has been named Chief Executive Officer of OneOncology, a national partnership of independent community oncologists. Dr. Patton has been Acting Chief Executive Officer and President of Physician Services since February. Dr. Patton will continue as Executive Chairman of the Board of ...
The management of pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors is extremely complex, as are the survivorship issues in this highly vulnerable patient population. To shed light on the current clinical reality in this setting, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Katherine E. Warren, MD, an internationally...
In this edition of the Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with John Craig Venter, PhD, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the J. Craig Venter Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to human, microbial, and environmental genomic research. A...
In 2019, the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center began planning a demonstration program, called Cancer Care at Home, to broaden the delivery of oncology treatments to patients in the home setting. The existing services offered by Penn...
On April 17, 2020, tucatinib was approved for use in combination with trastuzumab and capecitabine for treatment of adult patients with advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. These patients included those with brain metastases and those who have received one or more prior...
On April 15, 2020, mitomycin gel was approved for the treatment of adult patients with low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer.1,2 Mitomycin gel is for pyelocalyceal use alone and not for intravenous, topical, or oral administration. Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on findings in the...
Genetic mapping of brain metastases, in the laboratory of Priscilla Brastianos, MD, Director of the Central Nervous System Metastasis Center at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and Scott Carter, PhD, at the Harvard School of Public Health, is yielding findings that could...
On April 3, 2020, luspatercept-aamt was approved in the treatment of anemia failing to respond to an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent and requiring 2 or more red blood cell (RBC) units over 8 weeks.1,2 The treatment is geared toward adult patients with very low– to intermediate-risk myelodysplastic ...
On April 10, 2020, the oral MEK inhibitor selumetinib was approved for the treatment of patients 2 years of age and older with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) who have symptomatic, inoperable plexiform neurofibromas.1,2 Selumetinib is the first therapy approved for children who have this disease....
City of Hope has announced the addition of pathologist Stanley Hamilton, MD, and researcher Alexey Danilov, MD, PhD, to the National Medical Center in Duarte, California. Dr. Hamilton is a recognized leader in pathology who helped develop pathology and laboratory medicine into a world-class...
The desire to pursue a career in medicine took root when Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, was a young child visiting family in segregated Ahoskie, North Carolina. She witnessed firsthand the impact the town’s lone African American family physician had on the community. When it came time to...
On April 17, 2020, pemigatinib was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of adults with previously treated unresectable locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with a fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion or other rearrangement as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced that its first-ever Virtual Annual Meeting attracted a vast worldwide audience, with more than 61,000 registrants from 140 countries. Held April 27 and 28, the 2-day meeting featured practice-changing clinical trials, innovative basic...
Pulling together the 2020 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting in less than 1 month was a Herculean task, and an important component was producing a session on COVID-19 and cancer care. This special session involved researchers from the front lines of the pandemic...
Thomas J. Herzog, MD, Deputy Director, University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, who presented a distillation of the PRIMA trial data along with updated results of the phase III PAOLA-1 trial of olaparib plus bevacizumab maintenance, called the data “practice-changing.” “We’ve suspected for a while...
Making sense of maintenance therapy in advanced ovarian cancer has been a tall order since the publication of impressive data for not one but three PARP inhibitors at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2019 Congress.1 The picture became a little clearer on April 29, 2020, however,...
Formal I-SPY 2 trial discussant, Pamela N. Munster, MD, Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, found the study promising but said confirmatory trials are needed. “What we know so far in preoperative therapy for breast cancer is that pathologic complete...
Monotherapy with the experimental WEE1 inhibitor adavosertib has shown activity in patients with advanced recurrent or metastatic uterine serous carcinoma,1 according to data presented during the 2020 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer Webinar Series. The initial ...
As the worldwide cases of the coronavirus started to mount in February and March, medical societies and organizations monitoring the escalating COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international and domestic travel made the difficult decision to postpone or cancel their scientific conferences. On...
When I chose my Presidential theme for the 2020 ASCO Annual Meeting, “Unite and Conquer: Accelerating Progress Together,” in early 2019, I never imagined it would take on a new meaning 12 months later. The world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, and, even as we practice social distancing, I...
Over the last decade, researchers have become concerned about a possible link between a benign gynecologic lesion called endosalpingiosis and ovarian cancer. However, using a diagnostic method typically reserved for specimens suspected of being cancerous, a team has found the prevalence of...