Since 2014, “Right to Try” legislation has been sweeping the nation. Created to enable terminally ill patients to gain access to experimental drugs, biologics, and devices by sidestepping the approval process of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at press time, 22 states have enacted...
The therapeutic paradigm for lung cancer has changed rapidly over the past few years toward individualized therapy. For certain subsets of patients, molecularly targeted agents have resulted in robust gains in overall survival and quality of life. However, for the majority of patients with...
Two agents targeting novel pathways show promise in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, according to separate studies presented at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting and reviewed at the Best of ASCO® meeting by Steven J. Isakoff, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. The first study...
(Using Shakespeare’s words to confront the plight of a Physician) Give me that man That is not passion’s slave Give me that blanket that comforts and soothes For in my heart There was a fighting that would not let me sleep, Our indiscretion Sometimes serves us well. In those wakeful...
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 20 years despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and the ...
Bookmark Title: The Cancer Solution: Taking Charge of Your Life With CancerAuthor: Jack C. Westman, MD, MSPublisher: Archway PublishingPublication date: January 15, 2015Price: $20.00; paperback, 310 pages I was at a meeting in San Francisco in 1978 and received a call from my wife, Nancy:...
Through the Lens of Oncology History: A Century of Progress The text and photographs on this page are excerpted from a four-volume series of books titled Oncology Tumors & Treatment: A Photographic History, by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS. The photos below are from the volume titled “The...
Carolyn D. Runowicz, MD, FASCO, has worn just about every hat in the field of oncology—clinician, professor, researcher, administrator, and even cancer survivor. Currently the Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Herbert ...
New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center announced the appointment of physician-scientist and brain tumor specialist Andrew S. Chi, MD, PhD, as Chief of Neuro-Oncology for its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center and Co-Director of the NYU Langone Brain Tumor Center. In his new role,...
Iuliana Shapira, MD, has joined SUNY Downstate Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology. In this position, Dr. Shapira will provide leadership in the clinical, academic, and administrative aspects of the program, as well as broaden the relationship with SUNY Downstate’s...
Despite enormous advances in modern medicine and the explosion of biomedical information over the past century, the way medical education is taught in the United States is stuck in a format that does not optimize learning, according to Charles Prober, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education ...
Access to cancer medicines—including some old standbys—is inconsistent across Europe, depriving many patients of treatments that are the standard of care elsewhere,1 according to Alexandru E. Eniu, MD, PhD, Chair of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Emerging Countries Committee and...
This year’s Community Research Forum Annual Meeting is right around the corner. There is an exciting lineup scheduled for the meeting, with participants and presenters representing a range of practices and types of research programs. Participants will engage with one another in breakout sessions to ...
At the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) launched The Campaign to Conquer Cancer—a comprehensive, $150 million fundraising campaign supporting breakthrough research and sharing vital knowledge with physicians, patients, and families. In support of The Campaign, CCF Board ...
The ASCO Guidelines Program has worked with other professional societies and guideline development organizations in an effort to expand the ASCO guideline portfolio and harmonize recommended care options across prominent guideline development groups. For ASCO, this effort began with a systematic...
Pasquale W. Benedetto, MD, the Leonard M. Miller Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, recently spoke at the 2015 New Orleans Summer Cancer Meeting about his approach to diagnosing and treating germ cell tumors in men.1 The ASCO Post was there to...
For breast cancer patients with robust family histories, medical oncologists should be testing not only for BRCA1/2 mutations, but also for large duplications and deletions as well as for PALB2 mutations. “These [findings] have proven utility in testing breast cancer patients,” said Louise E....
In recent years, patients with cancer have had the benefit of much high technology: proton-beam radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, various minimally invasive surgery techniques, and robots in the operating room. They all receive hype in the professional and public press, and...
The International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) has partnered with the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) for the 17th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology, held in late July 2015 in Washington, DC. Its theme, “From National to Global: Implementing the Standard of Psychosocial Care in...
There is no consensus as to whether it is better to treat immediately or to delay androgen-deprivation therapy in patients with a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level (“biochemical relapse”) after curative therapy for prostate cancer. A phase III study, selected for the Best of ASCO® 2015,...
Two low-cost, low-tech options may lead to a survival benefit in metastatic colorectal cancer, according to separate retrospective studies selected for the Best of ASCO® 2015. The first study suggested that vitamin D supplementation is worthy of investigation in this regard,1 and the second study...
With a growing number of options for follicular lymphoma, clinicians may wonder whether there is one best regimen. James O. Armitage, MD, FACP, FRCP, Professor of Medicine at the University of Nebraska, Omaha—and Editor-in-Chief of The ASCO Post—tackled this question and offered recommendations at...
With immunotherapy changing the face of lung cancer, is there still a place for targeted therapy? Two experts from Emory University debated this issue at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference held in Sea Island, Georgia. Fadlo Khuri, MD, was recently named President...
What first intrigued Fadlo R. Khuri, MD, FACP, about the prospect of becoming the 16th President of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon was the chance to give back to an institution and a country that had given him so much. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1963, Dr. Khuri was raised ...
A few weeks ago, I read an op-ed1 in The New York Times written by Stan Collender, a patient with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer. In his article, he described his participation in a clinical trial for a new drug he is hoping will stem progression of his cancer and...
Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD, an expert in immunotherapy and melanoma, will join the senior faculty of NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. Dr. Weber will serve as Deputy Director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center and Codirector of its Melanoma Program and will...
Gianni Bonadonna, MD, was considered the “Father of Italian Oncology,” but his scientific contributions to the field and his generous collegial spirit extended far beyond the shores of his native land. Dr. Bonadonna was at the forefront in the battle to convince the surgical establishment that...
BOOKMARK Title: 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and HappinessAuthor: Alanna CollenPublisher: Harper CollinsPublication date: April 27, 2015Price: $39.99; hardcover, 400 pages "As I walked back through the forest that night in the summer of 2005, with twenty bats in...
Valerae O. Lewis, MD, has been named Chair of Orthopaedic Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Lewis has been a faculty member at MD Anderson for 15 years, serving in a variety of roles. The unit she will lead, the Department of Orthopaedic Oncology, is a new...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently awarded Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah and The UNM Cancer Center (UNMCC) at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center status. An NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center must demonstrate depth and breadth of...
The U.S. House of Representatives passed monumental legislation that will accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of promising new cancer treatments. The 21st Century Cures Act advances big data and precision medicine and strengthens the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug...
ASCO issued landmark recommendations in the Journal of Clinical Oncology calling for federal agencies and the cancer research community to broaden clinical trials to include older adults (age 65 and older) and to redefine trial eligibility. More than 60% of cancers in the United States occur in...
When Tucker Davis was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FL-HCC) in 2008, there was very little information about this very rare cancer and, as Tucker would soon discover, even fewer treatment options available. An annoying cough and sharp pain radiating down his back leg...
ASCO University has released an updated version of ASCO’s Curricula for Advanced Practice Providers (ACAPP™). This popular series assists with the orientation of advanced practice providers (APPs) into oncology practices—a growing need as increasing numbers of APPs are hired to meet the demand for...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected seven leading physician-researchers to receive a total of $675,000 in awards and grants to advance radiation oncology research. Together, the grants will support studies in cancer biology, radiation physics, translational research,...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has chosen three radiation oncology physicians and researchers to receive the 2015 ASTRO Gold Medal: Carl R. Bogardus, Jr, MD, FASTRO; Carl M. Mansfield, MD, ScD (Hon), FASTRO; and James B. Mitchell, PhD, FASTRO. Drs. Bogardus, Mansfield, and...
James P. Allison, PhD, Chair of Immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been named the 2015 winner of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The Lasker awards, in their 70th year, honor major achievements in basic...
Radiation oncologists dream of a day when, faced with a new patient sitting in their office, they can quickly consult a computer database offering specific treatment recommendations based on accurate, freshly updated data from millions of previously treated patients with cancer. To hasten that day, ...
Febrile neutropenia is of particular concern in high-risk patients who have undergone stem cell transplant, according to William J. Hogan, MB, BCh, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Hogan delivered an update on febrile neutropenia management in this...
Are there patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) for whom chemotherapy can be omitted? Experts debated this question at the 2015 Debates and Didactics in Hematology and Oncology Conference in Sea Island, Georgia,...
In a bold move to shed light on the ramifications of the ever-increasing cost of cancer drugs for patients with cancer and for the health-care system, 118 prominent oncologists came together to write a commentary in Mayo Clinic Proceedings detailing their concerns.1 To learn more about these...
Cancer prevention is a child-care issue. With many of cancer’s instigators planting their seeds during childhood, we—as a profession and as a nation—must seize this important window of opportunity to protect the health and well-being of future generations. Current estimates suggest that up to...
Over 80% of the 15 million people diagnosed with cancer worldwide in 2015 will need surgery, but less than one-quarter of them will have access to proper, safe, affordable surgical care when they need it, according to a major new Commission examining the state of global cancer surgery. The...
BOOKMARK Title: Bald Is Better With Earrings: A Survivor’s Guide to Getting Through Breast CancerAuthor: Andrea HuttonPublisher: Harper CollinsPublication date: July 7, 2015Price: $17.99; paperback, 224 pages There are a plethora of books written by breast cancer survivors, and there are sure to...
BOOKMARK Title: Ordinary Medicine: Extraordinary Treatments, Longer Lives, and Where to Draw the LineAuthor: Sharon R. KaufmanPublisher: Duke University PressPublication date: May 29, 2015Price: $26.95 paperback, 336 pages Medicine has changed radically over the past 15 years. Who doesn’t welcome...
BOOKMARK Title: Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion PatientsAuthor: Jeremy N. SmithPublisher: Harper WavePublication date: April 7, 2015Price: $26.99; hardcover, 352 pages Health measures are essential tools in assessing public health and safety. Collecting large amounts of data is a laborious ...
Lisa Kachnic, MD, former Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology and Associate Director of Multidisciplinary Cancer Research at Boston University School of Medicine, and Chief of Radiation Oncology at Boston Medical Center, has been named Professor and Chair of the Vanderbilt University Medical...
Women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ have a low risk of dying of breast cancer, according to an observational study looking at data from 108,196 women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ between 1988 and 2011.1 The breast cancer–specific mortality rate for these women was 1.1% at 10...
Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey has named Todd Demmy, MD, FACS, FCCP, as its new Chief of Thoracic Oncology and Associate Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Demmy, who is leading Rutgers Cancer Institute’s Thoracic Oncology Program, is an international leader in minimally...
Addressing the relatively small number of new cancer drugs for children, a selective group of leading research centers is joining a new federally funded research consortium aimed at bringing scientific rigor and a concentrated effort to identifying new drug candidates for pediatric clinical trials. ...