In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On September 30, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Frederic Amant, MD, PhD, of University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues in the International Network on Cancer, Infertility, and Pregnancy found that cancer diagnosed during pregnancy did not appear to affect cognitive, cardiac,...
The CheckMate 025 trial, reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert J. Motzer, MD, and colleagues, showed that treatment with the programmed cell death protein (PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) increased overall survival vs the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) in...
As time lapses, many patients who have undergone a colonoscopy become less and less likely to recall when and where they last had the procedure performed, who the doctor was who performed it, whether polyps were found, and, if so, the number and size of those polyps, according to new study results...
The use of dietary supplements and other complementary and “alternative” therapies 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 complementary therapies can be...
ASCO’s Community Research Forum (CRF) held its 2015 Annual Meeting September 20–21 at ASCO Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Over 75 physician investigators, program directors, and research staff attended the meeting, representing a wide range of community-based practices and research sites...
This fall, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) presented two special series: “Pediatric Cancer—Progress Through Collaboration” and “Head and Neck Cancer: Recent Advances, Changing Epidemiology, and Future Directions.” The Pediatric Special Series highlighted collaborative efforts that have...
The emphasis at this year’s Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, held earlier this month in Boston, was on patient-centered care throughout the cancer continuum. The meeting attracted more than 650 attendees and included six general sessions featuring best practices in communication,...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening of women at average risk for breast cancer achieved a mean additional cancer yield of 15.8 cases per 1,000 women, greatly surpassing yields for supplemental digital breast tomosynthesis (1.25 per 1,000) or supplemental ultrasound (4.1 per 1,000). The...
Given that BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have an estimated 40% to 85% lifetime risk of breast cancer and an increased risk of developing contralateral breast cancer, risk reduction in this population remains essential. According to a study presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium, use of...
Enrique Grande, MD, Head of the Endocrine and Genitourinary Tumors Section of the Medical Oncology Service at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital, Madrid, discussed the NETTER-1 and RADIANT-4 studies at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress. “There is now a stronger rationale...
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) nearly doubled progression-free survival compared with standard everolimus (Afinitor) therapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to the phase III METEOR trial.1 Additionally, a preplanned interim analysis found an encouraging trend toward overall...
Several studies have addressed the risks and benefits of ovarian suppression during chemotherapy for breast cancer in women of childbearing age. A new meta-analysis of randomized trials found that it prevented premature ovarian failure and was associated with a higher number of pregnancies post...
Patient: “Doc, how much are these drugs going to cost me?” Physician: “They are expensive, and you can see our financial counselor to help you understand the costs.” Cancer care is not a black-and-white endeavor, and costs are considered a distasteful subject to be passed over in tactful silence. ...
Cora N. Sternberg, MD, FACP, Chief of Medical Oncology at San Camillo Forlanini Hospital in Rome, Italy, formally discussed CheckMate 025 at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress as well as findings from the METEOR trial of cabozantinib (Cometriq) in metastatic renal cell...
Patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with nivolumab (Opdivo) were 27% less likely to die than those receiving everolimus (Afinitor), in a planned interim analysis of the open-label phase III CheckMate 025 trial.1 These positive results prompted an early termination of the study by...
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly the Institute of Medicine, announced the election of 70 regular members and 10 international members during its Annual Meeting October 19. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and...
Although genetic testing has not turned up any inherited mutations that might explain the number of cancers that have plagued my immediate family, over the past 15 years, I have lost my father, aunt, and sister to the disease. In 2001, my husband, Wayne, died of acute promyelocytic leukemia, and...
Thomas Kensler, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology and Co-Leader for the Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), was awarded a $6.3 million Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This new...
Bookmark Title: Pick Your Poison: How Our Mad Dash to Chemical Utopia Is Making Lab Rats of Us All Author: Monona Rossol Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Publication date: October 2015 Price: E-book, 210 pages Monona Rossol is a chemist and “industrial hygienist” who is a frequent contributor to...
Bookmark Title: AIDS Between Science and Politics Author: Peter Piot Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication date: May 2015 Price: $29.95; hardcover, 216 pages AIDS is a global phenomenon that recognizes neither national boundaries nor social strata. The AIDS pandemic was one of the...
S. Gail Eckhardt, MD, FASCO, is a tenured Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where she also holds the Stapp Harlow Chair in Cancer Research. She has been a faculty member at the institution since 1999 and was Division Head of Medical Oncology from 2006–2014. Currently, she...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On October 9, 2015, the anti–programmed cell death protein 1...
Aromatase inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence in hormone receptor–positive patients, but medication compliance can be limited by uncomfortable side effects, including musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction. Musculoskeletal symptoms have been reported ...
ASCO recently called for comprehensive physician payment reform to support the full scope of services required by patients with cancer, rather than jeopardizing patient outcomes by reducing the available resources in a particular cancer care setting in an effort to achieve “site neutrality” in...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this special focus on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Algeria. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the world. For the ...
In Europe, the field of geriatric oncology has a long history of development, and its organization and implementation continue to improve every day. This would not have happened without the strong commitment of national authorities to health policies, a critical success factor. Four Missions In...
A new collaboration between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System will provide access to the latest therapeutic cancer clinical trials and state-of-the-art care for men and women who have served in the armed forces. The...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has announced the election of three new members to its Executive Committee, the governing body of the organization, for terms beginning after the 2015 ASH Annual Meeting, taking place December 5–8 in Orlando. Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, will serve a 1-year...
Neutropenic complications remain the main dose-limiting toxicity of cancer chemotherapy treatment and are associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs.1 Although patients who have experienced a prior neutropenic event are at increased risk of subsequent events, several studies have...
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) announced that it has appointed Marc Hurlbert, PhD, as its new Chief Mission Officer (CMO). Formerly the Executive Director of the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, Dr. Hurlbert succeeds Margaret (Peg) Mastrianni, who will retire in January 2016 after serving...
In 2014, the Institute of Medicine report Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life called for more conversations about improving care for those who are dying. Improving the care of the imminently dying is an important issue in the oncology...
Treatment decision-making for oncologists and their patients may become simpler through the use of graphic NCCN Evidence Blocks™, which were unveiled at the NCCN 10th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™ sponsored by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN¨). The first of the NCCN...
Ovarian cancer clinical trialists are forming a working group to develop a standard definition of pathologic complete response in ovarian cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Such agreement within the field potentially would enable the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider...
Renowned clinician-scientist Alec Kimmelman, MD, PhD, has been named Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at NYU Langone Medical Center. His appointment is effective February 1, 2016. Dr. Kimmelman joins the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone following a distinguished...
Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, an oncologist whose work in experimental cancer therapy and tumor model development has led to key advances in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, has been named Director of the Leon V. & Marilyn L. Rosenberg Clinical Cancer Center and Chief of the Division of...
These are interesting results,” said Martin Reck, MD, PhD, Head of the Department of Thoracic Oncology at the Lung Clinic Grosshansdorf in Germany, who discussed the study at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress. Responses to rovalpituzumab tesirine, he noted, “are superior ...
While inhibitors of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or its ligand (PD-L1) are becoming established in melanoma, non–small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma, their efficacy is also being evaluated in numerous other tumor types, with promising results, according to studies presented...
Combined BRAF and MEK inhibition was superior to BRAF inhibition alone in unresectable metastatic melanoma, according to the updated survival analysis of the large randomized COMBI-v trial.1 These findings were reported at the 2015 European Cancer Congress recently held in Vienna, Austria....
In 1997, after surviving a storm of high-court legal challenges, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act went into effect, making Oregon the first American state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Supreme Court ruled that there was no right to assisted suicide in the Constitution but implied that...
Mercy Killers is a one-man show that details the consequences of a medical health-care catastrophe (breast cancer) in a family.1 This disturbing fictional account is actually a daily event in cancer centers: losing insurance for technicalities, losing a home because of an inability to pay the...
Although William Dameshek, MD, is renowned for his work in hematology, especially in advancing the understanding of myeloproliferative disorders and their interrelatedness, his early interest in medicine was instead focused on such diverse diseases as hyperthyroidism and typhus fever. Born on May...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On October 22, 2015, irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde)...
As Chair of the American Cancer Society (ACS) panel that issued an updated guideline for breast cancer screening, Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, has answered questions and offered perspective on the updated guideline and its development for The New York Times, USA Today, and other major media outlets. As...
The reactions to the updated breast cancer screening guideline from the American Cancer Society (ACS) have been many, varied, and not consistently favorable but not surprising to Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, who chaired the ACS panel that issued the guideline. Breast cancer screening “is an area that...
Bookmark Title: Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern MedicineAuthor: Cristin O’Keefe AptowiczPublisher: Gotham BooksPublication date: September 8, 2015Price: $17.00, paperback; 384 pages In the late 1740s, John Wesley—a British evangelist and...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will honor Barbara Furie, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, and Bruce Furie, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, with the 2015 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture for their groundbreaking research in hemostasis and thrombosis over the ...
The following essay by Richard M. Levine, MD, is adapted from The Big Casino: America’s Best Cancer Doctors Share Their Most Powerful Stories, which is coedited by Stan Winokur, MD, and Vincent Coppola and published in May 2014. The book is available on Amazon.com and the bigcasino.org. I’m a...
In June, the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons published a revision of its Facility Oncology Registry Data Standards (FORDS) manual, which contains all the data items, codes, and rules to abstract data into cancer registries at the more than 1,500 Commission on...
I am honored to be the 52nd President of ASCO and thrilled to have followed in the steps of six remarkable women to hold this important leadership position in a professional Society that represents nearly 40,000 oncologists around the world caring for people with cancer. My six female predecessors...