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Showing 8251 - 8300Analysis Suggests CT Screening Could Save Lives at Relatively Low Cost
Results of an actuarial analysis suggest that offering lung cancer screening with low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT) as a commercial insurance benefit to individuals who are 50 to 64 years old and have a smoking history of 30 pack-years or more could save lives at relatively low cost....
Expert Point of View: Biomarker Analysis of the TORCH Study: First-line Erlotinib Only in Patients with EGFR-positive Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Tetsuya Mitsudomi, MD, PhD, of Aichi Cancer Center Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, discussed the study presented by Tsao and colleagues1 and said that many previous trials have already shown that EGFR mutation is the most reliable predictive marker for treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors....
SIDEBAR: Private/Public Health-care Divide Creates Disparity in Cancer Pain Treatment in South Africa
Approximately 15% of South Africa’s people have private health-care insurance and use private hospitals and clinics; another 10% also use private care paid out of pocket. However, the remaining 75% of South Africans use public health care, which is spread out over rural and urban areas. Although...
Untreated Cancer Pain Remains a Significant Global Problem
“Physicians are afraid of morphine … Doctors [in Kenya] are so used to patients dying in pain … they think that this is how you must die. They are suspicious if you don’t die this way — [and feel] that you died prematurely.” —Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. John Weru of Nairobi Hospice,...
Cancer Care in India: Complex Challenges in a Populous Nation
With 1.22 billion people, India is the second most populous country in the world. Experts project that cancer incidence in India will increase by more than two-thirds over the next 20 years, to approximately 1.7 million new cases per year. Due to a range of economic and social issues, most of...
Progress in Treating Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Has Led to Across-the-board Improvements in Survival
Four decades ago, Kanti R. Rai, MD, was determined to figure out why some of his patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) died within 2 years after their diagnosis, while others lived for 20 or even 30 years. At the time, Dr. Rai was a young scientist doing research in leukemia at...
Managing Febrile Neutropenia: What Are the Best Antibiotic Regimens?
Management of patients with cancer who have fever and a low neutrophil count is one of the most common scenarios oncologists face today. “Physicians have to be keenly aware of the infection risks, diagnostic methods, and microbial therapies required for managing febrile neutropenic patients because ...
Advances in Prostate Cancer Accompanied by Ongoing Debates
Scientific advances have markedly improved prostate cancer survival, but this clinical success story is not without its share of controversy. From screening through treatment, a growing array of options offer an admixture of promise and confusion for clinicians and patients. Moreover, today’s...
Maintenance of Certification in Medical Oncology
It is said that time is perhaps the most treasured asset we have. If you are a practicing oncologist, everyone wants more and more of your time, and I’m not referring to patients. Rather, there is an increasing proliferation of folks who want to make sure we’re doing a good job, and they are...
ASCO Issues New Guideline on Chemotherapy Dosing for Obese Patients
In April, ASCO released a new clinical practice guideline on the appropriate dosing of chemotherapy drugs given to obese adult patients with cancer. The result of an analysis by a panel of experts assembled by ASCO, the guideline calls for the use of a patient's actual body weight when calculating...
New Breast Biopsy System with Vacuum Technology Approved
Devicor Medical Products, Inc, announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for the Mammotome elite Biopsy System, a tetherless single-insertion, multiple-sample, vacuum-assisted biopsy device featuring proprietary vacuum technology. Devicor also announced the commercial launch of...
Low-dose Radioiodine as Effective as High-dose in Thyroid Ablation
Two studies in The New England Journal of Medicine found that low-dose radioiodine is as effective as a high-dose strategy in treating patients with thyroid cancer and that recombinant human thyrotropin (thyrotropin alfa [Thyrogen]) and thyroid hormone withdrawal had similar efficacy in preparing...
Pretreatment Tumor Hypoxia Predicts Biochemical Failure after Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
Hypoxia often occurs early in solid tumor development as a result of imbalances between oxygen supply and consumption and may lead to genetic and molecular signaling that influences the biology and clinical behavior of tumors and response to treatment. Milosevic and colleagues from Princess...
Surviving the Aftermath of Cancer
With medical information now just a click away, it’s difficult to imagine a time before the Internet existed, when finding answers to questions about serious diseases was nearly impossible. When I was diagnosed with liposarcoma 33 years ago, there was only one oncologist in my hometown of Tyler,...
Acai Berry
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has risen significantly over the past 2 decades 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...
Will Study Showing Increased Complications Compared to Whole-breast Irradiation Put the Brakes on Brachytherapy?
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. Older women treated for invasive...
What You Need to Know About Glucarpidase Injection for Toxic Methotrexate Levels in Renal Impairment
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. Indication In January 2012, glucarpidase injection (Voraxaze) was...
Newest Indication for Rituximab as Maintenance Treatment in Non‑Hodgkin Lymphoma
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. Indication The CD20-directed monoclonal antibody rituximab...
Choosing Wisely® Campaign
ASCO recently published a detailed review of the “Top Five” opportunities to improve the quality and value of cancer care by curbing use of common tests and treatments that are not supported by clinical evidence. Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 the article coincided with the...
ASCO Reexamines the Oncology Workforce Shortage
A study commissioned by ASCO in 2006 predicted a significant shortage of medical and gynecologic oncologists in the United States by 2020. As a result, the organization created the Workforce Implementation Group to develop recommendations to stem the projected workforce shortfall and ensure ongoing ...
FDA Approves Drugs Faster than Canadian and European Counterparts
According to a study published online in The New England Journal of Medicine (May 16, 2012), the FDA approved more new drugs in less time—about 15% faster—than the European Medicines Agency and Health Canada. The analysis compared drug review performance for the three agencies from 2001 to 2010....
International Photodynamic Medicine Symposium: Shedding New Light on an Old Therapy
This past May, a collaborative think tank of researchers was convened at The Ohio State University, Columbus, to share their expertise in a somewhat older treatment that is reemerging on many fronts: photodynamic therapy. Participants from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan took part in...
ASCO Participates in Two FDA Meetings on Improving Clinical Trials
ASCO recently took part in two public meetings at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that had the broad goal of improving clinical trials and, ultimately, treatment for cancer patients. Then ASCO President Michael P. Link, MD, served as a panelist on a workshop sponsored by FDA and ASCO,...
Cancer Survivors Stand Up, Give Thanks, and Give Back
“I have me back,” is how breast cancer survivor Jeanette Daniel of Memphis described her life after being treated on a clinical trial at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. Being conducted by the Stand Up To Cancer P13K Dream Team, whose leader discovered the PI3K pathway, the trial...
Risk Stratification and Targeted Therapy, Abetted by Collaboration, Improve Outcomes for Children with Cancer
Outcomes for children with cancer have “improved over the course of the years incrementally, mostly not from the development of new drugs, because virtually all the drugs that we use now in leukemia were available in the 1970s. It is really through better understanding of the heterogeneity of the...
Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Breast Cancer Explored at the American Society of Breast Surgeons Meeting
Over 1,300 breast surgeons attended the 13th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, held May 2–6 in Phoenix. Presentations included investigations on recurrence after lumpectomy, gender differences in breast cancer, and the potential role of infrared thermography in diagnosing...
Maintenance Lenalidomide Improves Progression-free Survival and Time to Progression in Patients with Multiple Myeloma
Three phase III, double-blind, multicenter, randomized studies showed that lenalidomide (Revlimid) maintenance therapy for patients with multiple myeloma significantly improved progression-free survival or time to progression, the primary endpoints of the studies published in The New England...
Can Whole-genome Sequencing Predict Cancer Risk and Improve Public Health?
If, as expected, the cost of whole-genome sequencing continues to drop, perhaps down to the $1,000 vicinity, it may become an alluring option for consumers who want to know about their risks for cancer and other diseases. But can genome sequencing really provide practical information about...
Better Information Needed for Primary Care Providers Who Treat Cancer Survivors
Many primary care providers are unaware of the late effects of chemotherapy, according to survey results presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.1 For three out of four commonly used chemotherapy agents, medical oncologists performed well on the survey, but 29% to 38% of medical oncologists were...
Encouraging Results with Neoadjuvant Therapy for High-risk Prostate Cancer
Use of the CYP17 inhibitor abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in combination with leuprolide and prednisone prior to radical prostatectomy achieved pathologic complete response or near complete response in one-third of men with high-risk, localized prostate cancer. Abiraterone is FDA-approved for...
Radiotherapy in Early-stage Hodgkin Lymphoma
The treatment of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the major success stories in medical oncology. Depending on clinical stage, clinical risk factors, and the treatment given, 60% to 90% of all patients can be cured of their malignancy long-term. Hodgkin lymphoma survivors represent one of...
Decoding the Genetic Blueprint of Cancer Cells: Findings in Multiple Myeloma and Breast Cancer
Advances in next-generation DNA sequencing technologies are allowing scientists to decipher the whole genome or whole exome (ie, the coding region of the genome) of cancer specimens more quickly and inexpensively than ever before. And the results are revealing genes that had not previously been...
On the Early Days of Breast-conserving Therapy and the Unique Relationship between Oncologists and Their Patients
Jay R. Harris, MD, Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, helped pioneer the use of breast-conserving therapy in women with early-stage breast cancer. When asked why he chose to pursue a career in radiation...
Supplemental New Drug Application Submitted for Abiraterone
Janssen Research & Development, LLC, has submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to the FDA to extend the use of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) administered with prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who are asymptomatic or...
To Scan or Not to Scan for Colon Cancer Recurrence?
Over the past 2 decades, we have seen a substantial increase in the 5-year survival of patients with stage II and III colon cancer, marking an evolving oncologic success story. However, in the postoperative setting, the value of regular CT screening to monitor for recurrence has been greeted with...
Everolimus: New Indication in Renal Angiomyolipoma Associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex
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. Indication In April 2012, the kinase inhibitor everolimus...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
“We have already received several calls and requests from patients who desire to participate in our research or get the test done,” Anthony Lucci, MD, said about the response to a study published in The Lancet Oncology and media coverage of the findings. Dr. Lucci is lead author of the study, which ...
Too Soon to Know How Circulating Tumor Cells Might Be Used to Guide Treatment of Breast Cancer
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “A simple blood test.” These were...
Multicenter Phase II Trial Supporting Approval of Brentuximab Vedotin in Anaplastic Large-cell Lymphoma
Systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an aggressive T-cell lymphoma subtype characterized by uniform expression of CD30. Apart from low- to intermediate-risk patients with ALK-positive disease, patients with ALCL have a poor prognosis when treated with conventional, anthracycline-based...
Novel Agent Carfilzomib Receives Positive Vote from Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee for Use in Multiple Myeloma
Onyx Pharmaceuticals recently announced that the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) determined by a vote of 11–0 (with 1 abstention) that, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior lines of therapy that included a proteasome...
A Decade of Trusted Cancer Education
May 18 marked the 10th anniversary of Cancer.Net, the patient information website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). This milestone is not only important to the more than 12 million cancer survivors in the United States who have searched for reliable answers to many of the issues...
ASCO’s CancerLinQ: Building a Transformation in Cancer Care
Cancer science and information technology are advancing rapidly, but the way we care for patients today cannot fully capitalize on those advances. The proliferation of scientific results and novel treatments is a growing challenge for all oncology professionals as we enter the era of highly...
Older Breast Cancer Drugs Prove Superior to Newer Ones
In the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, established older agents outperformed newer, more expensive drugs in two studies that made news at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. Microtubule Inhibitors In the phase III open-label CALBG 40502/NCCTG N063H trial of 799 chemotherapy-naive patients with...
Expert Point of View: Mark Gilbert, MD
Commending the investigators for their undertaking, Mark Gilbert, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said, “Perseverance and analysis of long-term outcomes lead to practice-changing findings and important insights.” He pointed out that two randomized trials...
SIDEBAR: SWOG 9346 Conclusions Debated in Special Post-plenary Discussion
Based on the controversial nature of the SWOG 9346 findings, presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting Plenary Session, ASCO intiated a pilot program at the meeting for a “town hall” type of discussion, where attendees could voice their concerns and questions, and where presenter Maha Hussain, MD,...
Continuous Androgen Deprivation Therapy Continues to Be Standard of Care for Newly Diagnosed Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Based on a prespecified definition of survival comparability, intermittent androgen deprivation proved to be inferior to continuous androgen deprivation for men with newly diagnosed hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer in the phase III SWOG 9346 intergroup trial. The data were presented at...
Prostate Cancer Management: A Day Late and A Dollar Short?
In the May 15 issue, The ASCO Post reported on the relative cost-effectiveness of approaches to treating localized prostate cancer (“Advances in Prostate Cancer Accompanied by Ongoing Debates,” page 1). The article analyzed an important scientific paper presented at both urology and radiation...
New PSA Recommendations: The Debate over Prostate Cancer Screening Continues
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently issued a recommendation statement advising against the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based testing for prostate cancer,1 leaving many in the oncology community concerned that decades of clinical progress will be stalled, and setting ...
Adjuvant Chemotherapy May Confer Survival Benefit in Patients Older than 75 with Stage III Disease
Because few people over 75 participate in clinical trials, it is unknown whether adjuvant chemotherapy could benefit this population. Faced with this gap in clinical trial evidence, researchers reviewed data from 5,489 patients ≥ 75 years with stage III colon cancer. The review suggests that...
Pretreatment Tumor Hypoxia Predicts Biochemical Failure after Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
Hypoxia often occurs early in solid tumor development as a result of imbalances between oxygen supply and consumption and may lead to genetic and molecular signaling that influences the biology and clinical behavior of tumors and response to treatment. Milosevic and colleagues from Princess...
