At the age of 75, I’m just happy to still be here and be able to continue to contribute to my musical community. When I was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma in 2021, I had never heard of the cancer and didn’t realize how aggressive and deadly it is. It was especially surprising to get such a...
The results from a phase Ib/II study of a five-drug targeted therapy regimen—venetoclax, ibrutinib, prednisone, obinutuzumab, and lenalidomide (ViPOR)—in the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) showed the treatment produced durable remissions and potential...
Researchers have found that about 50% of patients with metastatic melanoma treated with a combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab experienced cancer-free survival of 10 years or longer, according to a recent study published by Wolchok et al in The New England Journal of Medicine. Background In...
ASCO has released its first clinical practice guideline focused specifically on the management of locally advanced rectal cancer.1 “Rectal cancer, and especially locally advanced rectal cancer, is a complex disease that requires individualized approaches using multimodality therapies to have the...
Clinical trials are now demonstrating the value of immune checkpoint inhibitors as neoadjuvant therapy in certain subsets of patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, described this newer approach—specifically, which subsets of patients may...
Investigators have found that Black women may have a higher risk of dying from all subtypes of breast cancer compared with White women, according to a recent study published by Torres et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings demonstrated that higher mortality rates among Black women...
Researchers have identified thousands of genetic changes in a gene that may increase the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers, according to a recent study published by Olvera-León et al in Cell. The findings may pave the way for better risk assessment and more personalized care. ...
Medical oncology had a turbulent beginning, as we explained in part 1 of this commentary published in the September 25, 2024, issue of The ASCO Post. And although no other specialty we know of struggled as much, with perseverance and time, it had become a stable specialty of internal medicine by...
Medical oncology had a turbulent beginning. No other specialty we know of struggled as much. But by 1980, it had become a stable specialty of internal medicine and was off and running—with the major problem of how to marshal available resources to freely test the myriad opportunities presented by ...
The AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024, released on September 18, showcases the extraordinary progress being made against cancer. The report highlights continuing reductions in mortality, which has fallen by 33% between 1991 and 2021, translating into more than 4 million deaths averted from cancer,...
On September 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance to provide sponsors with recommendations for conducting multiregional clinical trials in support of applications for drugs intended to treat cancer, according to a notice published in the Federal Register....
A preliminary report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) revealed that, in 2020, 5.5 million men worldwide died from cancer, leading to 1.41 million new paternal orphans. The average age of the children at paternal death was 12 years old. The study by Guida et al is being...
Studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 reveal new groups of women with early-stage cervical1 and endometrial cancers2 who gain clinically meaningful benefit from adding immunotherapy to current standard treatments, and a first-in-human study found...
The results of numerous large international studies reported at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 showed that immunotherapy improves long-term overall survival in patients with a variety of cancer types, including advanced melanoma,1,2 triple-negative breast cancer,3...
An updated overall survival analysis of the phase III HIMALAYA study, now at 5 years, has confirmed the robust benefit for the STRIDE regimen of durvalumab plus tremelimumab in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.1 At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024 (Abstract...
Women who breastfeed after treatment for breast cancer—including those with germline BRCA-mutated disease—may not be at increased risk of cancer recurrence or new breast cancers, according to two recent international studies presented by Blondeaux et al (Abstract 1815O) and Peccatori et al...
Although chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has transformed treatment for patients with relapsed and refractory blood cancers, it can also cause an array of immune-related adverse events, including cytokine-release syndrome, immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome, and...
The PanCan nodule management protocol may be superior at triaging lung cancer screening participants compared with the LungRADSv1.1 approach, according to new findings presented by McWilliams et al at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) 2024 World Conference on Lung...
Adjuvant nivolumab following neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy and surgery may be effective at reducing the risk of disease recurrence or mortality in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with neoadjuvant nivolumab plus chemotherapy alone, according to new...
A fewer number of U.S. youths have reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2024 compared with 2023, according to new findings published by Park-Lee et al in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Background E-cigarettes and nicotine pouches are two categories of tobacco products the U.S. Food...
Staging may be inaccurate in up to 80% of patients with early pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study published by Perrotta et al in JAMA. The findings underscored the need for advancements in diagnostic technology and staging, which may help to improve early pancreatic cancer treatment and...
Investigators have found that administering fluorouracil (5-FU) through continuous infusion and omitting the bolus component in patients undergoing commonly used treatment regimens targeting metastatic gastrointestinal cancers may improve tolerability without reducing treatment efficacy or...
In a cross-sectional study reported in JAMA Network Open, Rezoug et al found that universal genetic testing identified immediately actionable and established germline pathogenic variants in more than 1 in 20 newly diagnosed patients with invasive breast cancer and was associated with systemic...
Imagine walking into a fancy restaurant only to find a menu consisting mostly of kids’ dishes. It would make no sense. Just 25% of restaurant diners are younger than age 12, and they rarely write Yelp reviews. But when it comes to cancer treatment, this is not very far from what we do. The median...
It happened! We received the International Development and Education Award (IDEA) from Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and it was a journey of growth, global collaboration, leadership, mentorship, and more. We have much to share after this breakthrough in our careers. The ASCO Annual Meeting...
A retrospective cohort study published in Blood Cancer Journal by Gasoyan et al revealed discrepancies between the timing of the initiation of any treatment and the fill of prescriptions for oral antimyeloma medications in patients with multiple myeloma, with a lower likelihood of Black and older...
Clinical trials are now demonstrating the value of immune checkpoint inhibitors as neoadjuvant therapy in certain subsets of patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, described this newer approach—specifically, which subsets of patients may...
In certain regions of the world, cancer claims more lives than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined, yet surgery has been relegated to the sidelines of global health initiatives. This critical need to address global inequities in access to safe, timely, and affordable cancer surgery led to the...
In patients with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancers with HER2-low or HER2-ultralow expression, treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd) was found to be superior to chemotherapy after one or more lines of endocrine therapy. In...
Patients with early-onset colorectal cancer living in rural vs urban areas were found to have a lower likelihood of 5-year survival, with persistent poverty compounding this association in some age groups, according to an analysis published in a research letter by Tsai et al in JAMA Network Open....
Multiple aspects of structural racism may contribute to an increased exposure to carcinogenic traffic-related air pollution, according to a recent study published by White and Ekenga in Cancer. Background High levels of traffic-related air pollutants have been linked to an elevated risk of...
Annual mammographic screening appeared to be associated with a reduced risk of late-stage breast cancer and an overall survival benefit across clinical and demographic subgroups of patients older than age 40, according to an observational analysis reported by Zuley et al in the Journal of Clinical...
The rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination may be lower among female individuals with mental health issues or neurodevelopmental conditions compared with their peers, according to a recent study published by Hu et al in The Lancet Public Health. Background The HPV vaccine is capable of...
Investigators have found that providing early developmental resources may help reduce the adverse effects of brain tumors and cancer therapy on the academic achievement of young pediatric cancer survivors, according to a recent study published by Somekh et al in the Journal of the National Cancer...
Researchers have offered a comprehensive understanding of the progression of multiple myeloma from a treatable condition to a high-risk disease by providing insights into its genetic diversity and subtypes, according to a recent study published by Skerget et al in Nature Genetics. Background...
In a phase I/II study (AUGMENT-101) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Issa et al found that revumenib, an oral small-molecule inhibitor of the menin-lysine methyltransferase 2A (KMT2A) interaction, was active in patients with KMT2A-rearranged (KMT2A) relapsed or refractory acute...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Williams et al, long-term follow-up of the phase III Scottish Breast Conservation Trial indicated that postoperative radiotherapy was associated with a significantly reduced risk of ipsilateral recurrence vs no radiotherapy in patients undergoing...
Combining Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibition with chemoimmunotherapy induction significantly extended progression-free survival for older patients with mantle cell lymphoma, and there was also a trend toward improvement on the overall survival benefit, according to data presented during the...
The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has serious concerns about the impact of the Supreme Court’s rulings in Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v Department of Commerce on cancer care. These decisions overturned the “Chevron deference” or “Chevron doctrine,” a legal...
Growing awareness of the benefits of palliative care in patients with cancer has prompted ASCO to update its recommendations for clinicians, patients, caregivers, and health-care organizations on integrating palliative care in oncology.1 The updated guideline reinforces prior recommendations in the ...
Researchers have shown that participating in an exercise program may improve pain, fatigue, and the quality of life in patients with metastatic breast cancer, according to a recent study published by Hiensch et al in Nature Medicine. Background “Although there’s substantial evidence for the...
Although esophageal cancer in the United States is relatively rare, affecting about 22,400 people each year and making up about 1% of all cancer cases,1 the disease is common in East and Central Asia countries. Nearly 90% of patients with esophageal cancer in Asia are diagnosed with the squamous...
It was a hot and humid Tuesday in July, and I distinctly remember being grateful for the air conditioning in the pastel-shaded waiting room of the oncology outpatient clinic. My father sat silently beside me. We knew this room well, as we did the doctor we had arrived to see. He had been my...
A prospective-retrospective translational study reported in JAMA Oncology by Ruth M. O’Regan, MD, and colleagues confirmed the prognostic value of the Breast Cancer Index (BCI) in a Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial (SOFT) trial–derived population of premenopausal women with early-stage,...
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of primary liver cancer, accounting for about 80% of all primary liver cancers in the United States, and is currently the sixth most common cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Although immunotherapy is now a mainstay for ...
The risk of suicidal behavior may be increased among the spouses of patients with cancer, according to a retrospective Danish population-based cohort study reported by Liu et al in JAMA Oncology. Clinical and societal awareness was thus deemed essential, particularly during the first year after...
Researchers have examined whether a mouthwash-based test could detect biomarkers to help physicians predict disease recurrence in patients with head and neck cancer, according to a recent study published by Franzmann et al in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. Background Head and neck...
Researchers have discovered that uterine serous carcinoma tumors in Black patients tend to express more aggressive and immunosuppressive features than tumors in White patients, according to a recent study published by Foley et al in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Uterine serous...
Researchers have found that diet-derived molecules known as metabolites may be the main drivers of early-onset colorectal cancer risk, especially those associated with red and processed meat, according to a recent study published by Jayakrishnan et al in npj Precision Oncology. Background Despite...
“Symptom-triggered testing”—prompted by symptoms such as pain, abdominal bloating/swelling, and feeling full soon after starting to eat—detected early-stage aggressive ovarian cancer in one of four individuals affected, according to an analysis from the ROCkeTS trial published by Kwong et al in the ...