OCTOBER American College of Surgeons Clinical CongressOctober 16-20 • Washington, DCFor more information:www.facs.org/clincon2016 ACCC 33rd National Oncology ConferenceOctober 19-21 • St. Louis, Missouri For more information: www.accc-cancer.org/meetings/slideshow-NOC2015/NOC2015.asp 48th Annual...
The ProtecT study findings1 are provocative. Despite having a control arm of active monitoring with serial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, as compared with watchful waiting in the prior randomized trials (ie, SPCG-42 and PIVOT3), and also enrolling men with more favorable-risk disease...
Studies show that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors experience distinct challenges and quality-of-life issues from those experienced by either younger or older adult cancer survivors and that those challenges and issues can persist long after the cancer diagnosis and the end of...
There is no role for routine imaging as a means of following patients with large cell lymphoma, according to Bruce D. Cheson, MD, Deputy Chief of Hematology-Oncology and Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC. “Routine...
The ability to cure a majority of patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the major milestones of success in the combination chemotherapy era. It has been over 40 years since Bonadonna and colleagues in Milan developed the ABVD regimen (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and...
Outcomes for adults with high-grade and aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) appear to be better when these patients are treated with pediatric-inspired protocols, according to Mitchell S. Cairo, MD, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Maria...
Electrical stimulation of the spinal accessory nerve during neck dissection for head and neck cancer may reduce the development of shoulder dysfunction, according to a double-blind randomized controlled trial.1 A year after surgery, patients given intraoperative electrical stimulation had...
Approximately 20% of patients with follicular lymphoma will relapse within 2 years of diagnosis. Although the optimal management of these patients has not been established, clinicians may be guided by data from recent clinical trials, according to Nathan H. Fowler, MD, Associate Professor and...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an extended-release version of granisetron (Sustol) for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, according to a news release by Heron Therapeutics, the drug’s manufacturer. Granisetron is an extended-release, injectable...
Scientific Name: Matricaria recutita, Chamomilla recutita, Matricaria chamomilla Common Names: Hungarian chamomile, wild chamomile Overview An aromatic annual herb prevalent in Europe, North Africa, and Northwest Asia, chamomile has been used as a medicinal plant for several centuries. It has been ...
Launched in 2014, ASCO’s Quality Training Program was developed to prepare oncology providers to design, implement, and lead successful quality-improvement activities in their practices. It is a 6-month program that includes a structured and facilitated improvement project selected by each...
After several dose-finding phase I and II studies in a variety of B-cell malignancies, the potential clinical role of the newer anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab (Gazyva) remained unclear. These early trials tested low and high doses as well as weekly and every-3-week schedules of...
For diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, does the dose of rituximab (Rituxan) matter? Are there patient characteristics that determine outcomes as well as the optimal dose? These questions were explored at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Matthew A. Lunning, DO, Assistant Professor of...
In a small phase Ib/II study, 100% of patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma evaluated thus far responded to treatment with obinutuzumab (Gazyva), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone), investigators from the University of...
In the treatment of classical Hodgkin lymphoma, antibodies targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are just the beginning, according to Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Lymphoma Group at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.1 Speaking at the 2016 Pan...
ASCO has published an adaptation of the 2015 Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer.1 There were several areas of controversy that the guideline attempts to address. Should Anthracyclines Be Standard of Care? The guideline...
Heron Therapeutics, Inc, announced on August 10, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved granisetron (Sustol) extended-release injection. Granisetron is a serotonin-3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonist indicated in combination with other antiemetics in adults for the prevention ...
In an updated recommendation statement, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) continues to strongly recommend screening for colorectal cancer for asymptomatic adults aged 50 through 75; but rather than emphasize specific screening strategies, it notes there are multiple screening...
There was a time when transplantation across human leukocyte antigen (HLA) barriers was fraught with so much difficulty that many thought it was impossible and we should stop trying. However, most patients do not have an HLA-matched sibling donor, and death was therefore certain if they had a...
In an analysis of the observational database of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nilanjan Ghosh, MD, PhD, of Levine Cancer Institute, Carolinas Healthcare System, Charlotte, North Carolina, and colleagues found that...
The global economic crisis beginning in 2008 was associated with substantial public health effects, especially with respect to mental health.1–3 Nevertheless, there is also evidence of a paradoxical association between recessions and reduced all-cause mortality, in part because of reductions in...
Not only is breast cancer more than one disease, but a single breast cancer tumor can vary within itself, a finding that University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) researchers discovered has the potential to lead to very different patient treatment plans depending on the tumor sample and...
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) has been a leader in the push for better and faster cancer drug development. Now it is tackling the use of real-world evidence in clinical trials. This is the report of a meeting on the subject that took place on June 16 in Washington, DC.1 Real-world evidence...
Two studies presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting focused on the use of combination immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma. Updated results from the phase III CheckMate 067 trial centered on the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) plus ipilimumab (Yervoy) compared...
Patients who develop heart failure after their first heart attack have a greater risk of developing cancer when compared to first-time heart attack survivors without heart failure, according to a study published by Hasin et al in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Heart failure...
ASCO recently announced the appointment of James M. Ford, MD, as Editor-in-Chief of the Society’s new journal, JCO Precision Oncology. Dr. Ford will set the scope and vision for the online-only journal, which will publish scientific and educational content that provides a deeper understanding of...
With surgical removal at the front line of defense against prostate cancer, oncologists are considering prostate-specific molecular imaging at the point of initial biopsy and preoperative planning to root out the full extent of disease, researchers showed at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society...
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq), an anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor, achieved durable responses as first-line treatment in cisplatin-ineligible patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma in a primary analysis of a phase II trial. These data represent an unmet need, because...
For de novo stage IV breast cancer, does resection of the primary tumor improve outcomes? Two studies presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting reached different conclusions. A prospective randomized study conducted in Turkey concluded there is a survival benefit at 5 years,1 whereas a U.S....
Significant progress has been made in the past 2 decades in the care of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Recently, the therapeutic armamentarium has expanded for such patients with the introduction of new targeted agents. CLL is predominantly a disease of the elderly, with a...
The American Medical Association (AMA) has introduced the 21 members of its Board of Trustees for the coming year, following elections held during the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. Andrew W. Gurman, MD, an orthopedic hand surgeon, was sworn in as the 171st President of the AMA. In...
A review of more than 50 studies (many randomized controlled trials) concluded that surgery and radiation therapy “remain standard-of-care treatment options” in the management of ductal carcinoma in situ.1 The review continues the widely reported discussion on managing ductal carcinoma in situ,...
Scientific Name: Cimicifuga racemosa Common Names: Black snakeroot, rattlesnake root, squawroot, bugbane, bugwort Brand Names: Remifemin, Menofem, Klimadynon Overview A perennial plant native to the eastern United States and Canada, black cohosh root was used by Native Americans to treat colds,...
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have emerged as one of the most promising new areas of drug development in oncology. Broad activity has been observed for these agents across a spectrum of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Muro and colleagues now...
The KEYNOTE-012 phase Ib trial assessed single-agent pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with advanced programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–positive gastric cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, urothelial cancer, and head and neck cancer. The activity of pembrolizumab in study patients with...
Question 1: Which statement about the classification of tumors of hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues is true? Correct Answer: A. The revised WHO classification defines distant disease entities that can be reliably diagnosed using proposed criteria. Expert Perspective WHO last updated its...
Although new gastrointestinal cancers are on the rise, advancements in their treatment, as well as the upcoming results of perioperative trials, could prove to be “clinical practice game-changers,” declared Thomas J. George, Jr, MD, FACP, at the 2016 Community Oncology Conference in Orlando,...
For the treatment of high-risk, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer, anthracyclines were confirmed as beneficial in a joint analysis of the Anthracyclines in Early Breast Cancer (ABC) trials. Presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting, the joint analysis of the ABC trials validated taxane plus...
It can be easy to miss the forest for the trees in the interpretation of clinical trials. In particular, trials for the treatment of cancer are exceedingly complex, with long lists of inclusion and exclusion criteria, designs with hidden biases, drugs with unpronounceable names (if not cumbersome...
Adding the vascular-disrupting agent fosbretabulin to bevacizumab (Avastin) improved outcomes in patients with recurrent ovarian, tubal, or peritoneal carcinoma, according to a randomized phase II NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Monk et...
The ASCO Post remembers the following specialists in oncology who passed away in 2015–2016. Please write to editor@ASCOPost.com to recognize and pay tribute to others in a future issue. Mark R. Green, MD January 3, 1945–February 23, 2015 “Few people have impacted cancer clinical research in the...
David A. Karnofsky, MD, dedicated himself to the pursuit of scientific excellence and the investigation of more effective therapies for cancer for nearly 30 years, from the time he was a resident at the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Hospital for Cancer Research of Harvard University, until his...
Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, Immediate Past President of ASCO and Chair of the Special Awards Selection Committee, announced the recipients of this year’s special awards. “The exceptional accomplishments of each of our awardees reflect their exemplary dedication to furthering cancer research and ...
A new study of the relationship between physical activity and cancer has shown that greater levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with a lower risk of developing 13 different types of cancer. The risk of developing seven cancer types was 20%, or more, lower among the...
“There are a lot of myths around new and emerging tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, and unfortunately, the biggest misconception is that these products are fairly or entirely harmless and risk-free,” Alexander V. Prokhorov, MD, PhD, said in an interview with The ASCO Post about a new...
A new rule extending U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight to all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), and banning the sale of these products to anyone under the age of 181 was hailed as a major advanced by many leaders of medical and health organizations....
Combined hepatocellular carcinoma–cholangiocarcinoma is a histopathologically distinct tumor for which no formal treatment guidelines exist. It is also a malignancy that is being diagnosed more often, according to researchers from Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, who reported...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Liu et al found that Native American ancestry, older age, higher cumulative dose of asparaginase, and a rare variant of the CPA2 gene increased risk for pancreatitis in children/young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Roemer et al identified PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1) and PD-L2 genetic alterations in patients with classic Hodgkin lymphoma, finding that 9p24.1 amplification was common and associated with advanced-stage disease and poorer...
“In order to take advantage of today’s advancements in science, drug development, and patient treatment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) structure needs reorganization to focus its resources and ensure the best outcomes for patients. Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) proposes...