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Showing 8901 - 8950A Frank Memoir About Doctors, Patients, and the Health-Care System
“In 1981, 2 days after my older brother Matthew was born, my father sawed off the tip of his index finger.” So begins No Apparent Distress: A Doctor’s Coming of Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine, a memoir by Rachel Pearson, MD, who is currently a resident at Seattle Children’s Hospital. ...
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Poor Performance Status Patients With Pancreatic Cancer
There are few data to guide the management of nonmetastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in patients who are elderly or have a poor performance status. Although most such patients are offered supportive care or gemcitabine alone, the addition of stereotactic body radiotherapy may improve...
Living With Cancer Survivorship Guilt
Although I was officially diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1997, the first sign of the cancer was evident 2 years earlier, when a single lesion (a plasmacytoma) was found in a bone in my lower back. The bone was replaced with two thin stainless steel rods, and after a course of radiation therapy, ...
A Social Media Guide by a Doctor for Doctors
Today’s brave new world of digital technology has both enhanced and compromised the day-to-day operational efficiency of ultrabusy oncologists who are struggling to balance patient care with the rapid evolution of technology. Like all scientific advances, health-care technology is a double-edged...
Ensuring Advance Directives Are Followed and Lawsuits Are Avoided
Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD, has focused his legal career on improving medical care decision-making and protecting patients’ rights at the end of life. His specific areas of legal expertise include patients’ rights, informed consent, and end-of-life medicine. Dr. Pope is the coauthor of The Right ...
Advance Care Planning: Ensuring Patients’ End-of-Life Wishes Are Honored
When Amy Berman, BSN, LHD (aged 58), stood in front of the mirror to perform a routine breast self-exam and saw redness and dimpling on her right breast, she feared they were the telltale signs of inflammatory breast cancer. “I have never self-diagnosed myself before, but I had recently read an...
Adding Pravastatin to Chemotherapy in Small Cell Lung Cancer
Following early reports associating favorable outcomes in cancer patients with the use of statins,1,2 further observational studies in this area have provided mixed findings.3 As recently reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Seckl and colleagues ...
CDK4/6 Inhibitors Have a Manageable Toxicity Profile, Are Generally Well Tolerated in Patients With Breast Cancer
A class of oral drugs for treating breast cancer known as cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors are generally well-tolerated, with a manageable toxicity profile for most patients. This is the conclusion of a comprehensive review of toxicities and drug interactions related to this class of...
The Immune System: Deciphering Recent Advances
Over the past decade, there has been renewed interest in developing immunologic therapies in cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved several new biologic agents that target a patient’s immune system, some of which have produced profound clinical responses. However, the...
FDA Takes Action Against 14 Companies for Selling Illegal Cancer Treatments
On April 25, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted warning letters addressed to 14 U.S.-based companies illegally selling more than 65 products that fraudulently claim to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure cancer. The products are marketed and sold without FDA approval, most commonly...
Appropriate Distress Screening and Follow-up Leads to Fewer ER Visits and Hospitalizations in Patients With Cancer
Following a cancer diagnosis, all patients experience some level of distress—regardless of disease stage. When severe and left untreated, distress can have a significant impact on health outcomes, lead to greater mortality and morbidity, affect immune function, and result in higher...
ASTRO Updates Insurance Coverage Recommendations for Proton Therapy
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued an update to its recommendations for medical insurance coverage regarding the use of proton beam therapy to treat cancer. The updated Proton Beam Therapy Model Policy provides guidance to payers on clinical indications that are...
Study Demonstrates Potential for Artificial Intelligence and Whole-Genome Sequencing to Scale Access to Precision Medicine
In a study published by Wrzeszczynski et al in Neurology: Genetics, researchers at the New York Genome Center (NYGC), The Rockefeller University, and IBM illustrated the potential of IBM Watson for Genomics to analyze complex genomic data from state-of-the-art sequencing of whole genomes. The study ...
New CDC Report Shows Cancer Death Rates Are Higher in Rural America
Despite decreases in cancer death rates nationwide, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows slower reduction in cancer death rates in rural America (a decrease of 1.0% per year) compared with urban America (a decrease of 1.6% per year), according to data...
Blinatumomab Granted Full Approval to Treat Relapsed or Refractory B-cell Precursor ALL in Adults and Children
On July 11, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for blinatumomab (Blincyto) to include overall survival data from the phase III TOWER study. The approval converts blinatumomab's accelerated approval to a full approval. The sBLA...
FDA Approves First Companion Diagnostic Test to Simultaneously Screen for Multiple NSCLC Therapies
On June 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted premarket approval to Thermo Fisher Scientific for the first next-generation sequencing–based test that simultaneously screens tumor samples for biomarkers associated with three FDA-approved therapies for non–small cell...
FDA Accepts sNDA for Dasatinib in Pediatric Patients With Philadelphia Chromosome–Positive Chronic-Phase CML
On July 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) to include an indication for dasatinib (Sprycel) to treat children with Philadelphia chromosome–positive chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), as well as a powder for oral...
Overall Survival With Nivolumab vs Chemotherapy in Ipilimumab-Refractory Advanced Melanoma
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Larkin et al, the phase III CheckMate 037 trial has shown no difference in overall survival with nivolumab (Opdivo) vs investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in ipilimumab (Yervoy)-refractory advanced melanoma. More chemotherapy patients never ...
MammaPrint Test Addressed in ASCO Breast Cancer Guideline Update
New recommendations on the use of the MammaPrint genomic test issued on July 10 will help guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy for women with early breast cancer. The recommendations update the ASCO 2016 clinical practice guideline on the use of biomarkers in these patients. The...
Narrow Network Insurance Plans More Likely to Exclude Doctors at NCI-Designated and NCCN Member Cancer Centers
Patients with cancer in the United States may be unable to access care at the nation’s top hospitals due to narrow insurance plan coverage—leaving patients to choose between lower premiums or access to higher-quality cancer care. A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the...
Delaying Lymph Node Biopsy After Melanoma Diagnosis May Not Adversely Affect Survival Rates
Postponing lymph node biopsy more than 30 days after melanoma diagnosis does not adversely impact long-term clinical outcomes, according to findings published by Nelson et al in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. Today, management of high-risk melanomas starts with surgical removal...
FDA Grants 510(k) Clearance to Halcyon IMRT Treatment System
Varian Medical Systems has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its Halcyon system, a new device for cancer treatment. Halcyon simplifies and enhances image-guided volumetric-intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). “We are proud that Halcyon has now...
Has a New Standard Really Been Established for the Adjuvant Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer?
THE PAST YEAR has undoubtedly been a disappointing one as far as clinical advances in pancreatic cancer go. No fewer than five high-profile randomized phase II or III trials in this setting reported negative results in 2016, ranging from next-generation cytotoxic agents1 to novel immunotherapeutic ...
Encouraging Results With Pembrolizumab in Relapsed/Refractory Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma
AN EFFECTIVE antitumor immune response relies on cytotoxic T cells that are activated and able to target the malignant clone. As T cells become activated, they upregulate suppressive receptors including programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). Upregulation of inhibitory signals is important to...
A Great IDEA: Celebrating 15 Years of the International Development and Education Award
In 2017, ASCO and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO are proud to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the International Development and Education Award (IDEA). The IDEA program supports the professional development of early-career oncologists in low- and middle-income countries around the world....
Stay Up to Date on New Patient Materials From Cancer.Net
Encourage your patients to use social media to stay up to date with new resources available on Cancer.Net. It is easier than ever for patients to get the latest cancer information on their computer or mobile device by reading the Cancer.Net blog (www.cancer.net/blog) or following Cancer.Net on...
Preparing for Future Challenges in Geriatric Surgical Oncology
In the past decade, advances in surgical oncology have been echoed in the field of geriatric oncology. The current literature regarding older people with cancer includes mainly retrospective cohort studies, focusing on alternatives to radical surgery in comorbid patients. More recently, work has...
ASCO’s New MACRA Decision Tree Tool Helps Determine Which QPP Reporting Requirements Apply to Your Practice
Believe it or not, we’re halfway through the 1st year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). ASCO, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and other stakeholders have released guidance on successfully complying with QPP, but tailored information addressing a practice’s specific...
Second Cancers May Be Deadlier in Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Patients
Second cancers in children and adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are far deadlier than they are in older adults and may partially account for the relatively poor outcomes of cancer patients between the ages of 15 and 39 overall, a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis...
Neoadjuvant Studies of Endocrine Approaches in Breast Cancer Mandated Before Embarking on Large Adjuvant Studies
Largely based on studies demonstrating that letrozole can suppress plasma estradiol levels to a greater extent than anastrozole,1 the adjuvant activity of these endocrine agents were compared in 4,136 patients with node-positive breast cancer in the FACE trial. As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO ...
Autologous and Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
HERE ARE SEVERAL ABSTRACTS selected from the proceedings of the 2016 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, highlighting clinical trials on autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for various hematologic malignancies. Additional selected...
What About Sharing Clinical Data?
IN RESPONSE to a question during the Lurie Cancer Center OncoSET Symposium about sharing clinical data, Warren Kibbe, PhD, Acting Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute, acknowledged “it is still very problematic,” but “there is an opportunity for meaningful use.” He said that the...
Update on NCI Projects Aimed at Advancing Precision Medicine
“PRECISION MEDICINE will lead to fundamental understanding of the complex interplay among genetics, epigenetics, nutrition, environment and clinical presentation, and direct effective, evidence-based prevention and treatment. We can’t measure all that all at once right now, but we are starting to...
Expert Point of View: Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD
STUDY DISCUSSANT Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD, of Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, entitled her remarks, “Target Practice in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer,” referring to the fact that there is currently no validated target in this aggressive...
Retreatment With Checkpoint Inhibitors May Be Feasible for Some Patients With NSCLC
INCREASING NUMBERS of patients are being treated with checkpoint inhibitors, and about one-quarter to one-third will develop immune-related adverse events. One question on the minds of oncologists is can these patients be safely re-treated once their adverse events resolve? One of the first...
Expert Point of View: John Heymach, MD
"TO PUT THESE RESULTS into context, currently we have three approved epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors for EGFR-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): gefitinib (Iressa), erlotinib (Tarceva), and afatinib (Gilotrif). Not many studies have compared these drugs ...
Cancer Survivor Publishes Book for Children About Cancer
A book aimed at helping young families understand cancer, Hair to the Queen! is now available on Amazon. Written by first-time author Tamara B. Rodriguez and illustrated by Carole A. Smith, the book empowers adults to discuss cancer with children in a simple and compassionate way. Hair to the...
Big Data and the Learning Machine
BOOKMARK Title: The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our WorldAuthor: Pedro DomingosPublisher: Beacon PressPublication date: February 2017Price: $24.95, hardcover, 288 pages Technology is revolutionizing our understanding and treatment of diseases....
I Reject the Notion I’m on a Cancer Journey
I was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer in 2002. I had no idea the disease and its treatment would cause me to gain more than 50 pounds and nearly cripple me with pain. I had a transurethral resection of the prostate following my diagnosis and have had multiple testosterone-suppression...
Fat Grafting and Patient-Reported Outcomes in Postmastectomy Breast Reconstruction
The use of fat grafting as a tool for breast reconstruction following a mastectomy may improve breast satisfaction, psychosocial well-being, and sexual well-being in patients, according to a study published by Bennett et al in JAMA Surgery. Fat grafting as an adjunct to breast reconstruction...
Annual Report to the Nation: Cancer Death Rates Continue to Decline
Overall cancer death rates continue to decrease in men, women, and children for all major racial and ethnic groups, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2014, published by Jemal et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.1 The report finds...
Ublituximab/Ibrutinib Beneficial in Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
The addition of ublituximab (a glycoengineered anti-CD20 antibody) to ibrutinib (Imbruvica) improved response rates, depth of response, and led to quicker resolution of ibrutinib-associated lymphocytosis in patients with high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the phase III GENUINE trial,...
Pediatric Cancer Pain May Be Misunderstood and Largely Undertreated
Cancer pain in children poses certain unique challenges. Over the past decade, insightful research into pediatric cancer pain has focused on pain management that incorporates nonopioid therapies into standard care. To shed light on this important issue, The ASCO Post spoke with Christine T....
CAR T-Cell Therapy in Multiple Myeloma Yields 100% Response Rate
Chinese investigators reported that 100% of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma responded to autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, and 14 of 19 (74%) who were followed for a median of 4 months achieved a stringent complete response and have not recurred.1...
Overcoming Sexism in Academic Medicine
The troubling results from a survey1 investigating the sexual harassment and discrimination experiences of academic medical faculty show that such incidents continue to happen with unexpected frequency despite increasing awareness of the problem. The study by Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, and...
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biosimilars and Cost in Oncology
Biosimilars are biologic products similar to the parent (branded) molecule in structure and function—such as erythropoietin and filgrastim (Neupogen).1 To truly bend the cost curve, we want to see a dramatic economic savings achieved as oncology biosimilars for rituximab (Rituxan), trastuzumab...
High-Risk Mutations Predict Poor Outcomes for Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndromes Undergoing Transplantation
Although several treatment options are available for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the only curative therapy.1 The risks of complications and death from transplantation can be substantial. Determining which patients may...
Expert Point of View: Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD
Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD, of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins University, commented on the promise of anti–programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) agents in triple-negative breast cancer. She noted that “an emerging theme...
Pembrolizumab Moving Forward in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
In the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, checkpoint inhibition is making inroads in both early- and late-stage disease, and the line of treatment and expression of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) could be important in determining outcomes, according to studies reported at the...
World Health Assembly’s New Cancer Resolution Reflects New Realities
The World Health Assembly (WHA)—the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO)—adopted a long-expected cancer resolution at its 2017 meeting, the body’s first resolution on cancer in 12 years and the first to emphasize, among other issues, the accessibility and affordability of...
