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Showing 901 - 950Early-Phase Study Rediscovers Potential Alternative to Methadone for Cancer Pain
Levorphanol was associated with improved pain and symptom control in patients with advanced cancer, according to data from an early phase I trial, reported by Akhila Reddy, MD, at the 2021 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO)...
The Patient We See and the Person We May Not
A middle-aged patient was referred to our clinic with a mass in his liver. It had been detected the preceding year, and the patient underwent a battery of investigations with scans and biopsies to reach a diagnosis of metastatic lesion of the liver. After appropriate consultations with oncologists, ...
RATIONALE 302: Tislelizumab Improves Overall Survival as Second-Line Treatment of Esophageal Cancer
In the phase III RATIONALE 302 trial, the novel anti–PD-1 antibody tislelizumab, being developed in China, improved overall survival vs chemotherapy as second-line therapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, according to Jaffer Ajani, MD, of The University of Houston MD Anderson Cancer Center,...
2021 ASCO Annual Meeting: Next-Generation Oncology Highlights
The 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting was presented totally virtually again due to the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the meeting held widespread interest, and we were able to attend an event with important changes for the practice of oncology. Compared with 2020, fewer “next-generation ...
Facing the Trauma of Colorectal Cancer
I first noticed blood in my stool when I was in the 8th grade. My mom and I did an Internet search and were relieved to find that the cause was most likely nothing more serious than hemorrhoids, so I put the problem out of my mind. I played volleyball and had an active social life, and the...
2021 ASCO Annual Meeting: Next-Generation Oncology Highlights
The 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting was presented totally virtually again due to the persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the meeting held widespread interest, and we were able to attend an event with important changes for the practice of oncology. Compared with 2020, fewer...
Surbhi Sidana, MD, Comments on CAR T-Cell Therapy and Bispecific Antibodies Targeting Myeloma
The session’s invited discussant Surbhi Sidana, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, said CAR T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies targeting myeloma are emerging as potentially effective options for patients with highly refractory disease. For this population of triple...
Bispecific Antibodies Advance in Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma
For the challenging population of patients with multiple myeloma who have become refractory to essentially all current treatments, new approaches are much needed. Early clinical trials data suggest bispecific antibodies may help meet this need, as suggested by studies presented at the 2021 ASCO...
How Climate Change Is Impacting Cancer Care and What Can Be Done to Reduce Oncology’s Footprint on the Environment
Worldwide, the global average surface temperature has risen at a similar rate of 0.17°F per decade since 1901, with the warmest year on record occurring in 2016 and the second warmest occurring in 2020. However, according to NOAA, since the late 1970s, the United States has warmed faster than the...
Can Treatment With Thiopurines Induce Mutations That May Lead to Pediatric Leukemia Relapse?
Chemotherapy has helped make acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) one of the most survivable childhood cancers. Now, a research team has shown how thiopurines may lead to mutations that set patients up for disease relapse. These findings were published by Yang et al in Nature Cancer. The research...
ASCO/Friends of Cancer Research Joint Position Statement Encourages Enrollment of Patients With Cancer in COVID-19 Vaccine Studies
Individuals with cancer or a history of cancer should be eligible for clinical trials—including COVID-19 vaccine trials—unless there is safety justification for exclusion, ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) asserted in a recently released joint position statement. To date, clinical...
Lessons From the Pandemic: How COVID-19 Can Lead to Improvements in Cancer Care
The COVID-19 pandemic may have put the world on pause, but it also showed the medical community that rapid progress is possible with focus and collaboration. During the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Virtual Oncology Policy Summit, “Defining the ‘New Normal’ 2021 and the State of...
Erica Sirrine, PhD, Named Director of Social Work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Clinical social worker, grief expert, and university dean Erica Sirrine, PhD, has been named Director of Social Work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For the past 14 years, Dr. Sirrine has worked in higher education, most recently serving as Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social...
Canadian Oncologists Report Costly Delays in Their Drug Regulatory Process
Canada’s publicly funded health-care system has a complex drug approval and funding process. Due to multiple assessment steps and bureaucratic processes, newly developed cancer drugs can often experience long delays before oncologists may use them to treat their patients with cancer. Several...
Expert Point of View: Kostas Stamatopoulos, MD, PhD
In the phase III GLOW trial, the all-oral regimen of fixed-duration ibrutinib plus venetoclax as first-line treatment for older or unfit patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) showed superior efficacy compared with chlorambucil and obinutuzumab.1Kostas Stamatopoulos, MD, PhD, of the...
Bridging the Gender Gap in Oncology
Women account for a growing proportion of the oncology workforce. Multiple studies, however, show that women oncologists are underrepresented in leadership positions, may have significantly lower salaries than men, and may be subjected to discriminatory practices stimulated by a medical culture...
Role of PI3K Inhibition in Indolent Lymphomas
As reported by Fowler et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology1—and summarized in this issue of The ASCO Post—the international phase IIb UNITY-NHL trial of 208 patients with marginal zone lymphoma (MZL; n = 69), follicular lymphoma (FL; n = 117), and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL; n = 22)...
Expert Point of View: Carol Aghajanian, MD
“The phase III ENGOT/GCIG study1 proved to be negative, with no advantage seen with the extension of bevacizumab treatment,” said the abstract’s invited discussant, Carol Aghajanian, MD, Chief of the Medical Gynecologic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Dr....
ASCO Releases New Recommendations on Systemic Therapy Dosing for Adults With Obesity and Cancer
ASCO has approved new recommendations for the appropriate dosing of systemic anticancer agents in adults with obesity and cancer.1 The guideline update was based on evidence collected from a systematic review of the literature published between November 1, 2010, and March 27, 2020, regarding dosing ...
Reflections on Evolution of Breast Cancer Care in India Over the Past 4 Decades
India has witnessed a major paradigm shift in the field of breast cancer and its management over the past 4 decades. The discipline of medical oncology has evolved exponentially over this period—a growth that few other scientific disciplines have experienced. Interventions at the individual,...
Amivantamab/Lazertinib Combination May Overcome Osimertinib Resistance in Patients With EGFR-Positive NSCLC
Combination targeting of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) with amivantamab/lazertinib achieved durable responses in more than one-third of chemotherapy-naive patients with EGFR-mutant non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that had progressed on osimertinib, according to a cohort analysis of the ...
Early Adopter of Breast Conservation, Surgical Oncologist Augusto Leon, MD, Reflects on Cancer Care in Chile
In this installment of the occasional department on Global Health-Care Equity, Guest Editor, Chandrakanth Are, MBBS, MBA, FRCS, FACS, spoke with Augusto Leon, MD, a surgical oncologist and Head of the Program of Cancer at Pontifical University of Chile, Santiago. Dr. Are is JL & CJ Varner...
Study Explores Co-occurring Mutations in HER2 and HER3
Mutations in a gene related to HER2, a gene frequently implicated in breast cancers and a variety of other malignancies, can amplify activity that spurs tumor growth, according to a new study. The findings, published by Hanker et al in Cancer Cell, could explain why many patients with HER2...
Despite Gains in Breast Cancer Survival, Black Women Continue to Experience Significant Mortality Disparities
Although breast cancer continues to be the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, and remains the second-leading cause of cancer death, over the past several decades, the disease has affected Black and White women differently. According to the findings of a large retrospective...
Personalizing Treatment of Early HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
With several pivotal trials providing evidence for the escalation and de-escalation of anti-HER2 therapy in certain early breast cancer scenarios, personalized treatment is possible. How can clinicians optimize treatment by applying the studies’ findings? Debu Tripathy, MD, Professor and Chair of...
Immunotherapy May Be Effective for Subset of Patients With Prostate Cancer
In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has been effective in treating patients with immunogenic—or “hot”—tumors with increased levels of inflammation and the presence of immune cells in and around the tumors. Prostate cancer, however, is considered a “cold” tumor, with few immune cells recognizing...
Improving Screening of Dense Breasts With Newer MRI Technologies
Women with dense breasts are increasingly being screened with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is clearly the best way to detect small cancers in this population, according to Elizabeth Morris, MD, FACR, FSBI, FISMRM, Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiology at the University of...
Watch Now: Discussion on Eligibility Criteria and the Impact on Access to Clinical Trials
On Friday, April 9, 2021, ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) co-hosted a live virtual event, which brought together experts from across the health-care sector to discuss the recent release of the new ASCO-Friends recommendations for modernizing eligibility criteria to improve patient...
How to Talk With Teens and Young Adults About Their End-of-Life Goals
Although death rates for adolescent and young adults (AYAs) with cancer have been dropping 0.8% a year from 2009 to 2018, cancer remains a leading disease-related cause of death among this patient population. This year, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 88,260 AYAs, defined by the...
Breast Cancer Has Taught Me Many Life Lessons
In 2016, 2 years before I was diagnosed with stage III estrogen and progesterone receptor–positive, HER2-negative, invasive ductal carcinoma in situ in my left breast, I had felt a mass in my right breast that turned out to be a benign fibroid. When I felt a mass in my left breast one morning while ...
Addressing Sexuality Challenges Throughout the Cancer Care Continuum
Multiple studies have shown that sexuality and intimacy problems are common among patients with cancer, often beginning at the time of diagnosis and persisting through the continuum of care into the survivorship setting. Although these problems have been well documented, many patients and survivors ...
Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence to Leverage Research and Clinical Care Innovations for Patients
The University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has established the Pancreatic Cancer Center of Excellence to bring together cancer center faculty with a broad range of expertise—from laboratory, translational, and clinical research to drug development, biostatistics,...
Innovator in Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Francisco Marty, MD, Dies at 53
The Brigham and Women’s hospital community mourns the loss of Francisco Marty, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who died April 8, 2021, after a tragic accident while hiking in the Dominican Republic. He was 53. A member of the Brigham community for more than 20 years, Dr. Marty is...
Do Community Oncologists Have Access to Geriatric Specialty Care for Older Patients?
As our population rapidly ages, the burden of cancer incidence increases accordingly, creating an urgent need for greater and more incisive research on the diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship issues for older adults with cancer. Given the numerous challenges faced by today’s busy oncologists, a...
Whispers Over My Shoulder
When I interviewed for my current post as a first-time consultant in medical oncology in the United Kingdom, I was asked about my 5-year career plan. I remember some detail of my reply, but I don’t think it even remotely encompassed the depth of insight I would gain from the patients I’ve treated...
Harnessing a Worldwide Effort to Combat COVID-19 and Cancer
This past October, in a virtually held ceremony of the General Assembly of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), Anil K. D’Cruz, MBBS, MS, DNB, FRCS (Hon), Director of Oncology at Apollo Hospitals in Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi, India, began his 2-year tenure as President of the global...
Expert Point of View: Sarah Blair, MD, FACS
Session moderator during the 2021 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting, Sarah Blair, MD, FACS, Vice Chair of Academic Affairs for the Department of Surgery at University of California San Diego, urged widespread dissemination of these survey findings. “I was struck by how important...
ASCO/Friends of Cancer Research Joint Position Statement Encourages Enrollment of Patients With Cancer in COVID-19 Vaccine Studies
Individuals with cancer or a history of cancer should be eligible for clinical trials—including COVID-19 vaccine trials—unless there is safety justification for exclusion, ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) asserted in a joint position statement released today. To date, clinical trials...
Testing of Lymph Nodes for Breast Cancer Recurrence After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
A study published by Sharp et al in The Breast Journal suggests that some patients with breast cancer may be able to forgo certain testing procedures after neoadjuvant chemotherapy without increasing their risk of cancer recurrence. Prior studies on detecting whether breast cancer has spread to...
Survivors of Early-Stage Breast Cancer Face Broad Range of Symptoms and Concerns
Patients with early-stage breast cancer may be at low risk of dying of their disease, but they experience a high burden of physical and psychological symptoms long after their treatment has ended, according to data presented during the 2021 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1...
New Study Shows Difficulty in Identifying Transgender Individuals Using EHR Data
In order to understand and eliminate disparities in cancer incidence and outcomes among transgender people, clinicians and researchers must have data. However, these data are very difficult to obtain because gender identity data are not routinely collected in oncology practice health records. A new ...
Dual Immune Checkpoint Blockade With Nivolumab and Ipilimumab for Treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma
In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of mesothelioma have been a keen area of investigation for this immunogenic solid tumor. With recent publications, principally findings from CheckMate 743 by Baas et al1 (reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post), combination immune...
Is High Tumor Mutational Burden Predictive of Immune Checkpoint Blockade Efficacy Across All Cancer Types?
In a letter recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Rousseau and colleagues reported data on the spectrum of benefit from immune checkpoint blockade in hypermutated tumors.1 Indeed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently...
Adjuvant Imatinib Therapy Offers Survival Benefit in Patients With Resected GIST, but Team Effort May Be Needed to Reduce Early Discontinuation Rates
Clinical trial data show that adjuvant imatinib improves recurrence-free survival as well as overall survival, when administered for at least 3 years, among patients who undergo a macroscopically complete resection of a primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), Chandrajit P. Raut, MD, MSc,...
‘Radiation Is Not the Enemy’
“I want to make very clear that radiation is not the enemy,” Monika Metzger, MD, MSc, emphasized in discussing a study she led on the integration of brentuximab vedotin into the front-line treatment of pediatric patients with high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma. The study yielded excellent results while...
Adding Targeted Agent to Treatment Shows Significant Benefits in Pediatric Patients With High-Risk Hodgkin Lymphoma
Integrating the antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin into the front-line treatment of pediatric patients with high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma “facilitated significant reduction in radiation exposure and yielded excellent outcomes,” Monika Metzger, MD, MSc, Director for the Central and South...
Update on Clinical Trials in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), such as the use of venetoclax added to...
Choice of First-Line Platinum Chemotherapy Does Not Significantly Impact Efficacy of Second-Line Immunotherapy in Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma
In a presentation of real-world data given during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, Miron et al concluded that the choice of first-line platinum chemotherapy did not result in a significant difference in overall survival benefit among patients with advanced bladder cancer who were able to go on to...
Electronic Olfaction System Under Study as Screening Tool for Pancreatic and Ovarian Cancers
An odor-based test that detects vapors emanating from blood samples was able to distinguish between benign and pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells with up to 95% accuracy, according to a new study presented by Johnson et al during the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 5544). The findings suggest...
Transoral Surgery Followed by Lower-Dose Radiation in Patients With HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer at Intermediate Risk of Recurrence
The phase II E3311 trial offers new information about using reduced-intensity treatment in patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal cancer who are at intermediate risk of recurrence. These findings were presented by Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, and colleagues during the 2021...
