In the phase II CASPS trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Judson et al found evidence of activity of cediranib in alveolar soft-part sarcoma. In the double-blind trial, 48 patients from 12 sites in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Australia were randomly assigned 2:1 between July 2011 and July...
A new retrospective study led by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute examined outcomes for patients after receiving treatment for locally advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), finding that the average radiation dose delivered to the...
Through a systematic review of published studies, researchers report they have identified a distinct subtype of primary central nervous system (PCNS) lymphoma that should be considered for surgical removal, suggesting a major shift in how this type of tumor is evaluated and managed. These findings...
In the phase III QuANTUM-R trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cortes et al found that the FLT3 inhibitor quizartinib produced a modest but significant improvement in overall survival vs salvage chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory FLT3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD)-positive acute...
There were more than 16.9 million Americans with a history of cancer on January 1, 2019, and that number is projected to reach more than 22.1 million by 2030 based on the growth and aging of the population alone, according to estimates from Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2019....
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation for momelotinib in myelofibrosis, granted Priority Review to a biologics license application for luspatercept in myelodyslastic syndromes and beta-thalassemia, granted Orphan Drug designation for a new chemical...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Smith et al found that a high proportion of patients in community cancer centers did not report discussing, getting advice, or receiving desired help for cancer-related pain, fatigue, or emotional distress. The study involved surveys of...
Results from the phase III NRG Oncology clinical trial GOG 0261 comparing paclitaxel plus carboplatin to paclitaxel plus ifosfamide in women with stage I–IV recurrent carcinosarcoma of the uterus or ovary found that treatment with paclitaxel/carboplatin was not inferior to...
New research on the immunotherapy talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC)—an injectable oncolytic virus—for patients with unresectable melanoma was presented by Milhem et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 9524). Researchers reported the ad hoc analysis of progression-free survival...
New information about adjuvant therapy to prevent recurrence of breast cancer in women 50 years of age or younger has emerged from the Trial Assigning Individualized Options for Treatment (Rx), or TAILORx. An analysis of a prespecified secondary endpoint in this trial found that an assessment of a ...
The E2810 trial was conducted to determine whether treatment with the oral drug pazopanib following surgery to remove further metastases in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma would improve their disease-free survival. Results from the study—which showed that primary endpoint of...
Ahluwalia et al shared research results on SurVaxM at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, reporting that combination therapy with the immunotherapy vaccine was more effective than standard therapy for nearly all patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma in a phase II trial (Abstract 2016). SurVaxM...
A new study examining Medicaid expansion and cancer screening found that the five states and District of Columbia that first adopted Medicaid expansion saw larger increases in colorectal cancer screening than states that did not expand Medicaid. The study—published by Fedewa et al in...
A recent, updated predictive analysis of the three World Health Organization (WHO)-defined molecular subgroups based on IDH mutation status and 1p/19q codeletion status represented in the high-risk treatment arms of a phase III trial found that both IDH-mutant subgroups may derive benefit ...
The latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer finds that, for all cancer sites combined, cancer death rates continued to decline in men, women, and children in the United States from 1999 to 2016. Overall cancer incidence rates, or rates of new cancers, decreased in men from 2008...
As I write this, I think I’m making sense but am not 100% sure. My brain is a little scrambled after nearly 4 years of treatment for grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme, but I think the essence of my humor and humanity is still intact. When I experienced my first partial seizure while riding my...
Leaders of the Navajo Nation, the Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (Tuba City), and the Cancer Support Community (CSC) joined Jill Biden, EdD, on the Navajo Nation in the opening of the first full-time cancer center on an American Indian reservation. The culturally adapted cancer care...
John Theurer Cancer Center, part of Hackensack Meridian Health Hackensack University Medical Center and a leading cancer institution in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, announced recently that it received approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a research consortium member of ...
The Board of Directors of the National Association for Proton Therapy (NAPT) has awarded George Laramore, MD, PhD, FACR, FASTRO, of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Proton Therapy Center and the University of Washington, the 2019 NAPT Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of his decades of...
BOOKMARK Title: Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of BloodAuthor: Rose GeorgePublisher: Metropolitan BooksPublication date: October 2018Price: $27.00, hardcover, 368 pages Blood has been mythologized and misunderstood since the earliest records of humankind and still ...
BOOKMARK Title: Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism DadAuthor: Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhDPublisher: Johns Hopkins University PressPublication date: October 2018Price: $22.95, hardcover; 240 pages English physician Edward Jenner invented...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies that are focused on novel drug regimens in gallbladder and biliary tract cancers. These trials are attempting to determine the best dosages, side-effect profiles, and effectiveness of new...
An Oklahoma jury recently awarded $25.5 million to the widower of a 53-year-old woman diagnosed with stage IV nasopharyngeal cancer who was denied coverage for proton therapy by her health insurer, Aetna. The patient’s family subsequently raised $92,000 to cover her proton therapy at The University ...
Against the backdrop of the online crowd-sourcing initiative PCROWD and other research by faculty investigators on precursor conditions that may develop into leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), or multiple myeloma, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has opened the Center for the Prevention of...
To complement The ASCO Post’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, here are several abstracts selected from the meeting proceedings focusing on novel therapeutic regimens for plasma cell dyscrasias, particularly multiple myeloma. For full details of these study abstracts, visit ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review for daratumumab in combination with a triplet therapy in multiple myeloma, Breakthrough Therapy designation to copanlisib for marginal zone lymphoma, and Fast Track designation for ARV-110 in metastatic...
Neoadjuvant treatment with nivolumab plus ipilimumab resulted in an overall major pathologic response rate of 33% of treated patients with early-stage, resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With these results, the combination immunotherapy met the prespecified trial...
In addition to its well-known cardioprotective benefits, aspirin has a substantial body of observational, preclinical, and clinical evidence supporting its efficacy in preventing cancer, most strongly for colorectal cancer.1 The strength of this evidence led the U.S. Preventive Services Task...
Data from two large U.S. prospective cohort studies indicate the benefits of regular aspirin use in preventing hepatocellular carcinoma and epithelial ovarian cancer. As reported by Tracey G. Simon, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, in JAMA...
Tyler Iorizzo, a PhD candidate in physics at UMass Lowell’s Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory, has won international recognition for his work in developing an imaging device that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of certain skin cancers. Mr. Iorizzo received an Educational Award from...
Mathematics, modeling, and simulation to study cancer are topics covered in a new special series in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics (JCO CCI). On April 24, JCO CCI published its fourth special collection of articles, “Mathematical Oncology,” which showcases the current state of the field and new...
On the heels of the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago, ASCO is working with leading oncology societies in Thailand, China, Japan, South Korea, and others to convene the world of oncology in Asia. It has been my privilege to serve as Chair of the Co-Host Committee for ASCO’s newest and groundbreaking...
In 2017, ASCO announced the launch of its Center for Research and Analytics (CENTRA). CENTRA’s mission is to conquer cancer by generating, integrating, analyzing, and sharing oncology data to foster innovation in research and patient care. CENTRA aims to make its cancer data available to the...
As part of ASCO’s State of Cancer Care in America initiative, the Journal of Oncology Practice recently published an infographic about opioids and cancer pain, which highlights the specific needs of patients with cancer and some of the hurdles they face in trying to access prescribed opioids to...
The Northern New England Clinical Oncology Society (NNECOS) is a tristate regional affiliate of ASCO serving oncology practices within Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. A long-time supporter of Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and its Young Investigator Award (YIA) program, NNECOS expanded...
The discussant of the abstract on the use of prophylactic cranial irradiation in patients with extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), Kristin Higgins, MD, underscored the marked shift in practice patterns in the United States. However, she noted that many questions remain concerning...
Delivery of prophylactic cranial irradiation to patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has declined significantly since the publication of a study by Takahashi et al, according to a recent survey of academic radiation oncologists.1 Data presented at the 2019 Multidisciplinary...
Patients can safely recover from mastectomy at home, according to two studies reported at the 2019 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1,2 The studies examined outcomes after implementation of comprehensive postmastectomy surgical home recovery programs, showing that they...
As nipple-sparing mastectomy gains favor, it is being performed on a broader spectrum of patients once considered off limits by surgeons. A Mayo Clinic study in a contemporary cohort found no increase in complication rates or decrease in reconstruction success with this surgical approach.1 “We...
Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors are approved for the second-line treatment of head and neck cancer and likely will be soon in the first-line treatment of locally advanced disease. According to Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, developments in immunotherapy for this population should be...
As reported in The Lancet by Tony S.K. Mok, MD, of Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues, the KEYNOTE-042 trial has shown an improvement in overall survival with pembrolizumab vs standard chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non–small cell lung ...
On May 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ruxolitinib (Jakafi) for steroid-refractory acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older. Approval was based on the REACH1 trial/Study INCB 18424-271, an open-label, single-arm, multicenter...
On May 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the NovoTTF-100L System in combination with pemetrexed plus platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic malignant pleural mesothelioma. NovoTTF-100L is a noninvasive,...
An interim analysis of the large Pediatric MATCH trial found that 24% of children and young adolescents with cancers refractory to current treatments had been assigned to treatment with investigational targeted study agents based on genetic alterations detected in their tumors,1 which is more than...
Before the introduction of immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors, the 5-year life expectancy for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was 5.5%. This dismal outlook has changed. Treatment with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab dramatically improved overall...
The past 20 years have seen an unprecedented increase in the development of effective drugs for the management of cancer. The advent of immunotherapy offers even the promise of cure for some previously highly resistant diseases. The science is brilliant, the need is ever increasing—but the cost is ...
The evidence is in: the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has enabled improved access to earlier diagnosis, earlier care, and reduced racial disparities in access to care for patients with cancer, according to two studies presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. In states that adopted Medicaid...
Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, FASCO, Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Director of the Breast Oncology Program at Taussig Cancer Institute and Co-Director of the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program, commented on what...
In a trial presented by Baumann et al at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 6521), patients with locally advanced cancer treated with proton chemoradiotherapy instead of traditional photon chemoradiotherapy were at a lower risk of experiencing side effects. However, cure rates were almost...
The first statistically significant overall survival benefit has been shown for a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor plus endocrine therapy as first-line treatment of advanced breast cancer. The results are from the phase III MONALEESA-7 trial, which evaluated ribociclib plus endocrine...