In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gregory T. Armstrong, MD, MSCE, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, and colleagues found that late mortality has decreased over time among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study cohort.1...
ASCO has announced the two physicians selected for its new Health Policy Fellowship, which kicked off this past October. Robert M. Daly, MD, and Steve Y. Lee, MD, will be the fellows for the inaugural class, which runs from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017. The program, aimed at oncologists in the...
On February 26, 2016, everolimus (Afinitor) was approved for treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal or lung origin that are unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic.1,2 The drug was previously approved for...
“Proton therapy may very well offer reduced late toxicities. Reflecting back on past reirradiation studies both within and outside of the cooperative groups, it seems that the late toxicities in this retrospective study were somewhat similar,” said David Raben, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology...
Proton-beam radiation therapy may be an attractive option for reirradiation of recurrent head and neck cancer, with encouraging disease control and survival rates and improved toxicity rates compared to photon reirradiation, according to John Han-Chih Chang, MD. Most head and neck cancers present...
“As radiation oncologists, we have pushed some important envelopes to try to mitigate long-term toxicity,” said David Raben, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, Colorado. “We’ve been able to utilize intensity-modulated radiation techniques to...
Definitive radiation, with or without chemotherapy, induces a combination of immune-stimulating and inhibitory effects in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, according to research presented by Jonathan Schoenfeld, MD, MPhil, MPH, at the 2016 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck...
Earlier this month, experts from four major institutions issued the annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer (1975–2012). This year’s report showed that death rates continued to decline for all cancers combined, as well as for most cancer sites for men and women of all major racial and...
Surgeons are clearly more comfortable in the operating room than the laboratory, but there is a place for them in translational cancer research as well, according to one surgeon who has led cutting-edge research in pancreatic cancer. “Translational studies require access to patients, to tissue, and ...
On March 26, 2013, ASCO announced that it had completed a prototype of CancerLinQ™, the Society’s groundbreaking health information–technology initiative to achieve higher quality, higher value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. At this year’s 2016 ASCO Quality Care Symposium, Robert S. ...
The Cancer Drug Development Forum exists to provide, as the name implies, a meeting place to bring together academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and most important regulators for full and frank discussions to facilitate anticancer drug development. In the recent past, the Cancer Drug Development...
Venous thromboembolic events are more prevalent in patients with cancer than in persons without it. Cancer is associated with a high rate of venous thromboembolism recurrence, bleeding, requirement for long-term anticoagulation, and reduced quality of life. Moreover, thrombosis is the second most...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sadowski et al found that Ga-68 dotatate positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) improved detection of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors compared with 111In-pentetreotide single-photon emission computed...
A study published by Beyaz et al in Nature reveals how a high-fat diet makes the cells of the intestinal lining more likely to become cancerous. It joins a growing body of research that finds obesity and eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet are significant risk factors for many types of cancer....
According to a study led by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) researchers, a majority of patients diagnosed with breast cancer go on to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and in most of these cases, symptoms persist for at least a year. These findings were published by Voigt et ...
A majority of people with advanced cancer want to hear findings from DNA sequencing and to learn how those results may affect their health and treatment options, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report. Their findings were reported by Gray et al in Genetics in Medicine. The discovery...
As reported by Shaw et al in The New England Journal of Medicine, a woman with metastatic ALK-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had received multiple prior therapies, including the first- and second-generation ALK inhibitors crizotinib (Xalkori) and ceritinib (Zykadia),...
As the nation embarks on an ambitious “moonshot” to accelerate progress against cancer, our system for delivering today's cancer treatments must be better prepared to bring advances to all patients, warns a new report from ASCO. The State of Cancer Care in America: 2016, published...
Researchers at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have confirmed in a screening effectiveness study that early screening with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can reduce breast cancer mortality for female survivors of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma who received chest radiation. The findings published by...
A tumor’s immune response to a single dose of the HER2 inhibitor trastuzumab (Herceptin) predicted which patients with HER2-positive breast cancer would respond to the drug on a more long-term basis, according to the results of a study published by Varadan et al in Clinical Cancer Research....
Using the National Cancer Institute’s Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE), researchers from Columbia University, New York, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, identified six severe adverse events clusters in patients with advanced prostate cancer. The...
Radiotherapy effectively damages brain tumors, but the cancer cells can repair themselves in order to live on. Now, researchers at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University have tested a strategy that combines radiotherapy with a drug that shuts down the ability of tumor to mend...
University of Louisville School of Dentistry researchers have found that a bacterial species responsible for gum disease, Porphyromonas gingivalis, is present in 61% of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The findings, published by Gao et al in Infectious Agents and Cancer, only...
A study in Cancer1 finding an increasing rate of colorectal cancer among patients under the age of 50 should serve to raise awareness about the need for testing among those with “red-flag” symptoms and earlier screening for those at high risk, the study’s corresponding author, Samantha Hendren, MD, ...
In clinical practice, Samantha Hendren, MD, MPH, has been “shocked by what a large proportion of patients we are seeing who are under 50 and presenting with colorectal cancer,” often with advanced disease due to delayed diagnosis. “And that is because patients and physicians don’t even think of...
Here are several more abstracts selected from the proceedings of the 2015 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, focusing on the topic of anticoagulation and the cancer patient. For other selected abstracts from this conference, see the December 25, 2015, and the...
The HELIOS study is an international phase III trial of bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) in combination with ibrutinib (Imbruvica) vs placebo in patients with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia. As reported by Chanan-Khan in The Lancet Oncology1 and reviewed in this...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On January 28, 2016, eribulin mesylate (Halaven) was approved for...
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare but deadly form of cancer; the 5-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with the disease is between 5% and 10%. Although aggressive surgery can help some patients with early-stage mesothelioma, current treatments for patients with more advanced mesothelioma are...
Neurosurgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis used hyperthermic laser ablation to shrink tumors in patients with recurrent glioblastoma and noted a temporary disruption of the blood-brain barrier, thereby enabling them to deliver chemotherapy to the peritumoral region....
A review of major studies and the current literature underscored the role of geriatric assessment in making treatment recommendations for patients aged 80 years and older with early and metastatic breast cancer. The review was reported by Shachar et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice. The...
In a single-center retrospective study reported in JAMA Oncology, Grossberg et al found that skeletal muscle loss before or after radiotherapy was associated with poorer overall survival in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Study Details The study included 2,840 patients...
Nathan A. Pennell, MD, PhD, an Associate Professor and Director of the Lung Cancer Medical Oncology Program at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and a Poster Walk leader at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, offers advice for anyone planning to attend a Poster Session: Plan ahead. Make sure ...
Stock your practice with Cancer.Net resources. Cancer.Net has a comprehensive guide to colorectal cancer at www.cancer.net/colorectal and a shorter, one-page colorectal cancer fact sheet. You will also find specialized resources for caregiving, survivorship, palliative care, and managing the cost...
The Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, held October 9–10, 2015, in Boston, Massachusetts, brought together more than 670 members of the cancer care community, including oncologists, radiologists, palliative care specialists, nurses, and patient advocates. Sessions delivered information on...
Women Who Conquer Cancer is a group dedicated to advancing cancer research by supporting young women researchers early in their careers through Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Young Investigator Awards (YIAs). These 1-year grants give promising researchers the boost they need to get started on...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (CCF) encourages grantees to share the results of their research to help advance progress against cancer. Publication in peer-reviewed journals is one of the most important ways for scientists to achieve recognition. That...
Bruce E. Johnson, MD, FASCO, was elected ASCO President for the 2017–2018 term this past December and will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting, June 3–7, 2016, in Chicago. As an ASCO member since 1986, Dr. Johnson brings over 30 years of experience with ASCO to the...
A new study suggests that one approach to watching for a cancer's return is being inappropriately used at many hospitals and isn't helping patients survive longer. The findings are published by Healy et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study looked at how often survivors ...
While two advanced radiosurgery approaches—Gamma Knife and RapidArc—offer different strengths, they are equally effective at eradicating cancer in the brain, say researchers at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. Their study, published by Liu et al in Frontiers in Oncology,...
Among the burgeoning options for treating multiple myeloma could be an approach that is proving to be exciting in leukemia: CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T cells) therapy. Preliminary results of the first-in-humans study in myeloma were presented as a late-breaking abstract at the 2015 ASH...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Desmedt et al identified genomic alterations in invasive lobular breast cancer, including several that may serve as targets for current treatment and for treatment research. Invasive lobular breast cancer cells are characterized by...
Among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric cancer, those who live in high-poverty areas are substantially more likely to suffer early relapse than other patients, despite having received the same treatment, according to new research from Dana-Farber/Boston...
Separate phase III trials presented at the 2016 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium demonstrated that modest hypofractionated radiotherapy is noninferior to conventional radiotherapy for men with intermediate- and low-risk prostate cancer and should be considered a new standard of care.1,2 However, it...
The ASCO Post interviewed Irvin M. Modlin, MD, Emeritus Professor of Gastroenterological Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, regarding his thoughts on the NETTER-1 results and peptide receptor radionuclide therapies for neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Modlin led the first study of a peptide...
A radiolabeled somatostatin analog compound, 177Lu-DOTA0-Tyr3-Octreotate (Lu-177 dotatate), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 79% in the international phase III NETTER-1 population of previously treated, advanced neuroendocrine tumors of midgut origin.1 Lu-177 dotatate belongs to...
It was December 9, 1975—a cold morning in the tribal village in Mahuadanr in Bihar, India. The valley was filled with an eerie mist coming down from the hills surrounding the village. Champa, a 5-year-old malnourished girl with sunken eyes, an emaciated face, and a huge ascites, was carried by her...
Although President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971, essentially declaring a war on cancer, the genesis of the idea had actually been born 2 years earlier, after the first landing on the moon set off a new era of scientific exploration and sparked a belief that any scientific...
Two neuroendocrine tumor experts had slightly different reactions to the latest RADIANT-4 data. Irvin M. Modlin, MD, Emeritus Professor of Gastroenterological Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, said in an interview that he essentially restricts his use of...
In a retrospective case-controlled study conducted in patients with colorectal cancer who had received primary tumor resection with or without preoperative radiofrequency ablation for liver metastases, the electrical procedure was found to induce antitumor immune responses in the...