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Showing 9301 - 9350Expert Point of View: Stuart A. Grossman, MD, and Deborah Schrag, MD
Formal discussant of this trial Stuart A. Grossman, MD, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, commented that the trial did not include a best standard-of-care arm. The pivotal trial defined optimal radiotherapy as 60 Gy over 6 weeks, but this...
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Hires Steve Stadum as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has announced the hiring of Steve Stadum as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Stadum, currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, will join Fred Hutchinson as ...
ASCO Urges Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to Withdraw Medicare Part B Demo in Formal Comments
ASCO President Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, issued this statement on May 10. “In comments1 submitted yesterday to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), ASCO underscored the urgent need to advance a more fair and responsible payment system for oncology than what is proposed in...
Rising Breast Cancer Incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities
The incidence of new cases of breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is rising, and it will take a concerted effort from the international cancer community to counteract this troubling upward trend. It has been estimated that of the 15 million cancer ...
Expert Point of View: Harold J. Burstein, MD, and Ian Smith, MD
“There is a tremendous interest in longer aromatase inhibitor therapy. The Oxford Overview data, presented at ASCO, show the substantial risk of recurrence in years 5 to 15, despite an initial 5 years of adjuvant endocrine treatment. “Women with lower-risk breast cancer will be less inclined to...
Additional 5 Years of Letrozole May Benefit Some Postmenopausal Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Five years of aromatase inhibitor as upfront therapy or after tamoxifen is the current standard of care for postmenopausal women with early hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. A new trial suggests that extending aromatase inhibitor therapy with letrozole for an additional 5 years may improve...
The ENDEAVOR Trial: A Case Study in the Interpretation of Modern Cancer Trials
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...
Extending ASCO’s Influence Globally to Improve Patient Care
On June 27, 2016, Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, will begin his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of ASCO, succeeding Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, who presided over the Society and the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO since 2006. Dr. Hudis’ dedication to ASCO dates back more than 25 years...
Expert Point of View: Paul G. Richardson, MD
Study discussant Paul G. Richardson, MD, the RJ Corman Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, commented, “The evolving role of monoclonal antibodies in multiple myeloma has been worth the wait. You can...
Daratumumab Hits the Mark in Early Relapsed Multiple Myeloma
For relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, daratumumab (Darzalex), combined with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone, reduced relapses by 61% in the phase III CASTOR study reported at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 “The results are unprecedented in a randomized study comparing a novel...
ASCO 2016: Pembrolizumab Shows Significant Clinical Response in Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Treating head and neck cancer patients with recurrent or metastatic disease with the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) achieved significant clinical responses in nearly one-fifth of the patients from a phase II clinical trial, researchers from Dana-Farber...
ASCO 2016: Patients With Cancer With ACA Policies Swiftly Reach Out-of-Pocket Caps
Duke Cancer Institute researchers have found that a hypothetical leukemia patient buying the life-extending drug therapy for his condition would reach his annual out-of-pocket maximum in a month on most of the bronze policies and half of the silver policies offered through the Affordable Care Act...
ASCO 2016: Significant Cost Differences Found Among Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Regimens
Costs associated with different breast cancer chemotherapy regimens can vary significantly, regardless of effectiveness, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Understanding cost differences should help guide informed discussions between patients and...
ASCO 2016: Nivolumab Immunotherapy Improves Survival, Quality of Life in Metastatic or Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer
Treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo) doubled overall survival and improved quality of life, with fewer side effects, in a treatment-resistant and rapidly progressing form of head and neck carcinoma, reported a large, randomized international trial co-led by investigators at the University of...
Investigational Drug Abemaciclib Shows Promising Activity Against Several Cancer Types in Early Study
An experimental CDK inhibitor, abemaciclib, yielded encouraging and durable results against several different types of cancers, including breast cancer, lung cancer, glioblastoma, and melanoma, according to a report published by Patnaik et al in Cancer Discovery. The results of the trial supported ...
ASCO 2016: CancerLinQ Extends Its Reach, Announces New Partnerships
ASCO announced that a total of 58 practices in 39 states and the District of Columbia have joined CancerLinQ, ASCO’s big data initiative to rapidly improve the quality of care for people with cancer. CancerLinQ is already up and running in a number of practices and drawing on approximately...
ASCO 2016: ASCO Announces Milestones of TAPUR Study
ASCO announced that Bayer and Merck are the most recent companies to sign on to provide study drugs at no cost to patients enrolled in the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study, joining six other companies in ASCO’s first-ever clinical trial. Since opening on March...
ASCO 2016: Minority BRCA-Positive Breast Cancer Survivors Appear Less Likely to Receive Preventive Surgery
For breast cancer survivors who carry mutations in BRCA genes, preventive surgery may substantially reduce the risk of future breast and ovarian cancers. However, it appears that black women are far less likely to receive these widely recommended procedures than white or Hispanic...
ASCO 2016: Many Younger Cancer Patients Receive Aggressive End-of-Life Care Despite ASCO’s Choosing Wisely Campaign
An analysis of health claims data from 2007–2014 on more than 28,000 patients under the age of 65 found that a large proportion of patients with advanced solid tumors received at least one form of aggressive care within the last 30 days of life. The study was presented by Chen et al at...
ASCO 2016: Study Finds Use of Mobile Web App Associated With Improved Outcomes in Lung Cancer
A Web-mediated follow-up application (app; Moovcare™) improved advanced lung cancer survival, according to a French multicenter randomized phase III study. Researchers analyzed the association and evolution of self-reported clinical symptoms over time. The median overall survival of patients...
ASCO 2016: Novel Antibody Significantly Improves Survival in Patients With Advanced Gastric Cancer
Findings from the European phase II FAST study showed that the novel, first-in-class antibody IMAB362 can significantly extend median survival when added to standard chemotherapy (13.2 vs 8.4 months) for patients with advanced gastric cancer. This therapy targets a protein called claudin-18 splice...
ASCO 2016: 10 Years of Aromatase Inhibitor Therapy Reduces Breast Cancer Recurrence Without Compromising Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Patients
For updated findings on aromatase inhibitor therapy from the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, please click here, here, or here. A randomized phase III clinical trial, MA.17R, found that postmenopausal women with early breast cancer benefit from extending aromatase inhibitor therapy with...
ASCO 2016: Maintenance Lenalidomide After Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Improves Survival in Multiple Myeloma
Several clinical trials have demonstrated that maintenance therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid) after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant reduces the risk of disease progression in patients with multiple myeloma, but there have been no definitive results regarding overall...
ASCO 2016: Innovative Direct-to-Patient Outreach May Accelerate Breast Cancer Research
An innovative project launched in October 2015 may help expedite metastatic breast cancer genomics research and provide leads for development of new treatments. In the 7 months since the launch, more than 2,000 patients have enrolled in the research study designed to collect and...
ASCO 2016: Liquid Biopsy May Help Guide Treatment Decisions for Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors
A large-scale genomic analysis found that patterns of genetic changes detected in blood samples (liquid biopsy) closely mirror those identified in traditional tumor biopsy. With blood samples from more than 15,000 patients and 50 different tumor types, this is one of the largest cancer genomics...
ASCO 2016: Precision Medicine Approach May Expand Therapeutic Options for Patients
Researchers reported encouraging early results from a phase II trial that matches patients with molecular abnormalities in the tumor to corresponding targeted treatments. Twenty-nine of 129 patients with 12 different types of advanced cancers responded to drugs outside of U.S. Food and Drug...
ASCO 2016: Chemotherapy Improves Outcomes for Certain Patients With Anaplastic Glioma
For a more in-depth look at these data, please click here. Patients with anaplastic glioma without 1p/19q codeletion benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, according to early results from a European phase III trial. The estimated 5-year survival rates were 56% with radiation therapy and...
ASCO 2016: Adding Capecitabine Chemotherapy to Gemcitabine Extends Survival After Pancreatic Cancer Surgery
For a more in-depth look at these data, as well as commentary, click here. A European phase III trial, one of the largest ever conducted in pancreatic cancer, showed that adding the oral drug capecitabine chemotherapy to gemcitabine prolongs survival without increased toxicity. Adjuvant...
ASCO 2016: Biosimilar Shows Comparable Efficacy and Safety to Trastuzumab in HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
A biosimilar trastuzumab antibody (MYL-1401O) is comparable in efficacy and safety to trastuzumab (Herceptin) in women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer, according to a randomized phase III study. The response rates were comparable among women who received trastuzumab and among...
ASCO 2016: Adding Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy to Intravenous Chemotherapy Slows Ovarian Cancer Progression
For some women with advanced ovarian cancer that was successfully treated surgically, delivering chemotherapy intraperitoneally as well as intravenously appears more effective than intravenous chemotherapy alone. For women who were initially treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery, the ...
Statement from FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, on the Release of the Final Individual Patient Expanded Access Form
“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized its efforts to streamline the process used by physicians to request expanded access, often called ‘compassionate use,’ to investigational drugs and biologics for their patients. As a physician, I understand the...
FDA Approves EGFR Mutation–Detecting Blood Test for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2, a blood-based companion diagnostic for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor erlotinib (Tarceva). This is the first FDA-approved, blood-based genetic test that can detect EGFR gene mutations...
FDA Approves New Diagnostic Imaging Agent to Detect Rare Neuroendocrine Tumors
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Netspot, the first kit for the preparation of Ga-68 dotatate injection, a radioactive diagnostic agent for positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging. This radioactive probe will help locate tumors in adult and pediatric patients with...
ASCO Guideline on Endocrine Therapy for Hormone Receptor–Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
As reported by Hope S. Rugo, MD, of the University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on endocrine therapy for hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer. The...
ASCO Value Framework Update: A Statement by Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO
ASCO today published an updated framework for assessing the relative value of cancer therapies that have been compared in clinical trials. The framework, published by Schnipper et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, defines value as a combination of clinical benefit, side effects, and...
FDA Approves New Diagnostic Imaging Agent to Detect Recurrent Prostate Cancer
On May 27, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fluciclovine F-18 (Axumin), a radioactive diagnostic agent for injection. Fluciclovine F-18 is indicated for positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging in men with suspected prostate cancer recurrence based on elevated...
DDW 2016: Low-Residue Diet Prior to Colonoscopy Shows Improved Tolerance and Bowel Preparation vs Clear Liquid Diet
A new study finds that patients who ate certain solid foods, considered “low residue,” were better prepared for their colonoscopies than individuals who followed the conventional liquid diet. Additionally, researchers saw that these patients who ate foods such as eggs, white bread,...
DDW 2016: Racial Disparities Found in Liver Cancer Survival Rates
Black patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common liver cancer, had a 33% increased risk of death compared to non-Hispanic whites. They also were far less likely to receive lifesaving liver transplants, according to a new study presented by Jones et al at Digestive Disease...
New ASCO Cervical Cancer Guidelines Address Global Resource Disparities
On May 25, ASCO issued its first clinical practice guideline on invasive cervical cancer. This resource-stratified guideline is the first of its kind from ASCO, offering treatment recommendations tailored to resource availability. Access to cervical cancer care varies between regions of the...
Play-Based Procedural Preparation May Aid Children Undergoing Cranial Radiation Therapy
Play-based procedural preparation not only helps children cope with the stress and anxiety of radiation therapy, but can also help reduce the amount of sedation used and cut costs, according to a study from the Child Life Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The study was...
Surgical Oncologist Suzanne L. Topalian, MD, Shines at the Forefront of Groundbreaking Research in Cancer Immunotherapy
Nationally recognized surgical oncologist and researcher Suzanne L. Topalian, MD, had an early interest in the arts as well as science and decided to major in English upon entering Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. “I wanted to keep all my options open, so I also enrolled in a pre-med...
Physician-Researcher Carolyn Jean Presley, MD, Envisions Enhancing Geriatric Oncology
Carolyn Jean Presley, MD, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar in medical oncology at the Yale Cancer Center, was born in Duluth, Minnesota, which hugs the north shore of Lake Superior, making it one of the nation’s coldest cities during its long winters. She grew up the middle child...
About the Contributors
Ronald Piana is an independent writer and reporter with more than 20 years of experience in oncology communications and publishing. In addition to the profiles published in this special supplemental issue of The ASCO Post, Ron has written more than 100 news and feature articles, interviews, and...
With an Illustrious Career in Breast Oncology, Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, Follows in the Footsteps of Giants as ASCO President-Elect
ASCO President-Elect Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, a small city in the center of the state. “My dream was to become a high school basketball and track and field coach; my older brother wanted to be a doctor, and his ambitions also began in first grade,” revealed Dr....
Monitoring Survivors of Childhood Cancers for Late Effects of Treatment
This past January, ASCO held its inaugural Cancer Survivorship Symposium, which brought together the fields of medical oncology and primary care to address the critical need for coordinated care for cancer survivors. Among the presenters at the symposium was Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH, who gave the...
The Role of Occupational and Physical Therapy in Geriatric Oncology
With individuals aged 65 and older accounting for more than 50% of the U.S. population diagnosed with cancer,1 the demand for occupational and physical therapists to treat this population will increase in the years to come. Thus, it is essential for primary care providers to know that the...
Occupational Therapy for Adults With Cancer: An Unmet Need
Adults with cancer are at high risk for functional limitations that would negatively affect their quality of life. Occupational therapy offers a range of supportive services, with the specific goal of helping these patients engage in life as independently as possible. To provide a better...
A Perilous Time for Refugees With Cancer
The numbers are difficult to fathom. According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in 2015, over 60 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of conflict, persecution, generalized violence, or human rights violations.1 Over 9 million of those ...
A Toolkit for Dealing With the Trauma of a Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
This year, an estimated 180,890 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer; about 21,120 men die of the disease each year. On top of these sobering statistics, from screening to diagnosis and treatment, prostate cancer is fraught with controversy, creating untoward anxiety...
A Physician’s Guide to Pain and Symptom Management in Cancer Patients
Despite growing awareness and the existence of guidelines, undertreatment of cancer pain remains a persistent dilemma in the oncology community. Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that more than 33% of patients suffering from invasive cancer do not receive...
