The use of circulating tumor cell counts to guide the choice between chemotherapy and endocrine therapy as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic, estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer provided overall survival benefits compared with physician’s choice of treatment,...
Molecular testing and genomic testing are now considered standard of care in breast cancer, guiding treatment decisions in early breast cancer and targeted therapies in the metastatic setting. “But tumors evolve,” Virginia Kaklamani, MD, DSc, reminded participants at the 2022 Lynn Sage Breast...
Invited discussant of the October 2022 ASCO Plenary session, Jean Lundberg Wright, MD, commended the authors on an “extremely well-done study, with findings applicable to patients today in clinics where barriers are not prohibitive.” She also noted several limitations to the currently available...
Many radiation oncologists tend to discuss the sexual side effects of radiation therapy, specifically brachytherapy, with men more often than with women, according to a two-part study reported at the 2022 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.1 At a high-volume cancer...
The statistics are grim: Worldwide, pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer and the seventh leading cause of cancer mortality.1 In the United States, the malignancy has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. It is currently the third leading cause of cancer-related death after...
According to the results of the phase III randomized Prostate Cancer Study 5 (PCS5), a noninferior trial, 5 weeks of radiation therapy may be equivalent to 8 weeks for men with high-risk prostate cancer on androgen-deprivation therapy. These findings were presented at the 2022 American Society for...
On December 5, Novartis announced the pivotal phase III PSMAfore study of lutetium (Lu-177) vipivotide tetraxetan, a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radioligand therapy, met its primary endpoint. The therapy demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful...
New research has shed light on how skewed X chromosome inactivation may be linked to the development of cancer and cardiovascular disease, according to a novel study published by Roberts et al in eLife. Background Because the X chromosome has so many more genes than the Y chromosome, in every cell...
November is Caregiver Awareness Month, and timely findings from a study published by Amonoo et al in the journal Blood Advances suggested that, among caregivers of patients undergoing a stem cell transplant, how someone approaches coping can influence the levels of anxiety, depression, and poor...
Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer may be less likely to survive if their initial treatment fails to eradicate the tumor completely and they have high levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in their residual tumors, according to a new study published by Miglietta et al in the European...
Lori Wilson, MD, FACS, was the first woman to hold the surgical oncology division chief position at Howard University Hospital and the first woman to be promoted to full professor in surgery at Howard University College of Medicine. Known as a fierce advocate for patients with cancer in underserved ...
A RECENT REPORT published in Neuro-Oncology1 exposes an alarming reality for children, adolescents, and families facing pediatric brain cancer across the country. The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF) funded this groundbreaking report by the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States...
JAMES TURKSON, PhD, Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, is uniquely positioned for a new role developed at Cedars-Sinai Cancer: Director for Diversity, Inclusion, and Strategy. “I have great confidence that Dr. Turkson will provide superb...
In this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, Guest Editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with C.S. Pramesh, MS, FRCS, Director of the Tata Memorial Hospital and Professor and Head of Thoracic Surgery at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, India. Dr. Pramesh is the Convener of the...
Myeloma expert Sarah A. Holstein, MD, PhD, was born and reared in Iowa City, a college town in eastern Iowa along the banks of the Iowa River. “The town itself is small, but it doubles in population when all the college students are present. Both my parents had a PhD in humanities, so I had no...
Researchers have discovered that patients with type 2 diabetes who develop cancer are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease if they do not undergo routine screenings, according to a new study published by Jansana et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The new findings were also...
In a preplanned analysis of the stage IIA cohort of the PALLAS trial, the addition of adjuvant palbociclib to standard endocrine therapy did not improve outcomes over endocrine therapy alone. This finding suggests this agent provides no benefit in reducing the risk of early relapse in patients with ...
Colorectal cancer ranks third among cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States, with an estimated 150,000 new cases and 52,000 deaths anticipated in 2022.1 Colorectal cancer rates have declined by approximately 2% per year from 2014 to 2018 in people older than age 50, which is...
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion and returning the power to regulate reproductive health for women to the states, ASCO, the American Cancer Society Action...
Formal discussant Jonathan Ledermann, MD, of UCL Cancer Institute University College London, commented on both phase III trials. He was enthusiastic about the SOLO-1 results: “Perhaps, we really are seeing a cure in some of these patients.” He noted that overall survival is still not fully mature, ...
Benjamin Movsas, MD, who was not involved in the phase II trial of prophylactic radiation for bone metastases, commented: “I thought this was a very important study. We will need to see the details in the final paper, but this approach could make a meaningfuldifference in the quality of life for...
Researchers may have discovered the underlying cause of sex differences in immune checkpoint inhibitor–associated myocarditis after immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment, according to a novel study published by Zhang et al in Science Translational Medicine. Their findings pointed to possible...
After nearly a year-long search, the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) has announced its new Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and Professional Integrity: Don S. Dizon, MD, who is currently Chair of the organization’s Digital Engagement Committee. Dr. Dizon is Director of the Pelvic...
A new resource-stratified ASCO guideline update provides new evidence-based recommendations for the secondary prevention of cervical cancer in various resource settings.1 In the updated guideline, the screening recommendations cover basic, limited, enhanced, and maximal resource settings. Since...
The results of ECHELON-1 were presented by David J. Straus, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, at the 2022 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies. Dr. Straus said: “It is a great honor and privilege to present updated results...
To achieve its goal of eliminating cervical cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on all countries “to reach and maintain an incidence rate of below 4 per 100,000 women.” Doing so would depend on the following: A total of 90% of girls being fully vaccinated against human...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) chose Augusto Ochoa, MD, of Louisiana State University (LSU) Health, as the 2022 recipient of the Harry Hynes Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Trials and Community Research. The award was presented during the NCI Community Oncology Research Program ...
Which is the preferred second-line treatment option for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy? This was the subject of a debate at the...
Among the topics discussed at the 4th Global Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Congress held online in December 2021 was the urgent need for clinicians, researchers, and advocates in adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology to join forces to eradicate racist approaches to patient engagement in...
In the NCI-MATCH trial, which matches new treatments to patients with cancer based on the genetic makeup of their tumors, 22% of patients with AKT1 E17K–mutant metastatic tumors treated with the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib saw their tumors shrink, according to a novel study published by Kalinksy et...
In a pooled analysis (SANDSTORM) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ma et al found that concurrent/adjuvant short-term androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) with prostate-only radiotherapy (PORT) was associated with better outcomes in multiple measures vs neoadjuvant/concurrent ADT with...
Early trials of the targeted oral drug repotrectinib discovered that it may help treat patients with a certain type of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a new study published by Cho et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The results of the TRIDENT-1 trial—presented at the 34th...
Researchers have found that an incidental finding of clonal hematopoiesis in liquid biopsies can be used to trigger hematologic tests to assess the risk of developing myeloid malignancies, according to a new study published by Tagliamento et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The findings were...
Olaparib and adavosertib can be safely used to treat patients with cancers that are driven by certain mutations occurring in response to DNA damage if they are given in sequence rather than concurrently, according to a novel study published by Yap et al in the European Journal of Cancer. The...
The results of SWOG S18011 were met with enthusiasm by attendees at the Presidential Symposium of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022. The ASCO Post captured the thoughts of several melanoma experts, who had somewhat different ideas about the immediate clinical...
Invited discussant James Larkin, PhD, a clinical researcher at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, commented on the findings from NICHE-2.1 “These striking data are consistent with the recent report in locally advanced mismatch repair–deficient [dMMR] rectal cancer from Memorial Sloan Kettering.2...
“Platinum-ineligible patients are typically excluded from clinical trials, yet they represent the majority of patients that we diagnose and treat—patients with poor performance status and comorbidities,” said invited discussant Natasha Leighl, MD, of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto....
In platinum-ineligible patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), first-line treatment with the PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab improved overall survival by an absolute value of about 1 month but almost doubled the rate of 2-year overall survival compared with chemotherapy...
Colorectal cancer ranks third among cancer deaths in both men and women in the United States, with an estimated 106,000 new cases and 52,000 deaths anticipated in 2022.1 Colorectal cancer rates have declined by approximately 2% per year from 2014 to 2018 in people over the age of 50 years, which is ...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chung et al described the performance of a newly developed assay using genomic microsatellite signatures (LOGIC; low-pass genomic instability characterization) in detecting germline mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD) in patients with the...
A new study has revealed significant racial disparities in how quickly minority patients with non–small cell lung cancer receive radiation therapy compared with their White counterparts, according to findings published by Rekulapelli et al in Health Equity. Researchers reviewed data from more than...
Researchers have developed a new swab test that can identify origins of potentially dangerous cervical cell changes up to 4 years before they happen, according to a new study published by Barrett et al in Genome Medicine. Scientists found that the new cervical screening method was more sensitive...
Overall cancer death rates continued to decline among men, women, children, adolescents, and young adults in every major racial and ethnic group in the United States from 2015 to 2019, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. From 2014 to 2018, overall cancer...
A new study has found that sexual side effects of cancer treatment are discussed far less frequently with female patients than with male patients, even when the treatment directly affects sex organs. Among patients receiving brachytherapy for prostate or cervical cancer at a high-volume cancer...
Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, FACP, FASCO, an expert in the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma, died on September 20, 2022. Dr. Vogelzang was 72 years old. Son of a Preacher Dr. Vogelzang was born on December 13, 1949, in Holland, Michigan, the oldest of seven children, in a close-knit...
In 2000, the da Vinci Surgical System broke new ground by becoming the first robotic surgery system approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for general laparoscopic surgery. In its early years, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy was characterized by some in the surgical community as an...
In our continuing effort to connect and learn more about our international oncology colleagues, The ASCO Post recently spoke with Rossana Berardi, MD, Professor in Medical Oncology and Director of the Postgraduate School of Oncology at the Università Politecnica Marche, Ancona, Italy, where she is...
The National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the University of Oklahoma (OU) an expected $2 million over 5 years to develop a program to improve representation of Oklahoma Native American students in biomedical and cancer research. “American Indian...
It is estimated that one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. The disease is so prevalent, and other than skin cancer, it is the most common cancer diagnosed in American men. According to the American Cancer Society, this year, about 268,490 new cases of prostate...
The first 10 participants in the new Leadership Programme for Women in Oncology have been announced. The program, a joint endeavour from ASCO and City Cancer Challenge Foundation (C/Can), seeks to address the specific challenges and barriers faced by women leaders in oncology and strengthen the...