The results of a large cohort study suggest that a proportion of patients with cutaneous melanoma could potentially avoid sentinel node biopsy, according to data presented by Moncrieff et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care (Abstract 59)....
Most people with cancer who are infected with COVID-19 produce antibodies at a rate comparable to the rest of the population—but their ability to do so depends on the type of malignancy and the treatments they’ve received, according to a new study published by Thakkar et al in Nature Cancer. The...
Although cancers of the gallbladder or bile ducts are rare, their rates of occurrence are increasing. A recent study published by Ouyang et al in the journal Cancer provided details on the burden of gallbladder and biliary tract cancer across 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017....
In a single-institution study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Hawrot et al found that there was no increase in time to treatment initiation after histologic diagnosis in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, they did find...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Joaquim Bellmunt, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III IMvigor010 trial showed no improvement in disease-free survival with adjuvant atezolizumab vs observation in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label trial, 809...
Shaji K. Kumar, MD, of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, discusses the latest data on treating patients with multiple myeloma, including standard-of-care induction before stem cell transplant; the role of quadruplet induction; long-term results with the combination of daratumumab, lenalidomide, and...
Sumanta Pal, MD, of City of Hope, Duarte, California, praised the authors for the conduct of the study, but stopped short of endorsing nivolumab as standard of care. “The phase III CheckMate 274 trial evaluated adjuvant nivolumab vs placebo in patients with high-risk, resected, muscle-invasive...
Adjuvant therapy with nivolumab, an anti–PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, after radical surgery improved disease-free survival in high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial cancer regardless of PD-L1 status, according to the results of the CheckMate 274 randomized phase III trial presented at the 2021...
Updated findings from a cohort of patients with cancer infected with COVID-19 included in the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19) were published by Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, and colleagues in Annals of Oncology. Authors identified factors associated with a more severe viral infection among...
Patients whose procedures for gastrointestinal malignancies were performed by a surgical team at a hospital ranked as one of America’s “best” by U.S. News & World Report were nearly two and half times more likely to survive the operation than those who had the same procedure done at a nonranked ...
Combined results of two parallel phase II studies reported in JAMA Oncology by Milind Javle, MD, and colleagues indicated that olaparib may have therapeutic value in previously treated patients with platinum-sensitive pancreatic ductal carcinoma with DNA damage repair (DDR) genetic alterations...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bersanelli et al reported that researchers in the EuroMDS Project found that patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) could be classified into eight distinct subtypes based on genomic characteristics. They also developed a new prognostic ...
In an analysis of a modern cohort of patients with metastatic seminoma reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Beyer et al, members of the International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group (IGCCCG) Update Consortium, found that progression-free and overall survival have improved compared...
On March 22, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with platinum and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy for patients with metastatic or locally advanced esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (tumors with epicenter 1–5 cm above the...
Gabrielle A. Zecha, PA-C, MHA, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and Aaron Begue, MS, RN, NP-C, OCN, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discuss how advanced practice providers are recruited and trained, ways to retain these valuable health-care...
Susan M. Swetter, MD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses molecular prognostic tests for cutaneous melanoma, which may improve staging accuracy, reduce unnecessary sentinel lymph node biopsies, and inform decisions on surveillance imaging and/or adjuvant therapy.
Supriya Chopra, MD, of Tata Memorial Centre, discusses a final analysis of the phase III PARCER trial, which showed that image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy is superior to conventional radiotherapy in reducing bowel toxicity in women with cervical cancer. Acute diarrhea was also reduced,...
Lauren Thomaier, MD, of the University of Minnesota, discusses the genetic variants found to be associated with an increase in chemotherapy-induced neuropathy symptoms in a cohort of gynecologic cancer survivors. Combining these variants with clinical characteristics may provide an important...
Emily Hinchcliff, MD, MPH, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase II results of durvalumab (anti–PD-L1) and tremelimumab (anti–CTLA-4) administered in combination vs sequentially for the treatment of recurrent platinum-resistant non–clear cell ovarian cancer (ID...
Sandro Pignata, MD, PhD, of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, discusses results from the ORZORA trial, which showed the efficacy of olaparib in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer is similar, whether they have a germline or somatic BRCA mutation. This information could prove...
Alice P. Barr, MD, of the Carolinas Medical Center and Levine Cancer Institute, discusses results from a retrospective study, which showed that progression-free and overall survival appeared to be no different with open surgery and minimally invasive surgery for interval debulking after neoadjuvant ...
Treatment with image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IG-IMRT) led to reduced late toxicities vs standard three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiotherapy in patients with cervical cancer, according to data presented by Supriya Chopra, MD, and colleagues during the Society of Gynecologic...
KRAS mutational status in patients with unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer predicts a worse response to hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) pump chemotherapy, according to research presented by Kolbeinsson et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference on...
The addition of niraparib maintenance to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy with bevacizumab demonstrated clinical benefit in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, according to data from the OVARIO study presented by Melissa M. Hardesty, MD, MPH, during the Society of Gynecologic Oncology...
The combination of lenalidomide plus the steroid dexamethasone (together called Rd) is considered standard treatment for elderly patients with multiple myeloma. However, prolonged steroid use can be harmful for some older adults. A new study published by Larocca et al in the journal Blood found...
In a phase II trial (GORTEC 2014-01 TPExtreme) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Joël Guigay, MD, and colleagues found that first-line TPEx (docetaxel/platinum/cetuximab) did not improve overall survival vs the standard-of-care EXTREME regimen (fluorouracil [5-FU]/platinum/cetuximab) in patients...
In a study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Dee et al found that the rate of refusal of provider-recommended locoregional treatment for localized prostate adenocarcinoma has increased over time, with Black and Asian men with intermediate- or higher-risk disease being more likely to refuse such...
Charles N. Landen, MD, of the University of Virginia, discusses results from the first clinical trial in ovarian cancer to demonstrate that neither a BRCA1/2 mutation nor a homologous recombination deficiency improves sensitivity to a therapeutic PD-L1 blockade in patients receiving atezolizumab vs ...
Hyun C. Chung, MD, of Yonsei Cancer Center and Yonsei University College of Medicine, discusses phase II findings from the KEYNOTE-158 study, which support the use of pembrolizumab for patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer that has progressed on or after chemotherapy and whose...
An intrauterine device, or IUD, that releases the hormone levonorgestrel appears to be an effective treatment for endometrial precancer and early-stage endometrial cancer, according to new study results presented by Andreas Obermair, MD, at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021 Virtual...
Shannon N. Westin, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses phase II results from the ENPAC trial, which showed the combination of enzalutamide, paclitaxel, and carboplatin yielded promising clinical outcomes in chemotherapy-naive advanced or recurrent endometrioid cancer ...
In the 5-year follow-up of the pivotal SOLO-1 trial in women with advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA1/2 mutation, maintenance treatment with olaparib led to a doubling in progression-free survival. William H. Bradley, MD, presented these findings at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021...
Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses phase III results from the ENGOT-OV16/NOVA study on the long-term safety and efficacy of niraparib as maintenance therapy in patients with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer with either a BRCA mutation or a tumor with high-grade...
The PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor niraparib is safe for long-term use and effective as maintenance treatment in patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer, according to data presented by Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021...
In patients with BRCA-mutated, advanced, relapsed ovarian cancer, treatment with the PARP (poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase) inhibitor rucaparib led to a significant improvement in progression-free survival compared with standard-of-care chemotherapy. These results from the international phase III...
Frailty may be a better predictor of poor surgical outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer than age, according to two studies reported at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer. Researchers found that frail patients are less likely to undergo...
Morcos N. Nakhla, MS, a second-year student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, discusses data showing that a higher surgical volume is associated with better outcomes for frail patients undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer. Over the 12-year study period, mortality decreased for all...
Brian M. Slomovitz, MD, of Florida International University, describes how emphasizing diversity and shifting away from clinical trials at universities helped The GOG Foundation, Inc., increase patient accrual by 50% in 2020 (ID # 10215).
Edward L. Trimble, MD, MPH, of the National Cancer Institute, discusses the World Health Organization’s global strategy to speed the elimination of cervical cancer through vaccination, screening, treatment, and training for multidisciplinary teams in gynecologic oncology care. This marks the first...
William H. Bradley, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses results from the SOLO-1 trial on maintenance olaparib after first-line platinum-based chemotherapy for patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer and a BRCA mutation. Almost half of the patients treated with olaparib...
Although some studies show that patients with cancer have a greater risk of health complications from COVID-19, a new study has found that recent chemotherapy or immunotherapy for gynecologic cancer does not raise the risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19. The study results were...
Treatment with olaparib is safe and effective for patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer, regardless of the number of prior lines of chemotherapy received and BRCA mutation status, according to data presented from the phase II LIGHT study by Karen A. Cadoo, MD, at the Society of...
In a survey of 250 female gynecologic oncologists, more than half reported experiencing instances of bullying, gender discrimination, or microaggressions. They also reported that having a female department chair provided no buffer against these forms of gender harassment or discrimination in the...
In the first report from the pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-775/Study 309 trial, the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab significantly improved multiple outcomes compared to standard single-agent chemotherapy in patients with advanced, metastatic, or recurrent endometrial cancer that had...
Rebecca S. Kristeleit, MD, PhD, of the University College London and UCL Cancer Institute, discusses efficacy and safety results from the phase III ARIEL4 study, which showed that rucaparib improved progression-free survival vs standard-of-care chemotherapy in patients with BRCA-mutated,...
Arlene O. Siefker-Radtke, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the changing therapeutic landscape in which atezolizumab, avelumab, and pembrolizumab have either been approved or are under review for treating urothelial bladder cancer in the metastatic, superficial,...
Vicky Makker, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses phase III findings showing that lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab may improve overall and progression-free survival, as well as overall response rate, compared with treatment of physician’s choice for advanced endometrial cancer....
Robert Winn, MD, of the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, discusses the creation of a health equity report card to track how institutions are dealing with disparities in oncology care, ways to recognize bias in care, and adding health equity experts to guideline panels and...
William J. Gradishar, MD, of Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, discusses the latest recommendations from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network for treating patients with triple-negative breast cancer; data on early-stage and advanced disease; and the role...
The Society of Gynecologic Oncology's virtual 2021 Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer is taking place from March 19 to 25. This week, we're hearing about findings presented at the meeting in endometrial and ovarian cancers.