A study of women receiving hormone therapies such as tamoxifen as part of their treatment for breast cancer found that the number and seriousness of side effects they experienced were influenced by their expectations. The study, published by Nestoriuc et al in Annals of Oncology, found that women...
The University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will receive nearly $62.3 million over 5 years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to broaden its mission of speeding translation of scientific research into realistic treatments for the people who need them....
ASCO’s booklet Managing Your Weight After a Cancer Diagnosis: A Guide for Patients and Families addresses how being overweight slows recovery and affects survival for patients with cancer. In addition to providing information on different weight-loss methods, this booklet discusses the common...
Are you ready for MACRA? Believe it or not, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was passed more than a year ago, and program changes begin in less than 6 months (January 1, 2017). MACRA will completely transform Medicare reimbursement and care delivery for oncology...
Looking back, I’m haunted by what might have been if my advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had been caught in its earliest stage, when perhaps a cure was possible. I certainly presented my physicians with enough clues—shortness of breath, coughing, and some body weakness—to have warranted...
Scientific Name: Matricaria recutita, Chamomilla recutita, Matricaria chamomilla Common Names: Hungarian chamomile, wild chamomile Overview An aromatic annual herb prevalent in Europe, North Africa, and Northwest Asia, chamomile has been used as a medicinal plant for several centuries. It has been ...
BookmarkTitle: Breast Cancer Surgery and Reconstruction: What’s Right for YouAuthor: Patricia Anstett, with photography by Kathleen GalliganPublisher: Rowman & LittlefieldPublication date: June 2, 2016Price: $35.00; hardcover, 224 pages Over the past 2 decades, we have seen tremendous...
With the increasing population of older adults with cancer, there has been a commensurate need for more readily available and widely accessible educational and clinical resources in geriatric oncology. As part of the Cancer and Aging Research Group and ASCO’s Geriatric Oncology Special Interest...
After the Vietnam War, close to a million refugees, known as “boat people,” fled Vietnam, hazarding the open ocean on dangerously overloaded vessels. The term “boat people” is often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means between 1975...
The Cancer Moonshot initiative is bringing together scientists, oncologists, patient advocates, and representatives of the biopharmaceutical industry with renewed collaborative focus and the ambitious objective of consolidating 10 years of cancer research in 5 years. Achieving this outcome will...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) by N. Lynn Henry, MD, PhD, of University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, and colleagues,1 ASCO has endorsed Cancer Care Ontario guideline recommendations on the role of patient and disease factors in decisions on adjuvant...
The children of Indianapolis philanthropists Sidney and Lois Eskenazi have made a $2 million gift to the Indiana University School of Medicine to be used to recruit a highly accomplished researcher focused on discovering new ways to treat, diagnose, and prevent cancer. The gift, to honor their...
The effect of combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in increasing a woman’s risk of breast cancer is likely to have been underestimated by a number of previous studies, according to a new prospective study published by Jones et al in the British Journal of Cancer. HRT is used to treat...
New research links specific inherited genetic alterations to an increased risk for uveal melanoma, a rare form of melanoma that arises from pigment cells that determine eye color. These findings were published by Ferguson et al in Scientific Reports. Previous clinical data suggests uveal melanoma...
Launched in 2014, ASCO’s Quality Training Program was developed to prepare oncology providers to design, implement, and lead successful quality-improvement activities in their practices. It is a 6-month program that includes a structured and facilitated improvement project selected by each...
In the phase III GADOLIN trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Laurie H. Sehn, MD, Chair, British Columbia Cancer Agency Lymphoma Tumor Group, and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and colleagues, found that adding the anti-CD20 antibody obinutuzumab...
The combination of more precise diagnostic tools and advances in surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy in the treatment of cancer has led to unprecedented numbers of cancer survivors in the United States—more than 15.5 million, according to the latest figures from the...
For diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, does the dose of rituximab (Rituxan) matter? Are there patient characteristics that determine outcomes as well as the optimal dose? These questions were explored at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Matthew A. Lunning, DO, Assistant Professor of...
“We are in an era of unprecedented scientific opportunities in cancer research,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Executive Officer, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), as she introduced the Congressional briefing, “Seizing Today’s Opportunities to Accelerate Cancer Research.” “Thanks ...
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute scientists have shown that unexpectedly, esophageal cancer cells do not divide faster than their normal neighbors. Unlike normal cells, however, the tumor cells produce slightly more dividing daughter cells than nondividing cells, forming a tumor. The study,...
As reported by Alexi A. Wright, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) have released a clinical practice guideline on neoadjuvant therapy for patients with newly diagnosed stage IIIC or IV...
In a small phase Ib/II study, 100% of patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma evaluated thus far responded to treatment with obinutuzumab (Gazyva), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone), investigators from the University of...
In the treatment of classical Hodgkin lymphoma, antibodies targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are just the beginning, according to Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Lymphoma Group at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.1 Speaking at the 2016 Pan...
Scalp cooling is a means to lower scalp temperature to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy. Although there are several methods of scalp cooling, it often consists of a hypothermia cap connected to a computer-operating cooling and control unit. The system circulates coolant through channels in the ...
Hair loss can be a devastating side effect of chemotherapy, but the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the DigniCap Cooling System and the growing acceptance of scalp-cooling methods in the United States may improve the quality of life for many patients receiving...
ASCO has published an adaptation of the 2015 Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer.1 There were several areas of controversy that the guideline attempts to address. Should Anthracyclines Be Standard of Care? The guideline...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Neelima Denduluri, MD, and colleagues, ASCO has adapted a Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on selection of optimal adjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-negative and adjuvant targeted therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.1 The...
According to Susan M. O’Brien, MD, an expert in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), novel agents and new data on patient subsets have led to a new upfront treatment algorithm for this malignancy. Speaking at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Koloa, Hawaii, Dr. O’Brien...
“Have you received your immune checkpoint inhibitor yet?” I suspect St. Peter may have started asking this question routinely at the Pearly Gates to Heaven. If St. Peter has not, I am sure most oncologists have. With extensive media coverage on the approval of nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab...
On June 29, 2016, Robert M. Califf, MD, MACC, the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced the selection of Richard Pazdur, MD, FACP, as Acting Director of the FDA’s newly created Oncology Center of Excellence. The center was created in response to the overarching...
As scientists learn more about which genetic mutations are driving different types of cancer, they're targeting treatments to small numbers of patients, with the potential for big payoffs in improved outcomes. But even as we learn more about these driver mutations, a new study published by Spratt...
Parents are more likely to support laws that would make the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine mandatory for school entry if their state offers opt-out provisions, according to a study published by Calo et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. However, opt-out provisions may...
Amir T. Fathi, MD, an oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, commented on the INO-VATE ALL trial for The ASCO Post. “It has been a fairly exciting time for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia...
In patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin produced significantly more complete remissions and was a better bridge to transplant than treatment by physician’s choice, according to the final results of a phase III trial...
Testing for the activity of two genes could help identify women who are at increased risk of dying from breast cancer, according to a new study of almost 2,000 patients. Women whose tumors had a specific pattern of activity in the F12 and STC2 genes were three times as likely to die within 10 years ...
The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group has received federal approval to add a quality-of-life research study, COMmunication and Education in Tumor Profiling, or COMET (EAQ152), to the NCI-MATCH (EAY131) trial already underway. Using feedback surveys before and after a patient undergoes tumor gene...
Computers can be trained to be more accurate than pathologists in assessing slides of lung cancer tissues, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers found that a machine-learning approach to identifying critical disease-related features...
A large, nationwide study published by Lee et al in the journal JAMA Oncology found that patients who received transplants of cells collected from a donor's bone marrow had better self-reported psychological well-being, experienced fewer symptoms of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), and were more...
As with most cancers, triple-negative breast cancer cells have abnormal amounts of chromosomes or DNA copy number aberrations in their genomes. A new study used single-cell sequencing technology to provide previously unknown details about how and when copy number aberrations impact tumor...
A team of researchers from nine leading academic hospitals and research centers have published a paper in the journal Cancer that describes pulmonary outcomes among childhood cancer survivors. The study also evaluates the impact of complications such as asthma, chronic cough, emphysema, and...
The chemotherapy drug etoposide may have adverse effects on the developing ovaries of female fetuses, according to a preclinical study of mouse cells published by Stefansdottir et al in BMC Cancer. Norah Spears, DPhil, the corresponding study author and Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the...
Prostate cancer and lung cancer have been the number 1 and 2 cancers among men. Stomach cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, has been on a steady decline among Koreans and Japanese. Black men had the highest overall rates of cancer. Thyroid cancer has been on the rise, and...
Three leading national cancer organizations have issued a consensus guideline for physicians treating women who have ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated with breast-conserving surgery and whole breast irradiation. The new guideline has the potential to save many women from unnecessary...
For patients with the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, routine testing for estrogen and progesterone receptors in tissue taken at the first needle biopsy is both unnecessary and wasteful, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins pathologists. The results for people with...
The U.S. health-care system is characterized—on a global level—by its unsustainable spending, which does not necessarily correlate to better outcomes in patients with cancer. With $2.9 trillion spent in 2013, the United States ranks first in health-care spending among the world’s...
Tumor shrinkage is not the only measure of a successful anticancer therapy. A University of Colorado Cancer Center article published by Serkova et al in Frontiers in Oncology describes a promising alternative: metabolic imaging. Tumors rush their metabolism to grow and proliferate. By recognizing a ...
Although a majority of states are still missing important opportunities to pass and implement legislative solutions proven to prevent and fight cancer, there is progress being made to move the nation closer to ending cancer as we know it, according to a report recently released by the American...
Many breast tumors grow in response to female hormones, especially estrogen. Drugs that reduce estrogen levels in the body often are effective in reducing tumor size and preventing recurrence of the cancer. But some tumors become resistant to these therapies and continue to grow and spread. A new...
A laboratory study led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health investigating how BRCA1- and BRCA2-mutant cell breast cancers eventually acquire resistance to DNA-damaging drugs has identified several proteins that promote destabilization of replication forks and contribute to drug...
The Chinese Journal of Cancer (CJC) is soliciting the 150 most important questions in cancer research and clinical oncology from cancer researchers around the world. The editors of CJC believe this will help provide important insights and guidance in future efforts to advance cancer research...