Women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and elevated decision scores had a significantly higher risk of ipsilateral breast events and a greater relative benefit from radiation therapy compared to women with lower decision scores, according to research presented by Mann et al at the Society of...
An examination of the online nomogram Sarculator demonstrated it is as effective at predicting overall survival of certain patients with sarcoma in the United States as it is in Europe, according to research presented by Voss et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021 International Conference...
An observational study of 10,592 patients from the National Cancer Database with stage IIB/IIC melanoma who had undergone surgical resection demonstrated a significant survival advantage with immunotherapy. The research was presented by Wong et al at the Society of Surgical Oncology 2021...
In a study reported in JACC: CardioOncology, Emily S. Lau, MD, and colleagues found that the presence of cardiovascular disease risk factors was significantly associated with an increased risk of future cancer, although no increased risk was observed among individuals who had a history of...
In the phase I/II BRUIN trial reported in The Lancet, Anthony R. Mato, MD, and colleagues found that the noncovalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor pirtobrutinib produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies, including those previously treated with ...
In long-term follow-up of the French phase III MIRO trial reported in JAMA Surgery, Nuytens et al found no significant difference in 5-year overall or disease-free survival with hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy vs open esophagectomy in patients with esophageal cancer. In the multicenter...
Shivan J. Mehta, MD, MBA, of Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses how insights from behavioral economics could be harnessed to improve HPV vaccination rates, thus lowering the rate of cervical, genital, and head/neck cancers, all of which are linked to HPV.
Sandy Srinivas, MD, of Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses the increasing number of ways to deliver life-prolonging therapy to patients with advanced prostate cancer, including more accurate imaging techniques; PET tracers to help better detect, diagnose, and treat disease; PARP inhibitors for...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Taofeek K. Owonikoko, MD, PhD, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 451 trial showed no improvement in overall survival with combined nivolumab and ipilimumab vs placebo as maintenance therapy for extensive-disease small cell lung cancer. Study ...
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TheraSphere Y-90 Glass Microspheres, developed for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The approval expands access to this therapy, which, to date, has been utilized under a humanitarian device exemption—an FDA...
An analysis of 546 patients with breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy demonstrated that residual cancer burden is prognostic for overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and distant relapse–free survival, according to research presented by White et al at the Society of Surgical...
An analysis of 58 peripheral blood specimens from patients with rectal and esophageal cancers demonstrated that circulating hybrid cells may be a novel, noninvasive biomarker with potential for monitoring treatment response and disease progression to help guide decisions for further therapy,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Nathan H. Fowler, MD, and colleagues, the phase IIb UNITY-NHL trial has shown that the dual PI3Kδ/casein kinase (CK) 1ε inhibitor umbralisib produced durable responses in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The study ...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JCO Oncology Practice, Akushevich et al found that receipt of chemotherapy was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease in colorectal cancer survivors. As stated by the investigators, “Evidence on the nature of the relationship between...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Priority Review to the HIF-2α inhibitor belzutifan for the treatment of patients with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease–associated renal cell carcinoma. The agency also granted Fast Track designation to poziotinib for the treatment of...
According to a report published by Pickhardt et al in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), compared with multitarget stool DNA and fecal immunochemical tests, computed tomography (CT) colonography using a polyp size threshold ≥ 10 mm most effectively targeted advanced neoplasia—preserving...
One in six men being treated for advanced prostate cancer reported experiencing a reduced sense of smell and taste, according to a study published by Alonzi et al in the journal Supportive Care in Cancer. The study authors noted that a reduced sense of smell and taste among some patients with...
In an analysis of updated evidence on low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer reported in JAMA, Jonas et al found that screening can reduce lung cancer mortality but may be associated with a range of potential harms. The analysis was performed to inform the new U.S. Preventive...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Duncavage et al found that whole-genome sequencing in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) provided rapid genomic profiling that improved diagnostic yield vs conventional cytogenetic analysis, as...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Eric P. Winer, MD, FASCO, and colleagues, the phase III KEYNOTE-119 trial showed no significant improvement in overall survival with pembrolizumab vs investigator’s choice of chemotherapy in the second- or third-line treatment of metastatic triple-negative...
High tumor mutational burden (TMB) was useful for predicting clinical responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors only in a subset of cancer types, according to a study published by McGrail et al in Annals of Oncology. The findings suggest that TMB status may not be reliably used as a universal...
Starting chemotherapy several days before the first lumbar puncture for diagnosis and treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) may reduce the risk of central nervous system (CNS) relapse in children, according to a study published by Tang et al in the journal Blood. The research focused on...
Vaccinating adults aged 26 and older against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may not be cost-effective, according to a new study published by Kim et al in PLOS Medicine. “Our study found that the added health benefit of increasing the vaccination age limit beyond 26 years is minimal, and that the...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Wang et al found persistent use of low-value breast cancer surgeries designated for deimplementation by the Choosing Wisely program, with a wide interfacility variation in use of these procedures. Study Details The study used National Cancer ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Grzegorz S. Nowakowski, MD, and colleagues, the phase III ROBUST trial showed that the addition of lenalidomide to R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone; R2-CHOP) did not significantly improve...
In a Chinese phase III trial (SOC-1) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Shi et al found that secondary cytoreduction followed by chemotherapy significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs chemotherapy alone in patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed epithelial ovarian cancer. No significant...
With three new HER2-targeted therapies approved in the past 15 months alone, the treatment landscape for patients with metastatic breast cancer has become increasingly crowded. In the third-line setting and beyond, there are now at least eight HER2-targeted agents approved by the U.S. Food and Drug ...
If clinicians could stop mutations of the KRAS gene—which are present in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases and drastically reduce the response to immunotherapy—the chances of improving treatment for the disease would be increased. A collaborative study published by Ischenko et al in Nature...
As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Toni K. Choueiri, MD, and colleagues, the phase III CheckMate 9ER trial has shown that the combination of nivolumab and cabozantinib improved progression-free survival and overall survival vs sunitinib in first-line treatment of patients with...
In a simulation-based analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ward et al found that the scaling up of cancer treatment packages, imaging modalities, and quality of care to the levels found in high-income countries would markedly reduce cancer mortality in low- to middle-income countries, as well...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Grønberg et al found that use of high-dose vs standard-dose twice daily thoracic radiotherapy as part of first-line chemoradiotherapy was associated with significantly improved overall survival and similar toxicity in patients with limited-stage...
New research published by Koyratty et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention suggests that patients with breast cancer who drink sugar-sweetened beverages regularly are at increased risk for death from any cause, and from breast cancer in particular. Compared to women who never or...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the agency will hold a public meeting of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee on April 27 to 29 to discuss six indications granted accelerated approval that have since reported results from confirmatory trials that have not...
More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are beginning to examine the effects of the virus in the larger health-care sphere. This week, we review a report on an observed increase in breast cancer diagnoses in Italy after pandemic-related screening interruptions. We also discuss two...
Consensus guidelines recommending that routine surveillance mammography be discontinued for older breast cancer survivors with a limited life expectancy1 may raise questions among patients concerned about undetected cancer recurrence. Informing older survivors about the new recommendations and the...
Newly issued mammography screening guidelines for breast cancer survivors aged 75 and older recommend discontinuing routine mammography for those with a life expectancy of less than 5 years and considering discontinuation of routine screening for those with a life expectancy between 5 and 10 years. ...
Guest Editor’s Note: Although many cancer centers recognize the value of integrative therapies in oncologic care, cancer prevention, its treatment, and survivorship care continue to pose a challenge in many low- and middle-income countries. In this article, Alejandro Salicrup, PhD, highlights the...
A survey of more than 6,500 U.S. patients with blood cancer and survivors revealed that only half are very likely to get a COVID-19 vaccine, while one in three is either unlikely or unsure about it. The nationwide survey was a collaboration between The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), Boston...
New clues as to why night-shift workers are at an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer were uncovered in a new study published by Koritala et al in the Journal of Pineal Research. The study involved a controlled laboratory experiment that used healthy volunteers who were on...
In a meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gharzai et al found that commonly used intermediate clinical endpoints in clinical trials in localized prostate cancer do not correlate well with overall survival, apart from metastasis-free survival—supporting the establishment of metastasis-free ...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Lalani et al found that higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with better overall survival among patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma receiving anti–PD-1/PD-L1–based immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. No association of...
In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Schaik et al found that significant weight gain and being overweight and/or obese are common in childhood brain tumor survivors and may be associated with hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. Study Details The study involved data...
New data from the prospective Neoadjuvant Breast Symphony Trial (NBRST), which demonstrated the predictive and prognostic abilities of the MammaPrint and BluePrint assays and underpinned their preoperative utility in pre-and postmenopausal patients with breast cancer, were presented at PER’s Miami...
In an Italian study reported in Leukemia, Mauro et al found that only a small minority of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) developed an adequate immune response to pneumococcal vaccination, with response being more likely in patients who were younger, had previously untreated and...
As of this writing, no drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of COVID-19, although several have received emergency use authorization and many others are being used off-label during the pandemic. In addition to searching for novel therapies, David...
In an analysis from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, and colleagues found that adoption of risk-adapted therapy in the 1990s was associated with reduced risk of serious chronic health conditions in pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma...
New research published by van Seventer et al in JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has found that muscle mass was correlated with survival, while muscle radiodensity was associated with symptom burden, health-care use, and survival in patients with advanced cancer undergoing ...
On March 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tivozanib (Fotivda), a kinase inhibitor, for adult patients with relapsed or refractory advanced renal cell carcinoma following two or more prior systemic therapies. TIVO-3 Efficacy was evaluated in TIVO-3 (ClinicalTrials.gov...
A recent ASCO guideline update, prompted by data from several phase III randomized controlled trials, summarizes the evidence supporting the best initial treatment options for the management of noncastrate advanced, recurrent, or metastatic prostate cancer. The hope is that the guideline will help...
Feasibility assessments for clinical trials are conducted to establish that prospective trial sites can safely and effectively meet study goals and protocol requirements; however, a new research statement from ASCO asserts that current standards are “costly, inconsistent, inefficient, labor...