The Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (CCF) is fueling cancer research and pursuing dramatic advances in the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of all types of cancer. CCF’s Grants and Awards program supports clinical and translational cancer...
This fall, the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) presented two special series: “Pediatric Cancer—Progress Through Collaboration” and “Head and Neck Cancer: Recent Advances, Changing Epidemiology, and Future Directions.” The Pediatric Special Series highlighted collaborative efforts that have...
The emphasis at this year’s Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium, held earlier this month in Boston, was on patient-centered care throughout the cancer continuum. The meeting attracted more than 650 attendees and included six general sessions featuring best practices in communication,...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening of women at average risk for breast cancer achieved a mean additional cancer yield of 15.8 cases per 1,000 women, greatly surpassing yields for supplemental digital breast tomosynthesis (1.25 per 1,000) or supplemental ultrasound (4.1 per 1,000). The...
Discussant William J. Gradishar, MD, the Betsy Bramsen Professor of Breast Oncology at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago, endorsed Dr. Shafaee’s conclusions, while highlighting caution in interpreting the results. “At first blush, it certainly is...
Given that BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have an estimated 40% to 85% lifetime risk of breast cancer and an increased risk of developing contralateral breast cancer, risk reduction in this population remains essential. According to a study presented at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium, use of...
Enrique Grande, MD, Head of the Endocrine and Genitourinary Tumors Section of the Medical Oncology Service at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital, Madrid, discussed the NETTER-1 and RADIANT-4 studies at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress. “There is now a stronger rationale...
Cabozantinib (Cometriq) nearly doubled progression-free survival compared with standard everolimus (Afinitor) therapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, according to the phase III METEOR trial.1 Additionally, a preplanned interim analysis found an encouraging trend toward overall...
Several studies have addressed the risks and benefits of ovarian suppression during chemotherapy for breast cancer in women of childbearing age. A new meta-analysis of randomized trials found that it prevented premature ovarian failure and was associated with a higher number of pregnancies post...
Cora N. Sternberg, MD, FACP, Chief of Medical Oncology at San Camillo Forlanini Hospital in Rome, Italy, formally discussed CheckMate 025 at the Presidential Session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress as well as findings from the METEOR trial of cabozantinib (Cometriq) in metastatic renal cell...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the biologics license application for talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic), a genetically modified oncolytic viral therapy indicated for the local treatment of unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous, and nodal lesions in patients with melanoma...
A multivariable analysis of clinical factors associated with tamoxifen use among premenopausal women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer showed that fertility preservation was a significant factor and “the only predictor of both noninitiation and early cessation” of tamoxifen. “Among...
Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer, but there has been little consensus about the appropriate indications for adjuvant therapy. One reason for the lack of consensus is the absence of randomized studies in endometrial cancer that report an overall survival benefit. This may be...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Larissa A. Meyer, MD, MPH, and colleagues, ASCO has endorsed the recently published American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guideline on postoperative radiation therapy for endometrial cancer.1 The ASCO clinical practice guideline...
Although genetic testing has not turned up any inherited mutations that might explain the number of cancers that have plagued my immediate family, over the past 15 years, I have lost my father, aunt, and sister to the disease. In 2001, my husband, Wayne, died of acute promyelocytic leukemia, and...
Francis Giles, MB, MD, FRCPI, FRCPath, has been appointed Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Northwestern. In his new role, he will continue to advance the division’s clinical, research, and academic pursuits. Dr. Giles joined the faculty of the Division...
Bookmark Title: Pick Your Poison: How Our Mad Dash to Chemical Utopia Is Making Lab Rats of Us All Author: Monona Rossol Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Publication date: October 2015 Price: E-book, 210 pages Monona Rossol is a chemist and “industrial hygienist” who is a frequent contributor to...
Bookmark Title: AIDS Between Science and Politics Author: Peter Piot Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication date: May 2015 Price: $29.95; hardcover, 216 pages AIDS is a global phenomenon that recognizes neither national boundaries nor social strata. The AIDS pandemic was one of the...
Cancer.Net Mobile app offers your patients and their caregivers trusted, oncologist-approved cancer information and the tools and resources they need to help plan and manage cancer care. The newest version of Cancer.Net Mobile is optimized for the latest iOS versions, and offers an all-new visual...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On October 9, 2015, the anti–programmed cell death protein 1...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with lung cancer. The trials are investigating DNA, RNA, and protein changes contributing to carcinogenesis; new prevention strategies; combination therapies; radiation,...
The incidence of melanoma among children, adolescents, and young adults has reached epidemic proportions, increasing more than 250% over the past 4 decades, with young females at highest risk for the deadly cancer, according to a study1 by researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo,...
In metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer, several trials have shown that the addition of the anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin) to different chemotherapy regimens significantly improved response rates and progression-free survival by various...
Neutropenic complications remain the main dose-limiting toxicity of cancer chemotherapy treatment and are associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs.1 Although patients who have experienced a prior neutropenic event are at increased risk of subsequent events, several studies have...
ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on use of hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Thomas J. Smith, MD, FACP, FASCO, FAAHMP, and colleagues.1 This update to the ASCO 2006 guideline was based on a systematic review of...
Treatment decision-making for oncologists and their patients may become simpler through the use of graphic NCCN Evidence Blocks™, which were unveiled at the NCCN 10th Annual Congress: Hematologic Malignancies™ sponsored by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN¨). The first of the NCCN...
Combined BRAF and MEK inhibition was superior to BRAF inhibition alone in unresectable metastatic melanoma, according to the updated survival analysis of the large randomized COMBI-v trial.1 These findings were reported at the 2015 European Cancer Congress recently held in Vienna, Austria....
We have made major progress by moving docetaxel forward, and now the largest pool of patients who become hormone resistant have received local therapy and then progressed. We have a lot of drugs for castration-resistant prostate cancer, and we are studying them earlier in the course of disease, but ...
Ronald de Wit, MD, PhD, of Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands, called the use of docetaxel in addition to androgen-deprivation therapy “the latest paradigm shift” in the treatment of prostate cancer. The data showing a 10% absolute improvement in survival in the metastatic setting “are...
The results of a meta-analysis conducted in the United Kingdom may guide clinicians in the use of docetaxel and bisphosphonates in patients with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.1 Claire L. Vale, PhD, Senior Research Scientist at the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit at University...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde), in combination with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin, to treat patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who have been previously treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. The effectiveness of...
Anita Mahajan, MD, a radiation oncologist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, moderated the press conference where these findings were discussed. “Use of radiation for atypical meningiomas has been controversial. It has been difficult to put a study together, because we...
You don’t need high-tech interventions to prove value. Sometimes we can use a medication that has been around a long time,” declared press conference moderator Brian D. Kavanagh, MD, MPH, FASTRO, of the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver. “It is better to prevent the problem of ...
Bone is a common site of metastasis for prostate, breast, and lung cancers, and palliative radiotherapy is often used to treat these metastases. Although it is an effective therapy, severe pain flare following radiation occurs in about one-third of patients. It usually resolves within 10 days, but...
In 1997, after surviving a storm of high-court legal challenges, Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act went into effect, making Oregon the first American state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Supreme Court ruled that there was no right to assisted suicide in the Constitution but implied that...
At a press conference held during the ASTRO Annual Meeting, ASTRO President-Elect Brian D. Kavanagh, MD, MPH, FASTRO, interim Chair of Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver, said, “This study provides an important lesson for the field. We are lucky to...
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy appears to be preferable to three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiation therapy as part of treatment for patients with locally advanced (stage III) non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Compared with 3D conformal radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy...
Susan G. Komen has announced the recipients of the 2015 Brinker Awards for Scientific Distinction, which honors leading scientists who have made the most significant advances in breast cancer research and medicine. The 2015 recipients of the Brinker Awards for Scientific Distinction are Myles A....
The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy has enabled patients with HIV to live long enough to have high lifetime risks for several types of cancer. The finding has important clinical implications for cancer screening, as well as primary prevention, according to the results of a study funded by...
A study comparing self-reported falls by older patients with cancer with the history and physical and/or clinic notes completed by their oncology providers “found that oncology providers rarely recorded or responded to falls in their older patients.” There was minimal evidence of documentation of...
A study to examine end-of-life care among black and white patients dying of prostate cancer found that “significant racial disparities in end-of-life care” do exist. “Although diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are less frequent in black patients with end-stage prostate cancer, the rate of...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On October 22, 2015, irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde)...
As Chair of the American Cancer Society (ACS) panel that issued an updated guideline for breast cancer screening, Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, has answered questions and offered perspective on the updated guideline and its development for The New York Times, USA Today, and other major media outlets. As...
The reactions to the updated breast cancer screening guideline from the American Cancer Society (ACS) have been many, varied, and not consistently favorable but not surprising to Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, who chaired the ACS panel that issued the guideline. Breast cancer screening “is an area that...
I have always prided myself on being healthy and fit, so when I started experiencing a chronic cough, difficulty breathing, and pain in my ribs and back, I thought they were the inevitable symptoms of a severe cold. At 42 and the mother of three children, it was inconceivable to me that I could...
In June, the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons published a revision of its Facility Oncology Registry Data Standards (FORDS) manual, which contains all the data items, codes, and rules to abstract data into cancer registries at the more than 1,500 Commission on...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and myeloma. The trials are investigating combination treatments; modified chemotherapy regimens; autologous hematopoietic cell...
A team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto has used focused ultrasound to enable temporary and targeted opening of the blood-brain barrier, allowing the more effective delivery of chemotherapy into a patient’s malignant brain tumor. This is the first known report of the noninvasive...
Two years ago, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer of ASCO, proposed a unique clinical trial concept during an educational session on the challenges of delivering precision medicine services in a community setting at ASCO’s Annual Meeting. The idea was to design a clinical...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On October 23, 2015, trabectedin (Yondelis) was approved for the...