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A new study found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, breast cancer screening rates declined among women aged 50 to 74 years at 32 community health centers that serve lower-income populations in the United States. The report, published by Stacey A. Fedewa, PhD, and colleagues in the journal Cancer,...
With COVID-19 case counts rising amid the spread of the Delta variant, ASCO has joined more than 50 health-care professional societies and organizations that represent millions of workers throughout health and long-term care in calling for all health-care employers to require their employees to be...
On August 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals aged 16 years and older. The vaccine also...
In a single-institution retrospective study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Ollila et al found a low rate of seroconversion after COVID-19 vaccination among adult patients with hematologic malignancies. Study Details The study included 160 patients at Rhode Island Hospital receiving ...
About one in four patients with blood cancer fail to produce detectable antibodies after COVID-19 vaccination, but results vary substantially by type of blood cancer, according to a study by Greenberger et al published in the journal Cancer Cell. Although earlier studies have shown that certain...
A new population-based study showed that although national lung cancer screening rates decreased in some states, 19 states actually experienced significant improvements in screening rates despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall lung cancer screening rates remained low and unchanged, according to...
In an Israeli single-institution prospective cohort study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Bergwerk et al identified breakthrough COVID-19 infections among 39 of 1,497 health-care workers fully vaccinated with the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine. As stated by the investigators:...
Cancer clinical trial research rapidly adapted to the circumstances of enrolling and treating patients in clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to findings from a study of enrollment during 2020 and early 2021 published by Joseph M. Unger, PhD, and colleagues in JAMA Network ...
In a single-center retrospective study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Robinson et al found a vaccine-related axillary adenopathy incidence rate of 3% among women undergoing screening or diagnostic mammography within 90 days of receipt of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine....
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Bernstein et al found that prostatectomy rates during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic were dramatically lower among Black men vs White men with previously untreated nonmetastatic prostate cancer. Study Details The study involved...
Individuals with cancer or a history of cancer should be eligible for clinical trials—including COVID-19 vaccine trials—unless there is safety justification for exclusion, ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) asserted in a recently released joint position statement. To date, clinical...
The COVID-19 pandemic may have put the world on pause, but it also showed the medical community that rapid progress is possible with focus and collaboration. During the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Virtual Oncology Policy Summit, “Defining the ‘New Normal’ 2021 and the State of...
Moderator of the session at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Virtual Oncology Policy Summit, Clifford Goodman, PhD, Senior Vice President at The Lewin Group, said he was struck by the diverse impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic had on cancer care. One area that remained relatively...
From a dramatic drop in caseloads to missed screenings and diagnoses as well as the emergence of telemedicine, COVID-19 turned the world of oncology upside down. During the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Virtual Oncology Policy Summit, “Defining the ‘New Normal’ 2021 and the State of...
A new study has found that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to significant disruptions in breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screenings at federally qualified health systems spanning 15 states across the United States. The postponed screenings have created backlogs that systems will need to...
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, elective medical procedures, including screenings for breast cancer, were curtailed to prioritize urgent medical needs and reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus in health-care settings. A study showed that, as of May 2020, preventive...
In a U.S. and Swiss study, nearly all patients with cancer developed an immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines 3 to 4 weeks after receiving their second dose. However, a small group of the patients exhibited no response, raising questions about how their protection against the virus will be...
Paul G. Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses challenges patients with multiple myeloma have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the research he and his international colleagues are conducting to better understand these difficulties and improve patient care.
Patients with multiple myeloma had a wide variety of responses to COVID-19 vaccines—in some cases, no detectable response at all—pointing to the need for antibody testing and precautions for these patients after vaccination, according to a study published by Van Oekelen et al in Cancer Cell. Mount...
A new study has found evidence of the adverse effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on cancer detection and surgical treatments. The study, published by Robin Yabroff, PhD, MBA, and colleagues in JNCI: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found a 10.2% decline in real-time electronic pathology ...
This past October, in a virtually held ceremony of the General Assembly of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), Anil K. D’Cruz, MBBS, MS, DNB, FRCS (Hon), Director of Oncology at Apollo Hospitals in Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi, India, began his 2-year tenure as President of the global...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Michael A. Thompson, MD, PhD, FASCO, and colleagues found that the use of convalescent plasma therapy was associated with improved 30-day mortality among patients with hematologic cancers hospitalized for COVID-19. Study Details The study...
Individuals with cancer or a history of cancer should be eligible for clinical trials—including COVID-19 vaccine trials—unless there is safety justification for exclusion, ASCO and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) asserted in a joint position statement released today. To date, clinical trials...
In a large cohort study reported by Sharafeldin et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) found that COVID-19–positive vs –negative status was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality at 1 year among patients with...
In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ranganathan et al quantified the enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delivery of cancer services in India. Study Details The study involved data from 41 cancer centers across the nation. The delivery of oncology services between March 1 and May...
By now, most health-care workers have been vaccinated against COVID-19.* Physical immunity would appear to last for at least 6 months and probably longer. The physical pandemic for most oncologists is declining, with an end in sight. We are protected from the serious physical consequences of...
Although once again, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) 2021 Annual Conference could not take place on site in Orlando, researchers presented their work virtually in the form of almost 100 posters. The ASCO Post has summarized some that we found particularly interesting. Many...
COVID-19 pandemic–related disruptions in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and research have varied worldwide and so have the responses to those disruptions. During the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2021 International Conference on Surgical Cancer Care, members of the Global Forum of Cancer...
A study by researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center found that patients with cancer diagnosed with COVID-19 who received care at home via remote patient monitoring were significantly less likely to require hospitalization for their illness, compared to patients with cancer infected with the virus...
In a study led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center involving more than 3,000 women treated for breast cancer at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, only 64 patients, or 2% of the total study population, contracted the virus. Of this group, 10 died ...
Doctors and scientists across America at National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers and other organizations recently issued a joint statement urging the nation’s health-care systems, physicians, parents, children, and young adults to get human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination back on ...
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) released Trending Now in Cancer Care 2020, an annual report that identifies current and emerging trends in cancer programs across the country. The detailed report presents findings from focus groups that illuminate the short- and long-term impact...
The COVID-19 pandemic remains a global health issue, putting unprecedented stress on health-care systems, with important implications for cancer care. Although at this stage the data are fairly limited, we know that patients with cancer are far more vulnerable to worse outcomes, including a greater ...
“Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.” —Hippocrates To complement The ASCO Post’s continued comprehensive coverage of the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, here are several abstracts selected from the...
Although the National Cancer Act of 1971 has resulted in tremendous advances in cancer research, which have led to sharp declines in cancer mortality in the United States—from 1991 to 2018, there has been a 31% decrease in overall cancer death rates—and more than 17 million cancer survivors,1 much...
Breast cancer screening took a sizeable hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research showing that the number of screening mammograms completed in a large group of women living in Washington state plummeted by nearly half. Published by Amram et al in JAMA Network Open, the study...
Internationally renowned for his pioneering research in combining high-dose radiation therapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer to improve patient survival, ASCO’s President-Elect Everett E. Vokes, MD, FASCO, is dedicating his tenure as President to...
On May 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to include adolescents aged 12 through 15. The FDA...
As a three-time breast cancer survivor, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States this past January, I knew I had to do everything I could to avoid getting the virus. A host of lingering side effects from my surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments have left me with cardiovascular...
Pent up demand for cancer screenings, diagnostic workups, and treatments delayed or curtailed since the start of the pandemic is expected to result in a surge of patients—some with more advanced disease as a result of delays—seeking appointments with oncologists. “We are starting to see the...
Loneliness and social isolation have been significant problems for the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for patients with cancer, these issues were particularly acute, likely due to isolation and social distancing, according to a recent study published by Miaskowski et al in the ...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, and colleagues quantified cancer screening deficits in the United States associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and identified differences in deficits according to region and socioeconomic status. Study Details The...
In an interim analysis of a prospective observational study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Monin et al found that a single dose of the BNT162b2 Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was poorly immunogenic in patients with cancer, with immunogenicity markedly improving at 2 weeks after a second dose...
The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly altered breast cancer treatment approaches, with a significant rise in neoadjuvant endocrine therapy for estrogen receptor–positive tumors, enabling immediate evidence-based treatment of women with an extremely common form of breast cancer, while delaying surgery and...
Sudan is one of Africa’s largest countries, rich in underutilized natural resources but rife with conflicts and civil wars that have been ongoing since it gained its independence in 1956. These problems have reflected negatively on the health-care system. Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, is a busy...
Two new studies published in the journal Blood suggest that the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may have reduced efficacy in individuals with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and multiple myeloma. According to researchers, these studies could help inform the ideal time for vaccination of these...
In an Israeli case-control study reported in a commentary in The Lancet Oncology, Waissengrin et al found that the short-term safety of the Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was similar in patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors compared with healthy controls. Study Details...
We who live and work in Seattle recently took note of two milestones: the first death of a patient from COVID-19 reported in the United States in Seattle on February 28, 2020, and recognition of 5,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the state of Washington on March 2, 2021. The juxtaposition of these two...
Thomas K. Varghese, Jr, MD, of Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, summarizes a panel discussion on how the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted cancer screenings, when telemedicine works and when it doesn’t, opening alternative care sites in the community, and the emotional and mental toll the coronavirus has taken on health-care providers.
Radiation oncologists reported that new patients are arriving for treatment with more advanced-stage disease than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey conducted by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) this winter. The national survey of radiation therapy practice...