Judy C. Boughey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses findings from the I-SPY2 trial, which show that although the extent of residual disease and tumor biology in patients with breast cancer may impact outcomes, the type of axillary surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy does not (Abstract 3).
Natália Polidorio, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses findings on the impact of race on pathologic complete response in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy vs chemotherapy alone. Such targeted research may potentially result in more informed treatment strategies and improved identification of those most likely to benefit (Abstract 15).
Akhil G. Pachimatla, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses study findings showing that, in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), image-based adiposity measures show stronger correlations with gene-expression changes in these tumors than body mass index measures. Dr. Pachimatla explains the clinical implications (Abstract 37).
Jenny H. Chang, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, discusses the current surgical and radiologic treatment paradigm for patients with stage III Merkel cell carcinoma and the potential for neoadjuvant immunotherapy to help manage the disease and regional lymph node metastases (Abstract 67).
Heather McArthur, MD, MPH, of UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses phase III findings from the KEYNOTE-756 trial, which shows that adding pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy increases pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in patients with early-stage, high-risk, estrogen receptor–positive or HER2-negative breast cancer. (ER+/HER2−). The regimen shifted more patients to lower residual cancer burden categories (Abstract 2).
Sophia McKinley, MD, EdM, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses patterns of recurrence in patients with resected cutaneous melanoma during or after adjuvant immunotherapy. She identifies the risk factors associated with overall survival and treatment failure (Abstract 60).
