Research in cancer staging, surgical procedures, outcomes, and medical treatment was included among the 2,000 abstracts presented at the 97th Annual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in San Francisco.The ASCO Post was there to capture the latest findings. Neoadjuvant Chemot...

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The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Merit Awards will be presented to 20 leading oncology trainees for their important contributions to gastrointestinal cancer research. This year’s recipients will be recognized at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, which takes place January 19-21 in ...

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JANUARY 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium January 19-21 • San Francisco, California For more information: www.asco.org Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium January 26-28 • Phoenia, Arizona For more information: http://headandnecksymposium.org FEBRUARY Ame...

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Last November, Dell announced it was donating an initial $4 million including cloud-computing technology to speed up development of personalized medicine trials for children with neuroblastoma and other pediatric cancers. According to the American Cancer Society, about 650 children un...

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If we are able to harness the full potential of digital technologies, computerized registries, databases, and the Web, could we solve many of the current woes of our sluggish and costly health-care system? Yes, according toLynn Etheredge, a consultant with the Rapid Learning Project at the...

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Elderly Hodgkin lymphoma, typically defined as affecting individuals ≥ 60 years of age, remains a disease for which no standard treatment recommendation exists. This population is underrepresented in clinical studies, and survival rates in older patients with Hodgkin lymphoma are significantly a...

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At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference held recently in Kauai, Hawaii, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, Director of the Lymphoma Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, discussed Hodgkin lymphoma in elderly patients. Event-free survival and overall survival rates in ...

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Oncologists should be aware that common clinical tumor markers (denoting hormonal and HER2 status) change as breast cancer progresses, because these changes can affect treatment selection. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 receptor status was changed from the time of th...

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The Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization (ALTTO) study, which is evaluating various anti-HER2 therapy approaches in breast cancer, has discontinued the single-agent lapatinib (Tykerb) arm, according to study sponsor GlaxoSmithKline. Following a preplanned interim analysis ...

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Chemotherapy can be delivered before breast-conserving therapy or after surgery, without influencing long-term local-regional recurrence, a large study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center confirmed. The data were presented at the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco.1 ...

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More than 14 years after an NIH Consensus Panel finding of “efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting,” an informal show-of-hands poll at the Eighth International Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Conference indicated acupuncture was not yet fully in...

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“Many new frontiers exist in integrative medicine,” NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, stated in his keynote address at the Eighth International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) in Cleveland. “The evidence is overwhelming that these approaches are being used by many in...

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“Innovating Integrative Oncology: New Science, New Solutions” was the title of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Eighth International Conference. Topics ranged from molecular biology to mitigation of treatment toxicity to mind-body medicine. A total of 505 people attended the conference,...

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Vulvovaginal atrophy is a concern for the majority of patients with breast cancer, not only because of its physical and psychosexual consequences, but because the optimal treatment—estrogen replacement—is controversial. Patients and physicians alike remain concerned that external estradiol may co...

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When sipuleucel-T (Provenge) was approved by FDA in April 2010, it was the first vaccine to be approved as a treatment for prostate cancer and was hailed as a major advance. Although sipuleucel-T is now reimbursable by Medicare, some physicians are not clear about when to use it, and patients who...

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Surgery did not increase survival rates compared to watchful waiting in men with clinically localized prostate cancer. Results were particularly strong for men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels of 10 ng/dL and under, and those who have low-risk disease, according to data from the ...

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Active surveillance of localized prostate cancer is a viable management option that should be offered to low-risk patients in place of immediate treatment, said a panel of experts convened by the National Institutes of Health. A fairly new concept, active surveillance takes a more proactive appro...

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Surgical oncologists urged other cancer providers to appreciate the potentially curative role that surgery can play in the management of many stage IV solid tumors, in a session during the American College of Surgeons 97th Annual Clinical Congress in San Francisco. Pulmonary Metastases Stephen G....

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A new gene classifier differentiates between women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer who go on to develop metastases early vs late, possibly paving the way for tailored adjuvant therapy. Using pretreatment tumor biopsies, a team led by Minetta C. Liu, MD, of the Georgetown Univer...

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An important study suggests that radiotherapy may not be a necessary addition to chemotherapy in previously untreated patients with limited-stage Hodgkin lymphoma, sparing patients the risks of late radiation-induced cardiac effects and second cancers. These data were based on 12 years of follow-...

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A study presented at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting raised concerns that newly diagnosed cancer patients are having trouble seeing an oncologist. Interviews with several cancer centers and community practices, however, suggest that the process runs smoothly, for the most part. Majority of Patients ...

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At the recent Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Julie M. Vose, MD, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, discussed novel treatments for peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). PTCL is a heterogeneous group of aggressive T-cell/natural killer (NK) cell non-Hodgkin lymph...

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Newer therapies for the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were discussed at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium. More inroads have been made in improving outcomes for patients with NSCLC than for those with SCLC, but there is still room for improv...

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It is an exciting time for researchers involved in developing new therapies for bladder cancer. More agents are in clinical development, drugs with novel mechanisms and novel trial designs are being implemented, and functional collaboration is occurring in the field, according to Noah Hahn, MD, A...

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Women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer are much less likely to have disease progression or die when two agents are used instead of one to target the HER2 signaling pathway, investigators for the international phase III CLEOPATRA trial found. The 808 women studied were randomly assigned t...

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Adding an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to hormonal therapy for advanced breast cancer effectively circumvents resistance, suggest updated results of the randomized BOLERO-2 trial. With a median follow-up of 12.5 months, the likelihood of disease progression or death among...

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Does one size fit all for the treatment of sarcoma? The answer is a resounding “no,” according to Jean-Yves Blay, MD, Department of Medicine, Université Claude Bernard, and Unité INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research Unit), Lyon, France. Researchers have been able to classify ...

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There was a time when clinical trial results were disseminated mainly through peer-reviewed journals that appeared in your mailbox. Computers and prompt reporting from medical conferences changed that, and same-day postings on medical websites brought “breaking news” a step closer. But the evolut...

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The electronic health record system offered by vendors is more like a filing cabinet, not the sophisticated, interactive database needed by busy oncologists, according to Kevin S. Hughes, MD, FACS, Co-Director, Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, who prese...

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A well-documented flaw in paper-based health care is the propensity for medical errors. According to Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc, implementing clinical decision support software can decrease medical error, improve outcomes, and lower the costs of care. Presenting a session titled “Improving...

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The American Society of Hematology announced the election of three new members to its Executive Committee, the governing body of the organization, for terms to begin in January 2012. Linda J. Burns, MD, will serve a 1-year term as Vice President, followed by successive terms as President-Elect an...

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Although a rare occurrence, men do get breast cancer, and when they do, it has a distinct biology from that of female breast cancer. About 90% of cases most closely resemble postmenopausal female invasive ductal carcinoma, and 10% are ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which accounts for 25% of bre...

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A sizable proportion of bladder cancer patients who would benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy are not receiving it, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, concluded. Their conclusion was based on their assessment of the neutrophil/lymphocyte ...

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The addition of panitumumab (Vectibix) to chemotherapy improved overall and progression-free survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, but its benefit was limited to patients whose tumors were negative for the human papillomavirus (HPV).1 The ...

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Nearly 16,000 people from 16 countries attended this year’s European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held recently in Stockholm. The ASCO Post has featured several key reports from the meeting and will offer further coverage in upcoming issues. Additional noteworthy studies presented at the me...

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The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Janet Rowley, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, and Brian Druker, MD, of Oregon Health & Science University with the 2011 Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize for their significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of chroni...

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At the 2011 Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Kauai, Hawaii, Andreas Engert, MD, Chairman of the German Hodgkin Lymphoma Study Group (GHSG) and Professor of Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, discussed the treatment of nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL)...

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Despite clear evidence that tobacco causes at least 18 types of cancer, as well as many other diseases, many people all over the world smoke or chew tobacco, or are exposed to secondhand smoke. Although smoking among Americans has declined slowly but steadily over the past 40 years, it rem...

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The 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium was recently held in San Francisco, bringing together a multidisciplinary group of specialists and sponsored by ASCO, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the Society of Surgical Oncology, the American Society of Breast Disease, the American Society...

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The need to restrict treatment with panitumumab (Vectibix) to metastatic colorectal cancer patients with wild-type (normal) KRAS tumors was upheld in a study presented at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress (EMCC). The investigation found a consistent lack of benefit for th...

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To help community oncology practices and large institutions navigate recent health-care policy changes and leverage health information technology (HIT) to improve the quality of care, ASCO will hold the 2011 HIT/EHR Symposium at the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta on November 4-5. "Th...

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The Cancer Legal Resource Center (CLRC) is a joint program of the Disability Rights Legal Center and Loyola Law School Los Angeles. This national organization provides free and confidential information on cancer-related financial and legal issues to cancer survivors, families, employers, h...

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At a recent press conference in Washington, DC, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) assembled luminaries from the cancer research and care communities to discuss the salient points of the association's newly released progress report on the current and future state of cancer...

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The investigational antibody-drug conjugate T-DM1 improved progression-free survival over standard chemotherapy with docetaxel plus trastuzumab (Herceptin) when given as first-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to an open-label phase II study reported at th...

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Maintenance therapy with bevacizumab (Avastin) plus pemetrexed (Alimta) showed a modest improvement in progression-free survival vs bevacizumab alone in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to the final analysis of the AVAPERL study. In a separate study, sel...

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Adding everolimus (Afinitor) to exemestane in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer resistant to aromatase inhibitors significantly improved outcomes, according to the phase III BOLERO-2 trial reported at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress, held September 23-27 ...

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D. Neil Hayes, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, described efforts to position the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor cetuximab (Erbitux) in head and neck cancer treatment. Surprisingly negative results came from the phase III Radiation The...

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Novel approaches and agents reported at the ASCO 2011 Annual Meeting are improving outcomes in sarcoma, a heterogeneous disease with historically poor outcomes, according to William D. Tap, MD, Section Chief of Sarcoma Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Tap...

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At the Best of ASCO® Miami meeting, Omid Hamid, MD, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute (www.theangelesclinic.org), Los Angeles, California, reviewed abstracts that received a great deal of attention at this year's Annual Meeting-the new treatments for metastatic melanoma. He also de...

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At the Best of ASCO Miami meeting, Daniela Matei, MD, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, Indianapolis, described how new approaches are significantly prolonging remission in ovarian cancer. Ovarian Screening Provides No Benefit The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, an...

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At the Best of ASCO Miami meeting, William Oh, MD, of the Tisch Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, described new trends and remaining questions in the management of renal cell and prostate cancers. Axitinib vs Sorafenib in Second-line RCC Axitinib, a potent an...

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Myeloma data reported at this year's ASCO meeting raise concern about the safety of a mainstay class of drugs in this disease, while also hinting at good efficacy of some novel drugs and approaches, according toWilliam I. Bensinger, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattl...

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The selected studies answer some critical questions in lymphoma that hematologists face daily and that have been the source of intense debate in the field, according to Oliver Press, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle. "I thi...

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Three abstracts reported at the Best of ASCO® meeting in Seattle provide guidance to hematologists when it comes to long-standing gray areas in lymphoma management, according to Oliver Press, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, Seattle. ...

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Studies presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting in the field of noncolorectal gastrointestinal cancer both reaffirmed certain standards of care and introduced some practice-changing data, according to A. Craig Lockhart, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis. Perioperative Therapy for ...

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Colorectal cancer studies reported at this year's ASCO meeting offered little in the way of practice-changing information, according to Axel Grothey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. But they did confirm existing standards of care, he noted at the Best of ASCO® meeting in Se...

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At the Best of ASCO® meeting in Miami, Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Carey K. Anders, MD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, presented high-impact breast cancer abstracts that will enable clinicians to optimize their use of radiotherapy and b...

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Data presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting this year on the management of locoregional lung cancer present a mixed picture, with some advances and some disappointments, according to H. Jack West, MD, of the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, who reviewed studies in this area at the Best o...

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Molecular diversity-its existence, extent, and implications for therapy-was a central theme of key metastatic lung cancer studies presented at this year's ASCO meeting, according to D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado, Denver, who addressed major findings in advanced lu...

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Armando Giuliano, MD, and Carlos Arteaga, MD, are being honored as this year's winners of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Brinker Awards for Scientific Distinction in basic science and clinical research. The awards will be presented on December 7 at the 34th Annual San Antonio Breast Canc...

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Marie E. Wood, MD, of the Familial Cancer Program at the University of Vermont, Burlington, addressed clinically relevant issues in supportive care and survivorship at the Best of ASCO® Annual Meeting '11 in Miami. Delayed Nausea and Vomiting Two studies addressed the problem of chem...

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Certain preleukemic conditions and leukemia in high-risk patients have remained challenging to treat despite advances in hematology, according to Wendy Stock, MD, of the University of Chicago. But studies reported at the Best of ASCO® Annual Meeting '11 in Seattle show progress even in these are...

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Recently elected officers for the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) began their terms at ASTRO's 53rd Annual Meeting in Miami Beach, which was held October 2-6, 2011. The new Board of Directors members are: President-elect: Colleen A. Lawton, MD, FASTRO, Medical Colle...

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In a subanalysis of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) B-32 study, nearly 16% of clinically node-negative patients were found to have occult metastases upon more detailed assessment of the sentinel lymph nodes. While a slight difference in outcomes was found am...

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Treatment and prevention of bone metastases in patients with prostate cancer is coming of age, according to several studies presented at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress (ECCO/ESMO/ESTRO). Among the most impressive studies reported was an international phase III trial of radiu...

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Young age is not a reason, in itself, to recommend mastectomy for early breast cancer in women aged 40 and under, according to two studies presented at the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco. While younger women have been pegged as having more aggressive disease, the results s...

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Oncologists may successfully manage their patients with cancer by following treatment guidelines, but they come up short when it comes to prescribing simple measures to enhance their patients' health, according toAnn Partridge, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, who spoke on...

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For renal cell carcinoma patients at high risk of relapse following nephrectomy, adjuvant therapy with the combination of interleukin-2 (Proleukin), interferon alfa, and fluorouracil (5-FU) provides no survival benefit over observation alone, according to a phase III trial conducted by the...

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Using a CA-125 blood test combined with transvaginal ultrasound for early detection of ovarian cancer failed to reduce the risk of mortality associated with the disease and led to a large number of false-positive tests with unnecessary related biopsies and other follow-up procedures in the large,...

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The 14th World Conference on Lung Cancer hosted more than 7,000 attendees in Amsterdam recently, with the theme “Better Care through Personalized Medical Approaches.” The following are brief summaries of key data presented at the conference, with perspective provided by Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of...

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Men with prostate cancer who receive intermittent courses of androgen-suppressing therapy can live as long as those who are treated with continuous therapy, according to results of a recently concluded study. Until now, standard treatment has consisted of continuous therapy, but this is expected ...

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Bevacizumab (Avastin) administered with chemotherapy and continued after chemotherapy improves outcomes in ovarian cancer, according to two multicenter, randomized, double-blind phase III investigations presented at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting. The first study, ICON7, incorporated bevacizumab as...

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Three randomized controlled trials presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) suggested that treating multiple myeloma with lenalidomide (Revlimid) increased the risk of second primary malignancies; of particular concern is transformation to acute myeloid leu...

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Findings from a Canadian study presented at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting may expand the pool of patients with lymph node–positive breast cancer offered extended-field irradiation.1 “Results from MA.20 suggest that all women with node-positive disease following breast-conserving surgery be offered...

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Two separate trials presented during an oral session at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting suggest that capecitabine (Xeloda) can replace fluorouracil (5-FU) as part of chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer. Patients randomly assigned to either treatment had comparable outcomes but with less toxicity fro...

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According to M. Dror Michaelson, MD, PhD, second-line therapy with sunitinib (Sutent) and prednisone improves progression-free survival but not overall survival in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer previously treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy. Dr. Michaelson, of the M...

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Myeloablative therapy with a busulfan (Busulfex, Myleran)/melphalan combination (BuMel) was superior to a regimen of carboplatin/etoposide/melphalan (CEM) in pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma, according to results of the large, phase III HR-NBL1/SIOPEN trial presented at the 2011 AS...

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A phase III trial presented at the ASCO 2011 Plenary Session could change the duration of adjuvant therapy for some patients with resected gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). When imatinib treatment was extended to 3 years, compared with the standard 1 year, patients with high-risk GIST were ...

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This year ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation will support promising researchers as they pursue studies that explore the anticancer activity of diabetes drugs in prostate cancer, improve the quality of life for elderly patients with colorectal cancer, and examine psychosocial outcomes of siblings of...

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Patients with breast cancer and deficient levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D are more likely to have aggressive tumor profiles and unfavorable prognostic markers than women with optimal levels of vitamin D, according to research presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast S...

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For women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), radiation therapy after excision is not a slam-dunk in terms of benefits, according to a study presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons 12th Annual Meeting.1 In a study that focused on the pattern of breast cancer recurrence in women wit...

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Results from the Women’s Health Initiative1 showing a decreased incidence of breast cancer among postmenopausal hysterectomized women who took estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) may seem paradoxical, but “comply exactly” with laboratory research, according to V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc, Scien...

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Several presentations at the 59th Annual Clinical Meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), held April 30–May 4 in Washington, DC, focused on cancers associated with the reproductive tract and issues important to women’s health. Four noteworthy studies presented a...

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Cabozantinib (XL184), an oral inhibitor of MET kinase and the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR2), produced high rates of disease control in several solid tumor types and controlled bone metastases in many patients, according to a phase II study presented at the 2011 ASCO Annual ...

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The first identification of potential genetic biomarkers for taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy was reported at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting by researchers from Indiana University in Indianapolis.1 The presence of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), or common genetic variations, residin...

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A large, “real-world” study has validated current recommendations from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American Cancer Society (ACS), and American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) endorsing a 3-year cervical cancer screening interval for women...

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In his opening remarks at a workshop, “Implementing a National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century,” Richard Schilsky, MD, said, “There is something for everyone to do here to optimize the system.” The goal of the workshop was to examine efforts to implement IOM’s 2010 recommendati...

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As few as 5,000 community oncologists care for upward of 80% of the nation’s patients with cancer. According to Chris Beardmore, CEO of Translational Research Management (TRM), this vital group of community practitioners needs to use extreme caution or face an untenable loss of revenue. Speaking ...

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A presentation on legislative and regulatory issues at the recent 37th Annual National Meeting of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) in Washington, DC, offered attendees an overview of the changing health-care landscape, and a glimpse of things to come. Speaker Matthew Farber, Dir...

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The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) recently awarded John E. Niederhuber, MD, its Annual Achievement Award for his long-standing advocacy, dedication, and commitment to the study and treatment of cancer. The award was presented at ACCC’s 37th Annual National Meeting. Dr. Niederhube...

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A genomic test to distinguish between clinically indolent and aggressive prostate cancer may soon become a reality, suggests a study presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium held in Orlando, Florida, in February.1 Once the target genes are identified and the test is validated, it could be...

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The first interim results of the GIDEON registry trial, in which patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma were treated with sorafenib (Nexavar), revealed that oncologists use this treatment much differently from other specialists. Results in 479 patients indicate that oncologists were ...

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Fantastic and “the next big thing” were how two of the principal investigators described the results of an interim analysis of the phase III trial of PLX4032, the harbinger of a significant breakthrough in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. PLX4032 works by inhibiting a protein produced by a g...

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In updated results from the RADIANT trials of treatment for advanced neuroendocrine tumors, everolimus provided a 2.4-fold increase in median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. In combination with the long-acting formulation of the somatostatin ana...

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A physician-scientist credited with discovering the first human oncogene and isolating the first known tumor-suppressor gene is among the notable awardees to be honored by ASCO at its 2011 Annual Meeting. Each year through its Special Awards, ASCO recognizes quality researchers, patient advocates...

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The members of the American Association for Cancer Research have elected Frank McCormick, PhD, DSc (hon), as their President-elect. McCormick is the Director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He holds the E. Dixon Heise Distingu...

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What are the most effective and humane ways to plan cancer treatment, and how can caregivers and patients make these decisions together? These questions have been plaguing oncology since the beginning of modern care. Although suggested answers abound, implementation has not always been successful...

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An analysis of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) immunohistochemistry in the MRC COIN trial has revealed that patients with KRAS wild-type advanced colorectal cancer whose disease stains ≥ 10% positive for EGFR have a progression-free survival benefit from the addition of cetuximab (Erbitux...

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In a decision memo released March 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed that “the evidence is adequate to conclude that the use of autologous cellular immunotherapy treatment sipuleucel-T [Provenge] improves health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with asymptomatic ...

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Despite research efforts, an effective salvage treatment for metastatic urothelial cancer that has relapsed following first-line chemotherapy for metastatic disease remains an unmet need. Three different abstracts presented at the recent Genitourinary Cancers Symposium evaluated therapies in this...

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Although guidelines for the management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer recommend cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on level 1 evidence showing a survival advantage, only a small percentage of patients undergoing radical cystectomy who were eligible for this treatment received it in...

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The movement to relate gene profiles and protein expression to tumor aggressiveness is as active in pancreatic cancer as in other more common tumors, according to studies presented at the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held January 20–22 in San Francisco. Two investigations in particula...

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Two studies presented at this year’s Genitourinary Cancers Symposium shed light on treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The first study confirmed that the approved dosing schedule for sunitinib (Sutent) should be the schedule of choice in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The second study...

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The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ are among the most widely used guidelines in oncology practice. The Guidelines cover 97% of all patients with cancer and are continually updated by expert panels. The following is a synopsis of the 2011 upd...

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A large cohort study suggests that an initial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 3 ng/mL should be the cutoff for biopsy of the prostate and that men with initial PSA values < 2 ng/mL should be screened at substantially longer intervals than is the current practice. Experts agreed that t...

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A phase II University of Chicago consortium trial has demonstrated that sorafenib (Nexavar) can be a viable treatment option for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) resistant to the standard therapies, imatinib and sunitinib (Sutent). In the phase II trial, sorafen...

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Oncologists seeking continuing medical education (CME) credits at scientific meetings and online will notice a nonprofit organization among the offerings typically predominated by the pharmaceutical industry: the PLATO Foundation (Physicians Learning And Teaching in Oncology). The PLATO Foundati...

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National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, recently presented plans for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH's new agency launching October 1. The center, said Dr. Collins, will lead a "translational science effort to try to come up ...

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A subanalysis of the phase III N0147 clinical trial suggests that adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to the chemotherapy regimen FOLFIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil [5-FU], irinotecan) may result in statistically significant improvements in outcomes for patients with stage III resected colon cancer, compar...

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While oncologists are becoming more familiar with the idea of using circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to obtain prognostic information on their patients, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center are moving to the next level. David T. Ting, MD, of the CTC Laboratory at MGH ...

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Results of a pivotal Radiation Oncology Therapy Group (RTOG) phase II trial indicate that dose-painted intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has similar efficacy to two- or three-dimensional (3D) radiation therapy in treating anal cancer when combined with standard chemotherapy, but cause...

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Abiraterone acetate significantly prolonged overall survival in patients with castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer that progressed on docetaxel-based chemotherapy. The favorable effect of abiraterone was consistent across all prespecified subgroups, with a similar survival benefit as i...

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News was plentiful at the 2011 Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium, held in Orlando, Florida, February 17-19. The ASCO Post will feature key reports from the meeting (see, for example, news items here and here, and watch for coverage in future issues). In addition, other noteworthy studies pre...

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In men with rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels after radical therapy for prostate cancer, intermittent androgen suppression (IAS) was as effective as continuous androgen deprivation (CAD), with no overall difference in survival between the two treatments, and the potential for huge cos...

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Based on growth and aging of the U.S. population, medical expenditures for cancer in the year 2020 are projected to reach at least $158 billion (in 2010 dollars). This is an increase of 27% over 2010, according to a National Institutes of Health analysis.1 If newly developed tools for cance...

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A phase III study evaluating bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with carboplatin and gemcitabine followed by continued use of bevacizumab alone until disease progression in women with recurrent, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer, met its primary endpoint, according to a statement released...

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Over 400 oncologists and experts in the fields of economics, education, public health policy, and health insurance as well as representatives from patient organizations from around the world are gathering in Amsterdam, March 11-12, to participate in the First International Conference on Integrat...

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Oncologists concerned about cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) metabolism in patients taking tamoxifen for breast cancer can relax a bit, based on two key studies and expert commentary from the 33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December. CYP2D6 is intricately involved in the metaboli...

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Longer duration of treatment for primary breast cancer was not superior to a shorter regimen in the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 40101 trial, whose first results were presented by Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, at the 33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Sympos...

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Maintenance therapy with rituximab (Rituxan) improved survival in patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who responded to induction therapy, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American ...

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As always, the recent 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco offered more research news than any one publication could present. The following are capsule summaries of some of the most interesting findings. Postsurgical 'Wait Time' The time interval between surgery and adjuvan...

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The year ahead could be a provocative year in breast cancer treatment and research, according to several breast cancer specialists polled by The ASCO Post during the 2010 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. We asked them to comment on emerging issues that should be on the oncologist's radar in ...

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The second independent validation study to test the prognostic value of the gene signature test ColoPrint has found that it can effectively identify patients with localized stage II colon cancer at high risk of recurrence. Researchers also found that ColoPrint was the only factor able to indicat...

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A session devoted to esophageal cancer at the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held January 20-22 in San Francisco, offered a look at emerging strategies from different perspectives. The main message was the need for a multidisciplinary approach that engages medical oncologists, surgeons...

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Leading off the Presidential Symposium at the 52nd ASTRO Annual Meeting, ASTRO President-Elect Michael L. Steinberg, MD, of David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, gave a presentation titled "How Do Technologies Emerge and How Are They Reimbursed?" Dr. Steinberg set the table for his lecture w...

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George Sledge, MD, Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine and current ASCO President, received the 2010 William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held December 8-12. In his presentation,1 Dr. Sledge reflected on the wisdom of th...

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As a matter of course, patients with cancer receive treatment for their tumor and palliation for side effects, but one aspect of cancer care is frequently missing: solutions to the financial and even legal challenges that can accompany a cancer diagnosis. A national organization based in Los An...

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An aggressive strategy combining an escalated BEACOPP regimen plus ABVD and radiotherapy improved tumor control compared with standard treatment (ie, ABVD plus radiation) in patients with early unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma in the German Hodgkin Study Group HD14 trial. Lead author Andreas Engert, ...

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Cetuximab (Erbitux) may be an active addition to chemoradiation and chemotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer, according to the final results of an open-label, single-arm multicenter phase II study conducted in France by the Groupe Cooperateur Multidisciplinaire e...

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Mantle cell lymphoma, an aggressive form of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, has been associated with a poor prognosis and a median overall survival of 3 to 4 years. A study reported at the 52nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting demonstrated that the addition of high-dose cytarabine...

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As usual, news was plentiful at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which was held December 8-12, 2010. While The ASCO Post will devote more space to key presentations in this and future issues, many other studies are worth a mention: 1. The phase III international AZURE trial, conducted i...

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The molecular deciphering of triple-negative breast cancer has become a strong research goal. Studies presented at the 33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium moved the field forward, revealing distinct genetic subtypes within the triple-negative breast cancer classification and suggesti...

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Biologic agents and novel chemotherapies in various stages of clinical development hold promise for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, but as past experience shows, results of preliminary studies are not always confirmed in randomized controlled trials and many drugs with promising phase...

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The pivotal cascade of molecular events that culminate in ovarian cancer has not been fully elucidated, and therefore, treatment of this tumor has lagged behind several others that now benefit significantly from targeted therapies. But as the underlying mechanisms for ovarian cancer slowly come ...

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The concept of complete HER2 blockade with biologic agents gained steam at the 33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium upon the results of several phase III studies in the neoadjuvant setting. High rates of pathologic complete responses (pCR) were observed with various regimens of t...

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The prognosis for patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma treated today is significantly better than it would have been 15 years ago. More than 90% of patients with early-stage disease and 80% with advanced-stage disease will be cured. Several factors may be responsible for this: Splenectomy ha...

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In the first ever head-to-head comparative trial of a drug against anastrozole, the most common treatment for breast cancer, exemestane was not superior to anastrozole but comparable in its anticancer effects and likely better in terms of its side-effect profile," reported Study Chair Paul E. Go...

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Inefficiencies in the NCI-funded cancer clinical trials endeavor prompted the NCI Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee (CTAC) to establish the Operational Efficiency Working Group (OEWG). This body was charged with identifying barriers to speed and efficiency in protocol...

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Intensified chemoimmunotherapy with R-ACVBP (rituximab [Rituxan] plus doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine, bleomycin, and prednisone) significantly improved event-free survival, progression-free survival, disease-free survival, and overall survival compared with R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclo...

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New biologic therapies are a mixed blessing, said participants in a debate on whether access to these new drugs will improve survival. The new drugs are quite costly, and although some of them may significantly improve progression-free survival (PFS), with few exceptions, they have yet to show a...

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The investigational monoclonal antibody conjugate brentuximab vedotin (formerly called SGN-35) achieved dramatic responses in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) who had few if any other treatment options. The investigators, as well as other experts, were excited by these ...

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In the largest randomized study to test chemoradiotherapy against radiation alone in muscle-invasive bladder cancer, chemoradiotherapy with fluorouracil (5-FU) and mitomycin was associated with a 34% reduction in risk of locoregional recurrence, according to research presented at the plenary ses...

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Bevacizumab (Avastin) has become an established component of combination chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer, but several questions remain regarding use of this angiogenesis inhibitor, said James Abbruzzese, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Speaking at th...

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The final 5-year analysis of the four-arm HD11 multicenter randomized clinical trial reveals that four cycles of ABVD (doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) plus 30-Gy involved-field radiotherapy (IFRT) is the treatment of choice for patients with early unfavorable Hodgkin lymphom...

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The sustainable growth rate (SGR) is the method used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to control Medicare's spending on physician services. Generally, the SGR was designed to ensure that the cost per Medicare beneficiary does not exceed the growth in real gross domestic ...

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In a comparison of patients with asymptomatic stage II, III, or IV follicular lymphoma, results of a randomized trial demonstrated that rituximab (Rituxan) maintenance therapy can delay the time to treatment for patients with nonbulky disease. The results of an Intergroup randomized trial of rit...

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Despite the quantity and diversity of research that will improve the future for people with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, the present is not a happy place for them, said John L. Marshall, MD, Chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology and Director of the Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Ga...

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Recent data from adjuvant trials of antiangiogenic therapy have left many in the field scratching their heads. For an approach seemingly brimming with promise, what went wrong? Is there a place for antiangiogenic therapy in early-stage tumors? The topic is "hot" enough that it was debated befor...

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Olatoyosi Odenike, MD, of The University of Chicago, said the findings of the hyper-CVAD plus imatinib study were striking, given the wide difference in overall survival between the hyper-CVAD plus imatinib group and the historical cohort who received chemotherapy alone. "Although the CR rates w...

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A study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center that evaluated long-term outcomes in Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) found that the combination treatment of a hyper-CVAD regimen (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone) and...

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Three phase III trials addressing the use of lenalidomide (Revlimid) for either induction or maintenance therapy in multiple myeloma suggest that the drug is safe and effective in both settings. These findings were presented at the Best of ASCO Meeting in Boston by Paul G. Richardson, MD, Clinica...

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Stage IV colorectal cancer with metastases confined to the liver no longer carries as dire a prognosis as it once did for a sizeable proportion of patients. With modern chemotherapy and specialized liver surgery, 10-year survival has improved dramatically over the past decade, according to prese...

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The future appears a bit brighter for patients with advanced melanoma and brain metastases, according to two studies presented at the 35th ESMO Congress, held October 8-12 in Milan, Italy. A subgroup analysis of a larger trial showed encouraging activity for ipilimumab in patients with a history...

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How are the challenges faced by medical oncologists in Europe different from issues facing their colleagues in the United States? At the 35th ESMO Congress, held October 8-12 in Milan, Italy, The ASCO Post asked a few attendees to comment on the practice of oncology in their country. "In Belg...

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Denosumab (Xgeva) was superior to zolendronate (zoledronic acid; Zometa) in patients with advanced cancer and bone metastases in preventing or delaying time to first skeletal-related events, as well as reducing the incidence of these events, in a pooled analysis of three pivotal trials presented...

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To reduce the risk of a second breast cancer, contralateral prophylactic mastectomy has become an increasingly acceptable option, with rates doubling over the past decade.1,2 Papers and discussions at the 2010 Breast Cancer Symposium, held recently in National Harbor, Maryland, supported this tr...

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Rectal cancer patients who receive 1 week of radiotherapy prior to total mesorectal excision have a 50% reduction in the chance for local pelvic recurrence, according to a large randomized study presented at the plenary session of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Onc...

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For the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, the PARP inhibitor iniparib improved overall survival, and cetuximab (Erbitux) showed benefit as well, in two randomized phase II studies presented at the 35th ESMO Congress in Milan, Italy. Eagerly Awaited Data The data on overall survi...

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The passage of health-care reform-the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act-is a "world historical event," having been attempted by five previous presidents over almost 100 years before being accomplished by the Obama administration, said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, Special Advisor for Hea...

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Patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) treated with imatinib must continue to receive therapy continuously until disease progression or intolerance. These long-term data from the BFR14 French Sarcoma Group study confirmed earlier similar findings noted after 1 and 3 years ...

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A large multicenter phase III trial has found that the addition of figitumumab, a monoclonal antibody directed at insulin-like growth factor type 1 receptor (IGF-1R), to standard first-line chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) does not improve overall survival and increases the ri...

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The initial results of a randomized phase III clinical trial of nanoparticle albumin bound (nab)-paclitaxel (Abraxane) used with carboplatin indicates that this combination results in superior objective response rates in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) compared with paclitaxel/carbopl...

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Abiraterone acetate, an investigational oral drug, extended survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) by about 4 months compared with placebo in a large phase III trial reported at the 35th ESMO Congress, held October 8-12 in Milan, Italy.1 "This should be ...

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Unfortunately, several recently approved treatments for various cancers have yielded only meager gains in life expectancy. More than ever, a paradigm shift is needed in the development of novel drugs in the clinical venue. Biomarkers-substances measured biologically and associated with an increa...

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Although about one-third of women with BRCA-mutated breast cancer will develop contralateral breast cancer in 15 years, the risk is actually much higher for certain women, and they should be counseled accordingly, said Kelly Metcalfe, RN, PhD, of the University of Toronto, who led a multicenter ...

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The 10-year follow-up of the ATAC trial (Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination) upholds the disease control advantage seen for anastrozole over tamoxifen in the longest running clinical trial of aromatase inhibitors in early breast cancer. The new data were presented at the 2010 Breast Ca...

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The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard first-line chemotherapy for newly diagnosed ovarian cancer reduced the risk of disease progression at a median follow-up of 19.4 months in the phase III Gynaecologic Cancer InterGroup (GCIC) ICON7 trial. The results were presented at the 35t...

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In the final analysis of the pivotal IPASS trial,1 overall survival, which was a secondary endpoint, was similar for gefitinib and carboplatin/paclitaxel, reported Chih-Hsin James Yang, MD, of National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine in Taipei, Taiwan. "But the true effect of...

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In the phase III OPTIMAL study, which was conducted in China, first-line single-agent erlotinib (Tarceva) given to patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) extended median progression-free survival (PFS) to 13.1 months, a highly significant increase over a PFS of 4.6 months...

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José Carreras, one of the greatest tenors of all time, appeared on stage earlier this month at La Scala after a 14-year absence, in a concert to raise funds for the fight against cancer. The occasion was the 35th Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), October 8-12, 2010, i...

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According to William Kevin Kelly, DO, of Thomas Jefferson University, the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to the combination of docetaxel and prednisone offers no survival advantage compared with docetaxel and prednisone alone in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Dr...

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Administering an intensified regimen of BEACOPP chemotherapy (bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine [Matulane], and prednisone) to patients with interim PET-positive advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) after treatment with two courses of ABVD (doxorubicin, bleo...

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The largest study to date to look at the effects of preoperative chemoradiotherapy in advanced esophageal cancer has found that a combination regimen of chemotherapy and radiation before resection is superior to surgery alone, according to an abstract presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. I...

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Although the results of the Iressa Pan-Asia study (IPASS) suggested that the oral agent gefitinib (Iressa) improved outcomes in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)-particularly those with EGFR mutations-those benefits have not been proven in other recent trials of patients ...

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Updated efficacy and safety results from a multicenter international phase III trial indicate that compared to placebo, sunitinib (Sutent) provides significantly longer progression-free survival for patients with advanced, progressive, and well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, ac...

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Although chemotherapy is the standard neoadjuvant treatment in postmenopausal women with large breast tumors, an endocrine approach may be more suitable and may, in fact, help further optimize systemic treatment as well. "Estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease is highly heterogeneous, and this...

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Community oncologists are devising ways to stay afloat as they brace for the "perfect economic storm" making landfall on their practices. At a 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting session called "The Challenge of Financial Survival," speakers described their view of these uncharted waters. Indeed, many pra...

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The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is dysregulated by a variety of mechanisms in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Drugs that target EGFR, therefore, have become an integral component of care, although their optimal use is still being refined. Two experts in this area addressed some o...

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Zalutumumab significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) and disease control (response plus stable disease) compared with best supportive care in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in whom standard platinum-based chemotherapy had failed.1 The investigati...

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On the heels of the positive studies of nilotinib (Tasigna) and dasatinib (Sprycel) as first-line therapy for chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), promising results for another tyrosine kinase inhibitor-bosutinib-were presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. Two separate studies repor...

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Elderly women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive early breast cancer may be able to safely forgo radiation therapy after lumpectomy, according to data from a large Intergroup trial presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. The only significant benefit for the addition of radiation therapy to ...

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Survivors of childhood cancer who were treated with anthracyclines are likely to develop cardiomyopathy years later, the Children's Oncology Group reported at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. The risk is increased among those who received low doses of anthracyclines, if they carry particular varian...

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Novel targeted therapies have extended survival for patients with renal cell cancer, and provide the practicing oncologist with a new array of treatment options. Although clinical data about the effectiveness of targeted therapies for both treatment-naive and metastatic renal cell cancer patient...

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Women with ovarian cancer do not survive longer if they receive first-line chemotherapy with gemcitabine (Gemzar) and carboplatin, compared with the standard of care, according to a phase III trial presented during the Gynecologic Cancer Oral Abstract Session at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting...

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Single-agent bevacizumab (Avastin) may be an appropriate option for maintenance therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, instead of continuing treatment with bevacizumab and chemotherapy, according to a phase III study presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. However, the data re...

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An analysis of pathologic markers and gene expression by stage in colon cancer indicates that between stage II and III disease, the vast majority of cancer-related genes studied show a "remarkable similarity," according to authors of the study, presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting. During ...

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Palliative care initiated upon diagnosis helped patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) not only have better quality of life (QOL) but also live longer, in a phase III randomized trial comparing early palliative care to standard cancer care. Jennifer S. Temel, MD, of Massachu...

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Denosumab significantly increased the time to sustaining a skeletal-related event (SRE) compared to zoledronic acid in men with castration-resistant (hormone-refractory) prostate cancer, in one of the largest trials conducted in this setting.1 The study's primary endpoint was to show noninferio...

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The addition of radiation therapy to hormone therapy extends survival of men with locally advanced high-risk prostate cancer vs hormone therapy alone, according to a phase III trial reported at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 These findings are especially important, because many urologists and on...

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A multiagent chemotherapy regimen should become the new standard front-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, according to authors of a phase III trial presented at this year's ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Compared with single-agent gemcitabine (Gemzar), the new treatment, FOLFIRINOX ...

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Rituximab (Rituxan) maintenance therapy reduced the risk of recurrence by 50% in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) who responded to induction therapy with rituximab plus chemotherapy, according to an interim analysis of the Primary Rituximab and Maintenance (PRIMA) phase III study, which co...

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Results of the phase III ASCENT2 trial found that the combination of docetaxel and high-dose calcitriol provided no survival benefit compared with docetaxel and prednisone in men with progressive castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). These findings, recently reported at the 2010 ASCO Annua...

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The largest clinical trial of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted, first-line treatment of advanced colorectal cancer demonstrated negative results overall. Nevertheless, researchers identified possible subgroups of patients who may benefit from the addition of cetuximab (Erbitux) to...

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A phase III clinical trial found that cetuximab (Erbitux) added to standard adjuvant chemotherapy for resected stage III colon cancer did not improve either overall survival or disease-free survival (DFS), even in patients with wild-type KRAS tumors. Results of the study, the North Central Cance...

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A study presented at the 2010 Digestive Disease Week Annual Meeting found that intra-abdominal fat was a predictor of survival in patients with pancreatic cancer, and the greater the amount of intra-abdominal fat, the worse the survival.1 The meeting was held May 1-5 in New Orleans. "Obesity is...

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Lenalidomide (Revlimid) dramatically reduced the rate of recurrence in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) following first-line autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT), according to interim results of a phase III study. The data were presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting by lead investigator ...

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Two separate phase III randomized, controlled trials showed superiority of dasatinib (Sprycel) and nilotinib (Tasigna), respectively, compared with imatinib, the current standard of care for newly diagnosed, chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Even though these studies were positive...

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Within the next few years, the number of therapies that can effectively target prostate cancer at a cellular and molecular level are likely to experience exponential growth-and provide new options to the oncologist treating this cancer, according to several speakers at an educational session at ...

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In a phase III randomized study, patients with metastatic breast cancer who were treated with the novel agent eribulin mesylate lived on average 2.5 months longer than those treated with existing single agents, representing a statistically significant improvement in overall survival (OS) in an i...

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Should the pharmaceutical industry continue its current path of largely developing drugs that add only incremental increases in efficacy, or more aggressively develop and tap knowledge of disease processes to create medications that have a dramatic impact? "I'm in favor of a clinical developmen...

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Women with advanced ovarian cancer live longer without disease progression when they receive bevacizumab (Avastin) with first-line chemotherapy and then as single-agent maintenance therapy, a phase III clinical trial presented at the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting finds. Results of the Gynecologic Onc...

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Older persons with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can gain 4 months in overall survival (OS) when treated with a paclitaxel/carboplatin doublet, vs a single agent, according to French investigators who reported highly significant improvements at the Plenary Session of the 2010 ASCO ...

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In a phase I study in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presented at the Plenary Session of the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting, a multinational group of researchers reported impressive clinical activity with an investigational agent unfamiliar to many oncologists.1 The oral drug crizotinib ...

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Optimal first-line therapy and the role of postremission/maintenance therapy are evolving challenges in the management of follicular lymphoma. The impact of recent studies on these issues was explored at a session on clinical management of common lymphomas during the recent 14th Annual Internati...

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Although the efficacy of targeted therapy for metastatic renal cell cancer is well established when prior nephrectomy is performed, research reports on the effectiveness of targeted therapy for treatment of the primary tumor have largely been anecdotal. Some case reports, however, have shown a d...

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Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) may be an effective treatment option for select patients with small renal cancer masses, such as those who are elderly, have comorbidities, or have other active malignancies, according to a study presented at the 2010 Genitourinary (GU) Cancers Symposium in San Fran...

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T he National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology have become the most widely used guidelines in oncology practice. The Guidelines cover 97% of all patients with cancer and are continually updated by expert panels. The following is a synopsis of the 2010 u...

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When it comes to health care, the one matter on which bipartisan consensus exists is that costs are out of control. Just how to contain those costs is another matter. Many, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, are looking to move away from the fee-for-service reimbursement...

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Researchers at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) introduced four new drugs that appear to successfully fight tumors in preclinical trials. The clinical drug possibilities revealed at the AACR meeting, held April 17-21 in Washington, DC, include NMS-11...

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Cancer researchers who nourish ideas to fruition must start focusing on the clinical values of their discoveries and not just whether their ideas work, several experts said at a Special Session of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, held April 17-21 in Washington, D...

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Clinical and laboratory investigations of castration-resistant prostate cancer indicate that researchers may be near to identifying subtypes of the disease. "Unlike many other cancers, we don't yet have a clinically relevant scheme to subclassify our patients," said Charles L. Sawyers, MD, of Mem...

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At last year's ASCO Annual Meeting, the class of agents capable of inhibiting poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase-ie, PARP inhibitors-was moved to the forefront in the minds of many oncologists. This occurred when investigators announced preliminary findings for two investigational co...

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Men with castrate-resistant prostate cancer in whom docetaxel therapy fails may soon have a new treatment option, according to research presented at the 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, cosponsored by ASCO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the...

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The landmark Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 94-08 clinical trial was the first to demonstrate definitively that the addition of short-term hormones to radiation therapy does not improve survival in men with low-risk prostate cancer. And while a new subgroup analysis of the trial, presen...

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