Medscape Conference Coverage, based on selected sessions at the:
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 44th Annual Meeting May 30, 2008 - June 3, 2008, Chicago, Illinois
This activity is not sanctioned by, nor a part of, the American Society of Clinical Oncology .
Breast Cancer Lung and Head/Neck Cancers Colorectal Cancer Metastatic Melanoma Genitourinary Cancers Oncology Insights Video Highlights Conference News Prospective Results Suggest GCC Prognostic in Colorectal Cancer A new study is encouraging experts to take another look at the potential of guanylyl cyclase C as a predictive marker. Medscape Medical News, June 23, 2008
Hormonal Therapy for Prostate Cancer Linked to Bone Loss and Diabetes A study of 20,000 patients has found that continuous androgen-deprivation therapy for at least 6 months is associated with bone fractures and diabetes. Medscape Medical News, June 19, 2008
Promising New Agents and Treatment Failures in Melanoma A review of new melanoma research presented at the ASCO meeting highlighted positive findings with axitinib, OncoVEX, and ipilimumab, but also highlighted the failure of tremelimumab and vaccination with ganglioside GM2-KLH21. Medscape Medical News, June 19, 2008
Studies Show Quality of Life Linked to Cancer Survival Patients reporting a good quality of life have statistically significant better overall survival, suggest 2 large meta-analyses. Medscape Medical News, June 19, 2008
Adjuvant Gemcitabine Improves Survival in Pancreatic Cancer Treatment with gemcitabine improved both overall and disease-free survival in patients with pancreatic cancer who had undergone surgical resection. Medscape Medical News, June 17, 2008
Combination Gemcitabine and Radiation Modestly Improves Survival in Pancreatic Cancer Gemcitabine combined with radiotherapy was associated with a small improvement in survival among patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer over gemcitabine alone. Medscape Medical News, June 17, 2008
Sorafenib Effective in Asian-Pacific Liver Cancer Patients A new trial shows that sorafenib, recently approved for liver cancer, is effective in Asian patients with poorer health status and more metastases. Medscape Medical News, June 16, 2008
Combo Therapy Improves Response Rates in Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Combining bortezomib, dexamethasone, and rituximab in the treatment of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia dramatically improved the rate of complete responses. Medscape Medical News, June 13, 2008
Chemotherapy Toxicity Linked to Polypharmacy Drug interactions appear to influence patients' reactions to chemotherapy. Medscape Medical News, June 13, 2008
Transcriptional Changes in Blood May Predict Lung Cancer Onset Researchers say the transcripts come from immune-response-related genes and might form the basis for future blood-based lung cancer testing. Medscape Medical News, June 13, 2008
Modafinil May Help with Severe Cancer-Related Fatigue The eugeroic agent used to treat narcolepsy may have another use, researchers say, and appears beneficial for patients with severe fatigue. Medscape Medical News, June 12, 2008
Azacitidine in MDS: Improved Survival Even Without Complete Response An improvement in survival in myelodysplastic syndrome is seen even in patients who do not have a complete response to azacitidine. Medscape Medical News, June 12, 2008
Carboplatin as Effective as Radiation in Preventing Relapse in Testicular Cancer A single dose of carboplatin is as effective as adjuvant radiotherapy and more effective in preventing contralateral disease in men with stage 1 seminoma. Medscape Medical News, June 10, 2008
New Study Probes Safety of Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents With Video The preliminary work suggests that erythropoietin might not only have an effect on red blood cells, it might have an effect on tumor blood vessels as well. It is a provocative hypothesis that is generating fervent debate. Medscape Medical News, June 10, 2008
Combination Targeted Therapies Show Promise in Renal Cancer Combining novel targeted agents has yielded promising results in preliminary trials, although combination regimens can cause more toxicity and efficacy might not necessarily be better than sequential dosing. Medscape Medical News, June 9, 2008
Molecular Phenotypes in Breast Cancer May Differ Between Primary Tumor and Sites of Recurrence Sites of relapse and metastases might have different molecular phenotypes than the primary tumor in breast cancer, which might affect treatment decisions. Medscape Medical News, June 9, 2008
Lapatinib May Offer "No-Chemo" Option in Metastatic Breast Cancer Studies have shown benefit from lapatinib monotherapy, and lapatinib in combination with trastuzumab, bevacizumab, and the investigational agent pazopanib. Medscape Medical News, June 5, 2008
Potential Chemopreventive Role for Celecoxib in Lung Cancer With Video High-dose celecoxib reduced levels of Ki-67, a key biomarker in lung cancer, among patients at high risk for the disease. Medscape Medical News, June 5, 2008
PET Scan Improves Preoperative Staging in Early-Stage NSCLC With Video Preoperative staging with PET/CT and cranial imaging was more precise in identifying patients with mediastinal and extrathoracic disease, preventing stage-inappropriate surgery in some patients. Medscape Medical News, June 3, 2008
Acupuncture Effective in Reducing Pain and Dysfunction After Neck Dissection With Video Acupuncture provided significant reductions in pain, dysfunction, and xerostomia after neck dissection in patients with head and neck cancer, and was more effective than conventional therapies. Medscape Medical News,June 3, 2008
Vaginal Brachytherapy as Effective as External-Beam Radiation in Endometrial Cancer, with Less GI Toxicity The efficacy of vaginal brachytherapy is comparable to that of eternal beam radiation in the prevention of disease recurrence in high-risk patients with endometrial cancer, but gastrointestinal toxicity is lower. Medscape Medical News, June 2, 2008
KRAS Predicts Which Colorectal Cancer Patients Will Benefit from Cetuximab With Video Researchers have identified a new marker for selecting patients for targeted therapy. Medscape Medical News, June 2, 2008
AVADO Trial Confirms Bevacizumab Benefit in Metastatic Breast Cancer With Video A second trial has shown that adding bevacizumab to a taxane significantly improves progression-free survival in metastatic breast cancer. Medscape Medical News, June 2, 2008
Combination Cetuximab-Chemotherapy Regimen Shows Survival Benefit in Patients with Advanced NSCLC With Video Cetuximab combined with cisplatin/vinorelbine showed a small overall survival benefit in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer over chemotherapy alone. Medscape Medical News, June 2, 2008
Everolimus Prolongs Progression-Free Survival in Metastatic Renal Cancer With Video Everolimus, an investigational mTor inhibitor, improved survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma whose disease had progressed after treatment with sunitinib and/or sorafenib. Medscape Medical News, June 1, 2008
Oral Capecitabine Inferior to Conventional Chemo in Elderly Breast Cancer Patients In older women with early-stage breast cancer, single-agent oral capecitabine was inferior to 2 different conventional chemotherapy regimens. Medscape Medical News, June 1, 2008
Zoledronic Acid Significantly Reduced Relapse in Early Breast Cancer With Video For the first time, a bisphosphonate has shown a substantial clinical benefit in early breast cancer, reducing both local and distant disease. Medscape Medical News, June 1, 2008
Progress in Cancer but Lack of Funding Highlighted at ASCO Opening Press Briefing With Video Experts praise the recent progress made in cancer research and treatment but lament the decline in funding. Medscape Medical News, May 30, 2008
Childhood Cancer Survivors at Increased Risk for Premature Heart Disease Children who survive cancer are at risk for premature cardiovascular disease and should be closely monitored for their whole lives. Medscape Medical News, May 21, 2008
Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Poorer Outcome in Breast Cancer Women deficient in vitamin D when diagnosed with breast cancer had significantly worse outcomes than those with normal levels. Medscape Medical News, May 21, 2008
Better Outcomes in Ewing's Sarcoma With More Frequent Chemotherapy Chemotherapy administered every 2 weeks rather than every 3 weeks improved outcomes in Ewing's sarcoma, and should now be the standard of care. Medscape Medical News, May 21, 2008
Pemetrexed Maintenance Therapy Delays Relapse in NSCLC Maintenance therapy with pemetrexed doubled the time to progression for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. Medscape Medical News, May 21, 2008
Mastectomy Rates Have Risen Recently, as Has Breast MRI Mayo Clinic researchers reporting a rise in mastectomy rates at the same time as an increase in preoperative breast MRI speculate that the two are related. Medscape Medical News, May 21, 2008
New Findings to Be Presented at ASCO 2008 Meeting For the first time, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has released several key research findings ahead of its annual meeting, being held later this month. Medscape Medical News, May 20, 2008
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