ASCO 2015 Highlights

Anastrozole and tamoxifen are similarly effective in preventing breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The choice should depend on patient preferences, side-effect profiles, age, and other patient factors, according to 2 studies presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) improved overall survival (OS) compared with physician’s choice of therapy in patients with pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to the final results of the phase 3 TH3RESA trial, which were presented at the 2015 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The advantages of treatment at a high-volume center extended to adjuvant therapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer, according to a study reported by Margaret T. Mandelson, PhD, MPH, Floyd and Dolores Jones Cancer Institute, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA, at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Experience at a high-volume cancer center suggests that nonstereotactic body radiotherapy external beam reirradiation of the pelvis for cancer recurrence or for a second genitourinary malignancy is safe in patients with advanced cancer, and can achieve excellent and durable palliation of symptoms without severe radiation-induced morbidity.

At the 2016 Cancer Survivorship Symposium, Dr Ganz spoke with Value-Based Cancer Care (VBCC) about the importance of cancer rehabilitation, the politics of surveillance, and the greatest unmet needs facing survivors.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors demonstrated varying degrees of activity in advanced gastric and esophageal cancers, according to preliminary clinical studies reported at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Researchers in Chicago have developed a financial toxicity grading system based on clinically meaningful changes in health-related quality of life. According to lead investigator Jonas A. de Souza, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago, at the 2016 Cancer Survivorship Symposium, the tool has been validated in 2 separate cohorts of patients with cancer, with plans for a larger, prospective study underway.

A pediatric regimen achieves superior outcomes compared with adult regimens in adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Several studies have already shown this outcome, and a multicenter phase 2 study presented at ASH 2015 adds further confirmatory evidence in support of this approach.

A new biomarker can identify the subgroup of class 1 uveal melanomas that are most likely to metastasize, according to a new retrospective study (Field MG, et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2016;22:1234-1242).