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Research Summaries
Using the drop-down menu below, read about highlighted scientific news from ASCO's Annual Meetings since 2002. You can select a specific year and/or a specific topic, such as a type of cancer. Selecting "All" will take you to a complete list of articles that appear under all categories.
The 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting is set for May 31-June 4, with research news beginning to be released on May 15 at 6pm Eastern. Additional research will be released each day of the meeting.
To read these summaries categorized into a yearly newsletter, you can also review Cancer Advances: News for Patients from the ASCO Annual Meeting.
Don’t forget to check out audio podcasts and videos about this news, as well. And, in addition to the highlighted studies below, thousands of scientific abstracts are released each year at the ASCO Annual Meeting. To search the entire collection of meeting abstracts, visit ASCO's website.
May 15, 2008
In an analysis of data from the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Study (CCSS), researchers compared the development of heart disease in 14,358 childhood cancer survivors with 3,899 of their siblings. The survivors were originally diagnosed between 1970 and 1986. The CCSS is the largest study of childhood cancer survivors and has provided the greatest amount of data on the long-term side effects of cancer treatment.
May 15, 2008
Researchers looked at the connection between vitamin D levels at the time of breast cancer diagnosis and the occurrence of metastases (areas where the cancer has spread) and survival in 512 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1989 and 1995. These women were followed for more than 11 years after diagnosis. Vitamin D is found in food and supplements and is made by the body after exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. It is necessary for bone health, and some studies have suggested that it may have a protective effect against breast cancer development.
May 15, 2008
Researchers from the Children's Oncology Group (COG) looked at whether giving chemotherapy to patients with Ewing's sarcoma every 2 weeks instead of every 3 weeks was more effective. The current standard treatment for patients with Ewing's sarcoma that has not spread past the bone or nearby tissues is chemotherapy every 3 weeks with a combination of drugs, as well as surgery and/or radiation therapy.
June 4, 2007
A new study shows that sorafenib (Nexavar) helps patients with advanced liver cancer live about 44% longer than patients who did not receive this drug. Sorafenib is a pill that is taken by mouth. It is approved in the United States for treating a type of advanced kidney cancer and is being studied for treating other cancers.
June 4, 2007
Giving chemotherapy before and after surgery to remove cancer that has spread to the liver in patients with colorectal cancer significantly lowers the risk of the cancer returning to the liver. It is the first study to date to evaluate this treatment, and was led by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), with the participation of four major European cancer organizations.
June 3, 2007
Results of a new study show that the majority of survivors of childhood cancer do not receive specialized long-term medical care, even though they are known to be at high risk for long-term health problems.
June 3, 2007
After five years, the risk of congestive heart failure (CHF) associated with adding trastuzumab (Herceptin) to combination chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer did not increase, according to a phase III clinical trial from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP). CHF can cause symptoms such as shortness of breath and a reduction in the heart's pumping ability, as measured by the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).
June 3, 2007
An analysis of women with advanced breast cancer over the past two decades has found that disparities in breast cancer survival between black and white women have increased. Although breast cancer-specific survival rates continuously increased for white women, they did not change for black women.
June 3, 2007
The type of treatment men choose for localized prostate cancer is influenced by the type of doctor they see, according to a new study.
June 2, 2007
Dasatinib (Sprycel) is effective as an initial treatment for newly diagnosed patients with chronic phase (early stage) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), according to a phase II clinical trial from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.