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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.
June 4, 2006
A new study from Finland shows that a vaccine (Gardasil) developed to prevent cervical cancer could also prevent cancers of the vagina and vulva associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV), the same virus linked to cervical cancer. According to Jorma Paavonen, MD, Professor and Chief Physician, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Helsinki, and the study's lead author, HPV is present in 80% of the 6,000 cases of vaginal and vulvar cancers diagnosed in the United States each year.
June 4, 2006
Two new drugs, sunitinib (Sutent) and temsirolimus (CCI-779), benefit patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma, a common type of kidney cancer, according to two different clinical trials. Advanced kidney cancer is hard to treat and there is no effective chemotherapy for it. The standard treatment is interferon-a (Roferon) or interleukin-2 or aldesleukin (Proleukin), but these drugs only work in a small number of patients and are associated with serious side effects.
June 4, 2006
Adding thalidomide (Thalomid) to the standard treatment of melphalan (Alkeran) and prednisone (MP, a class of drug similar to cortisone) significantly improves survival for newly-diagnosed patients age 65 and older with multiple myeloma, according to a new study. This is the first and only clinical trial to compare MP and thalidomide with either MP alone or a stem cell transplantation.
June 4, 2006
A new study shows for the first time that modafinil (Provigil), a drug generally used to treat sleeping disorders, improves cognitive functions (such as concentration and attention) and mood and lowers fatigue levels in patients with brain cancer.
June 4, 2006
Findings from a clinical trial show that induction chemotherapy (chemotherapy that is given before other treatment) with docetaxel (Taxotere), cisplatin (Platinol), and fluorouracil (5-FU) reduces the risk of death by 30% for patients with advanced head and neck cancer. Patients were then given weekly chemotherapy together with radiation therapy (chemoradiotherapy) to complete their treatment. This treatment program is referred to as sequential therapy.
June 4, 2006
Women who participated in a yoga program while receiving radiation therapy for breast cancer improved their ability to be physically active and socially involved, lowered their levels of fatigue and frequency of sleep disorders, and improved their own perception of their overall health, according to a new study.
June 3, 2006
Results of a clinical trial show that 89% of patients taking imatinib (Gleevec) to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are alive five years later. This is the longest and largest study of imatinib for newly-diagnosed patients with CML.
June 3, 2006
According to a new study, variations in genes that metabolize (break down) certain types of anticancer drugs may explain why some survivors of childhood cancer experience heart problems, such as congestive heart failure, later in life.
June 3, 2006
Adding lapatinib (Tykerb) to capecitabine (Xeloda) controls cancer growth more effectively than capecitabine alone in women with advanced breast cancer that continues to get worse despite treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin), according to a new study. Capecitabine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat advanced breast cancer that has continued to grow despite prior therapy.
June 2, 2006
Adults age 65 and older with cancer received more chemotherapy towards the end of life throughout the 1990s, according to a new study.