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News for Patients from the Journal of Clinical Oncology
Below are summaries of research advances in clinical oncology. The information presented in Cancer Advances is the same information the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) provides to cancer physicians, in consumer terms.
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June 28, 2010
A new study of nearly 8,800 early stage breast cancer patients has found that fewer than half -approximately 49 percent - completed the full 4.5 year course of hormone therapy treatment, even though hormone therapy with tamoxifen and/or aromatase inhibitors has been proven to dramatically reduce risk of cancer recurrence and death for patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancers.
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April 19, 2010
A new review of more than three decades of childhood cancer deaths, incidence and survival reports that an estimated 38,000 deaths have been averted because of substantial advances in cancer drugs and treatment strategies, and continued return on past investments in cancer research. The authors cautioned, however, that progress against many cancers has slowed and that new research on targeted treatments is urgently needed.
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February 16, 2010
An analysis of data from the Nurse's Health Study, a large, ongoing prospective observational study, shows for the first time that women who have completed treatment for early-stage breast cancer and who take aspirin have a nearly 50 percent reduced risk of breast cancer death and a similar reduction in the risk of metastasis. The findings were reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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January 25, 2010
A new study finds that the oral drug pazopanib (VOTRIENT) significantly delays the time it takes for cancer to spread in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a form of kidney cancer. This study provides the first full report of data used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug in October 2009 for the treatment of advanced RCC, adding to the growing arsenal of targeted therapies for this challenging disease. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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November 23, 2009
Researchers have found that 43 percent of patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer in a clinical trial met the clinical criteria for insomnia syndrome and an additional 37 percent had insomnia symptoms, suggesting that the majority of patients (80 percent) experience sleep difficulties. This rate is approximately two to three times higher than that seen in the general population. Insomnia syndrome is defined as difficulty sleeping three or more times per week for at least a month, and can cause significant distress or impairment in daytime functioning. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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November 2, 2009
Two retrospective studies led by researchers in the United States and Italy report that women with HER2-positive breast cancers 1 cm or less in diameter that have not spread to the lymph nodes (“node-negative” tumors) have a risk of recurrence that is two to five times greater than that of women with HER2-negative breast cancers. The U.S. study also identified an increased risk of metastasis among women with small HER2-positive tumors, compared to those with HER2-negative tumors.
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April 29, 2009
The total number of Americans diagnosed with cancer each year will rise from 1.6 million cases in 2010 to 2.3 million cases annually by 2030, with disproportionate increases among the elderly and minorities says a new study by researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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March 16, 2009
A large Danish study has found that C-reactive protein (CRP)—a blood-based protein that indicates inflammation in the body and is used to predict heart disease risk—may also be associated with the risk of developing cancer and with earlier cancer death.
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February 17, 2009
A new study has shown that the incidence of liver cancer in the United States tripled between 1975 and 2005. Researchers also found that survival rates improved for patients diagnosed with liver cancer, as more patients were diagnosed at earlier stages, when the disease is more treatable. The study, by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, appears in the February 17, 2009 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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January 26, 2009
In the largest study to date on the safety of ovarian preservation in younger women surgically treated for early-stage endometrial cancer, researchers have found that overall survival rates are similar in women whose ovaries are removed, compared to those whose ovaries are left in place (preserved). Preserving the ovaries could spare many women from the side effects of surgically-induced menopause, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness, as well as long-term increased risk of heart disease, osteoporosis and hip fractures. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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December 8, 2008
A new study has shown that among people who were treated surgically for early-stage colorectal cancer, blood levels of two insulin-related proteins measured before diagnosis predicted the risk of subsequent death. Researchers found that patients with high levels of one protein had a more than 50 percent reduced risk of death, while those with high levels of a second protein had double the risk of overall death.
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September 29, 2008
A new study has shown that evidence of hepatitis B infection was twice as common in people with pancreatic cancer than in healthy controls. This study is the first to report an association between past exposure to the hepatitis B virus and pancreatic cancer, but researchers cautioned that more studies are necessary to evaluate the nature of the link.
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September 8, 2008
Researchers from the U.S. and Canada found that two computer models widely used to determine who should undergo genetic testing for BRCA mutations underpredicted mutation frequency in Asian-American women by 50 percent. Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes significantly increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancers, and women who learn they have these mutations are encouraged to seek more frequent cancer screening or may undertake other measures to reduce their cancer risk, such as preventive mastectomy or removal of the ovaries.
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August 18, 2008
A Phase III study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that zoledronic acid (Zometa) can prevent bone loss in premenopausal women followed for 12 months undergoing chemotherapy after surgery for early-stage breast cancer. This is the first study to evaluate the use of the drug in premenopausal women with breast cancer, though previous studies have shown similar drugs prevent bone loss during and after chemotherapy in this group. Zoledronic acid has been shown to prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women, and was recently shown to reduce risk of breast cancer recurrence.
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August 11, 2008
Three new studies being published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) describe concerning trends suggesting that patients with cancer are more likely to commit suicide or to contemplate taking their own lives, compared with the general population.
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July 8, 2008
A study conducted in Sweden found that more than 40 percent of widowers in that country whose wives had died from cancer four or five years earlier reported they were either never told that their spouse's cancer was incurable, or they heard this information during the last week of her life. Eighty-six percent of widowers believed next-of-kin should be told immediately when a wife's cancer is incurable, including 71 percent of the men who said they did not recall being told this information. The study, which is the largest to explore this topic, was published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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April 21, 2008
In the first study to assess mammography in women 80 and older, researchers found that having regular mammograms significantly decreases the risk of being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer, but only about one-fifth of women in this age group receive them regularly. The study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, also showed that each mammogram that was performed in these older women was associated with a further reduction in the risk of being diagnosed with late-stage disease.
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March 10, 2008
A multicenter phase III clinical trial has reported that the drug letrozole cuts the risk of breast cancer recurrence and spread by more than 60 percent in postmenopausal women with early-stage disease who completed five years of tamoxifen therapy one to seven years earlier. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).
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Cancer Advances: Extent of Cancer Risk Reduction through Ovary Removal Depends on BRCA Mutation TypeFebruary 11, 2008
In a new study, researchers have shown that the extent of cancer risk reduction resulting from the procedure varies according to the type of genetic mutation women have. The researchers, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania and nine other institutions, found that women with mutations in the BRCA2 gene have nearly twice the reduction in breast cancer risk following the surgery compared to women with BRCA1 mutations. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).
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January 2, 2008
Researchers have found that just four months of hormonal therapy before and with standard external beam radiation therapy slowed cancer growthâespecially the development of bone metastasesâ by as much as eight years, and increased survival in older men with potentially aggressive (“high-risk”) prostate cancer. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO).