Minorities benefit from more sophisticated colon cancer screening
July 14, 2010
Current guidelines may be inadequate in at-risk African-American and Latino populations.
Alice Goodman
From the ONI archives: Ofatumumab turns in encouraging results in pretreated CLL
June 22, 2010
Standard therapy options are limited for patients with refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, with or without lymphadenopathy, and the results are generally poor. Ofatumumab (Arzerra), a novel human CD20 monoclonal antibody, could be the answer for improving outcomes in this patient population. Lead investigator William G. Wierda, MD, PhD, will share the final analysis of the results from this international study at ASH 2010.
Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia gain little by participating in clinical trials
May 18, 2010
Parents and their children need to understand that advancing science does not always go hand-in-hand with a direct benefit to the patients.
Multigene assays influence treatment decisions in low-risk breast cancer patients
May 17, 2010
Tests carry a significant price tag, but reduction in chemotherapy use is potentially cost-saving.
Single-shot Zevalin presents new lymphoma Rx option
March 19, 2010
Unlike conventional radiation, Yttrium-90-ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin) induces cellular damage only in the targeted tumor cells and has demonstrated activity in follicular and diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Follicular lymphoma: Is watchful waiting still a treatment option in era of new and improved therapy?
March 18, 2010
In asymptomatic disease, overall survival is often the same with immediate treatment vs watch and wait. The deciding factor may be what patients are willing to tolerate.
Four-drug regimen ups response, progression-free survival in older multiple myeloma patients
December 7, 2009
NEW ORLEANS—More is better, at least when it comes to treatments for multiple myeloma. Separate studies from a Spanish group and an Italian group showed that up-front use of four drugs improves durable responses and progression-free survival in elderly patients. Both studies also showed that a kinder, gentler weekly schedule of bortezomib (Velcade) instead of the standard twice-weekly schedule maintains efficacy and reduces toxicity.
Bendamustine plus rituximab offers practice-changing therapy for indolent lymphoma
December 7, 2009
NEW ORLEANS—There was good news at ASH 2009 on promising treatments for indolent lymphoma and aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Also, a separate poster presentation showed that even just one cycle of post-remission therapy extended survival in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
Updated regimens on par with standard therapy in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
November 21, 2009
Researchers are exploring ways to manipulate rituximab (Rituxan) when added to the current standard therapy for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, specifically shortening the number of treatment days. Preliminary results of a phase III trial showed that rituximab plus CHOP over a 14-day cycle achieved similar response rates and comparable toxicity compared to CHOP on a 21-day cycle in newly diagnosed patients.
Follicular lymphoma vaccine finally makes good with prolonged disease-free survival
September 23, 2009
After almost a decade of research and two trials of a follicular lymphoma vaccine with negative results, a study of a personalized idiotype vaccine has achieved positive results. BiovaxID prolonged median disease-free survival by more than a year in a subset of patients who maintained complete remission after one year of chemotherapy and then received the vaccine.
