Leah Lawrence

The immunotherapy pembrolizumab was active in patients with advanced mucosal melanoma enrolled in a series of the KEYNOTE clinical trials, according to data presented at the European Cancer Congress 2017.

Upfront treatment with melphalan and ASCT should be the standard treatment approach for younger patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

The use of the thrombopoietin receptor agonist eltrombopag was clinically effective at raising platelet counts in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes with severe thrombocytopenia.

The onset of diabetes or the rapid deterioration of existing diabetes may be an early signal for pancreatic cancer for some patients, according to the results of a study presented at the European Cancer Congress.

A study showed that testing pediatric brain tumors for genetic abnormalities is feasible and could play a role in guiding patients’ treatment.

Young and middle-aged patients diagnosed with colon cancer were more likely to receive postoperative chemotherapy compared with their older-age counterparts, according to the results from a recent cohort study.

Breaks from active sunitinib treatment for patients with treatment-naive metastatic renal cell carcinoma may be possible without effecting clinical efficacy.

A study found that normal-weight women should be evaluated for metabolic health to reduce their risk for colorectal cancer.

The FDA recently approved the oral BTK inhibitor ibrutinib for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma who require systemic therapy and have had at least one prior anti-CD20 therapy.

Use of communication coaching that included a question prompt list-or structured lists of questions given to patients prior to consultations-helped patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers to bring up topics of concern during oncology office visits.

The immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab showed durable responses and disease control in a group of heavily pretreated patients with DNA mismatch repair deficient/microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) metastatic colorectal cancer.

Using immunohistochemistry to measure the expression of certain target enzymes-cox-2 and 15-prostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH)-in premalignant colorectal adenomas, researchers were able to get significant predictive and prognostic information in patients treated with the cox-2 inhibitor celecoxib for prevention of colorectal adenomas.

The addition of the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib to irinotecan and cetuximab prolonged progression-free survival and resulted in a higher disease control rate than treatment with irinotecan and cetuximab alone in patients with BRAF-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer.

Adjuvant chemotherapy for biliary tract cancer using GEMOX (gemcitabine/oxaliplatin) was feasible, but did not result in an improved recurrence-free survival or quality of life compared with surveillance in the phase III PRODIGE 12-ACCORD 18 trial.

A study has shown a link between metabolic toxicities and the efficacy of mTOR inhibitors for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Use of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was equally effective as transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) as a method of bridge to transplant among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

A multicenter study showed that an occurrence of posttransplant skin cancer was common among a group of organ transplant recipients.

The majority of hematologist-oncologists who use the social media platform Twitter had some financial conflict of interest, according to new data.

Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who engaged in more hours of physical activity at the time of their diagnosis had improvements in both progression-free and overall survival compared with patients who had less physical activity.

Using a watch-and-wait strategy among a group of highly selected patients with rectal cancer who have undergone neoadjuvant chemoradiation did not appear to compromise outcomes.

Participation in a training program increased levels of self-confidence for both patients and their partners in performing skin self-examinations to detect melanoma.

The combination of bortezomib and dexamethasone with 160 mg daily ricolinostat, a selective histone deacetylase 6 inhibitor, was well tolerated and active in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Using PET scans during induction chemotherapy for esophageal cancer, researchers were able to assess patient response to treatment and adjust their therapy, leading to an improved rate of pathologic complete response prior to surgery.

The addition of clofarabine to standard induction therapy for newly diagnosed acute myeloblastic leukemia reduced the probably of relapse but increased toxicity and had no effect on survival.

Presentation with musculoskeletal manifestations as the only symptom in pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia was significantly associated with diagnostic delay. However, this delay did not affect patient prognosis.

The use of minimal residual disease provided a more objective measure of induction failure in patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia than did morphology.

The use of mammography, but not colonoscopy, has increased in the post–Affordable Care Act years, which eliminated out-of-pocket expenditures for these recommended services, according to the results of a new study.

An early study looking at the combination of the ALK1 inhibitor dalantercept plus axitinib showed clinical activity in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Complete response at 30 months (CR30) may be a useful surrogate endpoint for progression-free survival in trials of first-line follicular lymphoma treatments.

The use of acellular dermal matrices in implant-based breast reconstruction after mastectomy was associated with an increased rate of adverse events compared with a two-stage procedure.