Latest Conference Articles

At the 2016 NCCN Annual Conference, William J. Gradishar, MD, discussed updates to the NCCN Breast Cancer Guideline and the latest research developments in the field.

Testing for EGFR mutations should be routine in patients with non–small cell lung cancer. With the presence of an EGFR mutation TKIs are an appropriate treatment option across multiple lines of therapy, according to the latest update from the NCCN.

Jeffrey Jones, MD, updated attendees at the 2016 NCCN Annual Conference on the latest developments in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

The updated NCCN myeloma guideline broadens the diagnostic criteria for active disease and integrates novel therapies into the treatment paradigm.

Leora Horn, MD, MSc, clinical director, Thoracic Oncology Program, assistant vice chancellor for faculty development, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, provides her thoughts on how agents targeted T790M-mutant NSCLC will be incorporated into NCCN guidelines.

Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, Giant of Cancer Care: Myeloma, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, discusses how the definition of myeloma has changed.

While biosimilars have the potential to create competition and result in healthcare savings, the path to the marketplace has proven complex.

Kilian Salerno, MD, director of Breast Radiation and Soft Tissue/Melanoma Radiation, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, discusses hypofractionated radiotherapy for the treatment of patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Locoregional therapies are now considered potentially curable options that should be considered alongside transplant and resection for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

James Mohler, MD, chair, Department of Urology, associate director, Translational Research, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, discusses the use of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for patients with prostate cancer and how the use is reflected in the NCCN guidelines.

The NCCN's Evidence Blocks need further data and refinement to overcome subtleties of distinction in drug performance, but they’re the best value system developed so far, NCCN officials reported at their 2016 Annual Conference.

Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, medical director, Quality Informatics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the role of biosimilars in cancer care. Zelenetz spoke about this topic at the 2016 NCCN Annual Conference.

Anne Covey, MD, interventional radiologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses recent and future changes to locoregional treatment approaches for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

The 2016 NCCN Annual Conference included a push to find more effective ways to encourage and deliver palliative care services across a variety of settings in oncology.

Alan P. Venook, MD, shares insight into the evolving treatment paradigm for colorectal cancer.

Weekly paclitaxel for recurrent ovarian cancer prevailed over the VEGF inhibitor cabozantinib in a randomized comparison of the two drugs.

Three different chemotherapy regimens, each combined with bevacizumab, failed to demonstrate an advantage for patients with advanced ovarian cancer or build on results of a landmark trial reported more than a decade ago.

Ursula A. Matulonis, MD, discusses ongoing developments with olaparib, as well as the overall future of PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer.

Jean Hurteau, MD, professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology at NorthShore University Health System, discusses the difficulties of diagnosing ovarian clear cell carcinoma. Hurteau says data for the diagnosis of the carcinoma is older, and is not relevant to contemporary diagnoses due to the fact that there were more mixed tumors previously than there are now.

Bobbie J. Rimel, MD, assistant professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, discusses discovering BRCA mutations early in ovarian cancer patients. Rimel says with the genetic information of knowing which patients harbor which genetic mutations, oncologists can offer their patients treatments such as PARP inhibitors, which are gene-specific.

John Byrd, MD, director of the Division of Hematology, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, discusses the RESONATE 2 study, which looked at ibrutinib versus chlorambucil in patients with treatment-naïve chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Sundar Jagannath, MD, professor of Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses upcoming agents in multiple myeloma.

An ongoing clinical trial has begun the process of evaluating whether the addition of a booster agent can take the anticancer activity of PD-1 directed immunotherapy to another level.

Shannon Westin, MD, discusses refining the use of PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer by gaining a greater understanding of mechanisms of resistance and exploring combination and sequencing possibilities.

An investigational extended-release formulation of the antiemetic granisetron achieved a complete response more often than did ondansetron in cancer patients receiving highly emetogenic cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Terri Febbraro, MD, third year fellow, University of Chicago/NorthShore University Health System, discusses length of time receiving chemotherapy versus overall survival in patients with ovarian cancer. Febbraro says the study looked at three separate groups of patients with ovarian cancer based on the length of time they receieved chemotherapy, with the group being on chemotherapy the longest having the worst overall survival rates.

Martee Hensley, MD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the introduction of trabectedin into the armamentarium for uterine leiomyosarcoma. Hensley says the FDA approval for the treatment requires patients to have had a prior anthracycline therapy, and the treatment will likely fall into the third- or fourth-line of treatment for the malignancy. She adds that trabectedin may fall into the fourth-line due to treatments such as pazopanib currently occupying the third-line.

Treatment with trabectedin significantly improved progression-free survival compared with dacarbazine in women with advanced uterine leiomyosarcoma, according to a subgroup analysis of the phase III SAR-3007 trial.

Targeted agents, particularly ibrutinib and idelalisib, are becoming increasingly important in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and have replaced chemotherapy in many settings.

Chimeric antigen receptor-modified T-cell therapies have demonstrated durable complete responses for patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; however, several questions remain regarding their optimal use and applicability outside of this disease.