Latest Conference Articles

Proposed federal budget cuts that could affect the National Institutes of Health, and thus hematology/oncology research, were highlighted as an area of concern during the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia.

Photos from the 54th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, held at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, from December 8-11, 2012.

Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, describes key takeaway points for practicing oncologists, clinical investigators, and scientists from the 2012 SABCS.

Photos from the 35th annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX, from December 4-8, 2012.

Researchers have demonstrated that ponatinib can overcome a wide range of mutations that cause treatment resistance-including the stubborn T315I mutation-in all stages of CML and Ph+ ALL.

The combination of pomalidomide and a steroid significantly improved outcomes for patients with MM who have exhausted other novel therapies, marking what researchers say is a notable advancement for a sizable proportion of those treated for the disease.

MLN9708 has shown comparable efficacy and greater convenience and tolerability than bortezomib, for patients with multiple myeloma.

Harry Erba, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and director, University of Alabama at Birmingham Hematologic Malignancy Program, explains the declining treatment-related mortality (TRM) rates in AML patients.

Tiziano Barbui, MD, USC Hematology, Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy, on hematocrit (HCT) levels in patients with polycythemia vera (PV).

Shaji K. Kumar, MD, Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, talks about managing toxicities in the MLN9708 study.

The novel targeted agent ibrutinib has demonstrated dramatic activity in hard-to-treat patients with CLL when used alone and in combination with rituximab.

Researchers have identified a genetic profile of the patients who are most likely to develop congestive heart failure after being treated with anthracyclines and then undergoing hematopoeitic stem cell transplant (HCT) for a range of blood cancers.

The mental toll and stress of a breast cancer diagnosis might factor into the cognitive impairment experienced during chemotherapy treatment, commonly referred to as "chemo brain."

Christopher Twelves, MD, discusses results from a phase III trial that compared capecitabine to eribulin mesylate in women with metastatic breast cancer.

John C. Byrd, MD, director of the division of hematology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the new and updated results of a phase Ib/II study involving ibrutinib at the ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Justin M. Balko, PharmD, PhD, from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses research into clinically targetable genetic alterations in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

Long-term follow-up results showed that the hypofractionated regimens were as effective as the 50-Gy standard in women with early-stage breast cancer.

Eight-year follow-up data from the phase III HERA trial has confirmed that 1-year of adjuvant trastuzumab should remain the treatment standard in women with HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer.

John Yarnold, MBBS, from The Institute of Cancer Research in London, discusses results from the START trials that examined hypofractionated radioatherapy for women with early breast cancer.

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer had no statistically significant improvement in disease-free survival when they received adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy plus 1 year of bevacizumab.

Brian Leyland-Jones, MBBS, PhD, discusses results from the phase III HERA trial that compared 2 years of adjuvant trastuzumab to the standard 1 year in HER2-postive early-stage breast cancer.

Eribulin mesylate failed to show a statistically significant survival benefit compared with capecitabine in women with previously treated metastatic breast cancer.

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer who have residual disease after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy have a series of genetic alterations that are clinically targetable and may warrant further study.

Kapil N. Bhalla, MD, from the University of Kansas Cancer Center, describes an in vivo study that examined treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors in triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Stefan Aebi, MD, from the Luzerner Kantonsspital, Switzerland, discusses findings from the CALOR trial that examined the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy for women recurrent breast cancer.

Preliminary research suggests that in-vitro exposure to an HDAC inhibitor may sensitize triple-negative breast cancer cells to treatment with a PARP inhibitor and cisplatin.

Adjuvant chemotherapy improved survival rates in women with isolated local or regional breast cancer recurrence, according to results from the CALOR trial.

Postmenopausal women with advanced estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer lived longer when they received a 500-mg dose of fulvestrant as compared with a 250-mg dose.

Combining the investigational PD 0332991 with letrozole as first-line therapy extended progression-free survival in women with advanced estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer.

Sentinel lymph node surgery may provide a less-invasive alternative to axillary lymph node dissection for nodal staging in node-positive breast cancer.