Ovarian cancer is one of the more lethal cancers that women can develop. It is often associated with either inherent mutations in a woman’s own DNA, or mutations that develop within an ovarian cancer, that impairs the ability of your body to repair DNA breaks. PARP (poly ADP-ribose polymerase) inhibitors are oral medications that further… Read more »
Recently, scientists went back to analyze how patients’ diets and activity levels while undergoing chemotherapy may affect their outcome in related to colon cancer recurrence. This data was based off of surveys that the patient’s completed while undergoing trials for chemotherapy options of stage III colon cancer. In these post-trial analyses, they found that patients… Read more »
At the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research meeting earlier this year, final trial results of a new approach to treat brain tumors was published. This new approach delivers low-intensity electric fields (tumor treating fields) to the brain through a cap that a patient wears throughout the day. A randomized trial comparing standard chemotherapy to… Read more »
The FDA recently granted accelerated approval for pembrolizumab in combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin for the treatment of patients with previously untreated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (non-squamous). This is the first approval to combine immunotherapy with chemotherapy in lung cancer. The trial compared standard chemotherapy to pembrolizumab along with standard chemotherapy in patients that… Read more »
In May, the FDA approved pembrolizumab in any unresectable or metastatic tumor with mismatch repair deficiency or microsatellite instability. These are terms to describe mutations found in some tumors that prevent your body’s cells from repairing errors in DNA copy. This leads to instability and tumor growth. The most common tumor types where we find… Read more »
Recently, results of the International Duration Evaluation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy (IDEA) trial were published. This study compared the efficacy of two different durations of chemotherapy after resection of stage III colon cancer: 3 months vs 6 months of chemotherapy with standard chemotherapy drugs, 5FU and oxaliplatin. The study showed only a very small benefit in… Read more »
Galbladder and biliary tract cancer (your biliary tract connects your liver and galbadder to your pancreas and intestine and helps in food digestion) are rare types of cancer, sometimes associated with underlying liver disease. It is usually a very aggressive tumor and difficult to cure, even with surgery. In the past, there have been no… Read more »
Previously, treatment for new metastatic prostate cancer had been to treat with hormone therapy (androgen deprivation therapy to deplete testosterone levels) with possibly adding chemotherapy for higher risk patients. A recent study called the LATITUDE study showed that patients who received androgen deprivation therapy along with a drug called abitaterone acetate (a pill that further… Read more »
Nutritional myths: This is an interesting podcast with written script of discussion as well. This is a discussion by two nutritionists affiliated with cancer centers. They discuss some basic aspects of nutrition and cancer as well as some myths that are commonly heard about diet relating to cancer, including what foods to eat to avoid… Read more »
Bladder cancer is a disease that often requires oncologists to work alongside urologists to achieve the best outcomes. The standard treatment for bladder cancer or urothelial cancer for many years was radical surgery by itself. Recent data have shown that chemotherapy works well to help shrink the tumor and increase the chance of cure with… Read more »
Additional genes found that are linked to cancer. A family history should be a part of any initial work-up of cancer, as well as helping primary care physicians determine cancer risk in their patients. While we used to only know a few genes that were definitively linked to increased cancer risk, there are now many… Read more »
Immunotherapy 2.0 named clinical advance of the year in cancer care. A lot of our updates are about new indications for immunotherapy to treat many types of cancer. This past year, new indications were approved for treatment in melanoma, bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, lung cancer and kidney cancer. While immunotherapy does not work… Read more »
The FDA approved one new drug and gave a new indication for a previously approved drug in March 2017. The FDA approved a new drug, called ribociclib for use in metastatic hormone-positive breast cancer. Ribociclib is a pill that inhibits CDK 4/6 similar to a previously approved drug, palbociclib, that we wrote about previously. http://www.meansadv03.com/hoaa-pharmacy/palbociclib-and-hormonal-therapy-has-proven-progression-free-survival-benefit/… Read more »
Cancer-related fatigue: Fatigue is a symptom that we see commonly in our cancer patients. Cancer itself can cause fatigue and fatigue is also a side effect of almost all cancer-related treatments or other medicines that may be prescribed. While there is not an easy fix to fatigue, it can be a life-altering side effect that… Read more »
Certain cancer treatments, such as particular chemotherapy drugs (doxorubicin, trastuzumab) or radiation to the chest or breast tissue, can increase risk of patients developing cardiac dysfunction—either during treatment or later after treatment has completed. Patients at risk of developing heart complications from cancer treatment often need close communications between your oncologist, your primary care provider… Read more »
Immunotherapy treatment with ipilumimab after resection of high-risk melanoma improves overall survival compared to no treatment. In high risk melanoma lesions where a cutaneous melanoma has spread to local lymph nodes, despite surgical resection, only about 45% of patients will not have the melanoma come back within 4 years. Currently, there are no great medical… Read more »
In hormone-positive metastatic breast cancer, combination therapy with palbociclib and hormonal therapy has proven progression-free survival benefit Palbociclib is an oral drug that inhibits cell cycle growth by blocking cells from initiating initial switch to the growth cycle of cells though CDK4 (Cyclin D-Dependent Kinase) and CDK 6 inhibition. This drug has been found to… Read more »
The KEYNOTE-024 trial was recently published that will be a game-changer for the first-line treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. In a certain subset of patients with PD-L1 expression over 50% (PD-L1 is a marker of immune activity within the tumor), patients were randomized to receive either standard chemotherapy or pembrolizumab (an immune therapy… Read more »
In lung cancer patients, it is important to test for “targetable mutations” in the cancer tissue. Targetable mutations are specific DNA changes to cancer cells that cause specific proteins to signal cancer cells to grow. These are important to test for because we have medications that turn off these proteins that are more effective than… Read more »
There was encouraging news from Chicago in June about a potential new drug to help treat small cell lung cancer, a cancer where unfortunately there have been no new drug developments in years. Prior research showed that a protein called delta-like protein 3 (DLL3) is very active in small cell tumors and not active in… Read more »
Pancreatic cancer has been a very difficult cancer to treat and cure. Unfortunately, most pancreatic tumors have already spread at time of diagnosis, but even those found early that can be resected have a high risk of coming back. Therefore, chemotherapy after surgery (called “adjuvant therapy”) is the standard of care to help prevent the… Read more »
This summer, we finally received trial results about an important clinical question: does extended aromatase inhibitor (“hormonal”) treatment of breast cancer from 5 years to 10 years affect long-term outcomes in breast cancer survivors? Post-menopausal patients with estrogen or protesterone positive breast cancer were randomized to receive either 5 years or 10 years of aromatase… Read more »
Venetoclax was recently approved for treatment of a specific subtype of aggressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The drug targets a particular protein in cancer cells, BCL2, which helps cancer cells avoid being killed and is overexpressed in CLL cells. It is an oral drug that has been shown to be very effective in CLL patients… Read more »
Dr. Allen Yeilding and Dr. Elquis Castillo are pleased to announce that HOAA has been selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as one of nearly 200 physician group practices and 17 health insurance companies to participate in a care delivery model that supports and encourages higher quality, more coordinated cancer care.… Read more »
Hematology and Oncology Associates of Alabama releases new expanded website. The new website is responsive, meaning it is optimized for mobile devices as well as desktop viewing. The new site was designed with patient and prospective patients in mind and is consistent with the HOAA mission of providing our patients with compassionate, comprehensive, and personalized care… Read more »
Recent research by oncology groups has shown that clinics with a full time phone triage system have a decreased hospitalization rate and ER utilization rate as well as improved patient outcomes. At HOAA, we take pride in having a great triage system that we have had for years. We have two full time triage nurses… Read more »
The American Society of Clinical Oncology named immunotherapy as the “Advance of the year”. There were many exciting developments, as you can see from some of our previous posts. There have also been exciting trials with immune therapy in bladder cancer, Hodgkin disease, liver cancer and head and neck cancer. These are especially exciting because… Read more »
Immune therapy treatments first were approved for treatment of melanoma. In fact, the FDA recently approved combination of two immunotherapy drugs as initial treatment of melanoma. Recently, these same immune therapies have been approved for other cancers in the “second line setting, ” which means that initial chemotherapy is not working any longer. First, immune… Read more »
Monoclonal antibodies designed against cell surface proteins such as CD20 (rituximab) or HER2 (trastuzumab), cytokines such as VEGF (bevacizumab), and now immune checkpoints such as PD1 (e.g., pembrolizumab) have transformed oncology care and are routinely used across nearly all tumor types. Although treatment options for multiple myeloma (MM) over the last decade have converted the… Read more »
A new oral chemotherapy drug for colon cancer was approved by the FDA on Sept 22, 2015. The drug is trifluridine/tipiracil, which targets altering DNA replication during cell division. The drug was tested and approved in patients with previously treated metastatic colon cancer that have progressed on all other approved treatments. The drug was compared… Read more »
Smoking has been associated clearly with increased rates of cancer, specifically lung cancer, esophageal cancer and bladder cancer, among others. Not only does smoking cause cancer, though, but research shows that smoking after a cancer diagnosis affects how well a patient tolerates cancer treatments, including surgery and chemotherapy. Attached is an article about new research… Read more »
Colon cancer is often driven by underlying defects in DNA repair during cell division called “mismatch repair deficiency”. This is a test that is easily looked at on tumor tissue and found in about 15-20% of colon cancers. These defects in DNA repair lead to increased rates of DNA mutation in cancer cells that significantly… Read more »
Some breast cancers are dependant on a specific cellular protein called “Her2” that turns on uncontrolled cell division. Trastuzumab is a targeted therapy that specifically turns off Her2 protein function. It revolutionized “Her2 + breast cancer” with significant improvement in survival and cure rates. It is so effective that now, research is showing that we… Read more »
Dr. Mooney visited Fox 6 to discuss new Medicare recommendations for CT screening for lung cancer in heavy smokers aged 55-75. This has been shown in trials to catch lung cancer early before it has spread and improve survival among this demographic. We recommend anyone in this demographic discuss the risks and benefits of screening… Read more »
