Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) Podcast

Response after early chemotherapy cycles might identify patients who could safely forgo consolidation with radiotherapy.

This podcast reflects on the outcome of minimal intensity conditioning in over 1000 recipients of sibling and unrelated donor transplant.

This podcast provides commentary and observations on the long term results summary of RTOG 91-11 in which concurrent chemoradiation was shown to provide superior outcome over induction chemotherapy or radiation alone to achieve larynx preservation and locoregional tumor control.

This podcast reviews findings on the prevalence of off-label cancer therapy use and the estimated costs associated with it.

If transplantation is selected as the treatment approach, the net effect is likely to be similar with allogeneic or autologous transplantation with the higher early mortality rate in the allogeneic patients offset by a higher relapse rate in the autologous patients.

The fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics is a major target for antimicrobial stewardship programs, and the conservation of their effectiveness is important.

This podcast provides perspective on findings in a large population-based evaluation of overall survival and cancer-specific survival in patients with CLL who develop a second primary cancer.

One third of gastric cancers harbor genetic or epigenetic alterations in the CDH1 gene, and those with structural changes have a poorer prognosis; gastric tumor profiling for oncogenic amplifications and mutations may identify targets for personalized therapeutics.

This podcast considers the evolution, utility, and acceptability of the terms 'cancer survivor' and 'cancer survivorship' and comments on a recent article in JCO that addresses the extent to which such labels matter to survivors and others affected by this disease.

This podcast discusses approaches to risk assessment of contralateral breast cancer and factors which predict the risk.

Amongst several different liver directed therapy approaches, chemoembolization (called TACE) and radiofrequency ablation (called RFA) are most commonly used worldwide. However, the efficacy of TACE and RFA remains limited.

A discussion of a phase 2 trial of a MEK inhibitor in patients with V600 BRAF mutations and consideration of other relevant results with targeted therapies in this population.

This podcast discusses therapeutic options for MDS patients including azacytidine and allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

This video support tool describing CPR lets patients make much better informed decisions about the use of CPR. Physicians often feel that CPR will not be of help to patients but nevertheless feel obligated to offer it or not withhold it. This video support tool describing CPR might enable patients to make much better informed decisions about the use of CPR. Letting patients view this 6 minute video convinced the great majority of them that CPR would not be unlikely to help them, which is very consistent with the medical facts. Nearly all of them felt very comfortable with watching the video. Maybe we should have this in a looptool available in every oncologist's office.

Radioimmunotherapy alone or in sequential combination with chemotherapy is effective initial treatment for follicular lymphoma, though comparable (and not superior) to other management options for this population.

Whole-brain radiation therapy of metastases to the brain is not innocuous - it is associated with decrements in health-related quality of life. It is still unknown if the potential benefits outweigh the impact of the side effects.

This is a commentary on the role of MET in cancer using Choueri et al as an example of rationale therapeutics and translational research.

A discussion of treatment approaches for newly diagnosed aggressive AIDS-related lymphomas

Seven year follow up of B-31 demonstrates a striking and reassuring lack of longer-term cardiac events.

More adjuvant chemotherapy is not always better for early breast cancer patients - Discussion and consequence for clinical practice.

The podcast reviews the evolution of staging and treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, reducing the toxicities and torture while maintaining a high level of cure.

In this podcast, Attar and colleagues explore whether patients aged 60-75 who enter remission with bortezomib added to standard anthracycline plus cytarabine chemotherapy during induction can be safely treated with intermediate dose cytarabine along with dose escalating bortezomib during consolidation. This regimen was tolerated at the highest dose of bortezomib tested, 1.3 mg/m2, and further randomized studies of this regimen will be planned.

This podcast will review a JCO article showing that the use of breast brachytherapy as a method of delivering partial breast radiation after breast conserving surgery was associated with higher rates of complications than the conventional approach of whole breast radiation.

This Podcast provides observations and commentary about referral practices of oncologists to specialized palliative care.

This podcast characterizes the clinical utility of the screening tests recommended by the Children's Oncology Group in the care of long-term survivors.

Publication of a large collaborative group trial appears to definitively demonstrate the safety of sentinel lymph node biopsy as replacement for inguinal-femoral lymphadenectomy, or does it?

In this podcast, results of a randomized phase III clinical trial evaluating the use of Rituximab maintenance therapy following autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with relapsed diffuse large B cell lymphoma are summarized. The results demonstrate that Rituximab maintenance therapy does not result in improved event free or overall survival in this patient population.

Melissa Cousino and colleagues found that few parents understand the scientific purpose of phase I pediatric clinical trials.

The prognostic importance of ALK-protein expression was established over a decade ago. More recent studies emphasize that age is also an important driving force and in patients <40 years, the distinction between ALK-positive and ALK-negative ALCL is less clear.

Although gemtuzumab ozogamicin has been withdrawn from the marketplace, three randomized trials prompt review of that decision.

This podcast summarizes and places in clinical context two studies describing straightforward immunohistochemical methods to risk-stratify diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Cognitive impairment occurs in a subset of breast cancer survivors after chemotherapy but the incidence remains unknown.

This podcast discusses the manuscript by Tejpar et al in which patients whose colorectal tumors harbor a specific KRAS mutation, G13D, appear to have benefit in two clinical trials with regard to tumor response and progression-free survival with cetuximab treatment.

Although historically toxicity was often thought to be a biomarker of efficacy, often it appears to be a marker of dose intensity and individual susceptibility as is the case in this retrospective study of taxane induced peripheral neuropathy and breast cancer outcome.

In this podcast, Dr. Hudis reviews the use of a novel nomogram to predict the benefits of postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy for older women with early stage breast cancer. This discussion highlights the information from prospective randomized trials, their limitations, and the potential for a nomogram to guide clinicians facing patients who might not have qualified for the earlier studies.

As oncologists treat an increasing number of older patients with colon cancer, and as treatment options improve for older patients, oncologists should work with geriatricians to make the best treatment decisions.

This podcast will provide a critical evaluation of the combination of bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone in relapsed multiple myeloma

This Podcast reviews and comments on the use of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Breast Cancer Outcome Database to demonstrate the actual rollout of the use of gene expression profile (GEP) testing for women with hormone receptor positive, node negative breast cancer and the accompanying changes in breast cancer chemotherapy utilization

This Podcast reviews the design and results of the present study by Kennecke et al. and provides perspective regarding the clinical significance of these findings.

This podcast reviews the rationale behind evaluation of metformin as a potential anti-cancer agent in breast cancer and describes the findings of a recent window of opportunity trial looking at the impact of metformin upon proliferative indices in women with early breast cancer.

This podcast reviews the results of the FACT trial in the context of other ongoing and proposed studies of endocrine therapy combinations.

This podcast describes a phase 2 trial brentuximab vedotin in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma that has recurred after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The podcast discusses the rationale for the trial, response to therapy, and associated toxicities. Future application of brentuximab vedotin to CD30+ malignancies is considered as well.

In this study, the implications of long term follow up of the German Rectal Study on clinical practice and future trial design will be discussed.

Carboplatin-Gemcitabine-Bevacizumab represents an additional regimen to consider for management of recurrent platinum sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer, although it raises several questions regarding the role of bevacizumab in this disease setting.

This podcast discusses adjuvant therapy in elderly NSCLC patients.

The podcast highlights recent JCO articles that underscore the need for improved assessment and management of cancer and treatment-related symptoms.

The CHER-LOB trial is one of several that has demonstrated that adding lapatinib to trastuzumab and chemotherapy improves on the rates of complete pathological response among women receiving neoadjuvant therapy for HER2 positive breast cancer. Because the relationship between pCR and long-term outcomes remains ambiguous, this regimen is not recommended for ordinary use. However, these findings are a powerful support to the hypothesis that dual-modality anti-HER2 therapy is a potent combination.

A reflection on the problems clinicians face when making a decision on how best to advise patients regarding management of early clear cell carcinoma of the ovary.

This podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article "High risk of symptomatic cardiac events in childhood cancer survivors.

This podcast reviews a negative phase III clinical trial of cetuximab combined with chemotherapy in first-line metastatic colorectal cancer and focuses on the interaction of targeted therapy combined with chemotherapy.