Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) Podcast

This podcast partitions patients with early melanoma into those with very favorable features and compares them to those with a higher risk for dying of metastatic melanoma.

Incorporating the information form Dr Marconi's systematic review on the question "Does sedation at the end of life hasten death", I will provide useful guidance regarding how to discuss this issues with patients and their families.

This podcast describes the results from a subgroup of 732 women in the NSABP B-24 trial for the treatment of DCIS, where ER status was available, and describes how this can be used as a predictive test for response to adjuvant tamoxifen.

In this podcast, I will review a JCO article showing that the publication of CALGB C9343 trial results had little influence in practice patterns in the United States. I will discuss possible study-specific reasons for the lack in change of practice and explore the author's implication that practitioners are more apt to adopt trials that add technologies and/or treatments compared to those that withhold therapies.

This podcast will discuss the current role of characterizing KRAS and BRAF in the management of colorectal cancer as well as a manuscript by Popovici and colleagues entitled "Identification of a poor prognosis BRAF-mutant-like population of colon cancer patients". In this manuscript, a molecular signature that characterizes a subgroup of colorectal cancers that behave like BRAF mutant tumors but do not have true BRAF mutations. The research moves beyond analysis of a single gene to characterize a tumor's phenotype.

Patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations should receive EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors as 1st line therapy because they produce higher response rates, long progression free survival, reduced toxicity, improved symptom control and convenience of oral administration compared to chemotherapy doublets.

This JCO Podcast provides observations and commentary on the JCO article, "Randomized Phase III study comparing Paclitaxel Cisplatin Gemcitabine and Gemcitabine Cisplatin in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer without prior systemic therapy: EORTC 30987 Intergroup Study" by Joaquim Bellmunt et al. It provides my perspective that considers both statistical metrics and clinical outcomes in decision making for difficult to treat diseases.

The management of patients with early stage Hodgkin lymphoma with unfavorable characteristics remains a topic for study.

This podcast reports on a phase I/II trial investigating novel anti-CD22, moxetumomab pasudotox, in the treatment of patients with refractory hairy cell leukemia, which demonstrated responses in the majority of patients at all dose levels.

When dose dense treatment was first described we were greatly enthusiastic for all women with breast cancer. As the experience has matured we now realize that the benefit is confined to women with ER negative cancers. We think it is time to question our use of CSFs and dose dense treatment in ER+ women based on 2 large trials and a conclusive meta-analysis.

This podcast summarizes and discusses the outcome results of the GOG Lap2 trial which shows safety and clinical benefits of laparoscopy as compared to laparotomy for surgical staging and treatment of uterine cancer.

This is a commentary on a report from the EBMT demonstrating a higher relapse rate after allogeneic transplantation in AML patients with FLT3 ITD mutations.

Long-term follow-up of efficacy and toxicity outcomes from the IES study of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy in postmenopausal estrogen receptor positive breast cancer

This podcast discusses the findings from the manuscript by Munster et al. regarding the use of ovarian suppression for fertility preservation in young women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy in the context of the current literature and future directions.

The study by Marin et al is another milestone in our understanding how to manage CML patients on tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

This podcast will summarize the results of Efstathious et al and discuss possible mechanisms of resistance to castration based therapies in prostate cancer.

Targeting the Angiopoietin-Tie2 axis is a promising alternative antiangiogenic strategy for the treatment of ovarian cancer that exhibits non-overlapping toxicities with inhibitors of the VEGF signaling pathway.

This podcast reviews data from a recent publication on the use of "early" interim PET scanning in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and comments on the clinical utility of this imaging technique in the current management of patients with this disease.

Biopsy of presumed metastatic breast cancer sites confirms the diagnosis in most women and alters therapy in 14% of women in a prospective study of 121 patients but its impact on outcome could not be reliably assessed.

This podcast provides a commentary on the article by Wu et al that addresses disparities in systemic therapy for breast cancer.

This Podcast reviews the background of the MA.17 trial, the results of the present manuscript and provides perspective on the current findings.

This podcast summarizes the findings of this JCO article and provides commentary on its applicability to practice.

This podcast will critically review randomized phase III trial data examining the relative role of taxane monotherapy versus combination therapy as first-line treatment for HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

This podcast discusses findings and implications of a recent survey study on attitudes and knowledge about cancer pain among medical oncologists

This podcast will explore the feasibility of a nonoperative "wait and see" approach based on strict selection criteria in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who achieve a complete clinical response after chemoradiation.

This podcast reviews the evidence that women testing negative for known familial BRCA1/2 mutations should adhere to current population breast cancer screening guidelines.

This Podcast provides observation and commentary on the JCO article "Sequential versus concurrent trastuzumab in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer".

Podcast to review the article "Occult Metastases in Length Nodes Predict Survival In Resectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Report of the ACOSOG Z40040 Trial" by Rusch et al.

The ATAC investigators collected comorbidity data on more than 9000 women and this article illustrates that it provides key information.

Rapid, dramatic shifts are ongoing in the population-level epidemiology of oropharynx cancer in the United States.

EGFR mutation is a predictive biomarker for maintenance erlotinib but its clinical application is limited. This podcast will explain why.

This podcast summarizes the incidence and long-term outcome of osteonecrosis in a large prospective study of children treated for acute lymphhoblastic leukemia with the dexamethasone-based Dutch Childhood Oncology Group-ALL 9 Protocol.

This podcast evaluates the context and reviews results of a randomized phase III trial comparing R-CHOP given at conventional 21 day intervals with R-CHOP given at 14 day intervals in patients with newly diagnosed follicular lymphoma.

This podcast reviews the randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial reported by Boekhout et al. that evaluates venlafaxine and clonidine for the treatment of hot flashes in women with breast cancer.

This podcast reviews the retrospective study by Arun et al. and discusses the lack of consensus regarding the relative chemosensitivity of breast cancers in mutation carriers and non-carriers as well as the optimal neoadjuvant chemotherapy for mutation carriers.

Androgen deprivation therapy may not be associated with an increase in cardiovascular mortality in all men but only those with a prior cardiac event due to known coronary artery disease.

Stage II colon cancer with high risk factors is often treated with adjuvant therapy, however new data raise questions about the usefulness of this practice.

Commentary on a successful study in which genotype-guided tamoxifen dosing increased endoxifen concentrations in women with reduced CYP2D6 metabolism.

Estrogen plus progestin and estrogen alone have different effects on mammographic density and breast cancer.

This is a commentary on a recent study comparing two risk calculators for use in the setting of prostate cancer screening.

This podcast describes the analysis of the IPASS study population by EGFR mutation and EGFR FISH biomarker status, and also discusses the results and controversial analysis of overall survival from this trial.

The use of arsenic trioxide as a single agent can produce long lasting remissions and a significant cure rate in patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia.

In this podcast, results of randomized phase III clinical trial evaluating the effects of a patient specific idiotype tumor vaccine in patients with follicular lymphoma are summarized. The results demonstrate that idiotype vaccination may improve disease free survival in patients with follicular lymphoma who achieve a remission following chemotherapy.

The addition of oxaliplatin to fluorouracil-based neoadjvuant chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal cancer significantly increases toxicity but does not improve the pathologic complete response rate.

The term targeted therapy is often used in cancer drug development. This podcast will discuss the study of a mEK inhibitor where the investigators actually looked at the impact on the target as well as whether the drug worked or did not work.

Commentary on a new small molecule inhibitor of angiogenesis in combination with chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer.

This SEER based study demonstrated that the advanced radiation therapy technique of three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy improved survival compared to the previously used method.

This podcast will discuss the basic background of myelodysplastic syndromes and the clinical implications of TP53 mutations predicting outcomes in del(5q) MDS.

This podcast describes the long term outcomes of patients treated with chemotherapy first, followed by either cystectomy or radiation therapy. It provides important information to practicing physicians who treat this disease in helping make decisions about the utility and effectiveness, as well as safety, of using chemotherapy for muscle invasive bladder cancer.

In this week's podcast, Dr. Jaine discusses the recent manuscript by Paik and colleagues evaluating BRAF mutations in patients with advanced lung cancer. The potential impact of BRAF mutations and outcomes with current therapies for lung cancer are discussed.