June 2023, Vol 14, No 3 - Online Only

Vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) can prevent several types of cancer, including cervical, oral/oropharyngeal, penile, and anal cancers. Unfortunately, vaccination rates, as well as public knowledge regarding the link between HPV and these cancers, are lagging, according to research presented during the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting.

An April 4, 2023, Medical Group Management Association Stat poll found that almost one-half (47%) of medical group leaders have added or created part-time or flexible-schedule physician roles in the past year, while 53% did not.

A new study has found that partners of colorectal cancer survivors experienced long-term financial toxicity that was associated with worse health-related quality of life due to systems- and individual-level behavioral factors.

National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week will be held June 15, 2023, through June 21, 2023.

During the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, researchers presented results from a phase 2b clinical trial demonstrating significant improvement in recurrence-free survival in patients with high-risk melanoma who were treated with a combination of an investigational personalized mRNA-based vaccine plus the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), compared with pembrolizumab alone.

In a session during the 2023 National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference, Deborah M. Stephens, DO, provided important updates to treatment recommendations for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and identified key factors for selecting frontline and subsequent therapies, including IGHV gene status, 17p deletion/TP53 mutation status, age, patient comorbidities, and resistance mutations.

Surgery is typically the gold standard for patients with biopsy-proven, clear cell, renal cell carcinoma with no evidence of metastatic disease, said Eric Jonasch, MD, in a session during the 2023 National Comprehensive Cancer Network Conference. In this setting, there is probably not a role for systemic neoadjuvant treatment, as response rates of 15% to 45% have been recorded with axitinib (Inlyta), sunitinib (Sutent), and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Updated results from a large clinical trial confirm that, for some patients with bladder cancer that can be removed with surgery, receiving immunotherapy immediately afterwards is an effective treatment.

Biomarker testing is a necessary tool in the advancing world of precision cancer treatment. According to a new survey released by CancerCare, a leading national cancer support organization, biomarker testing helped physicians tailor therapy for nearly all the respondent patients (93%) whose cancers were tested over the past 3 years.

Results from a new study add to the evidence that programs aimed at reducing the financial burden of cancer treatment can save money and improve the quality of life of people with cancer and their loved ones.