Oncology



A retrospective review of a pilot study in Chinese women who underwent magnetic seed marker–guided breast lesion excision reports >90 percent success rate and no complications.

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who have haematologic malignancies have a 28 percent mortality rate, according to data collected from 250 patients by the ASH Research Collaborative COVID-19 presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition (ASH 2020).

Results of the registrational phase I/II ARROW trial of pralsetinib, presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020, reveal overall response rates (ORRs) of ≥60 percent in pretreated and treatment-naïve RET-mutated (RETmut) medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) patients.

An international team of researchers led by CUHK found a significant association between tobacco use and bladder cancer incidence and mortality globally.

The addition of chemotherapy to endocrine therapy improved invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) in premenopausal women with lymph node-positive early stage hormone receptor-positive (HR+) HER2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer with recurrence score ≤25, according to early results of the phase III SWOG S1007 RxPonder* trial presented at SABCS 2020. However, the benefits did not appear to extend to postmenopausal women.


Significant advancements in the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) in children have improved their outcomes. However, ALL treatment and eradication remain a major challenge in adults. In a recent webinar, two specialists from the US discussed current ALL treatment strategies and goals of future regimens.





Overall survival (OS) is currently the primary criteria in assessing the efficacy of a cancer treatment. Dr Raghav Sundar, a consultant medical oncologist at the National University Hospital, Singapore, details the crucial role played by tumour response in evaluating treatment efficacy, with a focus on the multiple kinase inhibitor lenvatinib in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who have haematologic malignancies have a 28 percent mortality rate, according to data collected from 250 patients by the ASH Research Collaborative COVID-19 presented at the 62nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition (ASH 2020).

The addition of chemotherapy to endocrine therapy improved invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) in premenopausal women with lymph node-positive early stage hormone receptor-positive (HR+) HER2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer with recurrence score ≤25, according to early results of the phase III SWOG S1007 RxPonder* trial presented at SABCS 2020. However, the benefits did not appear to extend to postmenopausal women.

Nivolumab does not improve overall survival (OS) in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer when compared with standard second- and subsequent-line chemotherapy, according to the results of the phase III NINJA trial presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Virtual Congress 2020.


The combination of panobinostat, dexamethasone, and subcutaneous (SC) bortezomib shows promising responses in patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), according to the phase II PANORAMA 3* study. Furthermore, SC bortezomib may be preferable to the intravenous (IV) option for reducing toxicity.

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) who achieve undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) in peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) after 12 cycles of first-line treatment with ibrutinib plus venetoclax have similar 1-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates regardless of whether ibrutinib is continued or not, results of the phase II CAPTIVATE study have shown.
