Medical Oncology
Physician insights on cancer treatment protocols, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, and clinical trial updates.
Recent Discussions
Has precision medicine changed how you consent patients for treatment?
The use of precision oncology technology and genetics has changed the ability to provide informed consent. In general, the riskier or less standard of care a therapeutic intervention might be, the greater the need for informed consent. In this way, precision oncology has pushed the envelope especial...
Should we be utilizing prophylactic G-CSF in our patients with intermediate risk of febrile neutropenia due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
There are many functions of G-CSF, including repression of T-cell and NK cell function. Unless you are certain that growth factors are not modifying the immune network to the detriment of viral clearance—there is no data that growth factors help clear viral infections.
How would you approach missed doses of fulvestrant due to COVID-19?
There is no specific guideline for this. But, as we do for patients who occasionally miss fulvestrant doses, I would try to schedule the next dose as soon as possible. Another option would be to consider an alternative endocrine therapy option such as AI, tamoxifen, which do not require for patients...
How would you manage an isolated nodal recurrence of breast cancer in a patient with a prior history of mantle-field radiation?
Nodal recurrences, especially in unresectable regions, are especially challenging cases in the context of reRT. At a high level, the first thing to think about is resectability. If resectable, the usual approach is surgery, then adjuvant RT to unirradiated areas, and adjuvant chemotherapy. If unrese...
How does one interpret the LUMINA trial in the FLORENCE APBI ERA?
This is a common scenario. My practice is to discuss this with the patient. I discuss 5 fraction PBI or 5 fraction WBI depending on the scenario, as well as endocrine therapy and the differences in toxicity profiles. Given compliance rates of 50-60% with endocrine therapy long-term, many patients pr...
When would you use AVD + brentuximab instead of ABVD for newly diagnosed stage 3 or 4 Hodgkin lymphoma?
By reducing the risk of primary treatment failure from 23% to 18%, the ECHELON-1 study demonstrated that compared to ABVD, AVD + brentuximab vedotin reduces the risk of primary treatment failure by about 25% for patients with advanced-stage classic Hodgkin lymphoma. If given with prophylactic G-CSF,...
When would you use AVD + brentuximab instead of ABVD for newly diagnosed stage 3 or 4 Hodgkin lymphoma?
By reducing the risk of primary treatment failure from 23% to 18%, the ECHELON-1 study demonstrated that compared to ABVD, AVD + brentuximab vedotin reduces the risk of primary treatment failure by about 25% for patients with advanced-stage classic Hodgkin lymphoma. If given with prophylactic G-CSF,...
Would you offer other antibody-drug conjugates to a patient who had a history of G2 trastuzumab deruxtecan-induced pneumonitis that is now resolved?
There are no prospective data to guide this decision; the decision requires careful individualization. TDM-1 (ado-trastuzumab emtansine has a substantially lower pneumonitis risk than trastuzumab deruxtecan (1.6-1.9% with TDM-1 compared to 9.6-10.5% with trastuzumab deruxtecan), and TDM-1 uses a dif...
Would you offer adjuvant ribociclib to a postmenopausal female with ER+ luminal A, node+ breast cancer pT1cN1a grade 2 that didn't require chemotherapy per Oncotype, but met NATALEE inclusion criteria?
Yes, I would recommend adjuvant ribociclib.
Is there any role for early stem cell mobilization and collection during the SMM phase?
Prolonged exposure to lenalidomide can affect the ability to mobilize and collect stem cells, though this is less of an issue with increasing use of plerixafor (Giralt et al., 2009). If you are going to treat with an IMD, it is important to collect stem cells after 4-6 months of therapy, similar to ...