HEAD & NECK CANCERS

Patients who elect to undergo immediate surgery for low-risk thyroid-related microcarcinoma may be subjecting themselves to unnecessary risk, according to findings from a large study in Japan.

The presence or absence of certain serum-free fatty acids could be an excellent diagnostic tool to differentiate between patients with either benign thyroid diseases or thyroid cancer.

An upcoming phase I trial seeks to evaluate a combination of interferon gamma-1b (ACTIMMUNE) and nivolumab (Opdivo) in patients with advanced solid tumors who have progressed on at least one prior systemic therapy.

The FDA has approved a new treatment consisting of a non-alcohol formulation of docetaxel in patients with breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and head and neck cancer.

Patients with newly-diagnosed glioblastoma who received treatment with tumor- treating electrical fields in addition to temozolomide had nearly double the two-year survival of those who received temozolomide alone, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Burtness says on average, medical professionals should take about 4 minutes or longer to properly explain the clinical trial to their patients, as well as leave ample time for questions at the end of the conversation.

Rindopepimut is the first immunotherapy to have ever shown a survival benefit in brain cancers, specifically glioblastoma, said David Reardon, MD.

A chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy used in patients with EGFRvIII-positive glioblastoma multiforme during a pilot study showed promising results, according to two leading researchers in the field presenting at the 2015 Society of Neuro-Oncology Annual Meeting.

An international team of experts is planning an innovative clinical trial to speed up development of new treatments for glioblastoma multiforme.

Developing safe and effective therapies for malignant brain tumors, specifically glioblastoma, is a challenging-yet-achieveable endeavor pursued by researchers and patients alike.

Amy Heimberger, MD, professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, talks about immunotheraputics in the context of glioblastoma (GBM).

A quarter of patients with relapsed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)-treated with the vaccine rindopepimut (Rintega) plus bevacizumab remained alive at 2 years.

Phase II findings have shown a substantial improvement in overall survival with the dendritic vaccine ICT-107 in a subgroup of patients with HLA-A2+ newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), warranting further exploration in a phase III study.

Though clinical work is ongoing and early, researchers are already considering how to manage potentially fatal neurotoxicities in patients treated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

An emerging class of immune checkpoint blockade drugs has produced impressive benefits for patients in many solid tumor types. The class' success hints that these drugs ay be successful against central nervous system tumors as well, including glioblastoma.

Physicians are up to the task when it comes to the influx of immunotherapies being studied and approved across multiple tumor types, Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, PhD

Optune in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or bevacizumab boosted survival rates in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

A research team from Michigan Technological University recently discovered two major biomarkers used in the detection of thyroid cancer may be inaccurate in diagnosing the disease.

Rimas Lukas, MD, director, Medical Neuro-Oncology, co-director, Neurology Medical Student Clerkship Program, The University of Chicago Medical Center, on PD-L1 blockade treatment and its potential in patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM).

David Reardon, MD, clinical director, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, on the need to identify glioblastoma (GBM) patients with the EGFRvIII mutation in their tumor.

A team of scientists have conducted preclinical trials of a novel drug nanocarrier, 3HM, that may offer a solution to breaking the blood-brain barrier in the treatment of brain cancers like glioblastoma multiforme.

A team of scientists from Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and clinicians from Carilion Clinic may have found a way to increase sensitivity to the front-line chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide (TMZ) in glioblastoma (GBM), even after resistance.

R. Michael Tuttle, MD, professor of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, talks about the new horizons for radioactive iodine treatment in thyroid cancer.

With the incidence of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers on the rise, researchers are currently seeking less intense treatment options that combine effectiveness and low toxicity for patients.

The kinase inhibitors sorafenib (Nexavar) and lenvatinib (Lenvima) have significantly altered the treatment paradigm for patients with advanced radioactive iodine (RAI)-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer in both older and younger populations, with combination strategies hoping to further build upon this success.

Treatment of certain head and neck cancers may soon be fundamentally transformed through the use of molecular diagnostics to dissect essential oncogenic driver pathways, and ultimately to identify targeted therapies that specifically inhibit them.

Michael Baumann, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology, Director University of Dresden Cancer Center in Dresden, Germany discusses the DDFMISO-trial, which investigated hypoxia-specific PET imaging during radio-chemotherapy for locally advanced head-and-neck cancer.

Over a fifth of patients with previously treated advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma showed a measureable response, when treated with pembrolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor.

An experimental immunotherapy for human papillomavirus-, or HPV-, related throat cancers, which is driven by the Listeria bacteria (that wreaks havoc when ingested), may now move forward.

Abstracts highlighting the latest clinical data on lenvatinib are expected at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria.