In the annual Research Round Up series, Cancer.Net Editorial Board members answer the question, “What was the most exciting or practice-changing research in your field presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting?” In this episode, 2 Cancer.Net Associate Editors discuss new research presented at the meeting in melanoma and health equity.
Listen below, and subscribe to Cancer.Net Podcasts wherever you listen to podcasts for new episodes in this series.
Improvements in treating melanoma
Dr. Katy K. Tsai, the 2023 Cancer.Net Associate Editor for Melanoma & Skin Cancer, discusses 2 studies in treating melanoma with adjuvant therapies, which are drugs given after surgery to help reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. First, she discusses the phase 3 KEYNOTE-716 study, which examined whether the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) could decrease the chance of the cancer returning and spreading to another part of the body in people with high-risk stage IIB or IIC melanoma. [2:40]
Next, she discusses the phase 2 KEYNOTE-942 trial, which studied whether adding a personalized cancer vaccine to pembrolizumab for people with high-risk stage III or IV melanoma could reduce the risk of the cancer returning and spreading to another part of the body compared to pembrolizumab alone. [5:06]
New research addressing disparities in cancer care
Dr. Manali I. Patel, the 2023 Cancer.Net Associate Editor for Health Equity, discusses research exploring ways to improve health equity in cancer care. The topics she discusses include:
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A study in which researchers explored how they could collect social determinants of health information from the parents of children who were enrolled in clinical trials. [11:38]
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A study that looked at whether an intervention program called PediCARE could help low-income families access social and economic resources, such as grocery and transportation resources, while their children received cancer care. [12:48]
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A study that examined racial and ethnic disparities in end-of-life care among people with gastrointestinal cancers. [15:02]
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Results from the Sylvester Lung Screening Project, which was a quality improvement program aimed at reducing disparities in lung cancer screening. [16:02]
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A study that researched whether a cross-border cancer treatment training and access program developed between the United States and Mexico could improve survival for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. [17:13]
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A pair of studies on the financial hardships of having cancer, called financial toxicity, including evaluating the relationship between high levels of medical debt and survival. [18:42]
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A brief overview of research around the importance of patient navigation. [19:59]
Disclosure information for this podcast’s speakers can be found in their individual biographies linked to above.
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