The cancer death rate in the United States dropped 2.2% from 2016 to 2017, the most recent data available. This is the largest annual decrease ever reported.

“Long‐term trends in cancer incidence rates for all cancers combined by sex.” From Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D., & Jemal, A. (2020). Cancer statistics, 2020. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 70(1), 7–30. doi:10.3322/caac.21590.

In discussing this American Cancer Society data, numerous outlets quoted MSK physicians. In The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Helena Yu pointed to advances in immunotherapy as one factor in the decline. On NBC Nightly News, Dr. Larry Norton mentioned these treatment advances while describing some areas of concern. While screening is “very good” for colorectal cancer and breast cancer, he said, “not everybody is taking advantage of that.”

Stat News and Biopharmadrive.com included content tweeted by Dr. Peter Bach. He noted that the increase in other causes of death, like suicide and overdoses, may have contributed to the decline in cancer mortality.

The end of 2019 brought positive news for patients with advanced urothelial cancer (UC), cancer of the bladder’s inner lining.

Patients with metastatic or locally advanced UC now have an additional treatment option: Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), a drug recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that targets a type of cancer cell common to UC. In an article about the drug in Cure, MSK’s Dr. Jonathan E. Rosenberg calls the approval “a significant advance.”

Researchers at MSK led by Dr. Maria Carlo have made genetic findings for advanced UC. In a Journal of Clinical Oncology article, reported by Medwire News, the authors retrospectively identified genetic variants that could impact the screening and treatment of advanced UC. They recommend expanding genetic testing for these patients.

Dr. Jonathan E. Rosenberg                        Dr. Maria Carlo

How do you encourage underserved populations to get screening colonoscopies?

A new study led by MSK and Mount Sinai researchers addresses this question for more than 300 low-income Latinx individuals living in New York City. A Cancer Network article describes the findings.

The researchers compared three initiatives: patient navigation; patient navigation alongside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) print materials; and patient navigation with culturally targeted print materials. The authors define patient navigation as the use of a health care professional who helps patients “navigate and obtain medical care.” They found that while patient navigators increased the colonoscopy rate, the addition of either type of print material did not improve uptake of screening colonoscopy.

The authors acknowledge that their study looks at a very specific population and the results may not be generalizable. They call for further research into the effects of patient navigation.