Category Archives: In the News

A Career of Advances in Pediatric Oncology

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Dr. Richard J. O’Reilly

Dr. Richard J. O’Reilly

In a recent feature for OncLive, MSK’s Dr. Richard J. O’Reilly reflects on his influences and long career as a pediatric oncologist. Most striking are the great strides made in treating children with cancer:

“One has to think about the fact that when I was a resident, I was told that it was unethical for people to tell a parent that their child was going to survive leukemia. Unethical. […] Now we’re talking about 90% of kids with the most common type of acute leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, who can achieve durable remissions and cures. These changes…occurred initially through development of intensive combinations of chemotherapeutic agents coupled with the development of exceptionally effective methods for supportive care that have sustained kids extremely well.”

Still, Dr. O’Reilly continues to push for continued research and questioning the status quo, concluding the article saying, “Never be satisfied.”

New Screening Tool to Detect Pancreatic Cancer Early

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Cancer Research UK, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Pancreatic cancer, while rare, is one of the most lethal cancers because the symptoms usually appear at a late stage, and the pancreas’ location makes it challenging to feel any tumors during routine exams.

In a promising pilot study, a new screening tool was able to identify more than 95% of stage I pancreatic cancers from blood samples.The researchers created the new tool based on the knowledge that tumors release small extracellular vesicles containing tumor proteins into the blood. 

The tool can predict the probability of being malignant by using the results from blood samples in conjunction with artificial intelligence. Predicting malignancy at an early stage lays the foundation for more effective cancer treatment. The study is published in Nature Communications Medicine.

New Guidance for High-Risk Breast Cancer Screening

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Dr. Mark Robson

Dr. Mark Robson. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

A new study in JAMA Oncology found that women at increased risk of breast cancer due to ATM, CHEK2, or PALB2 genetic mutations benefit from screening MRI starting at ages 30-35 and mammography starting at age 40.

MSK co-author Dr. Mark Robson told Medscape Medical News that while this advice may lead to false positive screenings, it will also find cancers earlier and save lives. “What I was excited by is just how impactful the MRI screen was in terms of projected reduction in the risk of death. I thought that great,” Robson said.

Need advice on which screening plan is right for you? Speak to your doctor, and find out more about MSK’s Breast Screening Program.