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By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor

Hello Health Rounds readers!  Today we provide a sneak peek at three of the studies that will be presented at the year’s most important cancer conference, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago from May 31 to June 4.

In breaking news, see these stories from our Reuters journalists: Second US dairy worker infected with bird flu confirmed in Michigan; White House backs pharma companies in Supreme Court terror funding case; US CDC asks states to keep flu testing on high this summer; Australia to ban knock-offs of popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic, Mounjaro.

Plus: Many US dairy workers yet to receive protective gear for bird flu; Thailand plans to require permits for medical, research use of cannabis; tobacco industry aims to hook new generation on vapes; Zantac not a cause of woman’s cancer, jury says in first trial over drug; and HPV vaccine provides real benefits for men.

Here, a researcher is growing cancer cells in a laboratory. Today’s issue of Health Rounds previews some of the many studies to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Most younger breast cancer patients who have completed their treatment can become pregnant and give birth if they so desire, according to a new study. 

Among 1,213 patients age 40 or younger who were diagnosed with stage 0 to III breast cancer between 2006 and 2016, 197 later tried to conceive a child, researchers reported at a press briefing.

Nearly three-fourths of those who attempted pregnancy after treatment became pregnant at least once, and 65% reported having at least one pregnancy in which the baby was born alive, according to data scheduled for presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting.

Some 75% of those who attempted pregnancy had hormone receptor-positive disease. Roughly two-thirds had received chemotherapy, more than half had received hormone therapy within a year of diagnosis, and roughly half had never been pregnant, the researchers said.

The average time from patients’ diagnosis to their first pregnancy was 4 years.

Pregnancy and live birth were less likely in patients who were older at the time of diagnosis and more likely in patients who were financially well off and in those who had undergone fertility preservation before their cancer treatments, the study found.

“Evolving data continues to demonstrate not only the possibility but safety of pregnancy and live birth after breast cancer treatment,” Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a breast oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement.

“All young patients interested in fertility preservation should have equitable access to preserve future fertility options,” she added.

Decades of follow-up data from trials of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to control unpleasant effects of menopause show that a higher rate of ovarian cancer is among the risks of the treatment in women who previously had a hysterectomy, researchers said on Thursday.

The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) project, launched in 1991, included a randomized trial that compared the use of conjugated equine estrogens without any other hormones with a placebo in more than 10,000 postmenopausal women without a uterus.

In a follow-up analysis to be presented next week at the annual ASCO meeting, researchers found the women who received estrogens had a higher rate of ovarian cancer incidence and related deaths compared to those in the placebo group.

However, the absolute risk of ovarian cancer was extremely low in both groups, with 35 cases in the estrogen group and 17 in the placebo group.

“While this new information is an important part of patient counseling and education, given the low numbers, it should not necessarily impact a woman’s decision to take menopausal hormone therapy for symptomatic relief of menopausal symptoms,” Dr. Eleonora Teplinsky of Valley Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Care in Paramus, New Jersey, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement.

HRT can reduce the risk of fractures, colon cancer and diabetes, improve sleep and mood, and ease hot flashes and vaginal dryness, earlier research has shown.

Other long-term risks of HRT can include heart disease, blood clots and breast cancer.

Conjugated equine estrogens are now used less often, making it difficult to extrapolate these study results to modern-day estrogen preparations, Teplinsky noted.

In a separate WHI trial involving more than 16,000 women who still had a uterus, researchers found that women taking estrogen plus progesterone did not have a higher risk of ovarian cancer and in fact had a lower risk of endometrial cancer compared to women who received a placebo.

When patients do not show up for their scheduled colonoscopy, phone calls from an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of fluent conversation can help encourage them to complete the procedure, researchers at a large inner-city hospital reported on Thursday at the ASCO press briefing.

The study at Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York tested “MyEleanor,” a virtual patient navigator that called patients to discuss rescheduling, assess barriers to going through with the procedure, offer live transfers to clinical staff to reschedule, and provide procedure preparation reminder calls.

In 2022 and 2023, MyEleanor called 2,400 people who had either canceled or did not show up for a scheduled colonoscopy appointment. Overall, 41% were Hispanic and 33% were Black; 73% spoke English and 25% spoke Spanish, and 32% were unemployed.

During the study, 57% of people engaged with MyEleanor for an average of 6.5 minutes each. More than half of them agreed to be transferred to a human who would reschedule their procedure. The rate of completed colonoscopies for people who did not show for their initial appointment nearly doubled from 10% to 19%, and patient volume increased by 36%.

“We understand things can get in the way of getting screenings like this, and we would like to learn more so we can better assist you,” MyEleanor would say during the conversation. “I’d like to ask you a few questions about what stopped you from coming to your appointment… Is that ok with you?”

Over 50% of participants told MyEleanor of at least two barriers to screening, including transportation (38%), lack of perceived need (36%), time (36%), absence of physician prompting (33%), medical mistrust (32%), concerns about findings from the screening (28%), and cost (27%).

The authors are now examining the potential for MyEleanor to assist with the screenings for lung and breast cancer.

This newsletter was edited by Bill Berkrot; additional reporting by Shawana Alleyne-Morris.

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