Data Drop

 The 47th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASC0) I attended last week in Chicago is bigger than the town in Iowa where I grew up.
       Some 32,000 of your nearest and dearest in all things oncology gather in McCormack Place, a sprawling, four-building complex that has a walkway over Lake Shore Drive and boasts its own restaurant directory. McCormack Place makes an airplane hanger seem positively cozy by comparison.
       To this add: a data drop the likes of which are impossible to fathom. There's the abstracts alone for starters (some 4,000); a five-day program with sessions running from 7:30 am until around 6 p.m., and an exhibit hall with everything from big pharma's comfy barcelona chairs, to small booths for advocacy groups and miles of poster exhibits for every known cancer and many you've never heard of before.

The "Hangar" - Exhibit Hall "B" 16 total screens

       "Melanoma stole the show," ASCO past president George Sledge, MD, wrote in his blog. By now I'm sure you've seen some of the coverage (NY Times write up here by Andrew Pollock) describing the 'notable progress' two new drugs have shown in prolonging disease progression in patients 
with metastatic melanoma, a disease 
notoriously difficult to treat.  
        It was a case of metatstatic melanoma and the death of a friend's sister (she was 46) that was the impetus for starting this blog two years ago. These developments may have provided Denell with the commodity in short supply: time. Time simply to be together with her loved ones. Are these perfect treatments? No. Are they curative?  No, but none of us can place a value on another year of life, either. 
        I'll be writing in depth for OncologyTimes next week on notable sessions in survivorship, screening and breast cancer, from prevention to triple-negative bc and a few things in between. It was stunning to sit in on these sessions.  All night long I'd think about cells and try to rephrase what I'd learned, the clack of the train across the tracks echoing in my ears.
        What did I see at ASCO?  We take our cancer seriously; so do the oncologists and professionals I met. You could hear it.  You could see it on the faces of one presenter to the next, as each one personally thanked their patients for participating in the clinical trial they were discussing. There were times when the pauses between questions from the audience, or between slides, said much more than the scientific language could convey. Language is sometimes limited, but 32,000 people, from 121 countries, in one place for five days trying to hash out the next best plan for cancer? That's a lot.
         It was inspirational.  Enough so that when I developed blisters the last day I just kept walking. 
         
         A few convention notes:


        1)  Biggest game in town: the Starbucks line.
        2)  Second biggest game in town:  taxi line.
        3)  Third biggest game in town: Cell phone charging stations; and not enough of them.
        4)  If you have to ask: you've waited too long.  Map restroom locations in advance.
        5)  Understand that the things you really, really want to visit are on the opposite side of  the center.
        6)  Smoking. You don't but you'll be shocked to see how many still do. Go figure.
        7)  High heels. My feet are shaped like feet, not hooves.  Many women were stylin' in sky-high heels while I was longing for shoes with the word  "Easy" in the name. Repeat slogan from above.
        8)  Daily Newspaper:  that's how much data drops daily. Every morning there was a 12 - 16 page newsletter covering sessions, with links to photos and video.
        9)  Sleep.  Who needs it?  The sun rise begins around 5 am.  You might as well stay up.
        10) Best thing to carry?  As little as possible.  Hotel key card, a pen & small tablet.  You're good to go.


Later,
Jody


Advances in Women's Cancers - Interview with Andrew Seidman, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  Video by American Society of Clinical Oncology, Alexandria, Virginia.
Coverage on Colorrectal Cancer -  by Kate Murphy, Fight Colorectal Cancer Coalition