Cleveland Clinic Cancer Advances

How can better data improve decision-making in a curable but nuanced disease like testicular cancer? This episode explores how large language models can turn unstructured clinical notes into actionable insights, helping clinicians refine treatment selection, understand practice variation and balance cure with long-term toxicity management.

Is there a role for earlier integration of lutetium PSMA therapy in mCRPC management? Emerging evidence supports its use in the pre-taxane setting, prompting a shift in sequencing decisions. This episode outlines patient selection, PSMA imaging requirements and how to balance disease aggressiveness, tolerability and real-world considerations when choosing between lutetium and chemotherapy.

As cancer care becomes increasingly personalized, treatment deescalation is emerging as a key strategy to balance efficacy with quality of life. In this episode of Cancer Advances, Jame Abraham, MD, Enterprise Chair of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Cleveland Clinic, discusses how clinicians are rethinking dose intensity, duration and therapeutic selection across disease settings. Learn how ev...

How can we better predict progression and outcomes in a disease where treatment decisions must be made in days, sometimes hours? In this episode of Cancer Advances, Moaath Mustafa Ali, MD, MPH, discusses emerging longitudinal and evolutionary modeling approaches that integrate clinical, genomic and treatment data over time to improve risk stratification in acute myeloid leukemia. Learn how these m...

Young patients requiring pelvic radiation face limited fertility preservation options. In this episode of Cancer Advances, Robert DeBernardo, MD, and Johanna Kelley, MD, both gynecologic oncologists at Cleveland Clinic, discuss uterine transposition—a novel surgical approach that protects both ovarian function and the uterus—using a real world rectal cancer case. Learn which patients may benefit,...

Shilpa Gupta, MD, Genitourinary Medical Oncologist, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to explore how perioperative immunotherapy and ctDNA are redefining management of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. She reviews emerging phase III data and explains how it can inform treatment selection, referral timing and adjuvant decision making in clinical practice.

Lilyana Angelov, MD, Neurosurgeon and Director of the Cleveland Clinic Gamma Knife Center, Samuel Chao, MD, Radiation Oncologist and Associate Director of the Gamma Knife Center; and Ajit Krishnaney, MD, Neurosurgeon in the Center for Spine Health, join the Cancer Advances podcast to share insights from 20 years of a multidisciplinary spine tumor board. Learn how multidisciplinary strategies and n...

Amy Smith, MD, Pediatric Neuro-Oncologist, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss recent progress in pediatric neuro-oncology. Listen as Dr. Smith explains the advances in tumor biology that are shaping treatment decisions and shares how recent FDA approvals for pediatric low-grade gliomas and diffuse midline gliomas are improving disease control and patient outcomes.

Brian Barnett, MD, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Psychiatric Treatment Resistance Program, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss adjustment disorder in patients with cancer. Dr. Barnett shares how oncologists can better recognize this condition and provides insights on screening and treatment strategies. He also highlights emerging research on psychedelic-assisted therapy that may expand...

Thuy Nguyen, DAOM, LAc, Section Head of Acupuncture for the Wellness ad Preventive Medicine Department at Cleveland Clinic, joins the Cancer Advances podcast discuss how acupuncture is being integrated into cancer care. Listen as she explains the evidence behind using acupuncture for managing treatment-related symptoms, how acupuncture works biologically, key safety considerations and when oncolog...

Director of the Inpatient Leukemia Unit, Anjali Advani, MD joins the Cancer Advances podcast to break down the latest acute myeloid leukemia clinical trials. From venetoclax-based regimens to emerging menin inhibitors and mutation-driven strategies, listen as Dr. Advani explains how rapid genomics, novel combinations and evolving transplant decisions are reshaping AML care and what still lies ahea...

Could removing heat improve safety in endoscopic mucosal resection? Florida Division Chair of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and the Florida Region Director for Endoscopy, Tolga Erim, DO, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to break down cold EMR how it compares to traditional EMR, including key differences in bleeding risk, recurrence rates, and clinical trade-offs.

Mina Lobbous, MD, MSPH, Neuro-Oncologist and Medical Director of the Adult Neurofibromatosis and Schwannomatosis Clinic at Cleveland Clinic, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to talk about the landscape of neurofibromatosis and schwannomatosis care. Listen as Dr. Lobbous emphasizes the importance of coordinated pediatric‑to‑adult care, highlighting the emergence of MEK inhibitors and transformatio...

The Cancer Advances Podcast welcomes back Nathan Mesko, MD, Vice Chair of Global Clinical Operations for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Center Director for Musculoskeletal Oncology at Cleveland Clinic to talk about chemotherapy, limb salvage surgery and how 3D printed custom implants are reshaping outcomes in osteosarcoma. Dr. Mesko also shares a remarkable pediatric case whose complex...

Bethany Samuelson Bannow, MD, Director of Classical Hematology at Cleveland Clinic, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss the evolving field of classical hematology and what it means for managing complex non-malignant blood diseases. Listen as she covers emerging gene therapies, bispecific antibodies, cancer-associated thrombosis, and practical referral guidance for conditions like ITP, TTP...

Julie Lang, MD, Breast Surgical Oncologist, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss advancing care for patients with inflammatory breast cancer. Listen as Dr. Lang outlines key clinical features that distinguish IBC from infection, evidence-based sequencing of neoadjuvant therapy, surgery and radiation, and highlights emerging tools and translational research efforts aimed at improving outcom...

Associate Staff and Physician Scientist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s, Richa Sharma, MD, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss the launch of a National DNA Repair and Telomere Biology Disorder Tumor Board. Listen as Dr. Sharma explains the cancer predisposition associated with these rare inherited disorders, the challenges of treating malignancy in patients with impaired DNA repair, and ho...

Radiation Oncologist and Physician Scientist Jacob Scott, MD, DPhil, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss how chemograms may change the way oncologists select chemotherapy using transcriptomic data and predictive modeling. Listen as Dr. Scott shares how this approach applies the logic of an antibiogram to cancer care, ranks cytotoxic therapies based on tumor sensitivity, and supports more...

Medical Director of the Women's Comprehensive Health and Research Center and Professor of OB/GYN and Reproductive Biology, Pelin Batur, MD, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss updated guidance on contraceptive care during and after cancer. Listen as Dr. Batur breaks down the latest multidisciplinary recommendations, reviews cancer-specific risks and misconceptions around hormonal con...

Mohammad Dwidar, PhD, Assistant Staff in the Lerner Research Institute and Assistant Professor of Molecular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss the emerging role of engineered bacteria in cancer treatment. Listen as Dr. Dwidar explores the history of bacteria-based immunotherapy, strategies to enhance tumor specificity and safety, a...

Jaroslaw P. Maciejewski, MD, PhD, Chair of the Translational Hematology and Oncology Research Department at Cleveland Clinic, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to take a deeper look at inborn errors of immunity and their role in clonal T-cell expansion and large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia. Listen as Dr. Maciejewski explains how subtle immune deficiencies may drive disease, what this means...

Paula Escobar, MD, a Breast Surgical Oncologist at Cleveland Clinic, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to provide an inside look into endoscopic nipple-sparing mastectomy. Listen as Dr. Escobar breaks down how the procedure works, who is an ideal candidate and what this approach could mean for cosmetic outcomes, recovery, and the future standard of care.

Radiation Oncologist and Co-Director of the Genitourinary Program, Shalini Moningi, MD, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to discuss the latest advances in radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Listen as Dr. Moningi talks about SBRT, adaptive radiation, emerging biomarker data, and how these innovations are reshaping treatment selection, toxicity profiles, and patient's quality of life.

Breast density affects 50% of women and can significantly impact both cancer risk and early detection. Breast Radiologist, Paulette Turk, MD, and Medical Breast Program Director, Lakshmi Khatri, MD, join the Cancer Advances Podcast to discuss breast density, its risk implications and the role of supplemental screening. Listen as they explain how Cleveland Clinic is defining practical screening pat...

Shahzad Raza, MD, Hematologist at Cleveland Clinic, joins the Cancer Advances podcast to share insights from the RedirecTT-1 study. This study, presented at the 2025 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, explores combining two bispecific antibodies, talquetamab and teclistamab, for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma with extramedullary disease. Listen as Dr. Raza dis...