title: ASCO Plenary Sessions: impact, legacy, future.
abstract: The ASCO annual meeting draws a large crowd of physicians, cancer researchers, policy makers, and industry representatives. The crown jewel of the annual events is the Plenary session where impactful, influential and visible abstracts are selected for the largest audience. Plenary topics are frequently paired with concurrent New England Journal or Lancet publications.  Here, we review 9 years of ASCO plenary sessions.  Several themes emerge.  First, many of the topics selected have indeed been practice changing, such as the use of ALK inhibitors for ALK rearranged NSCLC, or checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic melanoma.  Second, although some plenary topics seemed destined to change practice, they ultimately falter, such as the use of Cetuximab in NSCLC, vaccine therapy for follicular lymphoma, and even Bevacizumab in metastatic renal cell cancer. Who could have forseen bevacizumab displaced by several VEGF TKIs?  Third, negative trials are rare among Plenary sessions, but when they are presented they are immensely important.  Examples include a seminal study using CA-125 levels to guide treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer, the use of lapatinib combined with traztuzumab in the adjuvant treatment of HER2 + disease, and studies showing no survival benefit to upfront bevacizumab in glioblastoma multiforme.   Fourth, we note a large industry presence among Plenary sessions, as the Industry in part sponsored 62% of Plenary abstracts.  Ultimately a review of 9 years of ASCO plenary reveals the plenary for what it is: a conservative selection of abstracts that, at the time, are thought to change the face of oncology.  Time, however, is the true arbiter, and some succeed in this quest, while others falter.  ASCO plenary sessions reveal the influence, legacy and future of cancer care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology Oncology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
authors.forename: Andrae
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vandross
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology Oncology/ Knight Cancer Institute/ Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR; Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine/ Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR; Senior Scholar in the Center for Health Care Ethics / Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.
authors.forename: Vinay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: Myeloma Service, Division of Hematologic Oncology, New York, New York; Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York. Electronic address: prasad@ohsu.edu.
authors.forename: Sham
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mailankody
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012958:Societies, Scientific
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: ASCO; Breaking abstract; Influence; Medical conferences; Plenary Sessions