Cancer Links

'Suicide' gene offers hope of targeted ovarian cancer treatment

2009-11-25T20:36:00.002+04:00

A Study has developed a cancer treatment that uses a 'suicide' gene to fight ovarian cancer that is advanced and has recurred after radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Using a nanoparticle to deliver the DNA-encoding diphtheria toxin to the site of the tumour in mice, scientists found the cancer was less likely to grow.

Effectiveness of brain cancer treatment established by scientists

2009-11-25T20:36:00.001+04:00

The research was carried out by scientists at UCLA and has developed a test which can identify brain tumours and predict which ones will be most likely to respond to the drug Avastin.

A connection was established between high water movement in tumours and the effectiveness of the drug.

Having determined this, scientists can now scan patients and use the image to forecast whether they would benefit from being given Avastin.

Ultrasound for prostate cancer

2009-11-25T20:36:00.000+04:00

A pioneering treatment for the UK’s most common male cancer is more successful than surgery or radiotherapy,’ The Daily Telegraph reported. The newspaper said that new research shows that intensive ultrasound therapy is as effective as traditional treatments (surgery or radiotherapy) but that side effects are dramatically reduced..

read more at http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/behind-the-headlines-archive/ultrasound-for-prostate-cancer/5003619.article

EU Approves Bevacizumab Plus Docetaxel for First-Line Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment

2009-11-25T20:35:00.001+04:00

The European Commission has broadened the indication for bevacizumab. Bevacizumab can now be combined with docetaxel for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

The approval is based on a phase 3 trial (BO17708) where 736 patients who did not receive previous chemotherapy for their metastatic breast cancer were randomised to bevacizumab 15 mg/kg q3w in combination with docetaxel 100 mg/m2; bevacizumab 7.5 mg/kg q3w in combination with docetaxel 100 mg/m2; or placebo in combination with docetaxel 100 mg/m2 (control arm).

New Lung Cancer Treatment Approach Raises Hopes and Debate

2009-11-25T20:35:00.000+04:00

A number of clinical trials have tried and failed to improve survival in patients who have advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by extending the duration of their initial treatment. The premise behind the approach, often called maintenance therapy, is simple: In patients whose tumors regress following their initial treatment, give the cancer another kick while it's down, rather than waiting for it to regain steam before delivering further therapy.

Cancer treatment improved

2009-11-25T20:34:00.002+04:00

A new technique, Nano-Carbon Suspension Injection, will greatly improve the surgical treatment of gastric cancer, according to the latest research.

The result of the study was presented at a forum held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, by the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association of the Professional Committee of Gastric Cancer.

Cancer What is radioimmunotherapy?

2009-11-25T20:34:00.001+04:00

Radioimmunotherapy is a revolutionary cancer treatment that is producing remarkable results in treating blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma. The technique combines two types of therapy: radiation therapy & immune therapy, using monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are man-made immune proteins used to target and attach to the surface of a cell. In radioimmunotherapy, radiation-emitting molecules, called radioisotopes, attach to the monoclonal antibodies. Those monoclonal antibodies carry the radiation-emitting molecule to the cancer cells and result in a more localized, target-specific irradiation. As the radioisotope attaches to the surface of the cancer cell, the cancer cells are killed

Riverview pioneers skin cancer treatment

2009-08-07T00:06:00.001+04:00

A Wisconsin Rapids medical center took the national stage this week after becoming the first facility in the world to begin administering what some call a breakthrough skin cancer treatment.

University of Wisconsin Cancer Center Riverview's chief medical physicist, Yi Rong, presented the new process this week at the 51st annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Anaheim, Calif.

Ultrasound for prostate cancer

2009-07-07T21:37:00.000+04:00

Genetic clue to brain cancer risk

2009-07-07T21:35:00.000+04:00

Genetic warning signs of an increased risk of the commonest kind of brain cancer have been discovered.

UK and US scientists identified genetic indicators that someone is at greater risk of developing a glioma - which accounts for 50% of all brain tumours.

However, the teams from London, Texas and California write in Nature Genetics that environmental factors also affect if someone will develop the cancer.

A UK charity said the work opened up new avenues for research and treatment

read more http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8132466.stm

Cancer Screening: Does It Really Save Lives?

2009-07-07T21:25:00.000+04:00

Anne is a good patient. She sees her doctor for regular checkups, has yearly mammograms, Pap tests, and colon cancer screenings, and she even paid for a full-body CT scan out of her own pocket. She figures she's doing everything she can to make sure she doesn't get cancer.

Truth is, Anne is doing nothing to prevent cancer. Although cancer screening is billed as a preventive service that saves lives, the best it can do is detect disease in its early stages, when it is supposedly easier to treat. Nevertheless, every year millions of Americans dutifully line up for their screenings, completely unaware that they may be doing more harm than good.

For more than 15 years, I've been warning patients about the downside of mammograms, PSA testing, and the overall concept of cancer screening. It hasn't been a popular position. Today, however, there's a small but growing band of researchers, clinicians, and expert panels who are speaking out against the unbridled use of these tests. One of them, H. Gilbert Welch, MD, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School, has laid out very persuasive arguments in an aptly titled book, Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe Not and Here's Why. In this straightforward and well-referenced book, Dr. Welch raises several concerns about cancer screening.

read more at http://www.naturalnews.com/026558_cancer_cancer_screening_Prostate.html

Elderly Breast Cancer Patients Receive Chemotherapy If Treated In Private Practices

2009-07-07T21:24:00.000+04:00

In a study to determine the non-medical factors that may be associated with the decision to treat nonmetastatic breast cancer, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health evaluated the association between oncologist characteristics and the receipt of chemotherapy in elderly women with breast cancer and found that they were more likely to receive chemotherapy if treated by oncologists employed in a private practice. For elderly women with localized breast cancer (stages 1-3), the researchers report that only 15% of women got treated, and the use of chemotherapy is a judgment call by the oncologist. With regard to younger women with nonmetastatic breast cancer, 70% received adjuvant chemotherapy.

read more at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706134056.htm

FDA approves Drug for Maintenance Therapy in Advanced NSCLC

2009-07-07T21:22:00.000+04:00

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. announced Monday that the Food and Drug Administration have okayed a new use for its cancer treatment Alimta.

Alimta, which hinders the required absorption by certain tumors of B-vitamin folate, is newly approved for people whose tumor has shrunk or whose cancer has stabilized after chemotherapy.

The findings of the worldwide, multi-center double-blind clinical test were presented in Orlando by Chandra Belani, M.D., Miriam Beckner distinguished professor of medicine and deputy director of Penn State Cancer Institute at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

NSCLC is the most common form of lung cancer, resulting in more than 180 thousand new cases annually in the United States.

Generally patients with advanced, or metastatic, lung cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are treated with four to six rounds of chemotherapy, and then treatment is stopped in patients whose tumors either stop growing or shrink

read more at http://www.efitnessnow.com/news/2009/07/06/fda-approves-drug-for-maintenance-therapy-in-advanced-nsclc/

Qld cancer patients get new radiation treatment option

2009-07-07T21:20:00.000+04:00

An advanced form of radiation therapy is now available through the public health system in Queensland.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) eliminates many of the side effects associated with traditional radiation treatment and is improving the quality of life of many cancer patients.

Tim Olsen, 15, from Gladstone in central Queensland had a melanoma removed from the inside of his eye about six months ago.

When the cancer spread to his neck, doctors recommended IMRT which specifically targets tumours, reducing the damage to healthy tissue.

Radiation Therapy Services director Simon McQuitty says the technology more effectively targets cancer treatment.

read more at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/07/2619148.htm

Healthy, Older Men Live Longer With Aggressive Prostate Cancer Treatment

2009-07-07T21:18:00.000+04:00

Boston, MA - Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), have found that older men, who are otherwise healthy, benefit from aggressive treatment for unfavorable-risk prostate cancer, a finding that draws contrasts with a recent US Preventive Task Force recommendation stating that older men should not be screened for prostate cancer. These findings are published online and in an upcoming print issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology Physics.

"When the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against PSA screening for any man over 75 years old, it gave some people the impression that it isn't worthwhile to either find or treat prostate cancer in older men. However, our study found that if an older man is diagnosed with unfavorable-risk prostate cancer, aggressive treatment can improve his chances of surviving, just as it does for younger men, provided that he is otherwise relatively healthy," said Paul L. Nguyen, MD, a radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center. "This tells us that it's not just age alone, but also overall health status that must be considered when deciding whether or not to aggressively treat men with prostate cancer."

read more at http://www.prurgent.com/2009-07-06/pressrelease44991.htm

Researchers To Compare Two Cancer Treatment Methods

2009-07-07T21:17:00.000+04:00

TOKYO, July 7 (Bernama) -- University specialists have started conducting research on two surgical methods currently available to deal with hepatoma, a tumor of the liver that is common in East Asian patients, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

The study conducted beginning this year by specialists at the University of Tokyo and others is to compare conventional surgical techniques to remove cancerous tissues from the liver in early development with radiofrequency ablation, or RFA, a medical procedure in which surgeons insert a needle into the liver to destroy the abnormal tumor or tissues by heat.

Many liver cancer patients are said to be in East Asia but in many instances the disease is reported to have been discovered in its early development in Japan.

read more at http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=423428

Rapid Radiation

2009-07-07T21:15:00.002+04:00

Undergoing radiation therapy can be a weary process for cancer patients.

There are daily, weekday trips to therapy for six to eight weeks. Patients can become fatigued and often have to cope with side effects of treatment.

During visits, they must lie perfectly still inside a linear accelerator that directs beams of radiation to zap tumors. The treatment typically takes about 20 minutes plus time for radiation therapists to set up everything.

Now new technology called RapidArc is reducing treatment to about 5 minutes or less. St. Dominic Hospital has offered it since April.

"This was for patient comfort," said Mechale Mayfield, St. Dominic Cancer Center director. For now, St. Dominic treats cancers of the prostate and pelvis areas with RapidArc. By the end of the summer, it will treat head and neck cancers and eventually will treat lung and breast cancers with RapidArc.

"With any treatment modality, we kind of start out with one area and perfect it, then move on to others," Mayfield said.

Varian Medical Systems developed RapidArc, an advanced form of image-guided, intensity-modulated, radiation therapy. It treats tumors the same way, only faster and without exposing as much healthy tissue to radiation.

Radiation breaks down healthy tissue, Mayfield explained. "That's why through the years radiation has gone to treating more than just straight on or four different areas. Sometimes we treat nine different areas," she said.

With the conventional method, the radiation beams start and stop as they circle a patient's body to adjust and readjust to angles.

RapidArc "modulates actual beams so it is shaped exactly like the tumor and as it rotates around the body it changes. Well, actually the machine adjusts to the shape (of the tumor) as it moves," Mayfield said. "It is unbelievable to see."

William Cannon, 72, of Brandon is one of the first prostate cancer patients at St. Dominic to experience RapidArc. He's had 22 treatments with the conventional method and 11 treatments with RapidArc.

Before the faster treatments became available, his wife would do a crossword puzzle to pass time in the waiting area. Not any more.

"Well, she only got two answers, and here I was coming out," Cannon said laughing.

"Before they would do it in 10 stages if you will. I think I counted. They'd shoot me, move it a little. Shoot me, move it a little. Shoot me. It moved around the body."

RapidArc eliminates the starting and stopping and provides radiation continuously. Cannon said his time on the table is cut in half, and it now takes longer to set up the machine than to receive treatment. His treatments last about 2 minutes.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt a bit. This is faster," he said.

Cannon was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006 and had laparoscopic surgery to treat it.

Cancer runs in his family. His mother and older sister both had breast cancer. But he recalls his sister developing something like a rash after her treatment.

"I haven't had anything like that," Cannon said.

"That's because you were able to spare the tissue - the actual skin on the outside of the body," Mayfield said.

Earlier this year a PSA - prostate-specific antigen - screening showed elevated levels in Cannon's blood.

PSA screenings catch cancer early, which helped to ensure Cannon was a good candidate for RapidArc treatment. All cancer patients are not.

"It depends on the physician's discretion," said Veeresh Michael, medical physicist at the Cancer Center. "Certain stages (of cancer) and sizes (of tumors) are not beneficial."

Michael's job is to ensure treatment plans for the eight to 10 prostate cancer patients eligible for RapidArc are carried out per physicians' orders. He also monitors overall quality control of the system.

He agrees patient comfort is a plus with RapidArc and adds that not having to lie down for long periods during treatment yields better results.

"It's a hard flat table and uncomfortable for a lot of patients. They must lie still. A lot of patients wiggle around and their treatment can be compromised."

Faster treatment also allows for improved flexibility with appointment schedules.

"Before this new technology, we could only treat a small number of patients in specific time slots," Mayfield said.

RapidArc treatment doesn't cost patients more, and it's usually covered by insurance.

Cannon, who stays active by walking with his wife after leaving the center, just appreciates the ease of treatment overall.

"I've always heard of people taking radiation therapy. 'Oh my gosh. What is this?' Well it's nothing so far as I'm concerned."

New Naples Prostate Center becomes first to offer RapidArc prostate cancer treatment

2009-06-30T12:38:00.000+04:00

Dr. Michael Smith, a board certified radiation oncologist with Specialists in Urology’s Prostate Center, today treated the first three patients in Southwest Florida with RapidArc radiation for prostate cancer.
RapidArc is a form of radiation treatment that allows more of the radiation to be directed at the cancer and less radiation to reach healthy parts of the body. Specialists in Urology is the first and only center to offer this advanced technology to its patients in the Southwest Florida area at its new Prostate Center at 955 10th St. N. and U.S. 41 in Naples. In a recent study, the technique achieved better coverage of the target while reducing the toxic radiation dose to the normal anatomy of the patient by 43 percent. RapidArc is the most advanced application that can be executed on a linear accelerator. It differs from conventional therapy by treating the patient with a continuous 360 degree arc which serves to improve the uniformity of the dose distribution in the prostate gland. Each treatment takes only 90-120 seconds compared to 12-15 minutes with standard radiation therapy.
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Clinically available now for nine months in the U.S., RapidArc is anticipated to become the new standard for treating prostate cancer in patients who would have otherwise undergone radiation therapy using standard intensity modulated radiation therapy, radioactive seed implants, high dose rate brachytherapy and CyberKnife radiosurgery.
The Prostate Center is a new, state-of-the-art, 18,000-square-foot facility featuring RapidArc for prostate cancer which as part of Varian’s Trilogy linear accelerator can be used for any cancer in the body. Its function also includes radiosurgery for brain and spinal cord tumors. Although Dr. Smith will continue to treat all forms of cancer at the facility, the initial focus of the Prostate Center will be the treatment of prostate cancer, including the 40 or so men who are scheduled to begin therapy next month.
Dr. Smith joined Specialists in Urology this year with more than 20 years experience at such institutions as Indiana, Baylor, Houston and Vanderbilt universities where he was also on faculty. He has extensive experience in the treatment of breast and colon cancer as well as head, neck, brain and spinal cord tumors. Using cone beam CAT Scanning, also offered at the center, he is able to localize the radiation field with precision to a fraction of a millimeter.
Specialists in Urology will continue to offer da Vinci robotic prostatectomy at NCH and Physicians Regional Medical Center for patients requiring surgery as the most appropriate option with more than 1,100 cases to date since 2005.
For more information about Specialists in Urology, its physicians, facilities and locations go to specialistsinurology.com or call the office at 434-6300

Cost-Effectiveness of Cancer Drugs Is Questioned

2009-06-30T12:36:00.000+04:00

By Avery Johnson
The widespread use of expensive cancer drugs to prolong patients’ lives by just weeks or months was called into question by an article published Monday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Crunching data from published studies, the authors found that treating a lung-cancer patient with Erbitux, a drug that costs $80,000 for an 18-week regimen, prolongs survival by only 1.2 months.
Based on that estimate, extending the lives of the 550,000 Americans who die of cancer annually by one year would then cost $440 billion, they extrapolated.
How to control escalating spending on end-of-life care is one of the thorniest questions facing lawmakers working on the overhaul of the U.S. health-care system.
Some countries, like the United Kingdom, agree to pay for expensive drugs only if they meet a certain threshold of efficacy, but no such rationing exists in the U.S.
Other Big Sellers
In addition to Erbitux, which is co-marketed by Eli Lilly & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the authors questioned the cost-benefit calculus for other big sellers such as Roche Holding AG’s Avastin and Nexavar, which is co-marketed by Bayer AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, citing similarly limited survival data. The latter two drugs cost more than $34,000 for a standard course of treatment.
The authors, Tito Fojo, an oncologist with the National Cancer Institute, and Christine Grady, a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, called for changes in both the testing and practice of medicine, noting that more than 90% of cancer medicines approved in the past four years in the U.S. cost more than $20,000 for a 12-week course.
Drug makers said the article exaggerated the overall costs of their treatments because few patients are on them for extended periods of time.
They added that many patients qualify for financial assistance and that the high list prices of the drugs reflect the high cost of scientific innovation.
Actual Price of Drugs
Brian Henry, a spokesman for Bristol-Myers, said that the real-world price that patients pay for Erbitux is closer to $10,000 a month; the $80,000 figure that the article uses reflects a benchmark price known as average wholesale price that isn’t typically paid by anyone.
“The total cost of Erbitux therapy varies depending on the course of treatment for an individual patient. The course of treatment is determined by the type of cancer, stage of disease, line of therapy, dosing schedule and duration of treatment based on clinical data,” said Mr. Henry, who added that Erbitux isn’t approved to treat lung cancer.
Nonetheless, the authors said that drugs with marginal benefits shouldn’t be tested unless they can be sold for under $20,000 for a standard course.
They also urged oncologists to cease the widespread practice of prescribing medicines outside of their officially approved indications and to avoid trying new drugs with limited upside on patients who have advanced cancer.
They offered Great Britain as an example, where the government has capped spending at £30,000, or about $50,000, per quality-adjusted life year, saying that bench-marking care to a fixed amount wouldn’t compromise care or innovation.
“Many Americans would not regard a 1.2-month survival advantage as ‘significant’ progress,” the authors wrote. “But would an individual patient disagree? Although we lack the answer to that question, we would suggest that the death of a mother of four at age 37 years would be no less painful were it to occur at age 37 years and 1 month, nor would the passing of a 67-year-old who planned to travel after retiring be any less difficult for the spouse were it to have occurred one month later.”
Consumer Resistance
While some policy experts consider the rationing of health-care resources inevitable in the quest to control medical spending, many Americans have long resisted putting the collective fiscal good over their individual health.
“We can’t add on Mercedes-like drugs one after another and have every single patient cost the system phenomenal amounts of money,” said Eric Winer, chief scientific adviser to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast-cancer advocacy group. “But we have to be careful not to slow down the process of drug development. Ultimately it is medical therapy that will make a huge difference in people’s lives.”
The debate is complicated by the fact that, in some cases, the drugs work very well.
“A drug like Erbitux is not very impressive when you look at the statistics, but for some it’s just remarkable,” said Robert Erwin, who heads the cancer advocacy group Marti Nelson Cancer Foundation. “How much does it cost for the person to have the opportunity to benefit, whether they get the benefit or not?”
Richard Heimler, 49 years old, is among the patients who has benefited from high-cost treatments. He was diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago. In January, he added Avastin to a regimen of other expensive drugs. He credits it with shrinking his tumors within two months of starting with the treatment.
“My strategy has been to stay alive until the next drug comes out, and then stay alive long enough for the next drug after that,” said Mr. Heimler, who lives in New York and was head of development for a nonprofit before retiring two years ago. “If my family and I can afford a drug, we’ll try it. It’s hard to put a value on a life.”
But for Roger Megerth, 73, prolonged treatment with Nexavar wasn’t worth it.
He started taking Nexavar last June after being diagnosed with kidney cancer, but the side effects—indigestion, bleeding in the mouth and intestinal problems—were mounting.
Soaring Prescription Bills
So were the bills. The retired teacher said his school district switched prescription-drug plans and his co-pay for a bottle of 30 pills jumped from $20 to $988.18. He put one month’s supply on his credit card and decided to forgo further treatment after that.
“I would’ve borrowed money and run out my Visa,” but the side effects weren’t worth it, said Mr. Megerth of Billings, Mont.
He said his disease is under control for now, but he is in considerable pain and needs a walker to move around comfortably.
A spokeswoman for Onyx said that 75% of patients on Nexavar spend $50 or less out of pocket for the drug and that patient-assistance programs are available to cover the remainder of its costs.Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D4

Test Enhances Colon Cancer Treatment

2009-06-30T12:31:00.000+04:00

OMAHA, Neb. -- A test that analyzes DNA mutations in tumors has reduced the amount hardship endured by colon cancer patients during treatment.
The test, known as KRAS, represents personalized medicine in the field of cancer treatment, said University of Nebraska Medical Center pathologist Timothy Greiner.

If a mutation is present, the test can help physicians determine what treatments will not work on a tumor. The most beneficial treatment can then be applied. Greiner said making such a determination will save a person time, money and pain by avoiding useless procedures.
Larry Worth said the treatment has made a significant impact on his life. Wirth was diagnosed in 2007 with colon cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs. He quickly had to focus on the most useful treatment.
Greiner said similar tests will eventually be available for every type of tumor.
Physicians recommend colon cancer screenings beginning at the age of 50 and earlier for those with family histories of the disease.
Copyright 2009 by KETV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

Cure Cancer? Not Without a course correction

2009-06-30T12:29:00.000+04:00

by GoozNews ~ 29 Jun 2009 08:19am -->
Link:
Cure Cancer? Not Without A Course Correction
Publication:
Science Progress -- June 2009
By Merrill Goozner
President Obama wants to double the National Cancer Institute's budget and representatives in Congress on both sides of the aisle are supportive. But before our elected leaders escalate the long-running war on cancer, the Obama administration might want to review the past performance of cancer research, which emphasized finding new cures, not fine-tuning existing oncology treatments.
By the most objective measure of progress-improved overall survival-the results from the hunt for new cures are meager. "The age-adjusted mortality rate for cancer is about the same in the 21st century as it was 50 years ago, whereas the death rates for cardiac, cerebrovascular, and infectious diseases have declined by about two-thirds," laments Harold Varmus, the Nobel Prize-winning cancer researcher and former head of the National Institutes of Health, in his otherwise upbeat assessment about the future prospects for cancer research.[1]
This is why a redrawn battle plan-one that focuses on turning the treatment system into a research and learning system that can teach oncologists the best use of the weapons they already have-is long overdue. To understand why this shift in focus is essential, let first examine our record to date in hunting for new cures.
First of all, there has been some progress, of course. About 66 percent of people diagnosed with cancer today survive five years, up from 50 percent in 1975. And mortality rates for some cancers are falling.
The outcomes are never gathered. The data is never analyzed. And the findings are never disseminated.
But even that progress is under intense scrutiny. While the drug and biotechnology industries are lavishing increased attention on cancer (861 drugs and vaccines in clinical trials, according to a recent announcement[2]) most of the newly approved agents that squeeze through the pipeline extend the lives of patients for only a few weeks or months, often at great expense.
The evidence suggests the greatest strides in reducing cancer deaths in recent years have come not from better drugs but from the nation's war on smoking. What's more, most of the improved longevity for cancer patients is an artifact of early diagnosis rather than improved care.[3]
There's no shortage of blue-ribbon committees wrestling with the problem of slow progress in the medical fight against cancer. The Institute of Medicine has a panel evaluating the government-funded clinical trial network. The National Cancer Institute has pulled together its own team for an in-house review.
But an obsessive focus on flaws in the government-funded clinical trial system may be missing the core problem. Government-funded trials are a minuscule portion of the overall clinical research enterprise. Most clinical research today is sponsored by industry, and those trials are focused largely on getting new drugs through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process. While firms do test their approved drugs for new indications, it's usually in limited populations, which may be large enough to generate a medical journal article but rarely reach the size needed to win FDA approval for that new use.
Even rarer are the head-to-head clinical trials that compare different chemotherapy regimens since few companies are willing to risk having their drug proved less effective than a competitor's drug. Post-approval trials aimed at fine-tuning the best use of new drugs are equally rare since by definition such trials would limit their use to subsets of individuals with a particular form of cancer. Saving money for patients and their insurers-the total health care cost tab for cancer came to an estimated $93.2 billion last year[4]-is not a very high priority for industry-funded research.
The result is that many of the nation's 30,000 oncologists are engaged in what could be described as an unobserved and uncontrolled science experiment, especially when it comes to treating the 560,000 Americans who die each year from the more than 100 forms of the disease. As these patients' cancers advance, their physicians try regimens they read about in journals or hear about from colleagues. The outcomes are never gathered. The data is never analyzed. And the findings are never disseminated.
Indeed, an estimated 70 percent of all cancer drugs are used off-label. In other words, most prescribed chemotherapy regimens have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for that particular use. Much of the off-label use is supported by the slimmest of evidence, often just a single trial in the medical literature of limited size and duration.
"Most of off-label use is done with good intentions," observes University of Chicago oncologist Richard Schilsky, the current president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. But he adds that "no data is collected on whether it's an effective strategy or not. And most of it gets reimbursed."
Meanwhile, only 3 percent to 15 percent of adult cancer patients (it depends on whom you ask) are enrolled in clinical trials that would show if those regimens are truly effective or refines their best use (when treatment should be started or stopped, for instance, or in what doses, in combination with what other treatment approaches, and for which patient sub-groups). "The extensive off-label use of drugs allows patients access without having to participate in clinical trials," Schilsky said. "At some point the treatment crosses over from evidence-based to completely not evidence-based. And when you cross that line, the cost of care runs up and patients become diverted from participating in clinical trials."
Pediatric oncology serves as the model for cancer researchers who believe enrolling more patients in clinical trials would speed up the process of learning which therapeutic interventions work best for which patients. The NCI-funded Pediatric Oncology Group, which is now part of the non-profit Children's Oncology Group, over the past five decades enrolled about 90 percent of all children with cancer in clinical trials. This enabled pediatric oncologists to steadily refine the treatment regimens to the point where survival rates today are over 80 percent, up from 20 percent in the 1960s.
"We have made stunning progress" in treating childhood cancers, says Sharon Murphy, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Medicine and former head of the Pediatric Oncology Group. "The trials built over time on previous learning [by] incorporating better scientific understanding of the science of the disease into treatment. It led to risk stratification," she explains, which is the holy grail of personalized medicine that researchers often talk about in adult oncology but, alas, has proven elusive except in a few situations such as HER2-positive breast cancers.
Yet not all pediatric oncologists believe repeating that approach in adult oncology will lead to similar progress. Adult tumors can take decades to develop and are resistant to treatment. Pediatric cancers, in contrast, usually "arise from embryonic development and develop into cancers that are much more susceptible to chemotherapy and radiation," explains Joseph V. Simone, director of the University of Florida's Shands Cancer Center.
In any case, getting more adults patients enrolled in clinical trials won't be easy. Many cancer patients confronting their life-threatening illness are understandably reluctant to take a 50-50 chance of getting put in the arm of a clinical trial that doesn't receive the experimental therapy. And that's only half the problem. Most patients are treated by community oncologists in private offices, not at academic medical centers that get NCI financial support to enroll patients in trials.
"It takes a lot of time and support staff to carry out a clinical trial," notes John Mendelsohn, director of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston and chairman of the IOM committee evaluating NCI's clinical trial system. "That requires reimbursement."
Medicare will reimburse physicians for the cost of patients' usual care if they are enrolled in a clinical trial. But usual care doesn't include the cost of setting up a system to solicit informed consent, collect complete pre-trial information, conduct rigorous follow-up, and perform all the other tasks crucial to generating scientifically valid data. The result, a recent study showed, is that just 30 percent of all cancer clinical trials listed in the government's registry (www.clinicaltrials.gov) recruit all the patients required by the trial's original protocols.[5]
Given these constraints on rapidly expanding the clinical trial system, some experts say a better approach to rapidly improving cancer care would focus on collecting extensive information about the 1.3 million Americans who are diagnosed and treated for cancer every year. As the nation's physicians move toward adopting electronic medical records (spurred on by the incentives in the Obama administration's $767 billion economic stimulus plan), it should enable oncologists to record their patients' demographic and genetic information (properly protected for privacy), their diagnoses, their treatments, and, eventually, their outcomes. This information could then be analyzed retrospectively to see what works and translated into guidelines for better care. Such a "learning system" would be a major step on the road toward personalized medicine, the proponents say, because the analysis could also identify which subgroups responded best to which treatments and regimens.
"Typically it now takes two or three years and a big investment" to get new information from clinical trials about a particular cancer treatment, says Lynn Etheredge, director of the Rapid Learning Project at George Washington University and an advocate for database-derived retrospective research.[6] "In contrast, if the data is in the database, you can answer that question in a few hours, or maybe even a few minutes . . . This could be like hooking up the steam engine to the spinning jenny."
The National Cancer Institute recently took a major step in building an information superhighway to serve a cancer learning network. The ambitious goal behind CaBIG, the Cancer Biomedical Infomatics Grid, is nothing less than turning the billions the nation spends each year on cancer care into that "learning system." The agency has already linked the 60 NCI-funded cancer research centers and a network of community cancer centers where 85 percent of patients receive care.
The big problem now is figuring out how to convince the nation's oncologists to drive on that highway. Kaiser Permanente, whose 14,000 salaried physicians in nine states and the District of Columbia include about 200 oncologists, is already there, since its medical records are already fully computerized. Kaiser oncologists do not enroll their patients in clinical trials, which would require informed consent and institutional review board review. But each oncologist in the Kaiser system follows a pre-specified protocol for each cancer. They are allowed to deviate from that path if and when the cancer progresses and in ways tailored to the individual's needs.
Each of those new regimens follow a pre-specified path, too. "The goal is not to restrict physicians from personalizing therapy; it's to create a framework so it can be tracked back to see if it made sense to use that variation," explains Paul Wallace, medical director for health and productivity management at Kaiser Permanente.
UnitedHealthcare, which has about 20,000 patients on cancer therapy at any point in time, recently set up a demonstration project made up of six panels of 10-to-25 oncologists. Each group will use pre-specified protocols for their patients. The goal over the next few years is to generate data that will reveal which approach worked best for which patients.
Recruiting physicians in its provider networks wasn't difficult. "I had more volunteers than I had space," says Lee Newcomer, senior vice president for oncology at UnitedHealthcare. "Lots of doctors want this kind of approach so they'll learn something."
But beyond these pioneering efforts, it is going to take a lot of convincing to get large numbers of oncologists to begin entering their patients' data into CaBIG. Cancer doctors, like physicians generally, have been taught that prospective clinical trials are the gold standard of medical research, and can't be replaced by a retrospective analysis of outcomes.
That's where Medicare comes in. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which pays for the lion's share of cancer care, could create new financial incentives to get physicians involved-by underwriting their transition to electronic health records and by beefing up reimbursement for data collection. There have some tentative steps in that direction through the coverage with evidence development process, instituted by former CMS chief Mark McClellan, now at the Brookings Institution. In a few cases, CMS paid for experimental therapies or imaging tests as long as physicians gathered data on outcomes so it could be determined later if those treatments truly deserved permanent coverage.
"Medicare has to play the leading role," argues Etheredge. "Previous efforts to evaluate therapies came out of the regulatory framework. What we're talking about is learning as much as possible as quickly as possible about new technologies after they've been introduced."
Merrill Goozner spent more than 25 years in the news business as a foreign correspondent, economics writer and investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune and other publications. He is the author of The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs and blogs at Gooznews.com.Endnotes
[1] Varmus H, "The New Era in Cancer Research," Science, May 26, 2006, p. 1162.
[2] Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association press release, April 1, 2009 (available at http://www.phrma.org/news_room/press_releases/new_report_shows_record_nu..., accessed May 12, 2009).
[3] Welch HG, Schwartz LM, Woloshin S, "Are increasing 5-Year survival rates evidence of success against cancer?" Journal of the American Medical Association, June 14, 2000, p. 2975-79.
[4] American Cancer Socieety, "Cancer Facts & Figures 2009" (available at http://www.cancer.org/docroot/STT/content/STT_1x_Cancer_Facts__Figures_2..., accessed May 12, 2009).
[5] Dilts DM et al. "Steps and time to process clinical trials at the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program," J Clin Oncol. April 10, 2009, p. 1761-6.
[6] See Lynn M. Etheredge, "A Rapid Learning Health System," Health Affairs, Jan. 26, 2007, p. w107-18; and "Medicare's Future: Cancer Care," Health Affairs, Jan.-Feb., 2009, p. 148-59.

Losing a Comforting Ritual: Treatment

2009-06-30T12:24:00.000+04:00

For those who have never been seriously ill, treatment often seems cut and dried. You get sick, you get treated and, in theory, you get better. One day you’re a patient, the next you’re not. Simple, right?
Well, sometimes it’s more complicated than that. As I was being treated for an aggressive prostate cancer this past year — surgery, hormone therapy, radiation — I experienced an unexpected side effect: post-treatment letdown.
It tended to arrive right as a cycle of treatment was ending. It snuggled up against its old friend uncertainty and whimpered, “So, what’s next?”
None of us want to be sick, be obliged to take our medicine. But we are also creatures who love habit and ritual, and medical treatment is a very structured exercise that plays to that craving.
When I had radiation for about two months last winter, it began to feel as familiar as a job. I knew the names of the hospital parking attendants and the receptionists. The nurses, doctors and therapists all smiled and said hello, and I did the same.
Each day I arrived at radiation oncology, checked in, got my hospital bracelet, changed into a drafty gown, then waited with my fellow patients — my colleagues in cancer — to be treated. Once a week, my weight, blood pressure and temperature were taken and I met with my radiation oncologist. I had become a regular at the radiation spa, had even learned to artfully jiggle the key in the stubborn locker doors.
Then it was over.
Which is a good thing. But even though it was a relief to be done with the radiation, it still felt like getting fired or laid off. For two months I was the subject of intense attention by the medical staff. And there was the professional yet intimate laying on of hands each day as I was positioned just so in the TomoTherapy machine.
For 33 sessions, it seemed then, radiation oncology and I were infatuated with each other. But as I got dressed after that last session and then made my final goodbyes, suddenly we were “just friends.” And there was no shortage of patients to take my place.
We patients know that not having treatment is a sign of progress. But sometimes having treatment, doing something, is easier than the uncertainty, than the waiting. It’s like being stuck in a traffic jam and taking the first exit that comes up just to keep moving. When treatment ends, it’s just you and your mutinous body warily thrown back on each other.
I noticed a similar letdown when I returned to work late last summer after my radical open prostatectomy in July.
For seven weeks, my only goal was to recover from surgery. My days were measured in naps and in languid laps around the block, in Percocets and the draining of my catheter. The world’s worries were not my worries. If I couldn’t see it out my bedroom window, it didn’t concern me.
And because I was recovering from cancer surgery, and because I already knew that I would need additional treatment once I healed from the operation, I reveled in the most minute of details: the black pads of my dog’s feet as smooth as a baseball glove, the wet-cellar smell of a vintage science fiction paperback, fireflies winking and waning at dusk.
Pierced by a keen sense of my own mortality, I was much more interested in discerning the small miracles embedded in each moment than I was in catching the 9:03 Midtown Direct to Penn Station. And there was a part of me that was disappointed when the time came to once again catch that city-bound train.
Don’t get me wrong. I was glad I felt well enough to return to work, glad that I felt strong enough to navigate the hurly-burly of New York City. But in returning to work, I was also trading in a certain depth of perception. Cancer and surgery had slowed me down, made me look and listen, smell and touch with the eagerness of an explorer entering uncharted territory. Midtown Manhattan doesn’t quite encourage that kind of dawdling.
These days — four months out from my last hormone treatment and five months from my last radiation session — I don’t feel so much let down anymore as a bit confused about how to refer to the status of my health.
I am still a cancer patient, still being monitored. I might even still have cancer, but then again I might not. One day I’m a patient, and maybe the next I’m not. And on that day, I guarantee you, I won’t feel let down at all.
Dana Jennings is a reporter and editor at The New York Times. His postings on coping with prostate cancer appear each week at nytimes.com/well.

Breast cancer and white blood cell count

2008-04-18T19:35:00.003+04:00

Postmenopausal women with elevated white blood cell (WBC) counts appear to be at increased risk of developing certain types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, endometrial, and lung cancers, a new study shows. Higher WBC counts also raise the risk of dying from cancer, according to the study.

The proportion of white blood cells (WBC) in the circulation can be used as an indicator of infection or inflammation.

read more at http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/new_research/20071003b.jsp

breast cancer risks

2008-04-18T19:23:00.000+04:00

Between 5 and 10% of all breast cancers are thought to be hereditary. This means that most breast cancers (9 out of 10) happen sporadically or spontaneously, ie without a family history. Breast cancer is a common cancer – about 1 in 10 women in the UK will get it during their lifetime (around 10%). So if you have just one or even two elderly relatives diagnosed with breast cancer, it does not mean that you are at much increased risk yourself.

read more at http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Aboutcancer/Genetics/Cancergenetics/Breastovariancancer

What causes pancreatic cancer

2008-04-18T19:17:00.000+04:00

The biggest single risk factor is smoking. Up to a third of pancreatic cancers may be caused by smoking. Cigarette smoke contains chemicals called nitrosamines which are known to cause cancer.

Beer also contains nitrosamines, although the level of these has been cut as much as possible. There has been some evidence of a link between heavy drinking and cancer of the pancreas. Drinking is certainly linked to pancreatic disease and this is a risk factor for cancer. Exposure to some industrial chemicals such as beta-naphthalene and benzidine have been linked to pancreatic cancer.

Read more at http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=2523

How Does Cancer Produce Signs and Symptoms

2008-04-18T16:22:00.001+04:00

Cancer is a group of diseases that may cause almost any sign or symptom. The signs and symptoms will depend on where the cancer is, the size of the cancer, and how much it affects the nearby organs or structures. If a cancer spreads (metastasizes), then symptoms may appear in different parts of the body.

As a cancer grows, it begins to push on nearby organs, blood vessels, and nerves. This pressure creates some of the signs and symptoms of cancer. If the cancer is in a critical area, such as certain parts of the brain, even the smallest tumor can cause early symptoms.

read more at http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_3x_what_are_the_signs_and_symptoms_of_cancer.asp

Ewing’s sarcoma

2008-04-15T23:40:00.000+04:00

This is named after the surgeon who first described it. This bone cancer is also most often diagnosed in teenagers.

Ewing's most often start in the pelvis, thigh (femur) or shin (tibia) bones. It is also possible to get a Ewing's tumour in the soft tissues of the body. Soft connective tissue tumours are called 'soft tissue sarcomas'. If you have a soft tissue Ewing's tumour, you will receive the type of treatment described in this section of CancerHelp UK, as these tumours respond to the same treatment as Ewing's bone tumours.

read more at http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4417

Osteosarcoma

2008-04-15T23:35:00.000+04:00

Osteosarcoma
The commonest type of primary bone cancer is osteosarcoma. It is most often diagnosed in children and teenagers but can occur at any age. Osteosarcomas can grow anywhere in the skeleton. But the commonest sites are Lower thigh (femur)
Upper shin bone (tibia), Upper arm (humerus) and Lower shin bone.

read more at http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=4417

AS1404 Lung cancer drug

2008-04-15T23:25:00.000+04:00

An experimental lung cancer drug has extended patients' life expectancy by more than 50% in preliminary trials.
Patients given the drug AS1404 on top of standard chemotherapy lived an average of 14 months compared with 8.8 months if given chemotherapy alone.

read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5385726.stm

Arsenic therapy for leukemia

2008-04-15T12:34:00.000+04:00

Scientists have unravelled the paradox of how a carcinogenic poison can also act as a treatment for cancer. The discovery could lead to better uses for arsenic in therapies for leukaemia with fewer side effects.

Arsenic is a poisonous metalloid that has long been linked to an increased risk of cancers, diabetes, thickening of the skin, diseases of the liver and digestive complications. But, since the late 1700s, compounds of the metalloid have also been used to treat leukaemia. As drugs have improved, use of the metalloid has declined, though it is still used for a rare form called acute promyelocytic leukaemia.

read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/14/medicalresearch.health?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Letroxole

2008-04-08T00:17:00.001+04:00

Doctors have made the first breakthrough in the treatment of ovarian cancer in 20 years by proving that a common breast cancer drug can significantly cut relapse rates. Tests using an anti-oestrogen drug on a small group of 44 patients extended some of their lives by up to three years and delayed the use of painful chemotherapy for others. If larger trials repeat the findings it will be the first new therapy since the 1980s for a cancer which is often deadly because early diagnosis is so difficult.

John Smyth, professor of medical oncology at the University of Edinburgh, said: "This is a landmark. Despite intense scientific research over the past 20 years, there have been few new leads in our understanding of how this disease operates. But this study suggests that the addition of hormone therapy to our treatment strategy could extend and improve the lives of women with cancer."

Previous studies had all but written off Letroxole as a potential treatment because its impact was too small. But this study carefully selected women whose cancers were the most sensitive to oestrogen.

read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/jun/15/health.cancer

Nexavar

2008-04-08T00:13:00.001+04:00

In a large clinical trial, the drug, called Nexavar, extended the lives of patients by almost three months, or 35 percent. While that is far from a cure, experts say it represents a breakthrough after years of efforts to find a drug that works.

read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/health/04liver.html

Accutane side effects

2008-04-05T17:20:00.000+04:00

The following side effects are common (occurring in more than 30%) for patients taking isotretinoin:

Typical retinoid toxicity: (symptoms that are similar to those found in patients taking high doses of vitamin A): Headache, fever, dry skin, dry mucous membranes (mouth, nose), bone pain, nausea and vomiting, rash, mouth sores, itching, sweating, eyesight changes.

read more at http://www.chemocare.com/bio/cisretinoic_acid.asp

What causes lung cancer?

2008-04-04T21:08:00.000+04:00

Tobacco smoke is the primary cause of lung cancer. Although nonsmokers can get lung cancer, the risk is about 10 times greater for smokers and is also increased by the number of cigarettes smoked per day.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/lungcancer.htm

Bowel cancer in the family

2008-04-04T21:00:00.000+04:00

Ask around in your family and you may well find someone who has had bowel cancer. But that does not mean you are going to get it.

There are two major forms of family bowel cancer disposition. The first is familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), growths on the wall of the bowel called polyps that can become cancerous if not removed. The second is hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), which is linked to mutation in certain genes.

read more at http://www.beatingbowelcancer.org/new/index.php?page=23

sentinel node biopsy

2008-04-03T23:12:00.000+04:00

At least 20,000 women a year will be spared unnecessary breast cancer surgery thanks to a new procedure that will save the NHS millions of pounds each year.
Every breast cancer unit in the UK is to be taught the technique after an extensive trial showed it significantly improved breast cancer sufferers' quality of life by minimising pain, swelling and numbness after operations. It also reduced their stay in hospital by three days, a saving of some £24m a year.

The treatment, sentinel node biopsy, is practised in the US and is being pioneered in Britain by Robert Mansel, professor of surgery at Cardiff University, whose research is published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/may/03/health.healthandwellbeing

Oncoploastic Surgery

2008-04-03T23:11:00.000+04:00

Oncoplastic surgery is a relatively new practice of breast cancer surgery, combining oncology principles with plastic surgery techniques. Based on the stage of their cancer, women with breast cancer usually must choose between a mastectomy (removal of the entire breast) and lumpectomy (removal of just the tumor from the breast). With mastectomy, a woman can have reconstructive breast surgery. With the breast conserving lumpectomy, a woman is often left with an unsightly scar and depressed breast cavity. Oncoplasty breast surgery involves completely removing the tumor but also gently reshaping the breast with the remaining tissue so that women have the best possible cosmetic outcome from their initial breast cancer surgery.

read more at http://www.emaxhealth.com/98/20766.html

Cancer surgery: Physically removing cancer

2008-04-03T23:10:00.000+04:00

The prospect of cancer surgery may make you feel anxious. Put your mind at ease by learning more about cancer surgery and how and why it's used.
Cancer surgery — an operation to repair or remove part of your body to diagnose or treat cancer — remains the foundation of cancer treatment. Your doctor may use cancer surgery to achieve any number of goals, from diagnosing your cancer to treating it to relieving the symptoms it causes. Cancer surgery may be your only treatment, or it may be supplemented with other treatments, such as radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and biological therapy.

read more at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-surgery/CA00033

Vectibix colon cancer drug

2008-04-01T20:58:00.000+04:00

Introduced to the UK earlier this year, Vectibix is currently licensed for patients with metastatic bowel cancer for whom standard chemotherapy has failed in patients with a specific gene mutation.

In a biomarker analysis of the pivotal clinical trial, the drug doubled survival rates in patients with a non-mutated KRAS gene compared with patients receiving best supportive care alone, Lab21 said.

Approximately 60 per cent of patients with advanced bowel cancer have wild type KRAS, and of these, up to 60 per cent would be expected to respond to Vectibix.

read more http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/2008031731605/life-sciences/new-cancer-drug-screening-gets-lab21-salute.html

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP

2008-03-28T23:46:00.000+04:00

A procedure used to x-ray the ducts (tubes) that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and from the gallbladder to the small intestine. Sometimes pancreatic cancer causes these ducts to narrow and block or slow the flow of bile, causing jaundice. An endoscope (a thin, lighted tube) is passed through the mouth, esophagus, and stomach into the first part of the small intestine. A catheter (a smaller tube) is then inserted through the endoscope into the pancreatic ducts. A dye is injected through the catheter into the ducts and an x-ray is taken. If the ducts are blocked by a tumor, a fine tube may be inserted into the duct to unblock it. This tube (or stent) may be left in place to keep the duct open. Tissue samples may also be taken.

Pancreatic Cancer symptoms

2008-03-28T23:45:00.000+04:00

Sometimes the cancer may not cause any symptoms for a long time, and the symptoms may be vague to begin with. The most common symptoms caused by cancer of the pancreas are described below. Some people may have only one of these symptoms.

Pain This often begins with discomfort or pain in the upper abdomen, which sometimes spreads to the back. In the beginning the pain may come and go, but later on it can be more persistent. In some people the pain is worse while lying down and it is relieved by sitting up or bending forward

read more at http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Cancertype/Pancreas/Causesdiagnosis/Symptoms

What is the Pancreas?

2008-03-28T23:43:00.002+04:00

The pancreas is a spongy, tube-shaped organ about 6 inches long. It is located in the back of the abdomen, behind the stomach. The head of the pancreas is on the right side of the abdomen. It is connected to the duodenum, the upper end of the small intestine. The narrow end of the pancreas, called the tail, extends to the left side of the body

Red wine can kill cancer cells

2008-03-28T23:41:00.000+04:00

A natural anti-oxidant in grape skins and red wine can help kill cancer cells in the pancreas by crippling the cells’ core energy source, says a new study. The study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted, pre-treated with anti-oxidant resveratrol and irradiated, it induced cell death called apoptosis.

read more at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Red_wine_can_kill_cancer_cells/articleshow/2902635.cms

Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms and Signs

2008-03-28T23:40:00.000+04:00

It is very difficult to diagnose pancreatic cancer as the pancreas is so deep within the body and symptoms vary depending on the exact location of the tumour in the pancreas and which cells or function of the pancreas is affected by the tumour or cancer.

It is principally a disease affecting middle-aged and older patients but this is not always the case and the diagnosis can be missed in younger patients.

Although the commonest form of pancreatic cancer - pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma - is so deadly, there are other much rarer forms - eg. endocrine tumours - which can affect younger patients and have a much better outlook with surgery and chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

read more at http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/PCSymptoms.htm

Pancreatic Cancer

2008-03-28T23:37:00.000+04:00

Pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor of the pancreas. Each year about 33,000 individuals in the United States are diagnosed with this condition, and more than 60,000 in Europe. Depending on the extent of the tumor at the time of diagnosis, the prognosis is generally regarded as poor, with few victims still alive five years after diagnosis, and complete remission still extremely rare.

read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreatic_cancer

Diet

2008-03-27T14:44:00.001+04:00

The incidence of stomach cancer in the UK has fallen a great deal since the 1930s. This is probably partly due to better diet.

Incidence varies from country to country around the world. This may be explained to some extent by differences in diet. A diet high in very salty foods increases risk of stomach cancer. Stomach cancer levels are very high in Japan where very salty pickled foods are popular. But these foods are not typically eaten in the UK and stomach cancer rates here are lower than they are in Japan.

read more http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=3903

www.avrentcar.com

2008-03-27T14:37:00.000+04:00

Av Rent Car
Algarve car hire
faro car hire
faro airport car hire

www.vig-rx-plus.co.uk

2008-03-27T14:36:00.001+04:00

Vigrx
Health supplements with great multiple discounts!

www.datadisease.com

2008-03-27T14:34:00.000+04:00

Cancer Information
Articles & cancer information lack of the right information is one of the leading contributing factors to an early death. Please, read some articles on cancer.

www.kankermesothelioma.net

2008-03-27T14:33:00.000+04:00

Mesothelioma Cancer, Mesothelioma Lawyer,mesothelioma Diagnosis
Mesothelioma cancer, mesothelioma lawyer, and mesothelioma diagnosis resources

What is laparoscopic surgery?

2008-03-15T01:04:00.000+04:00

Laparoscopic surgery is often referred to as 'key-hole' surgery. This is where small cuts are made in the patient's stomach and then a harmless gas is pumped in to create a working space. Through additional small cuts, a rod shaped telescope, attached to a camera, and other long and narrow surgical instruments are placed into the newly formed space. The surgeon then uses these instruments to perform the surgery and remove the cancer.

Key-hole surgery is used for other types of operations, but its use in colorectal cancer surgery has been limited because of concerns as to how well it works in the long term and concerns that it may cause a spread of the cancer cells. Also because the surgeon can't put his hand directly on the liver and other body organs he/she cannot feel if the cancer has spread and may not be able to confirm how serious the cancer is.

read more at http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/TA17/publicinfo/html

wwwlumikancommycancerbattle.blogspot.com

2008-03-15T00:59:00.001+04:00

Cancer Awareness
Cancer related news, celebrities and other people with cancer, survivor stories, new treatments and how to eat the right food can help you avoid having cancer. The first post is of my own battle with testicular cancer in the summer of 2006.

www.mesotheliomaz.info

2008-03-15T00:57:00.000+04:00

Breast Cancer Information
Top breast cancer related information website with excellent breast cancer content

www.mesotheliomaz.info

2008-03-15T00:55:00.000+04:00

Http://mesotheliomaz.info/cancer/
Top cancer related information website with excellent cancer content

National Breast Cancer Coalition

2008-03-11T16:33:00.001+04:00

nce 1991, the National Breast Cancer Coalition's trained advocates have lobbied at the national, state and local levels for public policies that impact breast cancer research, diagnosis and treatment. Our grassroots advocacy effort has hundreds of member organizations and tens of thousands of individual members working toward increased federal funding for breast cancer research and collaborating with the scientific community to implement new models of research, improve access to high-quality health care and breast cancer clinical trials for all women, and expand the influence of breast cancer advocates in all aspects of the breast cancer decisionmaking process...

read more http://www.stopbreastcancer.org/

Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

2008-03-11T16:32:00.001+04:00

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) was founded in 1998 by identical twin sisters Kathy Giusti and Karen Andrews shortly following Kathy's diagnosis with multiple myeloma. The mission of the MMRF is to urgently and aggressively fund research that will lead to the development of new treatments for multiple myeloma.

read more http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

2008-03-11T16:30:00.001+04:00

The world's oldest and largest private cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has devoted more than a century to patient care as well as to innovative research, making significant contributions to new and better therapies for the treatment of cancer.

read more at http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/44.cfm

Cancer Research Institute

2008-03-11T16:28:00.002+04:00

The Cancer Research Institute is the world’s only non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control, and prevention of cancer.

read more http://www.cancerresearch.org/

Breast Cancer Research Foundation

2008-03-11T16:26:00.000+04:00

Our mission is to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing critical funding for innovative clinical and genetic research at leading medical centers worldwide, and increasing public awareness about good breast health. A minimum of 85 cents of every dollar goes to research and awareness programs.

read more at http://www.bcrfcure.org/

Prevent Cancer Foundation

2008-03-11T16:25:00.000+04:00

Since 1985, the Prevent Cancer Foundation (formerly the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation) has carried out our mission in three main ways:

By funding research that helps us understand how to prevent cancer;
By educating the public about how to prevent cancer; and
By reaching out to communities across the country through our resources, events and partnerships with other organizations.

read more http://www.preventcancer.org/aboutus2c.aspx?id=88

Breast Cancer Fund

2008-03-11T16:24:00.000+04:00

Breast Cancer Fund is the leading national organization focused on identifying the environmental causes of breast cancer and preventing the disease.

read more at http://www.breastcancerfund.org/site/pp.asp?c=kwKXLdPaE&b=44850

State-of-the-art Therapy for Glioblastoma Multiforme

2008-03-10T23:06:00.001+04:00

The treatment of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is conventionally considered to be a palliative venture with no hope of cure. Traditionally, patients are treated with maximal surgical resection based on the premise that, although surgery is not a curative procedure, a major resection provides for a longer survival and better quality of life. Radiotherapy increases the duration of survival, but again is not a curative intervention.The role of chemotherapy, specifically focusing on a foundation of chloroethylating agents such as carmustine (BCNU) or lomustine (CCNU), has been controversial with an equal number of clinicians arguing in favor of or against this treatment. Meta-analysis makes it clear that there is a small increase in median survival associated with the addition of these agents, but a consensus was never reached regarding their use.

read more at http://www.virtualtrials.com/pdf/Friedman.pdf

Bowel Cancer Treatment

2008-03-09T23:10:00.000+04:00

The most effective treatment for bowel cancer is the surgical removal of the affected part of the bowel. If the disease has spread, then chemotherapy and radio therapy may be used. Sometimes chemotherapy can be used to shrink a localised tumour before surgery to give a better chance of removing all of the affected tissue. If the cancer has spread to the liver or lungs, further surgery by relevant specialists may be needed. If the cancer is not treatable then the patient will be referred to the palliative care team.

read more at http://www.thewellingtongiunit.com/conditions-cancers.asp

When to seek medical advice

2008-03-07T15:23:00.001+04:00

If you notice any symptoms of colon cancer, such as blood in your stool or a persistent change in bowel habits, see your doctor as soon as possible. Keep in mind that colorectal cancer can occur in younger as well as older people. If you're at high risk, don't wait until symptoms appear. See your doctor for regular screenings.

read more at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colon-cancer/DS00035/DSECTION=5

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2008-03-07T15:10:00.000+04:00

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What are the side effects of radiation?

2008-03-06T14:24:00.001+04:00

The side effects often depend on the area of the body which is being irradiated, as well as the over-all time frame of the treatment, and the dose given at each treatment. Patients often try to compare side effects of their treatment in the waiting room, however they are not aware that they may be receiving very different treatments even if ostensibly for the same conditions. No two patients are exactly alike and therefore the treatment must be tailored to their particular constellation of disease stage, location, age, and multiple other associated factors. Common side effects of radiation therapy could include skin dryness and peeling, sometimes even redness, like you might get with a bad sunburn. Often the patients feel tired or listless. Blood counts may go down especially if chemotherapy is also being given or if a large area is being treated. However, some patients breeze through the treatment with few if any side effects. An informed consent listing all the possible side effects should be discussed with you and your family if they are present prior to starting treatment. Each week during radiotherapy treatment, you will see the physician in order to voice any of your concerns. At these weekly visits, the physician can also tell you about the progress of treatment and recommend any treatment for side-effects that you may be experiencing. These weekly visits are VERY important and the patients should not miss them if they can help it.

read more at http://www.cancersupportivecare.com/radiationfaq.html

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2008-03-06T14:19:00.000+04:00

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Gene to halt ovarian cancer found

2008-03-05T23:28:00.001+04:00

A gene that may have the power to halt ovarian cancer has been discovered by UK scientists.

The gene, called OPCML, was found to be inactivated in 90 per cent of ovarian cancers examined by researchers. But when the fully activated gene was inserted into ovarian cancer cells in the lab, the growth of the tumour cells was stopped.

OPCML is a tumour suppressor gene which is switched on in normal cells. It produces proteins that help protect against the uncontrolled cell growth that causes cancer.

read more at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3859-gene-to-halt-ovarian-cancer-found.html

www.blogdirs.com

2008-03-04T22:35:00.000+04:00

Blog Directory

Bacteria Increase Risk Of Stomach Cancer

2008-03-04T21:58:00.000+04:00

The bacteria Helicobacter pylori substantially increase the risk of cancer in the lower stomach, but it may decrease the risk of cancer near the junction between the esophagus and the stomach, as per a research studyin the October 19 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This finding may help explain the changing rates and distributions of these cancers in Western countries over the past century.

read more at http://medicineworld.org/news/gastricnews.html

Low cholesterol linked to stomach cancer risk

2008-03-04T21:56:00.000+04:00

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with very low cholesterol levels seem to be at increased risk of developing stomach cancer, Japanese researchers report.

Some studies have linked low cholesterol levels to higher death rates from cancer in general, Dr. Kouichi Asano, of Kyushu University, Fukuoka, and colleagues explain in the International Journal of Cancer. "With respect to gastric cancer, a limited number of studies suggest this inverse association, while others do not."

read more at http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKSAT30295020080223

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2008-03-04T01:06:00.001+04:00

mthandenisoracle Oracle events, news and general It

Which treatment for ovarian cancer?

2008-03-04T00:10:00.001+04:00

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are all used to treat cancer of the ovary. You are most likely to be treated by a team of specialists working together. This will include a surgeon (gynaecologist) and a cancer specialist (oncologist). If you have only seen a surgeon, you should ask to be seen by an oncologist before your treatment plan is finalised.

read more at http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=3084

Yale Brain Tumor Center

2008-03-02T23:00:00.000+04:00

The Yale Brain Tumor Center, as part of the Yale Cancer Center, is a multidisciplinary group dedicated to the care of patients with primary brain tumors, brain metastases and neurological complications of cancer. It is the only multidisciplinary consortium providing comprehensive brain cancer care in southern New England and has gained regional and national recognition.

read more at http://yalebraintumorcenter.org/

Cancer Immune Therapy

2008-03-02T22:45:00.000+04:00

Cure or life with cancer? What can be achieved by cancer immune therapy? The past decade has seen substantial advancements in tumor immunology. Much of the new knowledge has been translated into new strategies for cancer...

read more at http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&id=C4lAAHBStlAC&dq=immune+therapy+cancer&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=qwA3qHB_qc&sig=TPivHcoVrMUpnJ3S2m8FCN_pMj8#PPP1,M1

Biological Therapy

2008-03-02T22:44:00.000+04:00

Doctors are not sure how biological therapy helps your immune system fight cancer. But they think it may:

Stop or slow the growth of cancer cells.
Make it easier for your immune system to destroy, or get rid of, cancer cells.
Keep cancer from spreading to other parts of your body

read more at http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/biologicaltherapy

Breast Cancer Care

2008-03-02T22:37:00.000+04:00

Breast Cancer Care is a charity providing information and support for those with breast cancer, and training for health professionals, as well as campaigning for improved treatment for breast cancer sufferers. Founded by Betty Westgate, who also established the Cancer Education Voluntary Service, the charity has spent much of its time under the wing of what is now Macmillan Cancer Support, although it is now financially independent. Charity no. 1017658, company no. 2447182. Sources: www.breastcancercare.org.uk

Breast Cancer Campaign

2008-03-02T22:35:00.000+04:00

The Breast Cancer Campaign is a research charity, funding scientific work seeking a cure for breast cancer. In addition, the charity also seeks to raise awareness of breast cancer amongst women, and to ensure that breast cancer remains a priority for the Government, and that a national research framework is in place to reflect this. The Campaign is a member of the Cancer Campaigning Group (CCG). Charity no. 299758, company no. 5074725.
read more www.breastcancercampaign.org

Breakthrough Breast Cancer

2008-03-02T22:34:00.001+04:00

Breakthrough Breast Cancer is a campaigning, research and education charity, established by Bill Freedman, following the death of his wife, Toby Robins, from breast cancer. It primarily supports the Breakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Research Centre, within the Institute of Cancer Research. In 2003, the UK Breast Cancer Coalition, which had been formed in 1995, became Breakthrough's Campaigns & Advocacy Network.

read more at www.breakthrough.org.uk

What is the scope of the liver cancer problem?

2008-03-02T22:16:00.001+04:00

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world. A deadly cancer, liver cancer will kill almost all patients who have it within a year. In 1990, the World Health Organization estimated that there were about 430,000 new cases of liver cancer worldwide, and a similar number of patients died as a result of this disease. About three quarters of the cases of liver cancer are found in Southeast Asia (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan). Liver cancer is also very common in sub-Saharan Africa (Mozambique and South Africa).

read more at http://www.medicinenet.com/liver_cancer/article.htm

Surgery for Secondary Liver Cancer

2008-03-02T22:10:00.000+04:00

There is strong evidence that selected patients with secondary liver cancer amenable to surgery may be offered worthwhile palliation and possible cure. There are numerous published studies from all over the world where it has been shown that 25% - 38% of patients achieved a 5 year survival after successful surgery for secondary liver cancer. Currently fewer than a third of suitable patients are being offered liver surgery.

read more at http://www.livercancer.co.uk/Surgery.htm

An Introduction to Kanglaite Injection

2008-03-02T22:03:00.000+04:00

An Introduction to Kanglaite Injection
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Invented by famous pharmacological Prof. Li Dapeng after decades of efforts, Kanglaite Injection (KLT) has been listed by the Chinese government as a "State Basic Drug", a "State Basic Medical Insurance Drug" and a "State Key New Drug". KLT has been on top of the best selling anticancer drugs in China for recent 5 years due to its proven effectiveness.

KLT is a unique botanically sourced molecular targeted agent prepared as a micro-emulsion for intravenous use. It is manufactured by the state of art technology with active substance extracted from a natural herbal plant ¡°semen coicis¡±.

KLT has the following features.

- Killing cancer cells directly and effectively while remarkably improving patient immune function;
- Synergistic in increasing efficacy and in reducing toxicity when combined with chemotherapy regimens or radiation therapy;
- Providing high energy nutrition to treat cachexia;
- Relieving cancerous pain markedly;
- Improving patient quality of life and notably prolonging survival;
- With little adverse reaction itself

read more at http://www.kanglaite.com/home.htm?gclid=CLTWoaiB75ECFQrllAod8UdqpQ

www.mesothelioma-adviser.com

2008-03-01T00:20:00.000+04:00

a href="http://www.mesothelioma-adviser.com"target="_new">Practical Advice for Mesothelioma Cancer Victims - Mesothelioma cancer and asbestosis explained. Causes, symptoms, treatment options, asbestos exposure, legal information on legislation, litigation and choosing a trial lawyer

Christie starts one of world’s biggest trials for small cell lung cancer

2008-02-29T23:58:00.000+04:00

Doctors at the Christie Hospital are about to start one of the world’s biggest clinical trials of radiotherapy for small cell lung cancer, combining drugs and radiation to boost the survival of small cell lung cancer patients.

At the moment in the UK, most small cell lung cancer patients are given a course of chemotherapy followed by a course of radiotherapy. But Christie doctors believe that combining the two treatments so they are given at the same time could increase survival. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to treat cancer, and radiotherapy is the use of radiation aimed at cancerous tumours.

The Christie will be coordinating the trial which will involve not only Christie patients, but patients from at least 60 cancer hospitals from all over the world including France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA

read more at http://www.christie.nhs.uk/press/2008/190208.aspx

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2008-02-29T23:54:00.000+04:00

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Virus Shows Promise in Treatment of Blood Disorders in Canines

2008-02-28T22:32:00.000+04:00

A team of researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues have reported successful treatment of a rare blood disease, using an animal model and a novel method of gene delivery. The researchers found that the method, which uses a virus called foamy virus as a gene delivery vehicle, might be safer and more efficient than alternative methods that have used other types of viruses. The findings appear online December 23, 2007 in Nature Medicine.

read more at http://www.cancernews.com/data/Article/540.asp

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2008-02-28T14:01:00.001+04:00

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Cancer News in Context and Prevention Radio:

2008-02-28T00:30:00.001+04:00

Cancer News in Context and Prevention Radio:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cancer/hccp/podcasts/index.htm

Cancer Cast

2008-02-28T00:28:00.000+04:00

Cancer treatment in plain english

http://cancercast.com/

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Podcasts (Blood CancerCAST):

2008-02-28T00:27:00.004+04:00

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Podcasts (Blood CancerCAST):

http://www.leukemia.org/all_page?item_id=395450

2008-02-28T00:27:00.001+04:00

http://www.leukemia.org/all_page?item_id=395450

Arizona Cancer Centre

2008-02-28T00:25:00.001+04:00

Arizona Cancer Center: http://azcc.arizona.edu/healthcast/

Cancer Journal for Clinicians

2008-02-26T17:03:00.001+04:00

CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians is a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society providing cancer care professionals with up-to-date information on all aspects of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Published six times per year, CA is the most widely circulated oncology journal in the world, with a circulation of approximately 95,000, including primary care physicians; medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists; nurses; other health care and public health professionals; and students in various health care fields. Although CA is an oncology journal, it is not a journal only for oncologists. It reaches a very wide and diverse group of professionals, and provides an unparalleled opportunity to present information to these professionals about cancer prevention, early detection, treatment of all forms, palliation, advocacy issues, quality-of-life topics, and more.

http://caonline.amcancersoc.org/

British Journal of Cancer

2008-02-26T17:01:00.000+04:00

BJC publishes high quality original papers and reviews that make a significant contribution to increasing understanding of the causes of cancer and to improving the treatment and survival of patients.BJC is proud of its editorial independence, high standards, and tradition of serving the international cancer research community - we are one of the world's leading general cancer journals and our impact factor currently stands at 4.459, ranking 33/127 for Oncology

http://www.nature.com/bjc/index.html

What are the different types of hormone therapy?

2008-02-26T17:00:00.000+04:00

There are several types of hormone therapy, including the following:
orchiectomy - the surgical removal of the testicles to prevent the male hormones that stimulate growth of the prostate cancer from being produced.
LHRH (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone) analogs - drugs that decrease the amount of testosterone produced in a man's body by interfering with the normal chemical signals sent from the pituitary gland in the brain to the testicles. Drugs include Lupron®, Viadur®, Eligard®, Zoladex®, and TrelstarTM.
anti-androgens - substances that block the body's ability to use testosterone, because even after orchiectomy or LHRH-analog treatment, a small amount of testosterone may still be produced in the body. Other hormonal drugs may be used for periods of time during treatment. Drugs include Eulexin®, Casodex®, and NilandronTM.
LHRH antagonist (Plexaxis) - used on a very limited basis due to serious allergic reactions by some persons. Given by injection.

read more at http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/UVAHealth/adult_prostate/phormon.cfm

Combined HRT increases risk of lobular breast cancer fourfold after just 3 years of use

2008-02-26T16:58:00.000+04:00

Postmenopausal women who take combined estrogen/progestin hormone-replacement therapy for three years or more face a fourfold increased risk of developing various forms of lobular breast cancer, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

“Previous research indicated that five or more years of combined hormone-therapy use was necessary to increase overall breast-cancer risk,” said Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., the lead author of the report, published in the January issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. “Our study, the first specifically designed to evaluate the relationship between combined HRT and lobular breast cancers, suggests that a significantly shorter length of exposure to such hormones may confer an increased risk.”

read more at http://www.physorg.com/news119598157.html

Side effects of hormone therapy

2008-02-26T16:56:00.000+04:00

Side Effects of Hormone Therapy
Testosterone is the primary male hormone, and plays an important role in establishing and maintaining the typical male characteristics, such as body hair growth, muscle mass, sexual desire, and erectile function, and contributes to a host of other normal physiologic processes in the body.
The list of potential effects of testosterone loss is long: hot flashes, decreased sexual desire, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, osteoporosis, weight gain, decreased muscle mass, anemia, and memory loss. Most men who are on hormone therapy experience at least some of these effects, but the degree to which any man will be affected by any one drug regimen is impossible to predict.
Before beginning hormone therapy, every man should discuss the effects of testosterone loss with his doctors, so he can alter his lifestyle to accommodate or head off the changes.

read more at http://www.prostatecancerfoundation.org/site/c.itIWK2OSG/b.1419735/k.3DED/Side_Effects_of_Hormone_Therapy.htm

Hormone Therapy Breast Cancer

2008-02-26T16:55:00.000+04:00

Hormonal therapy is a very effective treatment against breast cancer that is hormone-receptor-positive. Find out if you should be tested to see if you need other therapies, as well. Sometimes called "anti-estrogen therapy," hormonal therapy blocks the ability of the hormone estrogen to turn on and stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.
For years, tamoxifen was the hormonal medicine of choice for all women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. But in 2005, the results of several major worldwide clinical trials showed that aromatase inhibitors (Arimidex [chemical name: anastrozole], Aromasin [chemical name: exemestane], and Femara [chemical name: letrozole]) worked better than tamoxifen in post-menopausal women with hormone-receptive-positive breast cancer.

read more at http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal/

Life with Breast Cancer

2008-02-26T02:22:00.001+04:00

Life with Breast Cancer by Kathy-Ellen Kups
A personal take on breast cancer

read more at http://blog.healthtalk.com/breast-cancer/life-with-breast-cancer/

Chronicals of a Cancer Survivor

2008-02-26T02:20:00.001+04:00

The first thing I did when I was diagnosed was look up blogs about Hodgkin's. What I wanted to know was not what the treatment was, but what the treatment was like. This journal is about that.
I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in July of 2005. I went through 6 months of ABVD chemotherapy, and I came out alright in the end. This time in my life has passed now, but I want to keep this journal available. My hope is that it'll be useful to someone out there.

read more at http://www.preservationrecords.com/blog/