The number of men with breast cancer who undergo surgery to remove the unaffected breast has risen sharply, according to a September 2015 report by American Cancer Society and Dana Farber Cancer Institute researchers published in JAMA Surgery. The study is the first to identify the trend, which mirrors a trend seen in U.S. women… Continue reading Prophylactic Surgery Nearly Doubles in Men with Breast Cancer
Tag: Living with Cancer
Cancer Survivors Can Help in The Fight Against Cancer
Cancer survivors, their loved ones, and others who have lost someone to cancer know what the cancer journey is like. Taking part in cancer-related activities can be a two-way street. Many people find a sense of fulfillment when they help others. Common benefits people share: Accepting cancer as part of life. For many, getting involved… Continue reading Cancer Survivors Can Help in The Fight Against Cancer
Risks of Alternative Medicine for Senior Cancer Patients
Alternative medicines are widely thought to be at least harmless and very often helpful for a wide range of discomforts and illnesses. However, although they’re marketed as “natural,” they often contain active ingredients that can react chemically and biologically with other therapies. Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University in Phladelphia performed a comprehensive review of all… Continue reading Risks of Alternative Medicine for Senior Cancer Patients
The Life-Saving Ovarian Cancer Treatment Many Patients Still Aren’t Getting
By Sondra Forsyth On January 5th 2006, almost a full decade ago, the National Cancer Institute issued a strongly worded Clinical Advisory alerting the medical field to the importance of “the preferred method of treatment for advanced ovarian cancer”. Yet nearly ten years later, the Advisory has gone largely unheeded. A multi-university study published online… Continue reading The Life-Saving Ovarian Cancer Treatment Many Patients Still Aren’t Getting
Magnolia Compound May Combat Head and Neck Cancers
According to a growing number of studies including one from the Veterans Affairs Research Communications and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, honokiol, a compound derived from the bark of the magnolia tree, is proving to be a potent cancer fighter in lab studies. The study was published online in June 2015 in the journal… Continue reading Magnolia Compound May Combat Head and Neck Cancers
Fish Oil Could Cause Resistance to Chemo
Researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam found that consuming herring and mackerel as well as three kinds of fish oils, raised blood levels of the fatty acid, which experiments in mice suggest may induce resistance to chemotherapy used to treat cancer. The study was published online in April 2015 by JAMA Oncology. A… Continue reading Fish Oil Could Cause Resistance to Chemo
Integrative Approaches to Understanding Cancer
Researchers at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida are using integrative approaches to study cancer by combining mathematical and computational modeling with experimental and clinical data. The use of integrative approaches enables scientists to study and model cancer progression in a manner that conventional experimental systems are unable to… Continue reading Integrative Approaches to Understanding Cancer
New Guidelines for Smoking Cessation for Cancer Patients
To meet the needs of patients who are smokers at the time of a cancer diagnosis, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has published the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) for Smoking Cessation. The NCCN Guidelines® for Smoking Cessation were presented on March 13, 2015, at the NCCN 20th Annual Conference: Advancing… Continue reading New Guidelines for Smoking Cessation for Cancer Patients
Reprogramming Stem Cells May Prevent Cancer after Radiation
The body has evolved ways to get rid of faulty stem cells. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published December 29th 2014 in the journal Stem Cells shows that one of these ways is a “program” that makes stem cells damaged by radiation differentiate into other cells that can no longer survive forever. Radiation… Continue reading Reprogramming Stem Cells May Prevent Cancer after Radiation
Cancer-Causing Mutation Found in 1982 Now Target of Clinical Trials
In 1982, the gene TRK was shown to cause a small percentage of colon cancers. In 2013 and 2014, next-generation sequencing of tumor samples found fusions of the TRK family of genes in at least 11 tumor types, including lung, breast, melanoma and more. Now an article published in December 2014 in the journal Cancer… Continue reading Cancer-Causing Mutation Found in 1982 Now Target of Clinical Trials
Cancer Patients: Eating Well During The Holidays
You’re heading into the usual round of holiday feasts with a feeling of anxiety, maybe even dread, not because you’re afraid of putting on a few pounds, but because you’re undergoing treatment for cancer and have no interest in food. Or maybe you’re hosting the party this year, and you’ll have a friend or family… Continue reading Cancer Patients: Eating Well During The Holidays
Study: A Better Way to Avert Hair Loss during Chemotherapy
Researchers are moving closer to developing a largely effective device that can eliminate the hair loss that happens with chemotherapy treatments. The latest step in developing scalp cooling devices came from researchers at the University of Huddersfield, UK, who are collaborating with a company to analyze the science behind the process of hair cooling. Paxman… Continue reading Study: A Better Way to Avert Hair Loss during Chemotherapy
Battling “Chemo Brain”
Scientists have identified a culprit in the condition known as “chemo brain,” a decrease in mental sharpness attributed to chemotherapy. The researchers, from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, made the discovery in a study of an animal memory model. It has been estimated that up to half of patients taking cancer… Continue reading Battling “Chemo Brain”
New Melanoma Combo Therapy Improves Survival Rate
A researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has helped develop a combination drug therapy that shows promise in extending the lives of people with metastatic melanoma. The new therapy also accomplishes this result without the side effect of a secondary skin cancer seen in some patients prescribed only one… Continue reading New Melanoma Combo Therapy Improves Survival Rate
Blood Test to Predict Cancer Risk
A new research report published in the October 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal may make the early detection of cancer as easy as a simple blood test. This test, called the “lymphocyte genome sensitivity” (LGS) test, could not only detect some cancers earlier than ever before, but it may eliminate the need for some… Continue reading Blood Test to Predict Cancer Risk
Chokeberry Extract May Boost Pancreatic Cancer Drug
The chokeberry, a wild berry native to North America, may strengthen the effectiveness of a chemotherapy drug commonly used to treat pancreatic cancer, according to research done at King’s College Hospital and the University of Southampton in the UK and published online September 17th 2015 in the Journal of Clinical Pathology. A release from the… Continue reading Chokeberry Extract May Boost Pancreatic Cancer Drug
Dating with Cancer: When Do You Share Your Diagnosis?
By Tracy Maxwell
This article, which originally appeared on DemosHealth.com, is adapted from Being Single, With Cancer.
“At what point in a new relationship is it appropriate to reveal your status as a cancer survivor?”
If you have ever wondered what the right answer to this question is, you’re not alone. Many survivors ask the same thing when dating after cancer or during treatment.
Lung Cancer Diagnosis Tool Safe for Older Patients
A 2014 study done at the University Hospital of South Manchester in the UK has found that a procedure to take tissue samples from lung cancer patients can be used safely in the elderly, allowing doctors to make a more accurate diagnosis and to choose appropriate treatment. The results were published their results in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.