healthy living for women + their families
By James Tamkin M.D. and Dave Visel
This article originally appeared on DemosHealth.com. It is adapted from The Myeloma Survival Guide.
As a newly diagnosed cancer patient, you are beginning a long, complicated, physically and mentally taxing journey. Here are twelve things to start doing now to make your journey a little easier.
A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer—the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the U.S.—can be devastating. Due in part to aggressive cell replication and tumor growth, pancreatic cancer progresses quickly and has a low five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent.
Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center are reporting promising treatment milestones for patients with deadly skin and lung cancers who are being treated with an experimental drug called MK-3475.
The first long-term follow-up results from a an immunotherapy trial combining drugs for advanced melanoma patients has shown long-lasting rsultswith high survival rates, according to researchers at Yale Cancer Center led by Dr. Mario Sznol, professor of medical oncology. Dr. Sznol presented the updated data in June at the 2014 annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.
Biomedical engineering researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed daisy-shaped, nanoscale structures that are made predominantly of anti-cancer drugs and are capable of introducing a “cocktail” of multiple drugs into cancer cells.
Emotional reactions to cancer center consumer advertisements may lead to unrealistic expectations and inappropriate treatments, according to a study done at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and published in May 2014 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. A release from the American College of Physicians notes that in response to a rapidly increasing demand for cancer care in the United States, a growing number of cancer centers are marketing their clinical services directly to patients through consumer advertising.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
As advances in the treatment of cancer have increased, you may have discovered more opportunities to learn the facts about this disease. Yet some misleading ideas about cancer treatment still persist.
Timothy J. Moynihan, M.D., a cancer specialist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., helps debunk some of the most common misconceptions about cancer treatment and explains the truth.
Myth: A positive attitude is all you need to beat cancer.
Researchers from at the University of Pennsylvania are using a DNA vaccine to kill cancer, not by attacking tumor cells but targeting the blood vessels that keep them alive. The vaccine also indirectly creates an immune response to the tumor itself, which amplifies the attack because of a phenomenon called epitope spreading. The results of the study were published in April 2014 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
By Stewart Fleishman, M.D.
Editor’s Note: For patients, cancer is frightening in a lot of ways. Beyond the physical risk to a patient’s health, there are mental effects as well. After surgery, people often find they suffer from memory and nervous systems problems as well as chronic pain. The changes, which can be caused by side effects of treatment, can be overwhelming if a patient doesn’t understand why they’re happening. Here, from the experts at NIHSeniorHealth, is an explanation:
Memory
April is Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month and ECAN, the Esophageal Cancer Action Network, is urging Americans to get the facts about this deadly disease, which usually isn’t detected until it’s too late.
Some basic facts about Esophageal Cancer in the U.S.
*Most cases of esophageal cancer in the United States are caused by the effects of GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease), where acid from the stomach moves back into the esophagus. The most common symptom of GERD is heartburn.
By Nurse Practitioner Jamie Kabat, BSN, MSN, CNP and Clinical Nurse Specialist Josette Snyder, RN, MSN, AOCN
One of the most frequent – and touching – questions we get on the Cleveland Clinic’s Cancer Answer Line is from people whose spouses or partners have been newly diagnosed with cancer. They want to know how they can help and support their spouses through this life-changing diagnosis and the ensuing treatment.
A new era of lung cancer therapy is close to dawning, using drugs that can prevent tumor cells from evading the immune system, according to experts who presented their findings at the 4th European Lung Cancer Congress in March 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The use of chemotherapy in terminally-ill cancer patients in the last months of life is associated with increased risk of undergoing resuscitation and dying in an intensive care unit, suggests a paper published on bmj.com today.
The researchers suggest that end-of-life discussions may be particularly important for patients receiving chemotherapy and suggest that caregivers should ensure that patients are aware of their prognosis, likely outcomes of treatment and that their choices are aligned with their end-of-life values.
Older breast-cancer survivors need comprehensive care to help them fight heart disease, osteoporosis and high blood pressure, according to new research.
Women in this category are likely to face these illnesses after their diagnosis of breast cancers. Because of that, they should watch their weight and get regular exercise. The kind of cancer treatment the women received may be a factor, as well as their weight and age.
Chemotherapy treatment for cancer work by inducing lesions in the DNA of tumor cells in order to inhibit their proliferation. However, according to a release by INSERM (Institut National de de la Santé et la Recherche Médicale), the body naturally tries to repair these lesions,and thus reduces the efficacy of chemotherapy. Blocking the mechanisms for DNA repair would help to improve chemotherapy by reducing the resistance of cells to treatment.
Researchers at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island have developed a biologic drug that would prevent the production of a protein known to allow ovarian cancer cells to grow aggressively while being resistant to chemotherapy. A release from the hospital quotes Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, chief of obstetrics and gynecology, as saying, "This is a tremendous discovery and could mean the difference between life or death for some women with ovarian cancer.”
Severe skin reactions during radiation therapy could be prevented by applying a thin transparent silicone dressing to the skin from the first day of treatment, according to a study done at the University of Otago Wellington's Department of Radiation Therapy in New Zealand. The results have been published online in 2014 in the international journal Radiotherapy and Oncology.
