~Cancer~

[JakeStarkey]

Cancer is . . . awful: my mom, my first wife, my eldest daughter, my great uncle, my cousin, and so on.

 

[waltky]

Be sparing with the CT scans for kids...

CT scans in childhood increase cancer risk: study
6 June`12 - Children exposed to multiple CT scans could be up to three times likelier to contract cancer of the blood, brain or bone marrow later in life, according to research published Thursday.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, a team of scientists in Canada, Britain and the United States said the cancer risk, in absolute terms, appears to be small. But they appealed for radiation doses from CT scans to be kept at a minimum and for alternatives to be used where appropriate. The researchers claimed their study was the first to provide direct evidence of a link between exposure from CT radiation in childhood and later cancer risk. "Of utmost importance is that where CT is used, it is only used where fully justified from a clinical perspective," said lead author Mark Pearce of Newcastle University's Institute of Health and Society.

As a vital diagnostic technique, use of the CT scan has increased rapidly in the past 10 years, particularly in the United States, the researchers said. "However, potential cancer risks exist due to the ionising radiation used in CT scans, especially in children who are more radiosensitive than adults." Computerized tomography -- commonly known as CT -- is an X-ray technique that produces images of the body's internal structures in cross sections. The researchers studied nearly 180,000 people who underwent a CT scan as children or young adults (under 22) in Britain between 1985 and 2002.

Of these, 74 were subsequently diagnosed with leukaemia and 135 with brain cancer according to data for the period 1985 to 2008. The team calculated that compared to patients who received a radiation dose of less than five milli-Grays (mGy), those who were given a cumulative dose of 30 mGy had about three times the risk of developing leukaemia (cancer of the blood or marrow) later in life. Those who received 50 to 74 mGy had thrice the risk of brain tumours. The study did not compare children who had been scanned against those who had not been scanned.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Finding the source of cervical cancer offers hope to prevent and treat it...

Researchers find origin cells for cervical cancer
11 June`12 - Researchers have found the cells at the origin of cervical cancer, in a discovery that could offer new ways to prevent and treat the disease, according to a US-published study on Monday.

Most cases of cervical cancer are known to be caused by specific strains of human papillomavirus, but now researchers know the specific group of cells that HPV targets, said the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Moreover, when they are removed from the cervix they do not appear to regenerate, said the study by scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A-STAR) in Singapore. The cells can become cancerous when infected with HPV while other cells in the cervix often do not, said senior author Christopher Crum, director of women's and perinatal pathology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts. They also have a particular gene expression that is the same as found in aggressive cervical tumors, which could allow doctors to differentiate benign lesions from dangerous pre-cancers.

"We have discovered a discrete population of cells that are located in a specific area of the cervix that could be responsible for most, if not all, of HPV-associated cervical cancers," said Crum, who was joined by researchers Wa Xian from A-STAR and Frank McKeon of Harvard Medical School. Michael Herfs, a postdoctoral fellow at Brigham and Women's, was the lead author. The cells are located near the opening of the cervix, in a transition area between the uterus and the vagina known as the squamo-columnar junction. The findings build on the group's previous research that identified the origin of a rare and sometimes cancerous change in certain cells in the esophagus, at a junction between the tube that carries food through the throat and the stomach.

A similar population of cells has been found to reside in the cervix, Crum said. They are the remnants of a process known as embryogenesis, which is the process of cell division and growth that we all undergo in the process of growing from embryo to fetus. "There is a population of cells in the cervix that during fetal life disappears and is replaced by another type. We found out that a small number of these cells are actually not lost and they remained there, almost like little sentinels from a prior age," Crum told AFP. "It appears that that particular group of remaining embryonic cells at the squamo-columnar junction is the population that you must infect, at least in the great majority of cases, to produce the significant cancers and precancers," he added. "During reproductive life they undergo changes, or metaplasia, when they become other cell types, so they are kind of like stem cells."

Knowing the biology of these cells and where they reside could help physicians both clarify which cervical precancers (dysplasias) need treatment and also possibly prevent cancer altogether by destroying the cells in advance. Further study may shed light on whether similar populations of cells reside in other areas of the body known to be affected by HPV-related cancers, such as the penis, vulva, anus and the throat. HPV types 16 and 18 are believed to be responsible for about 70 percent of all cases of cervical cancer in the world, according to the World Health Organization. While regular screening has drastically cut down on death rates in the West, cervical cancer continues to be a major killer of women in the developing world, and ranks as the third most common cancer among women globally. The WHO estimates nearly 530,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually worldwide and 275,000 die from the disease.

Researchers find origin cells for cervical cancer - Yahoo! News

 

[Mad Scientist]

How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~

More cancer since the FDA Food Pyramid was implemented. Wanna' greatly diminish cancer in our lifetimes? Stop eating the Standard American Diet. (SAD)

Take vitamin supplementation, preferably megadoses. Stop drinking High Fructose Corn Syrup drinks. Stop eating Fast Food.

And stop taking vaccines. Yes, stop taking vaccines. Do you ever read the inserts that come with them?

 

[Borillar]

How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~

My mother died of a cancerous brain tumor when I was 9. My wife is a cancer survivor. I was just diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and am now deciding on treatment options.

 

[Shogun]

I was going to go have my gall bladder taken out today. Turns out, today was cancelled because they've found pre-cancer cells taken from a polyp and I will also have to have a portion of my stomach removed.

FUN DAY TODAY, lemme tellya.

 

[waltky]

Shogun - hope this encourages ya...

Number of US cancer survivors to surge: study
14 June - The number of people in the United States who have survived cancer is set to reach nearly 18 million in the next decade, up from 13.7 million currently, said a US study out Thursday.

The number of survivors is growing because of better treatments and an ageing and expanding population, even as the overall rate of cancer is falling, it said. The research appears in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and was compiled by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. Nearly half of US cancer survivors are 70 or older, and 64 percent were diagnosed five or more years ago, said the report.

The median, or midpoint age for patients at the time of diagnosis was 66. Young cancer survivors were more rare -- only five percent of the US population that had beat cancer was younger than 40. "There are 58,510 survivors of childhood cancer living in the United States, and an additional 12,060 children will be diagnosed in 2012," said the study.

The most common cancers among women in 2012 were breast (41 percent), uterine (eight percent), and colorectal (eight percent). Among men, the most common were are prostate cancer (43 percent), colorectal cancer (nine percent), and melanoma (seven percent). In the United States, there will be an estimated 1.6 million new cases of cancer in 2012 and 577,000 deaths, according to projections by the American Cancer Society.

Number of US cancer survivors to surge: study - Yahoo! News

 

[hjmick]

How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?

Too fucking close.

 

[waltky]

Cancer stem cells?...

Stem cells blamed for cancer re-growth
1 Aug.`12 - Researchers presented evidence Wednesday for the existence of cancer stem cells, with three different studies seeking to end a decades-old scientific dispute about how tumours grow.

The discovery should lead to new drugs targeting stem cells that cause tumours to reappear after cancer therapy, the teams argued in three scientific papers published simultaneously in the journals Nature and Science. "The hypothesis (that cancer stem cells exist) has been around now for some time. Hopefully these three papers now make an end to the discussion," Dutch researcher Hugo Snippert told AFP. All the studies were conducted on lab mice. Some experts have maintained that tumours are comprised of masses of cancer cells that are all the same, and all dividing.

But Snippert said the latest papers clearly show a hierarchy of cells in tumours, with different functions -- including stem cells that act as cancer cell factories. Stem cells are infant cells that develop into specialised tissues of the body, touted by medicine as a future source from which to replenish damaged tissue. In the case of intestinal cancer, a healthy stem cell mutates to create a "cell of origin" from which a tumour grows, said Snippert. The tumour contains stem cells which then create new cancer cells. Cancer stem cells must now be targeted for drug research, argued Snippert, a member of the University Medical Center Utrecht research team which focused on intestinal cancer and published its findings in Science. "Since the cancer stem cells are so similar to normal stem cells, most treatments also harm the normal stem cells," he said. "That is why it is important now to have a look at cancer stem cells, comparing them to normal stem cells to find the differences."

Focusing on incurable brain tumours, a US-based research team said they had found a subset of cells that appear to be the source of new tumour growth after chemotherapy. "This study serves as a proof of principle that in at least some solid tumours functional cancer stem cells exist," researcher Luis Parada of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center told AFP. Also writing in Nature, a separate team in Belgium and the UK found a sub-population of tumour cells with stem-like properties in skin cancer. "Taken together these reports provide evidence that point towards the existence of cells that may represent cancer stem cells," said a Nature press statement. Snippert said the latest technology has allowed the scientists to examine tumour cancer growth in as natural a state as possible, unlike earlier studies that involved tumour transplants in lab mice. The Dutch team was able to breed special mice in which different tumour cells displayed different colours which could then be studied under a microscope.

Say the tumour cells were red and the stem cell blue, the scientists could follow the stem cell's progeny as they spread in the tumour. "Because of the colours we could visualise everything within one and the same tumour in its original mouse at the original position where the tumour was formed," Snippert said. "It is more natural... as it would behave normally in patients." The three teams studied different organs using somewhat different techniques, but all with technology that allowed them to let the tumours grow undisturbed, said Snippert. "Better understanding of the cancer stem cells will be critical for re-evaluation of existing therapies and development of new ones," added Parada.

Stem cells blamed for cancer re-growth - Yahoo! News

 

[waltky]

An aspirin a day helps keep the oncologist away...

Daily aspirin cuts cancer death in seniors
Aug. 11,`12 (UPI) -- A study involving more than 100,000 predominantly elderly participants found daily aspirin use lowered cancer mortality, U.S. researchers say.

The study, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, pooled results from existing randomized trials of daily aspirin for prevention of vascular events and found daily aspirin use was associated with an estimated 16 percent lower overall risk of cancer mortality.

Study leader Eric J. Jacobs of the American Cancer Society and colleagues analyzed data from 100,139 U.S. adults age 60 and older -- mainly white -- who were tracked for up to 11 years. The reduction in cancer mortality observed in the current study was considerably smaller than the 37 percent reduction reported in a recent pooled analysis of randomized trials, Jacobs said.

Jacobs and colleagues said their study was observational, not randomized, and therefore could have underestimated or overestimated potential effects on cancer mortality if participants who took aspirin daily had different underlying risk factors for fatal cancer than those who did not.

However, the study's large size is a strength in determining the extent aspirin use might lower cancer mortality, Jacobs said. "Although recent evidence about aspirin use and cancer is encouraging, it is still premature to recommend people start taking aspirin specifically to prevent cancer," Jacobs said in a statement. "Any decision about daily aspirin use should be made only in consultation with a healthcare professional."

Read more: Daily aspirin cuts cancer death in seniors - UPI.com

 

[waltky]

New test for Galectin-3 protein...

New Test Identifies Disease-Promoting Protein
August 24, 2012 : Strong scientific evidence suggests high levels of a protein in the body may increase the risk of heart attack, cancer and other diseases. U.S. regulators have approved a test for the protein that could be useful in determining the risk of these diseases and their prognosis.

Galectin-3 is a molecule normally found in small amounts in cells, tissues and circulating blood. It works with the immune system to promote tissue repair, but too much of the protein can cause harmful inflammation that is involved in heart disease, cancer and kidney disease. U.S. regulators have approved a blood test to check for elevated blood levels of galectin-3. It has only been approved for heart failure. But Isaac Eliaz, who supplements his medical training with alternative therapies, predicts the galectin-3 test will soon be used by doctors as frequently as a routine test that checks for levels of c-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.

Eliaz believes the galectin-3 test will warn physicians of serious health problems brewing in their patients years before they develop. “You can see galectin-3 [levels] high in patients who are completely healthy, but you know that it is a time bomb," said Eliaz. "And if you watch them for a few years, if you do not take care of them, they will start showing up with rising with c-reactive protein and serious illnesses.”

Studies have shown that galectin-3 can promote cancer development and growth by helping cancerous cells create colonies or tumors. The protein, Eliaz explains, leads to angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels that feed the original cancer colony and allow it to spread. But there is a compound that can block the effects of galectin-3 and improve treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases, according to Eliaz. It is the tough pulp inside orange rinds and other citrus fruit called citrus pectin.

While the pectin molecules are too large to be absorbed by the body and are normally eliminated through the digestive tract, Eliaz says a modified form of the pectin can be absorbed, limiting the harmful effects of galectin-3. “So if you can block galectin-3, you are taking away this inflammatory marker," Eliaz noted. "If you can prevent the scarring of the tissue, you are preventing aging, definitely.” He says, if taken as part of a healthy lifestyle, the modified pectin will help prevent many diseases of aging, as well as cancer and heart disease, and improve cancer treatment. Modified pectin is available as a supplement at health food stores. Isaac Eliaz’s comments were made at the American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Source

 

[mudwhistle]

How close has cancer hit you or someone you love?
They say 1 out of 3 women will develop some form of cancer, and even tho it's not the number one killer of women (heart disease is), it ranks very high as the killer of men and women.
It kills more people than obesity. It kills more people than heart attacks/strokes.
I loathe fucking cancer, it's my only enemy in life........I am surrounded by it on both sides of my family and I have had to deal with it personally, in my own body~
I wish they would find something to help with this dreaded jackass disease. More and more children are being stricken with some form of cancer.
Instead of them getting closer to finding a cure, I hear about more and more cases~

Killed my Dad and my Grandfather.

 

[niklas]

This disease are common in this world and this disease are effect on any side of body leg,neck.brain,chest but i want to share some fighter food these food are good effect at cancer.Fish,folate, Sugary Soda,Meat.

 

[William Joyce]

Cousin, breast cancer.

Mother-in-law, uterine cancer.

Maternal grandfather, bladder cancer.

Paternal grandfather, bone cancer.

But according to my mom, the heart's the real problem in the fam...

 

[waltky]

Mebbe dey could use it to kill rats...

Rat study links GM corn, cancer
Sept 19, 2012 - France’s government on Wednesday asked a health watchdog to carry out a probe, possibly leading to EU suspension of a genetically-modified corn, after a study in rats linked the grain to cancer.

Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll, Ecology Minister Delphine Batho and Health and Social Affairs Minister Marisol Touraine said they had asked the National Agency for Health Safety (ANSES) to investigate the finding. “Depending on ANSES’ opinion, the government will urge the European authorities to take all necessary measures to protect human and animal health,” they said in a joint statement. “(The measures) could go as far as invoking emergency suspension of imports of NK603 corn to Europe pending a re-examination of this product on the basis of enhanced assessment methods.”Preview

Earlier, French scientists led by Gilles-Eric Seralini at the University of Caen in Normandy unveiled a study that said rats fed with NK603 corn or exposed to the weedkiller used with it developed tumours. NK603 is a corn, also called maize, made by US agribusiness giant Monsanto. It has been engineered to make it resistant to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup. This enables farmers to douse fields with the weedkiller in a single go, thus offering substantial savings. Genetically modified (GM) crops are widely grown in North America, Brazil and China but are a hot-button issue in Europe.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, says it is the first to look at rats over their normal lifespan of two years. “For the first time ever, a GM organism and a herbicide have been evaluated for their long-term impact on health, and more thoroughly than by governments or the industry,” Seralini told AFP. “The results are alarming.” Two hundred male and female rats were split into 10 groups of 10 animals. One was a “control” group which was given ordinary rat food that contained 33 percent non-GM corn, and plain water. Three groups were given ordinary rat food and water with increasing doses of Roundup, reflecting various concentrations of the herbicide in the food chain.

The other six were fed rat food of which 11, 22 or 33 percent comprised NK603 corn, either treated or not with Roundup when the corn was grown. The researchers found that NK603 and Roundup both caused similar damage to the rats’ health, whether they were consumed together or on their own. Premature deaths and sickness were concentrated especially among females. At the 14-month stage of experiment, no animals in the control groups showed any signs of cancer, but among females in the “treated” groups, tumours affected between 10 and 30 percent of the rodents. “By the beginning of the 24th month, 50-80 percent of female animals had developed tumours in all treated groups, with up to three tumours per animal, whereas only 30 percent of controls were affected,” it said. Males which fell sick suffered liver damage, developed kidney and skin tumours and digestive problems.

More France orders probe after rat study links GM corn, cancer

See also:

$3 billion shot at common cancers
Friday, September 21, 2012 - 'The only way we're going to make dramatic progress is a large-scale concerted effort'

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center on Friday will announce an ambitious initiative to dramatically reduce the death rates of eight common and difficult cancers. The $3 billion effort, dubbed the Moon Shots Program, will bring together large teams of researchers and clinicians to mount attacks in the next decade on cancers that annually account for nearly 750,000 cases and more than 260,000 deaths. Those figures represent nearly half of the nation's totals in both categories.

"The Moon Shots Program signals our confidence that the path to curing cancer is in clearer sight than at any previous time in history," M.D. Anderson President Dr. Ronald DePinho said in a statement. "Thanks to what we've learned over the past decade, we now have many of the tools we need." The initiative sounds like the sort of effort that might come from the White House or National Cancer Institute. But DePinho said M.D. Anderson's 19,000 employees, 100,000 patients and 10 million diagnostic procedures a year make it a logical place to undertake such an enterprise.

The targets are lung, prostate and ovarian cancer, a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer, melanoma, two common types of leukemia and another blood cancer - all diseases for which there is little treatment, newfound molecular understanding and considerable M.D. Anderson expertise. They were selected by committees of internal and external reviewers after a year of discussions. The program is the follow-up to a pledge DePinho made in his inaugural speech to faculty and staff last year, soon after he was selected as M.D. Anderson's fourth president. In that speech, DePinho said he wanted M.D. Anderson to develop "a bold and ambitious plan for curing several cancers." Press materials for the initiative, however, shy away from that bold a promise.

But the initiative is likely to raise big hopes. Its Moon Shots title is a nod to President John F. Kennedy's famous speech at Rice University 50 years ago declaring the United States would "go to the moon in this decade." It also recalls President Richard Nixon's 1971 remark, upon signing the National Cancer Act, that "the time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease."

'A marathon'

 

[waltky]

Chemotherapy bath for liver cancer...

First liver cancer 'chemo-bath' in the UK
11 November 2012 : Chemotherapy affects the whole body and can cause side effects

A "chemo-bath" which delivers toxic cancer drugs to just one organ in the body has been used on patients in the UK for the first time, say doctors. Chemotherapy drugs kill rapidly growing cells such as cancers, but they also attack healthy parts of the body. Doctors at Southampton General Hospital believe targeting just one organ can prevent side effects. They also say it means they can give higher doses without causing damage to the patient. Chemotherapy drugs are normally injected into the veins of patients. However, the whole body, rather than just the tumour, is exposed. It results in side effects such as fatigue, feeling sick, hair loss and damage to fertility.

Targeted

Two patients in the UK have now received chemotherapy focused on just their liver. Both had a rare eye cancer which had spread to the liver. The operation works by inflating balloons inside blood vessels on either side of the liver to isolate it from the rest of the body. The liver is then pumped full of chemotherapy drugs, which are filtered out before the liver is reconnected to the main blood supply. It means only a tiny fraction of the chemotherapy dose ends up in the body.

Dr Brian Stedman, a consultant interventional radiologist, said: "To cut off an organ from the body for 60 minutes, soak it in a high dose of drug and then filter the blood almost completely clean before returning is truly groundbreaking. "Previously, the outlook for patients specifically suffering from cancer which has spread to the liver has been poor because standard chemotherapy's effect is limited by the unwanted damage the drug causes to the rest of the body." The surgery took place in the past three months and both patients are said to be doing well and their tumours "all look smaller", he said.

Dr Stedman told the BBC: "In 20 years' time the idea of injecting a drug which poisons the whole body for a cancer in just one small area will seem bonkers." He suggested that any organ which could be easily separated from the blood supply, such as the kidney, pancreas and lungs, would be suitable for this kind of approach. However, he said the method was "in its infancy" and he was "not sure this is the finished product or the end of the story". The technique is also being tested in the US and elsewhere in Europe.

BBC News - First liver cancer 'chemo-bath' in the UK

 

[waltky]

Using gene mapping in the fight against cancer...

DNA mapping for cancer patients
10 December 2012 - The human genome contains three billion pairs of code

Up to 100,000 patients with cancer and rare diseases in England are to have their entire genetic code sequenced. The Prime Minister will announce £100m has been set aside for the project over the next three to five years. The aim is to give doctors a better understanding of patients' genetic make-up, condition and treatment needs, and help develop new cancer treatments. One human genome contains three billion base pairs - the building blocks of DNA.

Sequencing the code produces a huge amount of data. Although the price is falling fast, it currently costs £5,000 to £10,000 - which explains why no country in the world has embarked on mass DNA mapping on this scale. When it will start - who will do the genome sequencing and analysis - has not been worked out - nor which patients will be eligible for the voluntary testing. But the hope is by comparing genetic profiles of huge numbers of patients, it will allow scientists to understand why some do far better than others - and help in the quest for new treatments.

Privacy campaigners are concern such a move could allow personal data to be passed on to private companies, such as insurance companies. But ministers insist the project is for medical research alone. For existing patients, DNA mapping may lead to better targeting of medicines. The power of this type of genetic analysis was demonstrated earlier this year when a study of 2,000 breast cancers showed the cancer should be thought of as 10 completely separate diseases.

Personalised therapies

 

[waltky]

Stopping cancer from metastasizing...

Researchers Discover Key to Cancer's Spread
January 31, 2013 - If cancer cells did not metastasize, says Georgia State University's Dr. Zhi-Ren Liu, many tumors would not be deadly.

“Usually in many cases, it does not interfere with normal function," says the Atlanta-based biology professor. "But if you have metastasis, it interferes with multi-organ function and that kills a patient.” Liu and co-researcher Jenny Yang, a Georgia State biochemist, have discovered they can stop cancers from spreading by disrupting the interaction of two proteins within cells.

Proteins, which act as switches to activate or stop cellular activities — including migration, or metastasis, around the body — are necessary for healing and immune response. But when cancer cells metastasize, the disease can become deadly. The researchers found that two proteins in particular — p68 and calcium-calmodulin — appear to promote cell migration when interacting. By engineering a peptide that keeps them apart, Yang and Liu discovered they can significantly reduce or prevent the spread of cancerous cells.

According to Liu, their peptide reduced metastasis from primary tumors by 90 percent in mice infected with aggressive human colon and breast cancers. “The tumor size is much, much smaller," says Liu. "In several cases, we did not see any metastasis at all by the treatment.”

The two Georgia State researchers plan to develop a drug that interferes with the binding of p68 and calmodulin, and look forward to eventually conducting clinical trials with human cancer patients. Liu and Yang’s discovery of the role of the two proteins in cancer metastasis was published in Nature Communications, Vol. 4, Article number: 1354, on January 15.

Source

 

[waltky]

Many cancer patients left to fend for themselves thanks to health care...

Many cancer patients are struggling alone, charity says
10 February 2013 - One in four patients surveyed lacked support

Thousands of cancer patients struggle to manage their treatment and recovery because they get no support from family or friends, a charity has said. A survey by Macmillan Cancer Support suggests one in four newly-diagnosed patients lacks support. It equates to about 70,000 people in the UK struggling to look after themselves with no help. The research also found more than half of doctors have had patients refuse treatment because of a lack of support. About 325,000 patients are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK.

A survey of almost 1,800 patients found that people lacked support because family and friends lived too far away, had other commitments, or patients simply had no-one to turn to. Of those questioned, 12% said they had not had a visit from family or friends in more than six months. Half of those who said they were isolated had skipped meals or not eaten properly due to lack of help. And more than a quarter had been unable to wash themselves properly, while 60% had not been able to do household chores.

Missed appointments

Isolation had also had an impact on treatment itself with one in 10 missing medical appointments and 18% unable to pick up prescriptions. Most health professionals questioned in a separate survey agreed that lack of support at home led to a poorer quality of life for patients and half believed it could even cut patients' life expectancy. Macmillan Cancer Support has launched a report calling on health professionals to ask patients about the support they have and direct them to other sources of help.

Chief executive Ciaran Devane says isolation can have a truly shattering impact on people living with cancer. "Patients are going hungry, missing medical appointments and even deciding to reject treatment altogether which could be putting their lives at risk — all because of a lack of support. "But these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. "As the number of people living with cancer is set to double from two to four million by 2030, isolation will become an increasing problem and we need to address this now."

Lis Blyth, 66, from Surrey, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. She said living alone and having no energy during her treatment meant she lived on ready-made meals. "There were days when I went to bed having had nothing more than a glass of milk and a biscuit because I was too exhausted to cook. "That was four years ago, but even now, due to the long-term side effects of the treatment, I'm often still too exhausted to get on a bus and shop for food." She added that after her initial diagnosis, none of the hospital staff she came into contact with asked how she was or if she could support herself at home.

Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK's head information nurse, said: "Health professionals should always check about an individual patient's social circumstances. "But it's important they're prepared with lists of support groups and other available resources so they can recommend these to a patient who appears to be socially isolated."

BBC News - Many cancer patients are struggling alone, charity says

 

[waltky]

Monitoring kidney tumors vs. surgery...

Study questions kidney cancer treatment in elderly
Feb 12,`13 - In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away.

Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk of developing heart problems or dying of other causes, doctors found. After five years, 24 percent of those who had surgery had died, compared to only 13 percent of those who chose monitoring. Just 3 percent of people in each group died of kidney cancer. The study only involved people 66 and older, but half of all kidney cancers occur in this age group. Younger people with longer life expectancies should still be offered surgery, doctors stressed.

The study also was observational - not an experiment where some people were given surgery and others were monitored, so it cannot prove which approach is best. Yet it offers a real-world look at how more than 7,000 Medicare patients with kidney tumors fared. Surgery is the standard treatment now. "I think it should change care" and that older patients should be told "that they don't necessarily need to have the kidney tumor removed," said Dr. William Huang of New York University Langone Medical Center. "If the treatment doesn't improve cancer outcomes, then we should consider leaving them alone." He led the study and will give results at a medical meeting in Orlando, Fla., later this week. The research was discussed Tuesday in a telephone news conference sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and two other cancer groups.

In the United States, about 65,000 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,700 deaths from the disease are expected this year. Two-thirds of cases are diagnosed at the local stage, when five-year survival is more than 90 percent. However, most kidney tumors these days are found not because they cause symptoms, but are spotted by accident when people are having an X-ray or other imaging test for something else, like back trouble or chest pain. Cancer experts increasingly question the need to treat certain slow-growing cancers that are not causing symptoms - prostate cancer in particular. Researchers wanted to know how life-threatening small kidney tumors were, especially in older people most likely to suffer complications from surgery.

They used federal cancer registries and Medicare records from 2000 to 2007 to find 8,317 people 66 and older with kidney tumors less than 1.5 inches wide. Cancer was confirmed in 7,148 of them. About three-quarters of them had surgery and the rest chose to be monitored with periodic imaging tests. After five years, 1,536 had died, including 191 of kidney cancer. For every 100 patients who chose monitoring, 11 more were alive at the five-year mark compared to the surgery group. Only 6 percent of those who chose monitoring eventually had surgery. Furthermore, 27 percent of the surgery group but only 13 percent of the monitoring group developed a cardiovascular problem such as a heart attack, heart disease or stroke. These problems were more likely if doctors removed the entire kidney instead of just a part of it.

MORE