Tag Archives: conference

More breast cancer patients opting for mastectomy — ScienceDaily

The rates of increase were steepest among women with lymph node-negative and in situ (contained) disease. This is a reversal of trends seen since the 1990s when breast conservation surgery (BCS) was found to produce equivalent cancer outcomes and was endorsed as a standard of excellence by a National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference. The Vanderbilt University study, led by Kristy Kummerow, M.D., and Mary Hooks, M.D., MBA, was published online in the Nov. …

Report card on complementary therapies for breast cancer

Meditation, yoga, and relaxation with imagery were found to have the strongest evidence supporting their use. They received an “A” grade and are recommended for routine use for anxiety and other mood disorders common to breast cancer patients. The same practices received a “B” grade for reducing stress, depression, and fatigue, but are also endorsed for most breast cancer patients…

Trial results reveal first targeted treatment to boost survival for esophageal cancer

Up to one in six patients with esophageal cancer were found to have EGFR duplication in their tumor cells and taking the drug gefitinib, which targets this fault, boosted their survival by up to six months, and sometimes beyond. This is the first treatment for advanced esophageal cancer shown to improve survival in patients whose initial course of chemotherapy treatment has failed. It is also the first time a targeted treatment of any kind has proved effective in this disease, although chemotherapy and some targeted drugs have shown benefit in the second line treatment of other cancers of the digestive system including stomach cancer…

Scientists uncover potential drug to tackle ‘undruggable’ fault in third of cancers

A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Germany has uncovered a new strategy and new potential drug to target an important signalling protein in cells called Ras, which is faulty in a third of cancers. When the Ras protein travels from the centre of a cell to the cell membrane, it becomes ‘switched on’ and sends signals which tell cells to grow and divide. …

Sea sponge drug could boost advanced breast cancer survival by five extra months — ScienceDaily

Researchers led by Professor Chris Twelves, based at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, looked at two major clinical trials of more than 1,800 women with breast cancer that had started to spread to other parts of the body. The phase III trials — the final stage of testing before deciding whether a drug can be prescribed to patients — compared the survival of women treated with eribulin to those given standard treatment…

Half of smokers using Liverpool Stop Smoking Services used e-cigs

The data — presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool — also highlights that smokers are more likely to try e-cigarettes if they feel more confident that the products are safer than tobacco smoking. Researchers from the University of Liverpool quizzed more than 320 smokers from the Roy Castle FagEnds study to understand the number of people who used e-cigarettes and what smokers thought about the products. Smokers appear undecided towards e-cigarettes, possibly due to the widely documented uncertainties about safety and effectiveness in helping smokers to successfully break their addiction. Some also viewed using e-cigarettes as an extension of smoking and perceived them as an inferior tool for helping to quit smoking…

Patients with emergency-diagnosed lung cancer report barriers to seeing their GP

The study, carried out by researchers from the London Cancer Alliance (LCA) and King’s College London investigated around 130 patients who were diagnosed with lung cancer after attending as an emergency at one of seven hospitals in south and west London. Overall, nearly half of the patients reported that something had put them off going to the doctor, including difficulty making an appointment, not being able to see their usual doctor, not having confidence in the GP, and fear of what the doctor might find. About a fifth of all patients (18 per cent) said they had not realised that their symptoms were serious.A fifth of all patients — who tended to be older, poorer and more fearful of what the doctor might find — delayed going to their doctor with their symptoms for more than 12 weeks. Three-quarters of the patients had consulted their GP about their symptoms, and one fifth had seen a GP at least three times. …

‘Invisible tattoos’ could improve body confidence after breast cancer radiotherapy — ScienceDaily

Research suggests that the permanent pin prick marks made on the skin of women having radiotherapy reminds them of their diagnosis for years to come, reducing body confidence and self-esteem. It’s also more difficult to spot these tattoos in dark-skinned women, potentially leading to inconsistencies in the area being treated. The NIHR-funded researchers, based at The Royal Marsden hospital in London, asked 42 breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy to rate how they felt about their body, before the treatment and one month later. Half the women were offered fluorescent tattoos, only visible under UV light, while the other half had conventional dark ink tattoos. …

Ethnic minorities less aware of cancer symptoms, more likely to identify barriers to seeking medical help

Researchers looked at nearly 50,000 responses to the Cancer Research UK Cancer Awareness Measure from people across England. They found that ethnic minority groups were consistently less aware of cancer symptoms. People with a black ethnic background were half as likely as white people to recognise that unexplained bleeding could be a symptom of cancer; while South Asians were a quarter as likely as white people to recognise that an unexplained lump or swelling could be a cancer symptom…

‘Invisible tattoos’ could improve body confidence after breast cancer radiotherapy

Research suggests that the permanent pin prick marks made on the skin of women having radiotherapy reminds them of their diagnosis for years to come, reducing body confidence and self-esteem. It’s also more difficult to spot these tattoos in dark-skinned women, potentially leading to inconsistencies in the area being treated…