Tag Archives: current

Cancer Statistics 2014: Death rates continue to drop

Each year, the American Cancer Society estimates the numbers of new cancer cases and deaths expected in the United States in the current year and compiles the most recent data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival based on incidence data from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The data are disseminated in two reports, Cancer Statistics, published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and its companion article, Cancer Facts & Figures. This year’s report estimates there will be 1,665,540 new cancer cases and 585,720 cancer deaths in the United States in 2014…

Physicians who prefer hospice care for themselves more likely to discuss it with patients

"Having timely discussions with terminally-ill cancer patients to establish goals for end-of-life care is important to maximize the quality of patient care. But by and large we’re not doing a good job at having these discussions early on," says lead author Garrett Chinn, MD, MS, of the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of General Medicine. "We know that patients facing terminal illness often wish to spend their remaining days at home, surrounded by loved ones. Since end-of-life care in the U.S…

Criteria shows one year death risk at time of hospital admission

"There are many prognostic indices, but until now none meant to be used immediately upon hospital admission," says Stacy Fischer, MD, CU Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "Basically, with five criteria — none of which require obtaining labs or data gathering — we can accurately predict who is at low, medium and high risk for death within a year," says Jeanie Youngwerth, MD, CU Cancer Center investigator and Palliative Care specialist at the University of Colorado Hospital and School of Medicine. …

New drug cuts risk of deadly transplant side effect in half

The study, the first to test this treatment in people, combined the drug vorinostat with standard medications given after transplant, resulting in 22 percent of patients developing graft-vs.-host disease compared to 42 percent of patients who typically develop this condition with standard medications alone. …

Supporting others brings healing to cancer survivors

The process includes first writing for oneself in emotionally expressive ways about the trauma of the cancer and transplant experience, followed by peer helping, which includes writing as if speaking to a person ready to undergo the transplant procedure about the survivor’s experience while offering advice and encouragement. …

New technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis

The technique, which uses a deformability cytometer to analyze individual cells, could reduce the need for more cumbersome diagnostic procedures and the associated costs, while improving accuracy over current methods. The initial clinical study, which analyzed pleural fluid samples from more than 100 patients, was published in the current issue of peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine. Pleural fluid, a natural lubricant of the lungs as they expand and contract during breathing, is normally present in spaces surrounding the lungs. …

First breast biopsy system offering real-time monitoring, guidance

First diagnostic tool is clinical imaging (mainly Mammography and Ultrasound) but suspicious findings usually require a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis; 2% of women who undergo a screening mammogram will require some type of breast biopsy (1,3 million women each year in Europe). Breast biopsy is an image-guided procedure that can use different imaging technologies. Apart from US-guided biopsy, which is a manual procedure with limited indications, all current solutions are based on discrete scans of static images taken at different steps during the procedure. …