Tag Archives: king

Most women undergoing conservative surgery for vulvar cancer maintain healthy body image and sex life

Women diagnosed with vulvar cancer are often treated with surgery that involves the removal of substantial sections of the external genitalia. Because survival rates are extremely high for women with early stages of the disease, it is important to understand the psychosocial issues that women experience following treatment. Ellen Barlow, RN, of The Royal Hospital for Women in Australia, and her colleagues interviewed 10 women who had previously been treated for early stage vulvar cancer, with a focus on investigating the women’s experiences of sexuality and body image. The researchers found that the majority of women experienced little to no long-term disruption to sexuality and body image following conservative surgery to treat their cancer…

Is Europe equipped with enough medical oncologists? Horizon still unknown

But the society has also warned that a worrying lack of information about the situation in Eastern Europe must be urgently addressed. Published in the Annals of Oncology this week, the survey provides the first detailed information on the current number of medical oncologists in 12 European Union countries, mostly in Western Europe, and their predicted availability by 2020. Around the world countries are struggling to ensure their medical oncology systems can deal with the increase in cancer cases, says ESMO Press Officer Solange Peters, a lung cancer expert from the university of Lausanne, Switzerland. Until now, nobody could say what the situation was in Europe. …

Leukemia: mode of action of a targeted treatment clarified

The PML/RARA protein causes the proliferation of cancer cells in patients affected by acute promyelocytic leukemia. Existing targeted treatments combining a hormone — retinoic acid — and a poison — arsenic — result in permanent recovery for the majority of patients, without us having a precise understanding of their action on cancer cells. Previous work by Prof Hugues de Thé’s team has shown that the combination of arsenic and retinoic acid causes destruction of the PML/RARA protein and the elimination of leukaemic stem cells…