Tag Archives: patients

New diagnostic, therapeutic techniques show potential for patients with metastasized melanoma

Malignant melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in men and the sixth most common cancer in women, and its incidence rate is increasing rapidly. It accounts for nearly 80 percent of all deaths related to cutaneous cancer. When discovered early, localized melanoma can be cured by surgical removal. However, this cancer displays a strong tendency to metastasize and has very low survival rates for patients, with fewer than five percent surviving longer than five years. …

Patients with metastatic breast cancer may not benefit from surgery and radiation after chemotherapy

"There is a small percentage, about 5 to 20 percent of breast cancer patients, who present with metastatic breast cancer when they see their doctors for the first time, and across the globe, the thought is that the local tumor in such events does not require any surgery or radiation [known as loco-regional treatment (LRT)] after chemotherapy, unless there is bleeding or ulceration," said Rajendra Badwe, M.D., director of the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India. "However, there are conflicting results from retrospective analyses, and hence, there was a need for a randomized trial…

Ceratin gene mutations make breast cancers treatment-resistant

Treatment given to shrink or eliminate a tumor before surgery is called neoadjuvant therapy. In some women with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant therapy, no residual invasive cancer can be detected in breast tissue samples and lymph nodes removed during surgery. Emerging data suggest that these women, who are said to have had a pathologic complete response, have a greater chance of long-term survival compared with women who do not have a pathologic complete response. "Mutations in the PIK3CA gene are among the most common genetic aberrations in breast cancer," said Sibylle Loibl, M.D., professor at the German Breast Group in Neu-Isenburg, Germany. …

Smoking increases risk of death for nasopharyngeal carcinoma survivors

"While it is established that tobacco smoke is a risk factor for nasopharyngeal carcinoma [the most common cancer arising from the upper part of the throat behind the nose and near the base of skull], its role in influencing survival of patients with established cancers is not known," said Fang-Yun Xie, M.D., professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China. …

Head, neck cancer trial shows assessing HRQOL is valuable to patients, doctors

EORTC trial 24954 set out to compare two treatment schemes for patients with resectable hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancers, and the results published in Cancer show that there is a trend towards worse HRQOL scores in patients receiving alternating chemoradiotherapy (Alternating arm) as opposed to those given sequential induction chemotherapy and radiotherapy (Sequential arm). However, very few differences reached the level of statistical significance, and most patients’ HRQOL scores returned to baseline once treatment was completed. Dr. …

Nuclear medicine therapy increases survival for patients with colorectal cancer, liver metastases

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed type of cancer worldwide in men and the second in women, and it is also the third most common cause of death. In approximately 50 percent of patients, metastases to the liver are present at diagnosis or during follow-up, which account for a large portion of morbidity and mortality in patients…