Tag Archives: university

Breast conserving therapy shows survival benefit compared to mastectomy in early-stage patients with hormone receptor positive disease

The study findings defy the conventional belief that the two treatment interventions offer equal survival, and show the need to revisit some standards of breast cancer practice in the modern era. The research was presented at the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium by Catherine Parker, MD, formerly a fellow at MD Anderson, now at the University of Alabama Birmingham. In the 1980s, both US-based and international randomized clinical studies found that BCT and mastectomy offered women with early stage breast cancer equal survival benefit…

Disparities persist in early-stage breast cancer treatment

The study, to be presented at the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium, finds that those barriers that still exist are socio-economic, rather than medically-influenced. Meeghan Lautner, M.D., formerly a fellow at MD Anderson, now at The University of Texas San Antonio, will present the findings. BCT for early stage breast cancer includes breast conserving surgery, followed by six weeks of radiation…

Breast radiation trial provides more convenience, better compliance, lowered cost and patient outcomes on par with current treatment

These interim results of the 5-year Phase II clinical trial using the experimental regimen are being presented at the Breast Cancer Symposium 2014 in San Francisco by Anthony E. Dragun, M.D., vice chair and associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Louisville. Dragun, a radiation oncologist with University of Louisville Physicians, launched the trial three years ago at UofL’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health and the only site offering the experimental regimen in the United States. …

Showcase of latest advances in medical imaging for revolutionary proton therapy cancer treatment

The University of Lincoln’s Professor Nigel Allinson MBE will deliver the keynote talk at the tenth International Conference on Position Sensitive Detectors. The conference, which takes place from 7th to 12th September 2014, features the latest developments in this field from leading researchers around the world. Professor Allinson leads the pioneering PRaVDA (Proton Radiotherapy Verification and Dosimetry Applications) project. He and his multinational team are developing one of the most complex medical instruments ever imagined to improve the delivery of proton beam therapy in the treatment of cancer…

Prostate cancer: Pioneering new imaging method — ScienceDaily

Severely ill prostate cancer patients are helping researchers test a diagnostic tool that involves injecting a radioactive substance into their bodies. Norway has the fifth highest mortality rate for prostate cancer in Europe. Four doses of a radioactive tracer called 18F- FACBC are on their way from Oslo to Trondheim in a private jet. Three NTNU researchers, one doctor, two radiographers and a bioengineer fidget nervously as they wait…

Enzyme controlling metastasis of breast cancer identified — ScienceDaily

“The take-home message of the study is that we have found a way to target breast cancer metastasis through a pathway regulated by an enzyme,” said lead author Xuefeng Wu, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego. The enzyme, called UBC13, was found to be present in breast cancer cells at two to three times the levels of normal healthy cells. …

Some women still don’t underststand ‘overdiagnosis’ risk in breast screening — ScienceDaily

In a survey of around 2,200 women, Cancer Research UK scientists at University College London (UCL) found that 64 per cent felt they fully understood the information given about overdiagnosis — the chance that screening will pick up cancers that would never have gone on to cause any harm — by the National breast screening programme. Information about overdiagnosis has only been included in the NHS breast screening invitation leaflets since late 2013, meaning that overdiagnosis is likely to be a new concept for many people. But despite uncertainty over the information they were given, intentions to attend breast screening remained high, with only seven per cent of women saying they would be less likely to attend screening after receiving the overdiagnosis information…

Some women still don’t underststand ‘overdiagnosis’ risk in breast screening

In a survey of around 2,200 women, Cancer Research UK scientists at University College London (UCL) found that 64 per cent felt they fully understood the information given about overdiagnosis — the chance that screening will pick up cancers that would never have gone on to cause any harm — by the National breast screening programme. Information about overdiagnosis has only been included in the NHS breast screening invitation leaflets since late 2013, meaning that overdiagnosis is likely to be a new concept for many people. But despite uncertainty over the information they were given, intentions to attend breast screening remained high, with only seven per cent of women saying they would be less likely to attend screening after receiving the overdiagnosis information. …

Increase seen in use of double mastectomy, although not associated with reduced death

Randomized trials have demonstrated similar survival for patients with early-stage breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery and radiation or with mastectomy. However, previous data show increasing use of mastectomy, and particularly bilateral mastectomy (removal of both breasts) among U.S. patients with breast cancer. Evidence for a survival benefit with this procedure appears limited to rare patient subgroups…

Invisible blood in urine may indicate bladder cancer

Scientists at the University of Exeter Medical School found that one in 60 people over the age of 60 who had invisible blood in their urine (identified by their GP testing their urine) transpired to have bladder cancer. The figure was around half those who had visible blood in their urine — the best known indicator of bladder cancer…