Tuesday I ran a post: Alarmist Article About CT Scans--As Cancer Patients, What Choice Do We Have?
The article got me thinking: What are the radiation risks when one undergoes these tests? I concluded my post this way:
I'm sure it is always best to avoid any medical test if possible. But this article does seem a bit alarmist. I am curious to find out the difference in radiation levels between a CT scan, full body x-ray bone survey and MRI, since I get a bone survey and MRI's fairly regularly. I will do a little research and report back.
One of our regular readers, Nick from California, seemed interested in the same thing. He commented Wednesday:
Pat -
While you're at it, can you please differentiate between a PET scan and a CT scan? I do believe they are different.
MRIs should pose no health risk, by the way -- that much I did research since I have to do so many of them! :)
Sounds like a plan—so let's get to work! Here is a review of the basic imaging tests from Neurologychannel.com:
CT Scan
Computerized tomography (CT scan) uses x-ray technology to produce multiple cross-section images. In addition to providing images of the brain and nervous system, they can be used to identify broken bones, tumors, blood clots, heart disease, and internal bleeding.
MRI Scan
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan) uses a powerful magnet combined with radio waves to examine organs, soft tissues, and skeletal structures. MRI scans are especially valuable in finding brain and spinal cord abnormalities. They may also be used to help diagnose torn ligaments, tumors, circulation (blood flow) problems, inflammation (e.g., arthritis), and infection.
PET Scan
Positron emission tomography (PET scan or PET imagery) uses radiation from the emission of positrons (extremely small particles discharged from a radioactive substance) to create images that can help detect and evaluate cancer and the effects of cancer therapy. This test also can be used to diagnose a variety of neurological conditions, including memory disorders, tumors, and seizure disorders.
Benefits/Risks
The primary benefit of positron emission tomography is that it can detect minor changes in biochemical levels, even before these changes show up as tumors or other abnormalities. In addition, the radiation exposure is lower than x-rays or CT scans.
There are some risks, however, primarily to women who are pregnant or nursing, due to the injection of the radioactive substance into the body. The potential risks to the fetus must be weighed against the benefits of the PET scan. Women who may be pregnant should inform the PET technicians before the procedure.
This is a very basic review. For example, whenever I get an MRI, it is without contrast, which is contraindicated for a multiple myeloma patient. There are similar variations with these other tests as well.
But what about the radiation risks? Here is part of a standard radiation dose table, comparing average x-ray and CT radiation exposure:
U.S. average effective radiation dose compared with equivalent period of time exposed to natural background radiation for conventional X-ray, CT, fluoroscopy, interventional procedures (Reference: Mettler FA, et al: Effective Doses in Radiology and Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine: A Catalog, Radiology 2008 248:254-263).
Conventional Radiology
Chest
0.1
Abdominal AP
0.7
Upper Back X-ray
1.0
Lower Back X-ray
1.5
Neck X-ray
0.2
Skull (4 films)
0.1
Pelvis/Hip X-ray
0.7
Extremity (arm, leg, etc.)
0.01
Mammogram
0.4
Dental X-ray
0.01
CT Scans
Head/Brain CT
2.0
Neck CT
6.0
Chest CT (Standard)
7.0
Chest CT (R/O PE)
15.0
Cardiac CT
16.0
Cardiac CT (calcium scoring only)
3.0
Abdomen CT
8.0
Abdomen and Pelvis CT
14.0
Chest, Abdomen and Pelvis
18.0
Pelvis CT
6.0
Virtual Colonoscopy CT
10.0
Here are examples of average radiation exposure for US citizens yearly:
Radiation Exposure
Typical Effective Radiation Dose mSv
Natural Background Radiation
3.1
Average Medical in U.S.
3
Total Average Exposure in U.S. (with Medical)
6.2
Domestic Pilots
3
Occupational Radiation Workers
2-5
As you can see, CT scans do expose patients to an unusually high amount of radiation. Is it worth the risk? Obviously, most physicians believe so.
As Nick mentioned in his comments, MRI's and PET scans work in a different way. The Health Physics Society answers the question this way:
Do magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound use radiation?
MRI and ultrasound procedures do not use ionizing radiation. If you have either of these types of studies,
you are not exposed to radiation
But what about PET scans? No one seemed too concerned in the literature I reviewed. This excerpt from the Cleveland Clinics was typical:
Does the PET scan pose any risks?
Although a radiotracer chemical is used in this test, the amount of radiation you are exposed to is low. The dose of tracer used is so small that it does not affect the normal processes of the body. However, the radiotracer may expose the fetus of patients who are pregnant or infants of women who breastfeed to the radiation. You and your doctor need to consider this risk compared with the need for and potential information to be gained from the PET scan.
Bottom line: Radiation from a PET scan is far less than a CT scan. The radiation exposure comes from the contrast, not the test itself.
I wasn't aware a CT scan exposed patients to so much radiation! Is it worth the risk? I'm not a physician, but the other tests, MRI, PET and conventional x-rays don't concern me much. CT scans are another matter! But if our doctors suspects we have a brain tumor or other disorder which can only be identified and located using a CT scan, what choice do we really have?
Feel good, keep smiling and avoid CT scans unless absolutely necessary! Pat
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Antioxidants, Not Alkaline Diet Key To Slowing Cancer
I found this blog post on Health-Improve.com. No author was listed. Obscure, but spot-on. See what you think:
Alkaline Diet To Battle Cancer? Doctors say No, But Try Antioxidants
Recently, a controversy has developed over antioxidants and alkaline fruits and their effects on cancer. Specifically, some believe that cancer can be treated by consuming alkaline fruits and vegetables.
Many web merchants claim that an alkaline body may be able to significantly fight the pH of malignant cancer cells until they die. According to doctors, the claims of such merchants are false. Doctors from the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s most renowned medical treatment and diagnostic centers, say this cancer rumor is untrue.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “A diet rich in certain alkaline foods, meaning foods that aren’t acidic, won’t cure cancer. Proponents of this diet claim foods such as soft drinks and meats make your body acidic, allowing cancer to flourish” (2005). Unfortunately, cancer, like many other serious illnesses, isn’t that simple.
The Mayo Clinic elaborated about proponents of an anti-acid and anti-cancer diet stating, “The theory that acid causes cancer isn’t true, and it isn’t clear that what you eat has any impact on your body’s overall acidity or alkalinity.”
Free radicals have also been linked to cancerous cell growth. Many doctors confirm this fact. “Free radicals have long been known to be mutagenic,” stated Dr. Tamer Fouhad (2002). “Animal and cell culture studies have suggested that antioxidants may slow or even prevent the development of cancer,” according to the National Cancer Institute.
Antioxidants are chemicals found in several food sources, like dark chocolate, green tea, red wine, vegetables, and fruits such as sour cherries, acaiberries, blueberries, mangosteen, and the noni fruit. Examples of antioxidants include beta carotene, lycopene, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin C. Not only do antioxidant vitamins benefit your body with health benefits; they may also combat cancer according to reputable medical sources.
But, the American Cancer Society thinks more research is needed on the subject.
They point out that different studies have had mixed results. Their official statement is that “too little is known about how antioxidant supplements actually act against disease.” They do not, however, refute the claim.
Antioxidants are thought to bind with free radicals and thereby protect cellular DNA from harm, since free radicals are highly reactive and mutations in DNA can lead to cancer if flawed cells reproduce in large numbers. But, until more research is done, the ACS thinks the jury’s still out on antioxidants.
Even if it is too soon for some organizations to endorse the beneficial effects of antioxidants in cancer prevention, a substantial body of evidence indicates its success. Incorporating antioxidants into your diet with fruit juices from mangosteen, pineapple, blueberries, pomegranate, star fruit and many other fruits is certainly worth a try when it comes to cancer prevention.
While the myth of an alkaline diet helping to prevent cancer is unclear, antioxidants have been found to help prevent cancer in certain studies. A healthy diet should include fresh fruits. Even the American Cancer Society states that the best way to reduce your cancer risk is to have a healthy diet that includes five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, so choose fruits rich in antioxidants to help tip the anti-cancer scales in your favor.
There are a number of alternative cancer proponents touting low acid, alkaline based diets as a cancer "cure." Do they help? Who knows? Very little solid proof associated with this approach. But if you want to grow your own wheat grass and eat a raw diet--go for it! It may help--and you are certainly less likely to die from coronary disease. But cure cancer? This article is right: Load-up on the antioxidants.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Alkaline Diet To Battle Cancer? Doctors say No, But Try Antioxidants
Recently, a controversy has developed over antioxidants and alkaline fruits and their effects on cancer. Specifically, some believe that cancer can be treated by consuming alkaline fruits and vegetables.
Many web merchants claim that an alkaline body may be able to significantly fight the pH of malignant cancer cells until they die. According to doctors, the claims of such merchants are false. Doctors from the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s most renowned medical treatment and diagnostic centers, say this cancer rumor is untrue.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “A diet rich in certain alkaline foods, meaning foods that aren’t acidic, won’t cure cancer. Proponents of this diet claim foods such as soft drinks and meats make your body acidic, allowing cancer to flourish” (2005). Unfortunately, cancer, like many other serious illnesses, isn’t that simple.
The Mayo Clinic elaborated about proponents of an anti-acid and anti-cancer diet stating, “The theory that acid causes cancer isn’t true, and it isn’t clear that what you eat has any impact on your body’s overall acidity or alkalinity.”
Free radicals have also been linked to cancerous cell growth. Many doctors confirm this fact. “Free radicals have long been known to be mutagenic,” stated Dr. Tamer Fouhad (2002). “Animal and cell culture studies have suggested that antioxidants may slow or even prevent the development of cancer,” according to the National Cancer Institute.
Antioxidants are chemicals found in several food sources, like dark chocolate, green tea, red wine, vegetables, and fruits such as sour cherries, acaiberries, blueberries, mangosteen, and the noni fruit. Examples of antioxidants include beta carotene, lycopene, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin C. Not only do antioxidant vitamins benefit your body with health benefits; they may also combat cancer according to reputable medical sources.
But, the American Cancer Society thinks more research is needed on the subject.
They point out that different studies have had mixed results. Their official statement is that “too little is known about how antioxidant supplements actually act against disease.” They do not, however, refute the claim.
Antioxidants are thought to bind with free radicals and thereby protect cellular DNA from harm, since free radicals are highly reactive and mutations in DNA can lead to cancer if flawed cells reproduce in large numbers. But, until more research is done, the ACS thinks the jury’s still out on antioxidants.
Even if it is too soon for some organizations to endorse the beneficial effects of antioxidants in cancer prevention, a substantial body of evidence indicates its success. Incorporating antioxidants into your diet with fruit juices from mangosteen, pineapple, blueberries, pomegranate, star fruit and many other fruits is certainly worth a try when it comes to cancer prevention.
While the myth of an alkaline diet helping to prevent cancer is unclear, antioxidants have been found to help prevent cancer in certain studies. A healthy diet should include fresh fruits. Even the American Cancer Society states that the best way to reduce your cancer risk is to have a healthy diet that includes five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, so choose fruits rich in antioxidants to help tip the anti-cancer scales in your favor.
There are a number of alternative cancer proponents touting low acid, alkaline based diets as a cancer "cure." Do they help? Who knows? Very little solid proof associated with this approach. But if you want to grow your own wheat grass and eat a raw diet--go for it! It may help--and you are certainly less likely to die from coronary disease. But cure cancer? This article is right: Load-up on the antioxidants.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Controversial Article About The High Cost Of Chemotherapy Drugs
I have been writing a lot about the high cost of chemotherapy drugs on my other site, www.multiplemyelomablog.com.
Here is an excellent follow-up article a reader sent me from FOXNews.com rom the Associated Press:
$93,000 Cancer Drug: How Much Is a Life Worth?
Published September 27, 2010
BOSTON – Cancer patients, brace yourselves. Many new drug treatments cost nearly $100,000 a year, sparking fresh debate about how much a few months more of life is worth.
The latest is Provenge, a first-of-a-kind therapy approved in April. It costs $93,000 a year and adds four months' survival, on average, for men with incurable prostate tumors. Bob Svensson is honest about why he got it: insurance paid.
"I would not spend that money," because the benefit doesn't seem worth it, says Svensson, 80, a former corporate finance officer from Bedford, Mass.
His supplemental Medicare plan is paying while the government decides whether basic Medicare will cover Provenge and for whom. The tab for taxpayers could be huge — prostate is the most common cancer in American men. Most of those who have it will be eligible for Medicare, and Provenge will be an option for many late-stage cases. A meeting to consider Medicare coverage is set for Nov. 17.
"I don't know how they're going to deal with that kind of issue," said Svensson, who was treated at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in suburban Boston. "I feel very lucky."
For the last decade, new cancer-fighting drugs have been topping $5,000 a month. Only a few of these keep cancer in remission so long that they are, in effect, cures. For most people, the drugs may buy a few months or years. Insurers usually pay if Medicare pays. But some people have lifetime caps and more people are uninsured because of job layoffs in the recession. The nation's new health care law eliminates these lifetime limits for plans that were issued or renewed on Sept. 23 or later.
Celgene Corp.'s Revlimid pill for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, can run as much as $10,000 a month; so can Genentech's Avastin for certain cancers. Now Dendreon Corp.'s Provenge rockets price into a new orbit.
Unlike drugs that people can try for a month or two and keep using only if they keep responding, Provenge is an all-or-nothing $93,000 gamble. It's a one-time treatment to train the immune system to fight prostate tumors, the first so-called cancer vaccine. Part of why it costs so much is that it's not a pill cranked out in a lab, but a treatment that is individually prepared, using each patient's cells and a protein found on most prostate cancer cells. It is expensive and time-consuming to make.
It's also in short supply, forcing the first rationing of a cancer drug since Taxol and Taxotere were approved 15 years ago. At the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, doctors plan a modified lottery to decide which of its 150 or so eligible patients will be among the two a month it can treat with Provenge. An insurance pre-check is part of the process to ensure they financially qualify for treatment.
"I'm fearful that this will become a drug for people with more resources and less available for people with less resources," said M.D. Anderson's prostate cancer research chief, Dr. Christopher Logothetis.
For other patients on other drugs, money already is affecting care:
• Job losses have led some people to stop taking Gleevec, a $4,500-a-month drug by Novartis AG that keeps certain leukemias and stomach cancers in remission. Three such cases were recently described in the New England Journal of Medicine, and all those patients suffered relapses.
• Retirements are being delayed to preserve insurance coverage of cancer drugs. Holly Reid, 58, an accountant in Novato, Calif., hoped to retire early until she tried cutting back on Gleevec and her cancer recurred. "I'm convinced now I have to take this drug for the rest of my life" and will have to work until eligible for Medicare, she said.
• Lifetime caps on insurance benefits are hitting many patients, and laws are being pushed in dozens of states to get wider coverage of cancer drugs. In Quincy, Mass., 30-year-old grad student Thea Showstack testified for one such law after pharmacists said her first cancer prescription exceeded her student insurance limit. "They said 'OK, that will be $1,900,'" she said.
"I was absolutely panicked." The federal health care law forbids such caps on plans issued or renewed Sept. 23 or later.
• Tens of thousands of people are seeking help from drug companies and charities that provide free medicines or cover copays for low-income patients. Genentech's aid to patients has risen in each of the last three years and the company says nearly 85 percent of Americans earn less than $100,000, making them potentially eligible for help if no other programs like Medicaid will pay.
• Doctors and insurers increasingly are doing the cruel math that many cancer patients want to avoid, and questioning how much small improvements in survival are worth. A recent editorial in a medical journal asked whether the extra 11 weeks that Genentech's Herceptin buys for stomach cancer patients justified the $21,500 cost.
Doctors also have questioned the value of Genentech's Tarceva for pancreatic cancer. The $4,000-a-month drug won approval by boosting median survival by a mere 12 days. Here's how to think about this cost: People who added Tarceva to standard chemotherapy lived nearly 6 1/2 months, versus 6 months for those on chemo alone. So the Tarceva folks spent more than $24,000 to get those extra 12 days.
The article goes on to discuss important topics like "When is a drug considered cost-effective?" Go to: $93,000 Cancer Drug: How Much Is a Life Worth? to read more.
It is hard enough being sick without having to worry about how you are going to pay for it. We all need to think about--then act on important issues like these.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Here is an excellent follow-up article a reader sent me from FOXNews.com rom the Associated Press:
$93,000 Cancer Drug: How Much Is a Life Worth?
Published September 27, 2010
BOSTON – Cancer patients, brace yourselves. Many new drug treatments cost nearly $100,000 a year, sparking fresh debate about how much a few months more of life is worth.
The latest is Provenge, a first-of-a-kind therapy approved in April. It costs $93,000 a year and adds four months' survival, on average, for men with incurable prostate tumors. Bob Svensson is honest about why he got it: insurance paid.
"I would not spend that money," because the benefit doesn't seem worth it, says Svensson, 80, a former corporate finance officer from Bedford, Mass.
His supplemental Medicare plan is paying while the government decides whether basic Medicare will cover Provenge and for whom. The tab for taxpayers could be huge — prostate is the most common cancer in American men. Most of those who have it will be eligible for Medicare, and Provenge will be an option for many late-stage cases. A meeting to consider Medicare coverage is set for Nov. 17.
"I don't know how they're going to deal with that kind of issue," said Svensson, who was treated at the Lahey Clinic Medical Center in suburban Boston. "I feel very lucky."
For the last decade, new cancer-fighting drugs have been topping $5,000 a month. Only a few of these keep cancer in remission so long that they are, in effect, cures. For most people, the drugs may buy a few months or years. Insurers usually pay if Medicare pays. But some people have lifetime caps and more people are uninsured because of job layoffs in the recession. The nation's new health care law eliminates these lifetime limits for plans that were issued or renewed on Sept. 23 or later.
Celgene Corp.'s Revlimid pill for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, can run as much as $10,000 a month; so can Genentech's Avastin for certain cancers. Now Dendreon Corp.'s Provenge rockets price into a new orbit.
Unlike drugs that people can try for a month or two and keep using only if they keep responding, Provenge is an all-or-nothing $93,000 gamble. It's a one-time treatment to train the immune system to fight prostate tumors, the first so-called cancer vaccine. Part of why it costs so much is that it's not a pill cranked out in a lab, but a treatment that is individually prepared, using each patient's cells and a protein found on most prostate cancer cells. It is expensive and time-consuming to make.
It's also in short supply, forcing the first rationing of a cancer drug since Taxol and Taxotere were approved 15 years ago. At the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, doctors plan a modified lottery to decide which of its 150 or so eligible patients will be among the two a month it can treat with Provenge. An insurance pre-check is part of the process to ensure they financially qualify for treatment.
"I'm fearful that this will become a drug for people with more resources and less available for people with less resources," said M.D. Anderson's prostate cancer research chief, Dr. Christopher Logothetis.
For other patients on other drugs, money already is affecting care:
• Job losses have led some people to stop taking Gleevec, a $4,500-a-month drug by Novartis AG that keeps certain leukemias and stomach cancers in remission. Three such cases were recently described in the New England Journal of Medicine, and all those patients suffered relapses.
• Retirements are being delayed to preserve insurance coverage of cancer drugs. Holly Reid, 58, an accountant in Novato, Calif., hoped to retire early until she tried cutting back on Gleevec and her cancer recurred. "I'm convinced now I have to take this drug for the rest of my life" and will have to work until eligible for Medicare, she said.
• Lifetime caps on insurance benefits are hitting many patients, and laws are being pushed in dozens of states to get wider coverage of cancer drugs. In Quincy, Mass., 30-year-old grad student Thea Showstack testified for one such law after pharmacists said her first cancer prescription exceeded her student insurance limit. "They said 'OK, that will be $1,900,'" she said.
"I was absolutely panicked." The federal health care law forbids such caps on plans issued or renewed Sept. 23 or later.
• Tens of thousands of people are seeking help from drug companies and charities that provide free medicines or cover copays for low-income patients. Genentech's aid to patients has risen in each of the last three years and the company says nearly 85 percent of Americans earn less than $100,000, making them potentially eligible for help if no other programs like Medicaid will pay.
• Doctors and insurers increasingly are doing the cruel math that many cancer patients want to avoid, and questioning how much small improvements in survival are worth. A recent editorial in a medical journal asked whether the extra 11 weeks that Genentech's Herceptin buys for stomach cancer patients justified the $21,500 cost.
Doctors also have questioned the value of Genentech's Tarceva for pancreatic cancer. The $4,000-a-month drug won approval by boosting median survival by a mere 12 days. Here's how to think about this cost: People who added Tarceva to standard chemotherapy lived nearly 6 1/2 months, versus 6 months for those on chemo alone. So the Tarceva folks spent more than $24,000 to get those extra 12 days.
The article goes on to discuss important topics like "When is a drug considered cost-effective?" Go to: $93,000 Cancer Drug: How Much Is a Life Worth? to read more.
It is hard enough being sick without having to worry about how you are going to pay for it. We all need to think about--then act on important issues like these.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Monday, September 27, 2010
Alarmist Article About CT Scans--As Cancer Patients, What Choice Do We Have?
Here are excerpts from an article I found on nutritionalist and health activist,Dr. Mercola's Website, while waiting for my flight back to Tampa today:
CT scans yield higher-resolution images than regular medical X-rays. Unfortunately, they also expose the patient to hundreds and sometimes thousands of times the amount of radiation.
The routine use of CT scans has vastly increased. In 1980, there were roughly 3 million CT scans performed. By 2007, that number had increased to 70 million. CT scans are now being promoted to healthy people -- even whole body CT scans.
According to Life Extension Magazine:
“The problem is that the explosion in unnecessary CT scans has been going on every year. If we carry this back just ten years, this means that 150,000 Americans are facing horrific deaths from CT scan-induced cancers.”
Here's more:
Nearly 30,000 Get Cancer EVERY Year in the US from CT Scans
According to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine last year, CT scans alone will cause nearly 30,,000 unnecessary cancer cases (about 2 percent of cancer cases), which will lead to about 14,500 deaths.
But wait, there’s more bad news.
While 30,000 cancer cases is a large number, a New England Journal of Medicine study from 2007 estimated that overuse of diagnostic CT scans may cause up to 3 million excess cancers over the next 20 to 30 years.
For those slow on math that is 1,00X more deaths over the next 25 years.
David Brenner of Columbia University, lead author of the study, told USA Today:
"About one-third of all CT scans that are done right now are medically unnecessary … Virtually anyone who presents in the emergency room with pain in the belly or a chronic headache will automatically get a CT scan. Is that justified?"
There is lots more to read by going to:
Nearly 30,000 Americans Get Cancer From This One Procedure EVERY Year--Will You?
I'm sure it is always best to avoid any medical test if possible. But this article does seem a bit alarmist. I am curious to find out the difference in radiation levels between a CT scan, full body x-ray bone survey and MRI, since I get a bone survey and MRI's fairly regularly. I will do a little research and report back.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
CT scans yield higher-resolution images than regular medical X-rays. Unfortunately, they also expose the patient to hundreds and sometimes thousands of times the amount of radiation.
The routine use of CT scans has vastly increased. In 1980, there were roughly 3 million CT scans performed. By 2007, that number had increased to 70 million. CT scans are now being promoted to healthy people -- even whole body CT scans.
According to Life Extension Magazine:
“The problem is that the explosion in unnecessary CT scans has been going on every year. If we carry this back just ten years, this means that 150,000 Americans are facing horrific deaths from CT scan-induced cancers.”
Here's more:
Nearly 30,000 Get Cancer EVERY Year in the US from CT Scans
According to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine last year, CT scans alone will cause nearly 30,,000 unnecessary cancer cases (about 2 percent of cancer cases), which will lead to about 14,500 deaths.
But wait, there’s more bad news.
While 30,000 cancer cases is a large number, a New England Journal of Medicine study from 2007 estimated that overuse of diagnostic CT scans may cause up to 3 million excess cancers over the next 20 to 30 years.
For those slow on math that is 1,00X more deaths over the next 25 years.
David Brenner of Columbia University, lead author of the study, told USA Today:
"About one-third of all CT scans that are done right now are medically unnecessary … Virtually anyone who presents in the emergency room with pain in the belly or a chronic headache will automatically get a CT scan. Is that justified?"
There is lots more to read by going to:
Nearly 30,000 Americans Get Cancer From This One Procedure EVERY Year--Will You?
I'm sure it is always best to avoid any medical test if possible. But this article does seem a bit alarmist. I am curious to find out the difference in radiation levels between a CT scan, full body x-ray bone survey and MRI, since I get a bone survey and MRI's fairly regularly. I will do a little research and report back.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Congratulations From The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
We received this good news from our friends at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this weekend:
Breaking News - Blood Cancer Awareness Month Resolution Reaches
100 Co-Sponsors
Dear Pat and all of your readers,
Congratulations! Your perseverance has paid off! The Congressional resolution declaring September 2010 as Blood Cancer Awareness Month (H.Res.1433) has reached the 100 co-sponsor milestone needed for it to be considered by Congress.
September has long been recognized as Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness Month, but this Congressional resolution adds an official emphasis that helps advance our cause. By raising awareness and support for blood cancers within the halls of the Capitol we strengthen our case for more cancer research funding, renewed funding for the Blood Cancer Education Program and other programs vital to the health and well-being of all blood cancer patients.
This success is a result of the dedication and commitment of LLS's advocates across the country. Volunteers have championed this cause since it was initiated in June and the barrage of emails, phone calls, and newspaper opinion pieces during the August Call for Cures Campaign had a tremendous impact.
We are also grateful for the help of Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Betsy Markey (D-CO), the resolution's original sponsors, who took to the floor of the House of Representatives and urged their colleagues to co-sponsor the resolution.
The resolution now goes before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for approval before being sent to the House floor. Thank you and congratulations!
A little free publicity can't hurt, right? Great job, LLS!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Breaking News - Blood Cancer Awareness Month Resolution Reaches
100 Co-Sponsors
Dear Pat and all of your readers,
Congratulations! Your perseverance has paid off! The Congressional resolution declaring September 2010 as Blood Cancer Awareness Month (H.Res.1433) has reached the 100 co-sponsor milestone needed for it to be considered by Congress.
September has long been recognized as Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness Month, but this Congressional resolution adds an official emphasis that helps advance our cause. By raising awareness and support for blood cancers within the halls of the Capitol we strengthen our case for more cancer research funding, renewed funding for the Blood Cancer Education Program and other programs vital to the health and well-being of all blood cancer patients.
This success is a result of the dedication and commitment of LLS's advocates across the country. Volunteers have championed this cause since it was initiated in June and the barrage of emails, phone calls, and newspaper opinion pieces during the August Call for Cures Campaign had a tremendous impact.
We are also grateful for the help of Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Betsy Markey (D-CO), the resolution's original sponsors, who took to the floor of the House of Representatives and urged their colleagues to co-sponsor the resolution.
The resolution now goes before the House Energy and Commerce Committee for approval before being sent to the House floor. Thank you and congratulations!
A little free publicity can't hurt, right? Great job, LLS!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Is There A Proven Link Between Cell Phone Use & Cancer? Studies Say Probably Not
Here is part of an article from EverydayHealth.com,
Cell Phones and Cancer: Sorting Out the Facts
By Chris Iliades, MD
Some concerns about cell phone use and cancer include:
The radio waves put out by cell phones are a form of radiation. Although the type of radiation does not seem to be powerful enough to cause cancer, researchers are still studying the long-term effects. The number of people using cell phones has increased rapidly since the 1990s. About 87 percent of Americans now use cell phones. It may still be too early to see the long-term effects of this amount of cell phone use. Some studies suggest a weak link between cell phone use and some types of malignant or benign tumors. One study done in Sweden found an elevated risk of acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor of the head and neck, after 10 years of cell phone use. Another European study found an increased risk of a brain tumor on the same side of the head as the side used to talk on a cell phone.
What Does the Weight of the Evidence Show?
A long-term study of 420,000 cell phone users in Denmark did not find any relationship between cell phones and cancer after 10 years. Another large international study, called Interphone, whose results were released in 2010, also found no link between cell phone use and brain tumors. The American Cancer Society comes to the following conclusions based on the available studies of cell phones and cancer:
People with brain tumors do not have a higher rate of cell phone use.
The risk of getting a brain tumor does not increase with more cell phone use.
Most studies do not show a relationship between the side of the head used for cell phones and brain tumors.
Much more at Cell Phones and Cancer.
I know it seems like cell phones might increase cancer risk--there just isn't much evidence to support the assumption.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Cell Phones and Cancer: Sorting Out the Facts
By Chris Iliades, MD
Some concerns about cell phone use and cancer include:
The radio waves put out by cell phones are a form of radiation. Although the type of radiation does not seem to be powerful enough to cause cancer, researchers are still studying the long-term effects. The number of people using cell phones has increased rapidly since the 1990s. About 87 percent of Americans now use cell phones. It may still be too early to see the long-term effects of this amount of cell phone use. Some studies suggest a weak link between cell phone use and some types of malignant or benign tumors. One study done in Sweden found an elevated risk of acoustic neuroma, which is a benign tumor of the head and neck, after 10 years of cell phone use. Another European study found an increased risk of a brain tumor on the same side of the head as the side used to talk on a cell phone.
What Does the Weight of the Evidence Show?
A long-term study of 420,000 cell phone users in Denmark did not find any relationship between cell phones and cancer after 10 years. Another large international study, called Interphone, whose results were released in 2010, also found no link between cell phone use and brain tumors. The American Cancer Society comes to the following conclusions based on the available studies of cell phones and cancer:
People with brain tumors do not have a higher rate of cell phone use.
The risk of getting a brain tumor does not increase with more cell phone use.
Most studies do not show a relationship between the side of the head used for cell phones and brain tumors.
Much more at Cell Phones and Cancer.
I know it seems like cell phones might increase cancer risk--there just isn't much evidence to support the assumption.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Friday, September 24, 2010
Common Nurtitional Mistakes Which Are Especially Important For Cancer Patients & Survivors
Here is info about a nutritional radio program, produced by Oprah Winfrey and hosted by Dr. Mehmet Oz, that should interest anyone touched by cancer:
Americans know more than ever about the benefits of eating a healthy diet and taking nutritional supplements, but new discoveries are proving there's still more to be done. Dr. Oz talks with oncologist Dr. Dwight McKee, author of Seven Deadly Nutritional Mistakes That Millions Make Every Day, about how to correct imbalances in the body and live an even healthier life with vitamins and minerals.
Go to "Nutritional Mistakes" to view the transcript and listen to the audio report on Oprah Radio.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Americans know more than ever about the benefits of eating a healthy diet and taking nutritional supplements, but new discoveries are proving there's still more to be done. Dr. Oz talks with oncologist Dr. Dwight McKee, author of Seven Deadly Nutritional Mistakes That Millions Make Every Day, about how to correct imbalances in the body and live an even healthier life with vitamins and minerals.
Go to "Nutritional Mistakes" to view the transcript and listen to the audio report on Oprah Radio.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Vitamin D Continues To Show Anti-Cancer Benefit
More good news about vitamin D helping to prevent cancer from Science News:
ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2010) — Findings from an animal study suggest that obese women can reduce their increased risk of endometrial disease if they take vitamin D supplements, say researchers at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The scientists report in Cancer Prevention Research published online September 21 that 25 percent of obese mice fed a vitamin D supplemented diet developed endometrial cancer, while 67 percent of obese mice not treated with the vitamin developed cancer. They also report that vitamin D offered no protective effects for normal weight mice; whether or not they used the vitamin, about 60 percent of these mice developed cancer.
All of the mice were genetically predisposed to develop endometrial cancer, because they were missing one of their two PTEN tumor suppressor genes, loss of which is strongly linked to development of human endometrial cancer. Obesity is also a strong known risk factor, researchers say.
"Vitamin D has been shown to be helpful in a number of cancers, but for endometrial cancer, our study suggests it protects only against cancer that develops due to obesity," says the study's lead investigator, Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, PhD, a Professor of Oncology. "Still, if these results are confirmed in women, use of vitamin D may be a wonderfully simple way to reduce endometrial cancer risk.
"Until further studies are done, I think the best advice for women concerned about their risk is to take vitamin D supplements or spend a few more minutes each week in the sun. This vitamin has shown many health benefits in addition to the promise suggested by our mouse study," she says.
Best for women, of course, is to attempt to keep a normal weight, because it offers many other health benefits besides endometrial cancer prevention, Hilakivi-Clarke says. "However, since over 50% of women in the US are overweight or obese, and loosing weight is difficult, other means are needed to prevent endometrial cancer in these women. One way is to use progesterone, but it increases breast cancer risk. Vitamin D supplements are likely to be safer than, for example, progesterone."
Go to: More vitamin D benefits to read the second half of the article.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2010) — Findings from an animal study suggest that obese women can reduce their increased risk of endometrial disease if they take vitamin D supplements, say researchers at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The scientists report in Cancer Prevention Research published online September 21 that 25 percent of obese mice fed a vitamin D supplemented diet developed endometrial cancer, while 67 percent of obese mice not treated with the vitamin developed cancer. They also report that vitamin D offered no protective effects for normal weight mice; whether or not they used the vitamin, about 60 percent of these mice developed cancer.
All of the mice were genetically predisposed to develop endometrial cancer, because they were missing one of their two PTEN tumor suppressor genes, loss of which is strongly linked to development of human endometrial cancer. Obesity is also a strong known risk factor, researchers say.
"Vitamin D has been shown to be helpful in a number of cancers, but for endometrial cancer, our study suggests it protects only against cancer that develops due to obesity," says the study's lead investigator, Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, PhD, a Professor of Oncology. "Still, if these results are confirmed in women, use of vitamin D may be a wonderfully simple way to reduce endometrial cancer risk.
"Until further studies are done, I think the best advice for women concerned about their risk is to take vitamin D supplements or spend a few more minutes each week in the sun. This vitamin has shown many health benefits in addition to the promise suggested by our mouse study," she says.
Best for women, of course, is to attempt to keep a normal weight, because it offers many other health benefits besides endometrial cancer prevention, Hilakivi-Clarke says. "However, since over 50% of women in the US are overweight or obese, and loosing weight is difficult, other means are needed to prevent endometrial cancer in these women. One way is to use progesterone, but it increases breast cancer risk. Vitamin D supplements are likely to be safer than, for example, progesterone."
Go to: More vitamin D benefits to read the second half of the article.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Did You Know There Are 67 Types Of Lymphomas? Neither Did I!
When It Comes to a Lymphoma Diagnosis, One Size Does Not Fit All
NEW YORK, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- While general awareness of lymphoma remains high, a new survey released today by the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) reveals significant knowledge gaps among Americans about the disease, which is the most prevalent form of blood cancer in the United States. Survey results showed a high number of adults (86 percent) remain unaware that there are 67 different types of lymphoma - 61 types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and six types of Hodgkin lymphoma. The national survey was commissioned by LRF to demonstrate the need for greater awareness and understanding of lymphomas during September, Lymphoma Awareness Month.
"Lymphoma is not one disease, but a diverse group of diseases," said Bruce Cheson, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine, Head of Hematology, and Director of Hematology Research at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital. "Fortunately, over the past few decades significant progress has been made in understanding how to distinguish among the many types of lymphoma, not only by how they look under the microscope, but by how they behave clinically, how they respond to treatment, and how patients with them survive. This distinction is important for patients, family members, and the blood cancer community – because knowing your type of lymphoma will eventually lead to personalized treatment which will be more effective and less toxic than the treatments currently available for patients," he continued. Dr. Cheson also serves as Chair of the LRF Scientific Advisory Board.
Get more survey results by going to: Results from a new national survey show 85 percent of U.S. adults are unaware there are 67 types of lymphoma.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
NEW YORK, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- While general awareness of lymphoma remains high, a new survey released today by the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) reveals significant knowledge gaps among Americans about the disease, which is the most prevalent form of blood cancer in the United States. Survey results showed a high number of adults (86 percent) remain unaware that there are 67 different types of lymphoma - 61 types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and six types of Hodgkin lymphoma. The national survey was commissioned by LRF to demonstrate the need for greater awareness and understanding of lymphomas during September, Lymphoma Awareness Month.
"Lymphoma is not one disease, but a diverse group of diseases," said Bruce Cheson, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine, Head of Hematology, and Director of Hematology Research at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital. "Fortunately, over the past few decades significant progress has been made in understanding how to distinguish among the many types of lymphoma, not only by how they look under the microscope, but by how they behave clinically, how they respond to treatment, and how patients with them survive. This distinction is important for patients, family members, and the blood cancer community – because knowing your type of lymphoma will eventually lead to personalized treatment which will be more effective and less toxic than the treatments currently available for patients," he continued. Dr. Cheson also serves as Chair of the LRF Scientific Advisory Board.
Get more survey results by going to: Results from a new national survey show 85 percent of U.S. adults are unaware there are 67 types of lymphoma.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Blinatumomab Shows Promise Against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)
More positive news about another new blood cancer therapy:
Bethesda-based Micromet Inc. announced Monday that it would begin late-stage European trials for its lead drug candidate, blinatumomab, in adults with a certain type of leukemia.
Micromet said it expects the pivotal trial to test the “efficacy, safety and tolerability” of the drug in as many as 130 patients with minimal residual disease positive B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, following chemotherapy treatment. The company hopes the drug will slash relapse rates for the cancer.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is a cancer affecting the white blood cells and is the most common form of leukemia found in children, according to the National Cancer Institute, though this Micromet treatment is focusing only on adults. Minimal residual disease describes the remaining cancer cells in the body after treatment.
Micromet projects enrollment in the pivotal trial will take two years to complete and span 70 cancer centers in the U.S. and Europe.
In the second phase of studies for this drug, Micromet (NASDAQ: MITI) showed that its treatment had a high rate of response in patients, news that caused its stock to soar and allowed the company to initiate several rounds of stock sales to help pay for this new clinical trial.
Good luck to all!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Bethesda-based Micromet Inc. announced Monday that it would begin late-stage European trials for its lead drug candidate, blinatumomab, in adults with a certain type of leukemia.
Micromet said it expects the pivotal trial to test the “efficacy, safety and tolerability” of the drug in as many as 130 patients with minimal residual disease positive B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, following chemotherapy treatment. The company hopes the drug will slash relapse rates for the cancer.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is a cancer affecting the white blood cells and is the most common form of leukemia found in children, according to the National Cancer Institute, though this Micromet treatment is focusing only on adults. Minimal residual disease describes the remaining cancer cells in the body after treatment.
Micromet projects enrollment in the pivotal trial will take two years to complete and span 70 cancer centers in the U.S. and Europe.
In the second phase of studies for this drug, Micromet (NASDAQ: MITI) showed that its treatment had a high rate of response in patients, news that caused its stock to soar and allowed the company to initiate several rounds of stock sales to help pay for this new clinical trial.
Good luck to all!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Researchers Hope Our Body's RNAi Antiviral Function Can Be Activated To Fight Cancer
Read this intriguing intro to A Protein Killer Could Treat All Cancers, and Possibly All Illnesses, by Corey Binns:
Since last April, 19 cancer patients whose liver tumors hadn’t responded to chemotherapy have taken an experimental drug. Within weeks of the first dose, it appeared to work, by preventing tumors from making proteins they need to survive. The results are preliminary yet encouraging. With a slight redesign, the drug might work for hundreds of diseases, fulfilling the promise that wonder cures like stem cells and gene therapy have failed to deliver.
The biotech company Alnylam announced in June that its drug ALN-VSP cut off blood flow to 62 percent of liver-cancer tumors in those 19 patients, by triggering a rarely used defense mechanism in the body to silence cancerous genes. Whereas conventional drugs stop disease-causing proteins, ALN-VSP uses RNA interference (RNAi) therapy to stop cells from making proteins in the first place, a tactic that could work for just about any disease. “Imagine that your kitchen floods,” says biochemist and Alnylam CEO John Maraganore. “Today’s medicines mop it up. RNAi technology turns off the faucet.”
Here’s another analogy: If DNA is the blueprint for proteins, RNA is the contractor. It makes single-stranded copies of DNA’s genes, called mRNA, which tell the cell to produce proteins. In 1998, scientists identified RNAi, a mechanism that primitive organisms use to detect and destroy virus’s double-stranded RNA and any viral mRNA. Mammals’ immune systems made RNAi’s antiviral function irrelevant (although all vertebrates, including humans, still use RNAi to regulate mRNA activity), but researchers found that introducing small segments of double-stranded RNA to cells could trigger the ancient mechanism and selectively halt the production of specific proteins.
That ability makes RNAi a potential fix for many diseases, including cancer, that arise when abnormal cells produce excessive amounts of everyday proteins. In theory, manipulating RNAi to kill proteins is simple. ALN-VSP, for example, consists of synthetic double-stranded RNA designed to match tumor mRNA that codes for two proteins: VEGF, which cancers overproduce to help grow new blood vessels, and KSP, which sets off rapid cell division. The researchers send the synthetic RNA into liver cells, and the body’s RNAi system kills both the synthetic RNA and any matching tumor-grown mRNA. Knock out the mRNAs coding for those proteins—which in the liver are produced only by cancer cells—and the tumor stops growing.
Interested? Go to Protein Killers on Popsci.com to see the rest, including color enhanced MRI scans which support the research.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Since last April, 19 cancer patients whose liver tumors hadn’t responded to chemotherapy have taken an experimental drug. Within weeks of the first dose, it appeared to work, by preventing tumors from making proteins they need to survive. The results are preliminary yet encouraging. With a slight redesign, the drug might work for hundreds of diseases, fulfilling the promise that wonder cures like stem cells and gene therapy have failed to deliver.
The biotech company Alnylam announced in June that its drug ALN-VSP cut off blood flow to 62 percent of liver-cancer tumors in those 19 patients, by triggering a rarely used defense mechanism in the body to silence cancerous genes. Whereas conventional drugs stop disease-causing proteins, ALN-VSP uses RNA interference (RNAi) therapy to stop cells from making proteins in the first place, a tactic that could work for just about any disease. “Imagine that your kitchen floods,” says biochemist and Alnylam CEO John Maraganore. “Today’s medicines mop it up. RNAi technology turns off the faucet.”
Here’s another analogy: If DNA is the blueprint for proteins, RNA is the contractor. It makes single-stranded copies of DNA’s genes, called mRNA, which tell the cell to produce proteins. In 1998, scientists identified RNAi, a mechanism that primitive organisms use to detect and destroy virus’s double-stranded RNA and any viral mRNA. Mammals’ immune systems made RNAi’s antiviral function irrelevant (although all vertebrates, including humans, still use RNAi to regulate mRNA activity), but researchers found that introducing small segments of double-stranded RNA to cells could trigger the ancient mechanism and selectively halt the production of specific proteins.
That ability makes RNAi a potential fix for many diseases, including cancer, that arise when abnormal cells produce excessive amounts of everyday proteins. In theory, manipulating RNAi to kill proteins is simple. ALN-VSP, for example, consists of synthetic double-stranded RNA designed to match tumor mRNA that codes for two proteins: VEGF, which cancers overproduce to help grow new blood vessels, and KSP, which sets off rapid cell division. The researchers send the synthetic RNA into liver cells, and the body’s RNAi system kills both the synthetic RNA and any matching tumor-grown mRNA. Knock out the mRNAs coding for those proteins—which in the liver are produced only by cancer cells—and the tumor stops growing.
Interested? Go to Protein Killers on Popsci.com to see the rest, including color enhanced MRI scans which support the research.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Monday, September 20, 2010
Mixed Messages About Using Supplements To Help Prevent Cancer
More mixed messages about using supplements and cancer risk. First, the good news from Caring4Cancer.com:
Selenium May Have Protective Effect Against Bladder Cancer
By CancerConsultants.com
Data from a combined analysis of previous studies suggest that higher levels of selenium are associated with lower risk of bladder cancer. These findings were recently published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.[1]
Each year in the United States, close to 53,000 men and 18,000 women are diagnosed with bladder cancer. Many bladder cancers are thought to be caused by exposure to cancer-causing agents that pass through the urine and come into contact with the bladder lining. The most important risk factor for bladder cancer is smoking, which increases risk by at least fourfold.
Dietary supplements such as multivitamins are used by many people in the hope of reducing the risk of cancer and other diseases. Evidence that dietary supplements reduce cancer risk is limited, however, and some studies have even suggested that certain types of dietary supplements may increase cancer risk. In a recent study, the researchers found no link between vitamin C, vitamin D, or vitamin E and risk of bladder cancer.[2]
Read more by going to: Selenium May Help Prevent Bladder Cancer.
Now here is some bad news from a site called HealthTree.com:
A new study by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston shatters the belief that multivitamins may slow down colon cancer or even prolong a patient's life.
Colon cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is cancer of the large intestine, and combined with rectal cancer -- the lowest part of the large intestine -- it is the third most diagnosed cancer in both men and women in the U.S.
Researchers followed more than 1,000 individuals who had recently undergone surgery for advanced stage-2 colon cancer, and found that half of the patients used multivitamins during and six months after completing chemotherapy.
Go to: Multivitamins Unlikely to Help Colon Cancer Patients
by Nicole Service to read more about this study.
The news may be mixed about supplements preventing or slowing cancer, but not about the value of eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables every day--so visit the farmers market nearest you this week!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Selenium May Have Protective Effect Against Bladder Cancer
By CancerConsultants.com
Data from a combined analysis of previous studies suggest that higher levels of selenium are associated with lower risk of bladder cancer. These findings were recently published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.[1]
Each year in the United States, close to 53,000 men and 18,000 women are diagnosed with bladder cancer. Many bladder cancers are thought to be caused by exposure to cancer-causing agents that pass through the urine and come into contact with the bladder lining. The most important risk factor for bladder cancer is smoking, which increases risk by at least fourfold.
Dietary supplements such as multivitamins are used by many people in the hope of reducing the risk of cancer and other diseases. Evidence that dietary supplements reduce cancer risk is limited, however, and some studies have even suggested that certain types of dietary supplements may increase cancer risk. In a recent study, the researchers found no link between vitamin C, vitamin D, or vitamin E and risk of bladder cancer.[2]
Read more by going to: Selenium May Help Prevent Bladder Cancer.
Now here is some bad news from a site called HealthTree.com:
A new study by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston shatters the belief that multivitamins may slow down colon cancer or even prolong a patient's life.
Colon cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is cancer of the large intestine, and combined with rectal cancer -- the lowest part of the large intestine -- it is the third most diagnosed cancer in both men and women in the U.S.
Researchers followed more than 1,000 individuals who had recently undergone surgery for advanced stage-2 colon cancer, and found that half of the patients used multivitamins during and six months after completing chemotherapy.
Go to: Multivitamins Unlikely to Help Colon Cancer Patients
by Nicole Service to read more about this study.
The news may be mixed about supplements preventing or slowing cancer, but not about the value of eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables every day--so visit the farmers market nearest you this week!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Don't Forget The Leafy Greens When Juicing!
One of our readers, Hanna, made some helpful and valid comments about yesterday's juicing post. Since a lot of people don't bother to read comments about previous articles, I thought I would reproduce Hanna's thoughts and add a few comments of my own at the end:
Interesting. My juicing routine includes a variety of anti-angiogenesis products but most importantly, a lot of greens.
My juices include lemon/lime, a bit of ginger. garlic (sometimes), and greens such as kale, dandelion, cucumber, etc. I also include beets to help the liver do it's work.
Based on my research, the greens are very important. I'm surprised that recommendations to cancer patients would not include greens.
Fruits are very useful for cleansing. The vegetables are useful to provide us with nutrients.
If I include fruit, it is usually an apple because many of us on chemo and/or pain killers do have digestive issues.
Just saying ... :-)
Thanks, Hanna! My daily "misc sludge" contains spinach, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, carots and sometimes beets, all blended together, skins and all, along with milled flax seed. I'm not big on adding fruit, since I am on a very low carb diet (long story!).
Sound like we are on the same page!
Feel good, keep smiling and eat lots of raw fruits and vegetables! Pat
Interesting. My juicing routine includes a variety of anti-angiogenesis products but most importantly, a lot of greens.
My juices include lemon/lime, a bit of ginger. garlic (sometimes), and greens such as kale, dandelion, cucumber, etc. I also include beets to help the liver do it's work.
Based on my research, the greens are very important. I'm surprised that recommendations to cancer patients would not include greens.
Fruits are very useful for cleansing. The vegetables are useful to provide us with nutrients.
If I include fruit, it is usually an apple because many of us on chemo and/or pain killers do have digestive issues.
Just saying ... :-)
Thanks, Hanna! My daily "misc sludge" contains spinach, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, carots and sometimes beets, all blended together, skins and all, along with milled flax seed. I'm not big on adding fruit, since I am on a very low carb diet (long story!).
Sound like we are on the same page!
Feel good, keep smiling and eat lots of raw fruits and vegetables! Pat
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Five Types Of Juice Recommended For Cancer Patients
Here's info for cancer survivors who like to juice:
...all fruits and vegetable are antioxidants but let us look on the top five juices for cancer patients.
Carrot juice has potassium, calcium, vitamin C and B complex. Our cells are being protected by vitamin C; it helps in strengthening the walls of our blood vessels. It has beta-carotene that is high in antioxidant. Our immune system is in partner with beta-carotene to tear the cancer cells into pieces. There are suggestions that carrot juice may help in fighting cancers of breast, stomach and lungs. You may be better off including carrot juice in your diet as much as possible. Not only you get protection from cancer, it is also good for your eyes.
Pomegranate juice may slow the development of prostate cancer. It has fighting agents against skin cancer as well. It is abundant in antioxidants (even higher than red wine and green tea), which has anti-inflammatory effect. It prevents colon cancer and it has anti-tumor effects.
Orange juice is usually a part of diet for most of us. It has limonoids (not present in other vegetables and fruits) that is said to be effective in eliminating certain cancer cells. It is rich in anti-carcinogens. Do not forget your daily dose of orange juice.
Grape juice has resveratrol that prevents cancerization of normal cells. It is not just a thirst quencher but it relieves restlessness and promotes urination and digestion. Grape juice is also good for our heart. Not only you can enjoy its sweet taste, you can also get the health benefits.
Strawberry juice helps in easing the reaction to radiation of people who suffers laryngeal and lung cancer. Laetrile and ellagic acid is present in strawberry; it keeps us from harmful carcinogens. It keeps our lungs moist and it eliminates phlegm.
A special thanks to author Emma Deangela for her suggestions. Go to:
Top Five Juices For Cancer Patients to read more.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
...all fruits and vegetable are antioxidants but let us look on the top five juices for cancer patients.
Carrot juice has potassium, calcium, vitamin C and B complex. Our cells are being protected by vitamin C; it helps in strengthening the walls of our blood vessels. It has beta-carotene that is high in antioxidant. Our immune system is in partner with beta-carotene to tear the cancer cells into pieces. There are suggestions that carrot juice may help in fighting cancers of breast, stomach and lungs. You may be better off including carrot juice in your diet as much as possible. Not only you get protection from cancer, it is also good for your eyes.
Pomegranate juice may slow the development of prostate cancer. It has fighting agents against skin cancer as well. It is abundant in antioxidants (even higher than red wine and green tea), which has anti-inflammatory effect. It prevents colon cancer and it has anti-tumor effects.
Orange juice is usually a part of diet for most of us. It has limonoids (not present in other vegetables and fruits) that is said to be effective in eliminating certain cancer cells. It is rich in anti-carcinogens. Do not forget your daily dose of orange juice.
Grape juice has resveratrol that prevents cancerization of normal cells. It is not just a thirst quencher but it relieves restlessness and promotes urination and digestion. Grape juice is also good for our heart. Not only you can enjoy its sweet taste, you can also get the health benefits.
Strawberry juice helps in easing the reaction to radiation of people who suffers laryngeal and lung cancer. Laetrile and ellagic acid is present in strawberry; it keeps us from harmful carcinogens. It keeps our lungs moist and it eliminates phlegm.
A special thanks to author Emma Deangela for her suggestions. Go to:
Top Five Juices For Cancer Patients to read more.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Friday, September 17, 2010
Pros/Cons Of Using Avastin In Breast Cancer Patients
I have written several articles about the chemotherapy drug, Avastin, this year: Avastin Proving To Be Versatile--Although Sometimes Controversial Chemotherapy Drug, and this article from the ASCO meetings in June - Avastin Extends Progression-Free Survival By 39% In Women With Previously Untreated Ovarian Cancer.
But later this summer, things started to unravel, with the FDA yanking approval for Avastin's use in breast cancer patients.
One of our readers, Nick from California, forwarded me this CNN Health article about Avastin yesterday:
Looming ruling on breast cancer drug splits patient advocates
By Caleb Hellerman, CNN
September 15, 2010
(CNN) -- Marcia Gilbert has spent most of her life in Charlotte, North Carolina, but for the end of summer, she decided to make a special trip.
Gilbert, 56, spent the weekend before Labor Day in New York City. She roamed from Chinatown to the Upper East Side, went sightseeing in Central Park and painted the town with her husband of 33 years, their two 20-something children and assorted friends.
One evening, they found themselves at Del Posto, a chic Italian restaurant. Glancing at her watch, over the sparkle of conversation, wine glasses and half-eaten dessert, Gilbert marveled at the time: just a few minutes to midnight.
"It was awfully late for me," she laughed as she told the story. "It was just a great moment to know that I was holding up enough to be there, to feel great and make memories."
Late-night hours, any hours, are especially precious to Gilbert, who could have been forgiven for feeling just a bit weary. For 15 years, she's been fighting breast cancer.
After years of ups and downs, Gilbert is doing well and gives most of the credit to her most recent medicine: bevacizumab, better known by its brand name, Avastin. But gratitude is tinged with worry, because the Food and Drug Administration is considering the unusual step of revoking its approval of Avastin as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer.
"It's disheartening, and it's a scary thought," says Gilbert. "Until just recently, I didn't know it was so precarious."
Avastin, which works by cutting off a tumor's blood supply, was first approved as a cancer treatment in 2004 as a therapy for colon cancer. Since then, it has also been approved as a treatment for certain types of lung, kidney and brain cancer.
In 2008, the FDA granted Avastin what's known as accelerated approval as a therapy for metastatic breast cancer. The move was based on preliminary studies that found the drug increased the time that patients went without symptoms getting worse. As a condition of the approval, the company that makes Avastin -- Genentech -- agreed to conduct more extensive research.
The results of those two larger trials, known as RIBBON-1 and AVADO, were made public this year, and to some, they were disappointing. In RIBBON-1, time without symptoms getting worse, known as progression-free survival, or PFS, improved by less than three months.
This is only the first half of this very interesting story. Go to Avastin Trial Results Disappointing to read more.
I listened to a balanced report about this issue on public radio last week. Several patients were interviewed. One felt Avastin had saved her life. But oncologists on the show were critical and worried about overall patient safety. But despite her concerns, one of the oncologists felt removing Avastin from her "arsenal" of breast cancer drugs would make it harder to treat certain patients.
Maybe the drug can be improved or better targeted for use against breast cancer?
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
But later this summer, things started to unravel, with the FDA yanking approval for Avastin's use in breast cancer patients.
One of our readers, Nick from California, forwarded me this CNN Health article about Avastin yesterday:
Looming ruling on breast cancer drug splits patient advocates
By Caleb Hellerman, CNN
September 15, 2010
(CNN) -- Marcia Gilbert has spent most of her life in Charlotte, North Carolina, but for the end of summer, she decided to make a special trip.
Gilbert, 56, spent the weekend before Labor Day in New York City. She roamed from Chinatown to the Upper East Side, went sightseeing in Central Park and painted the town with her husband of 33 years, their two 20-something children and assorted friends.
One evening, they found themselves at Del Posto, a chic Italian restaurant. Glancing at her watch, over the sparkle of conversation, wine glasses and half-eaten dessert, Gilbert marveled at the time: just a few minutes to midnight.
"It was awfully late for me," she laughed as she told the story. "It was just a great moment to know that I was holding up enough to be there, to feel great and make memories."
Late-night hours, any hours, are especially precious to Gilbert, who could have been forgiven for feeling just a bit weary. For 15 years, she's been fighting breast cancer.
After years of ups and downs, Gilbert is doing well and gives most of the credit to her most recent medicine: bevacizumab, better known by its brand name, Avastin. But gratitude is tinged with worry, because the Food and Drug Administration is considering the unusual step of revoking its approval of Avastin as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer.
"It's disheartening, and it's a scary thought," says Gilbert. "Until just recently, I didn't know it was so precarious."
Avastin, which works by cutting off a tumor's blood supply, was first approved as a cancer treatment in 2004 as a therapy for colon cancer. Since then, it has also been approved as a treatment for certain types of lung, kidney and brain cancer.
In 2008, the FDA granted Avastin what's known as accelerated approval as a therapy for metastatic breast cancer. The move was based on preliminary studies that found the drug increased the time that patients went without symptoms getting worse. As a condition of the approval, the company that makes Avastin -- Genentech -- agreed to conduct more extensive research.
The results of those two larger trials, known as RIBBON-1 and AVADO, were made public this year, and to some, they were disappointing. In RIBBON-1, time without symptoms getting worse, known as progression-free survival, or PFS, improved by less than three months.
This is only the first half of this very interesting story. Go to Avastin Trial Results Disappointing to read more.
I listened to a balanced report about this issue on public radio last week. Several patients were interviewed. One felt Avastin had saved her life. But oncologists on the show were critical and worried about overall patient safety. But despite her concerns, one of the oncologists felt removing Avastin from her "arsenal" of breast cancer drugs would make it harder to treat certain patients.
Maybe the drug can be improved or better targeted for use against breast cancer?
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Thursday, September 16, 2010
New Drug Study OK'd By FDA For POlycythemia Vera
Let's start this article about POlycythemia vera with Tuesday's news about approval of a Stage 3 trial design for a new drug, INCB18424:
WILMINGTON, Del., Sep 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Incyte Corporation announced today that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the design of a pivotal Phase III trial for its JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, INCB18424 in patients with polycythemia vera (PV), a blood cancer that belongs to a group of diseases known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Two Phase III trials of INCB18424 in myelofibrosis, also an MPN, COMFORT-I and COMFORT-II, are already fully enrolled and are expected to be completed later this year.
RESPONSE (Randomized, open label, multicenter phase III study of Efficacy and Safety in POlycythemia vera subjects who are resistant to or intolerant of hydroxyurea: JAK iNhibitor INC424 tablets verSus bEst available care) is a global study conducted by Incyte in the US and Novartis in rest of world and is expected to enroll approximately 300 patients with PV who are resistant to or intolerant of hydroxyurea (HU). RESPONSE will compare the efficacy and safety of INCB18424 to the physician's choice of best available therapy. Patient enrollment in the US is expected to begin in October (www.responsetrial.com).
"Securing the SPA for INCB18424 in PV establishes the requirements we must meet to obtain approval in this second indication and supports our objective to expand beyond myelofibrosis," stated Paul A. Friedman, M.D., Incyte's President and CEO. "The encouraging results from the ongoing Phase II PV trial, combined with the data we anticipate achieving from RESPONSE, have the potential to clearly establish the long-term safety and efficacy of INCB18424 and optimally position the compound for use in these underserved patients."
Srdan Verstovsek, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Leukemia Department, Myeloproliferative Disorders Program Leader, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the US principal investigator for RESPONSE, stated, "Patients with advanced PV represent a particularly high-risk group with few therapeutic options for long-term care. These patients would benefit from new chronic therapies that safely and effectively address the aberrant hematological measures, enlarged spleens and significant disease-related symptoms that so negatively impact their lives. In previous trials, INCB18424 has been well tolerated in patients with advanced PV, and much sicker patients with myelofibrosis for as long as 30 months. In the Phase II trial involving 34 PV patients who were HU resistant or HU intolerant, INCB18424 provided rapid and durable activity in these patients. We look forward to evaluating INCB18424 in this Phase III trial designed in agreement with FDA."
After reading this news release I stopped and asked myself: What the heck is POlycythemia vera? Here is a short primer I found on Google Health:
Overview
Polycythemia vera is an abnormal increase in the number of blood cells (primarily red blood cells) produced by the bone marrow.
Symptoms
Breathing difficulty when lying down
Dizziness
Fullness in the left upper abdomen
Headache
Itchiness, especially after a warm bath
Red coloring, especially of the face
Shortness of breath
Symptoms of phlebitis
Note: Symptoms are due to increased blood thickness and clotting.
Other symptoms that may occur with this disease:
Bluish skin discoloration
Fatigue
Red skin spots
Vision problems
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to reduce the thickness of the blood and prevent bleeding and clotting.
A method called phlebotomy is used to decrease blood thickness. One pint of blood is removed weekly until the hematocrit level is less than 45, then therapy is continued as needed.
Occasionally, chemotherapy (specifically hydroxyurea) may be given to suppress the bone marrow. Interferon may also be given in an attempt to lower blood counts. A medicine called anegrelide may be given to lower platelet counts.
The use of blood thinners (such as aspirin) is controversial because it may cause stomach bleeding. However, it does prevent blood clots.
Causes
Polycythemia vera is a disorder of the bone marrow. It causes too much production of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
It is a rare disease that occurs more often in men than women, and is rare in patients under age 40. The exact cause is unknown.
Tests & diagnosis
The health care provider will perform a physical exam. Tests that may be done include:
Bone marrow biopsy
Blood volume
Chemistry panel
Complete blood count with differential
Erythropoietin level
Genetic test
Vitamin B12 level
This disease may also affect the results of the following tests:
ESR
Lactate dehydrogenase
Leukocyte alkaline phosphatase
Platelet aggregation test
Serum uric acid
Prognosis
The disease usually develops slowly. Most patients do not experience any problems related to the disease after being diagnosed.
The following complications occur in a small number of patients:
The abnormal bone marrow cells may begin to grow uncontrollably in some patients, leading to the development of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
The bone marrow may develop a scarring condition called myelofibrosis.This condition may lead to dangerously low levels of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
Patients with polycythemia vera are also more likely to form blood clots that can cause strokes or heart attacks. Some patients may experience abnormal bleeding because their platelets are abnormal.
Complications
Bleeding from the stomach or other parts of the intestinal tract
Gout
Heart failure
Leukemia
Myelofibrosis
Peptic ulcer disease
As a multiple myeloma patient/survivor, I think I understand how it feels to be living with a incurable, chronic cancer like POlycythemia vera. I hope this drug proves helpful as it is developed in the future.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
WILMINGTON, Del., Sep 13, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Incyte Corporation announced today that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the design of a pivotal Phase III trial for its JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, INCB18424 in patients with polycythemia vera (PV), a blood cancer that belongs to a group of diseases known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Two Phase III trials of INCB18424 in myelofibrosis, also an MPN, COMFORT-I and COMFORT-II, are already fully enrolled and are expected to be completed later this year.
RESPONSE (Randomized, open label, multicenter phase III study of Efficacy and Safety in POlycythemia vera subjects who are resistant to or intolerant of hydroxyurea: JAK iNhibitor INC424 tablets verSus bEst available care) is a global study conducted by Incyte in the US and Novartis in rest of world and is expected to enroll approximately 300 patients with PV who are resistant to or intolerant of hydroxyurea (HU). RESPONSE will compare the efficacy and safety of INCB18424 to the physician's choice of best available therapy. Patient enrollment in the US is expected to begin in October (www.responsetrial.com).
"Securing the SPA for INCB18424 in PV establishes the requirements we must meet to obtain approval in this second indication and supports our objective to expand beyond myelofibrosis," stated Paul A. Friedman, M.D., Incyte's President and CEO. "The encouraging results from the ongoing Phase II PV trial, combined with the data we anticipate achieving from RESPONSE, have the potential to clearly establish the long-term safety and efficacy of INCB18424 and optimally position the compound for use in these underserved patients."
Srdan Verstovsek, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Leukemia Department, Myeloproliferative Disorders Program Leader, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the US principal investigator for RESPONSE, stated, "Patients with advanced PV represent a particularly high-risk group with few therapeutic options for long-term care. These patients would benefit from new chronic therapies that safely and effectively address the aberrant hematological measures, enlarged spleens and significant disease-related symptoms that so negatively impact their lives. In previous trials, INCB18424 has been well tolerated in patients with advanced PV, and much sicker patients with myelofibrosis for as long as 30 months. In the Phase II trial involving 34 PV patients who were HU resistant or HU intolerant, INCB18424 provided rapid and durable activity in these patients. We look forward to evaluating INCB18424 in this Phase III trial designed in agreement with FDA."
After reading this news release I stopped and asked myself: What the heck is POlycythemia vera? Here is a short primer I found on Google Health:
Overview
Polycythemia vera is an abnormal increase in the number of blood cells (primarily red blood cells) produced by the bone marrow.
Symptoms
Breathing difficulty when lying down
Dizziness
Fullness in the left upper abdomen
Headache
Itchiness, especially after a warm bath
Red coloring, especially of the face
Shortness of breath
Symptoms of phlebitis
Note: Symptoms are due to increased blood thickness and clotting.
Other symptoms that may occur with this disease:
Bluish skin discoloration
Fatigue
Red skin spots
Vision problems
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to reduce the thickness of the blood and prevent bleeding and clotting.
A method called phlebotomy is used to decrease blood thickness. One pint of blood is removed weekly until the hematocrit level is less than 45, then therapy is continued as needed.
Occasionally, chemotherapy (specifically hydroxyurea) may be given to suppress the bone marrow. Interferon may also be given in an attempt to lower blood counts. A medicine called anegrelide may be given to lower platelet counts.
The use of blood thinners (such as aspirin) is controversial because it may cause stomach bleeding. However, it does prevent blood clots.
Causes
Polycythemia vera is a disorder of the bone marrow. It causes too much production of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
It is a rare disease that occurs more often in men than women, and is rare in patients under age 40. The exact cause is unknown.
Tests & diagnosis
The health care provider will perform a physical exam. Tests that may be done include:
Bone marrow biopsy
Blood volume
Chemistry panel
Complete blood count with differential
Erythropoietin level
Genetic test
Vitamin B12 level
This disease may also affect the results of the following tests:
ESR
Lactate dehydrogenase
Leukocyte alkaline phosphatase
Platelet aggregation test
Serum uric acid
Prognosis
The disease usually develops slowly. Most patients do not experience any problems related to the disease after being diagnosed.
The following complications occur in a small number of patients:
The abnormal bone marrow cells may begin to grow uncontrollably in some patients, leading to the development of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
The bone marrow may develop a scarring condition called myelofibrosis.This condition may lead to dangerously low levels of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
Patients with polycythemia vera are also more likely to form blood clots that can cause strokes or heart attacks. Some patients may experience abnormal bleeding because their platelets are abnormal.
Complications
Bleeding from the stomach or other parts of the intestinal tract
Gout
Heart failure
Leukemia
Myelofibrosis
Peptic ulcer disease
As a multiple myeloma patient/survivor, I think I understand how it feels to be living with a incurable, chronic cancer like POlycythemia vera. I hope this drug proves helpful as it is developed in the future.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Using Mouthwash Without Alcohol Reduces Risk Of Oral Cancer
Yesterday I had my teeth checked and cleaned for the first time since moving to Florida. New dentist, new hygienist.
As she cleaned my teeth, Shannon, also a recent transplant from Indiana, warned me about the dangers of using Listerine and other mouthwashes with alcohol. Mouthwash—dangerous? Apparently so. WebMD reports oral cancers are about six times more common in drinkers than in non drinkers—so why would someone simulate drinking by regularly swishing and holding alcolol in their mouths for several minutes once or twice a day?
I did not know that! I like the strong “burn” I get from my mouthwash—it makes me feel like it's working.
Thanks for the tip, Shannon! You can bet I will be shopping for a mouth rinse with fluoride—and without alcohol.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
As she cleaned my teeth, Shannon, also a recent transplant from Indiana, warned me about the dangers of using Listerine and other mouthwashes with alcohol. Mouthwash—dangerous? Apparently so. WebMD reports oral cancers are about six times more common in drinkers than in non drinkers—so why would someone simulate drinking by regularly swishing and holding alcolol in their mouths for several minutes once or twice a day?
I did not know that! I like the strong “burn” I get from my mouthwash—it makes me feel like it's working.
Thanks for the tip, Shannon! You can bet I will be shopping for a mouth rinse with fluoride—and without alcohol.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
MSD/Merck Announces European Union Approval For New Anti-Nausea Medication, Ivemend (fosaprepitant)
Here is good news for European chemotherapy patients suffering from severe nausia during and after treatment:
European Union Approves MSD's New Single Dose 'Ivemend'® (fosaprepitant)
150 mg for the Prevention of Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. U.S.A., Sept. 13, 2010 – Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) today announced that the European Union has granted marketing approval for a new, single dose regimen of 'Ivemend'® (fosaprepitant) 150 mg.
Fosaprepitant is used in adults in combination with other antiemetic medicines for the prevention of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting associated with highly emetogenic cisplatin (HEC)-based
chemotherapy and moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC).
Unlike fosaprepitant 115 mg,which must be given on Day 1 of chemotherapy only with aprepitant capsules on Days 2 and 3,single dose fosaprepitant 150 mg is administered on Day 1 of chemotherapy only and does not
require capsules of 'Emend' (aprepitant) on Days 2 and 3.
Fosaprepitant has not been studied for the treatment of established nausea and vomiting and is contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to any component of the product. The approval of fosaprepitant applies to all of the 27 countries that are members of the European Union, as well as in Norway and Iceland.
Fosaprepitant will be available later this year.
“Nausea and vomiting are serious concerns for many cancer patients receiving chemotherapy," said Steven M. Grunberg, M.D., professor of medicine and pharmacology, University of Vermont. "Fosaprepitant is part of guideline-recommended antiemetic care for appropriate patients. The introduction of 'Ivemend' 150 mg will allow healthcare professionals
the flexibility to choose a regimen based on the individual needs of our patients.”
Hopefully Ivemend will be approved in the United States as well soon.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
European Union Approves MSD's New Single Dose 'Ivemend'® (fosaprepitant)
150 mg for the Prevention of Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. U.S.A., Sept. 13, 2010 – Merck (known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) today announced that the European Union has granted marketing approval for a new, single dose regimen of 'Ivemend'® (fosaprepitant) 150 mg.
Fosaprepitant is used in adults in combination with other antiemetic medicines for the prevention of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting associated with highly emetogenic cisplatin (HEC)-based
chemotherapy and moderately emetogenic chemotherapy (MEC).
Unlike fosaprepitant 115 mg,which must be given on Day 1 of chemotherapy only with aprepitant capsules on Days 2 and 3,single dose fosaprepitant 150 mg is administered on Day 1 of chemotherapy only and does not
require capsules of 'Emend' (aprepitant) on Days 2 and 3.
Fosaprepitant has not been studied for the treatment of established nausea and vomiting and is contraindicated in patients who are hypersensitive to any component of the product. The approval of fosaprepitant applies to all of the 27 countries that are members of the European Union, as well as in Norway and Iceland.
Fosaprepitant will be available later this year.
“Nausea and vomiting are serious concerns for many cancer patients receiving chemotherapy," said Steven M. Grunberg, M.D., professor of medicine and pharmacology, University of Vermont. "Fosaprepitant is part of guideline-recommended antiemetic care for appropriate patients. The introduction of 'Ivemend' 150 mg will allow healthcare professionals
the flexibility to choose a regimen based on the individual needs of our patients.”
Hopefully Ivemend will be approved in the United States as well soon.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
This Is Important For All Leukemia, Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma & Other Blood/Bone Marrow Cancer Patients, Survivors, Caregivers!
From The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, September 14th, 2010:
Act Now - Urge Congress to Recognize Blood Cancer Awareness Month
Your help is needed to raise awareness for blood cancers! The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is asking every advocate to write or call their U.S. Representative and urge them to co-sponsor a Congressional resolution (H.RES. 1433) designating September 2010 as Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
Congress has returned from recess and the sponsors of the resolution are making a strong push with their colleagues to co-sponsor the resolution. We need everyone whose life has been affected by blood cancers to join them and urge Congress to recognize Blood Cancer Awareness Month!
We need 100 co-sponsors for the resolution to gain consideration by the House. We currently have 59 co-sponsors, and your representative is NOT yet one of them! Please call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 225-3121, ask to speak to your representative's office, and ask that they become a co-sponsor of House Resolution 1433, naming September 2010 Blood Cancer Awareness Month, or visit LLS's Legislative Action Center to send them an email.
Remember that every phone call and letter counts, so be sure to send this message on to your friends, loved ones and other members of the blood cancer community. If you need help finding out who your representative is, please visit LLS's Legislator Search tool here.
If you choose to call your member's office, here are a few tips and talking points:
1) Ask to speak with a staff member or leave a message for your member of Congress.
2) Introduce yourself as a constituent, explain what the blood cancers are, and briefly tell your/ your loved one's story about living with the disease.
3) Explain that Representatives Walter Jones and Betsy Markey have introduced House Resolution 1433, which would designate September of 2010 as Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
4) Ask them to contact Representative Jones' or Markey's office and become a co-sponsor of House Resolution 1433.
5) Thank them for their time and ask them to advise you of the action they take in response to your request (leave your contact information).
This is important! I just e-mailed my Representatives using the convenient link above. It took me less than two minutes! Please take a few minutes to do the same!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Act Now - Urge Congress to Recognize Blood Cancer Awareness Month
Your help is needed to raise awareness for blood cancers! The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is asking every advocate to write or call their U.S. Representative and urge them to co-sponsor a Congressional resolution (H.RES. 1433) designating September 2010 as Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
Congress has returned from recess and the sponsors of the resolution are making a strong push with their colleagues to co-sponsor the resolution. We need everyone whose life has been affected by blood cancers to join them and urge Congress to recognize Blood Cancer Awareness Month!
We need 100 co-sponsors for the resolution to gain consideration by the House. We currently have 59 co-sponsors, and your representative is NOT yet one of them! Please call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 225-3121, ask to speak to your representative's office, and ask that they become a co-sponsor of House Resolution 1433, naming September 2010 Blood Cancer Awareness Month, or visit LLS's Legislative Action Center to send them an email.
Remember that every phone call and letter counts, so be sure to send this message on to your friends, loved ones and other members of the blood cancer community. If you need help finding out who your representative is, please visit LLS's Legislator Search tool here.
If you choose to call your member's office, here are a few tips and talking points:
1) Ask to speak with a staff member or leave a message for your member of Congress.
2) Introduce yourself as a constituent, explain what the blood cancers are, and briefly tell your/ your loved one's story about living with the disease.
3) Explain that Representatives Walter Jones and Betsy Markey have introduced House Resolution 1433, which would designate September of 2010 as Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
4) Ask them to contact Representative Jones' or Markey's office and become a co-sponsor of House Resolution 1433.
5) Thank them for their time and ask them to advise you of the action they take in response to your request (leave your contact information).
This is important! I just e-mailed my Representatives using the convenient link above. It took me less than two minutes! Please take a few minutes to do the same!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Monday, September 13, 2010
Fresh Fruits/Vegetables Better Than Taking Supplements For Preventing Cancer
Thank you, Health Day! Here is a recent article--short, to the point--with an important message: Eating good, nutrient rich fresh food is more effective than taking supplements:
Food Better Than Supplements for Cancer Prevention:
FRIDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Nutritional supplements are popular among Americans but people need to educate themselves and use caution when using these products to try to reduce their risk of cancer, says a University of Texas expert.
"Researchers are still unsure about whether or not minerals, herbs and other plants taken in pill, capsule, tablet or liquid form actually prevent cancer," Sally Scroggs, health education manager at the Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Medical Center, said in a news release from the center.
Vitamins E and C, for example, were found not to prevent cancer in the large-scale Women's Health Study and the Physicians' Health Study II. Findings from other studies suggest that some supplements may actually increase cancer risk by affecting the balance of nutrients in the body.
"If you eat lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans, you should get the nutrients, including fiber, vitamins and minerals, your body needs to lower your chances of getting diseases like cancer," Scroggs said. "Taking a pill can't replace a healthy diet."
She suggested eating plenty of foods loaded with cancer-fighting nutrients such as beta-carotene, selenium, lycopene, resveratrol and vitamins A, C and E.
While Scroggs does advise caution, there are some situations where taking supplements may benefit people, especially those who aren't getting enough nutrients due to food allergies, genetics or chronic illnesses, she said.
This includes women who are pregnant or breast-feeding; people at risk for vitamin D deficiency or osteoporosis; and people at risk for B-12 deficiency, including those aged 50 and older and vegans who consume no animal products.
Scroggs concluded that if you're considering taking supplements, consult with a doctor or registered dietician first.
Maybe it's better to spend your hard earned money buying fresh blueberries and organic produce than on bottles of expensive, untested supplements.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Food Better Than Supplements for Cancer Prevention:
FRIDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Nutritional supplements are popular among Americans but people need to educate themselves and use caution when using these products to try to reduce their risk of cancer, says a University of Texas expert.
"Researchers are still unsure about whether or not minerals, herbs and other plants taken in pill, capsule, tablet or liquid form actually prevent cancer," Sally Scroggs, health education manager at the Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Medical Center, said in a news release from the center.
Vitamins E and C, for example, were found not to prevent cancer in the large-scale Women's Health Study and the Physicians' Health Study II. Findings from other studies suggest that some supplements may actually increase cancer risk by affecting the balance of nutrients in the body.
"If you eat lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans, you should get the nutrients, including fiber, vitamins and minerals, your body needs to lower your chances of getting diseases like cancer," Scroggs said. "Taking a pill can't replace a healthy diet."
She suggested eating plenty of foods loaded with cancer-fighting nutrients such as beta-carotene, selenium, lycopene, resveratrol and vitamins A, C and E.
While Scroggs does advise caution, there are some situations where taking supplements may benefit people, especially those who aren't getting enough nutrients due to food allergies, genetics or chronic illnesses, she said.
This includes women who are pregnant or breast-feeding; people at risk for vitamin D deficiency or osteoporosis; and people at risk for B-12 deficiency, including those aged 50 and older and vegans who consume no animal products.
Scroggs concluded that if you're considering taking supplements, consult with a doctor or registered dietician first.
Maybe it's better to spend your hard earned money buying fresh blueberries and organic produce than on bottles of expensive, untested supplements.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Processed Meat Increases Ovarian Cancer Risk
Michael Teplitskyis a doctor who has been practicing alternative and holistic medicine for over 20 years. Here is his take on the "politically correct" view that you should stay away from red meat because it causes heart disease and even cancer:
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (April 2010) examined the association between eating red meat, processed meat, poultry and fish and the risk of developing cancer of the ovaries. The researchers compared 2049 women with ovarian cancer to 2191 women without cancer and obtained their dietary information.
They found no association between meat and cancer. In other words, women who ate meat did not have increased risk of ovarian cancer. But there was a significant increase of cancer in women who had high intake of processed meat. Poultry had a mild beneficial effect, while fish reduced the risk by about 25%, probably because fish supplies beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.
I wrote previously that in all the studies that showed an association between meat intake and health problems (heart disease, cancer, etc.), the category "meat" included not only red meat, but also bacon, hot dogs, cold cuts, etc. But in the studies that consider red meat and processed meat as separate categories, negative health effects are only associated with processed meat, not red meat. In other words, red meat is good for you, while processed meat is harmful, especially in large quantities, because of added chemicals, such as cancer-promoting nitrites.
And if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. People have been eating meat for thousands of years with very beneficial results. Heart disease and cancer, which are #1 and #2 causes of death today, were very rare until the 20th century. They reached epidemic proportions after people switched from traditional diet, which included red meat and whole milk dairy, to unnatural low-fat or non-fat products, from animal fats to vegetable oils, and from unrefined grains to white rice and white bread.
Red meat is the best source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty substance that has cancer-preventive properties. Grass-fed beef is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, just like fish. So enjoy your steak or hamburger and relish the fact that you are protecting yourself against cancer.
Oops! Just finished two brats (no buns) watching the Green Bay Packer's pre-game. Does it help I ate them, covered in raw, fresh tomato, onion, broccoli and cauliflower? Add some spiced mustard and--well I guess it was worth the risk! Besides, last time I checked--no ovaries! My wife, Pattie had a brat as well--she doesn't have any overies either,
All kidding aside, staying away from meat in general as often as possible isn't the worst idea. Grass-fed beef, free range chicken, bison--OK, not so bad. Whole Foods, a regional grocery chain, features an awesome bison sausage.
Feel good, keep smiling and Go Packers! Pat
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (April 2010) examined the association between eating red meat, processed meat, poultry and fish and the risk of developing cancer of the ovaries. The researchers compared 2049 women with ovarian cancer to 2191 women without cancer and obtained their dietary information.
They found no association between meat and cancer. In other words, women who ate meat did not have increased risk of ovarian cancer. But there was a significant increase of cancer in women who had high intake of processed meat. Poultry had a mild beneficial effect, while fish reduced the risk by about 25%, probably because fish supplies beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.
I wrote previously that in all the studies that showed an association between meat intake and health problems (heart disease, cancer, etc.), the category "meat" included not only red meat, but also bacon, hot dogs, cold cuts, etc. But in the studies that consider red meat and processed meat as separate categories, negative health effects are only associated with processed meat, not red meat. In other words, red meat is good for you, while processed meat is harmful, especially in large quantities, because of added chemicals, such as cancer-promoting nitrites.
And if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. People have been eating meat for thousands of years with very beneficial results. Heart disease and cancer, which are #1 and #2 causes of death today, were very rare until the 20th century. They reached epidemic proportions after people switched from traditional diet, which included red meat and whole milk dairy, to unnatural low-fat or non-fat products, from animal fats to vegetable oils, and from unrefined grains to white rice and white bread.
Red meat is the best source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty substance that has cancer-preventive properties. Grass-fed beef is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, just like fish. So enjoy your steak or hamburger and relish the fact that you are protecting yourself against cancer.
Oops! Just finished two brats (no buns) watching the Green Bay Packer's pre-game. Does it help I ate them, covered in raw, fresh tomato, onion, broccoli and cauliflower? Add some spiced mustard and--well I guess it was worth the risk! Besides, last time I checked--no ovaries! My wife, Pattie had a brat as well--she doesn't have any overies either,
All kidding aside, staying away from meat in general as often as possible isn't the worst idea. Grass-fed beef, free range chicken, bison--OK, not so bad. Whole Foods, a regional grocery chain, features an awesome bison sausage.
Feel good, keep smiling and Go Packers! Pat
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Important Reminder For Cancer Patients On Chemo: Don't Forget To Eat!
Here is a good Columbus Dispatch Q and A article about the importance of good nutrition for chemotherapy patients:
Cancer patients helped by options
By Jolene Thym
Few people realize, however, that almost 80 percent of the patients who undergo cancer-related treatments become malnourished.
Rebecca Katz, a nationally recognized wellness expert and a senior chef and educator at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, Calif., has undertaken a mission to change that statistic by harnessing what she calls the "power of yum."
Nourishing, good-tasting food, she says, represents the most important and most-often-overlooked element in treating the 1.5million U.S. cancer patients.
And, she adds, everyone should take to heart a message: Delicious, well-
balanced foods - velvety ginger-carrot soup, orange-pistachio couscous, watermelon granite - help enhance health, whatever the circumstances.
These days, Katz is basking in sudden celebrity after her latest book, The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery, picked up double honors at the prestigious International Association of Culinary Professionals awards.
The book that Katz describes as an "underdog" won in both the health category and as the "People's Choice."
In her San Rafael, Calif., garden, she recently talked about fame, glory, health and the power of yum.
Q: Does healthful eating really prevent or cure cancer?
A: We don't use prevent or cure when we talk about the power of eating well, because the fact is that in today's world, there are so many ways in which we are exposed to potentially harmful elements. So many factors - air, water, food packaging - are out of our control. This is about risk reduction.
But eating healthy, nutrient-dense foods is one of the ways we can take that control back. . . . The more whole foods you eat, the more you create an inhospitable environment for cancer cells.
Q: Why has it taken so long to recognize the role of good nutrition?
A: Nurturing is not rocket science. Considering food as healing has been around for a very long time. Even my Magic Mineral Broth recipe is basically the ancient art of alchemy - it's food as medicine.
Q: Let's talk about that magical broth. You call it your "Rosetta stone of soup," an equal-opportunity base for tea, soups or stews - full of magnesium, potassium and sodium.
A: I made it because it tastes good, but it turns out to be one of the most healing foods a cancer patient can eat.
There has been so much research on the healing properties of various foods. The only question is when we will start integrating that research in our treatment approaches. This is where it starts.
Q: Were you surprised by the "People's Choice" award?
A: It was such a shocker. I think it's because this is a book that empowers people, puts them in charge of something when they feel like their whole life is out of control. People are ready for this.
Q: A staggering percentage of cancer patients are malnourished. What can a family do?
A: The biggest problem is that the treatments wreak havoc with the digestive system. Patients are often not hungry or feel sick.
I tell people that the goal when feeding a cancer patient is not to get them to eat - or to eat more.
The goal should be to introduce them to little bites of "yum" - nutritionally and flavor-packed bites in which every element of that mouthful counts.
The other problem is that foods often don't taste good to patients. When someone undergoes chemotherapy or radiation, their taste buds begin to misfire.
The challenge is to make something that will stimulate those taste buds. My solution is FASS: fat, acid, salt and sweet. It's something I developed to help people "fix" food so it appeals to the patient.
If it tastes too sweet, you add acid; if it's too salty, you add lemon, adjusting until the food comes in line with the taste bud signals.
I tell people the best thing they can ask a cancer patient is "How does this taste to you today? Let me fix it for you."
Q: What advice do you have when groups of friends want to provide meals?
A: Assign a team captain - one person who will find out what the needs are each week and what kinds of foods the patient feels like eating. Find out if they are having problems swallowing or if their mouth hurts.
Give small portions in small containers so they can be stored until the patient feels ready.
Q: Anything else?
A: When cancer patients suffer loss of appetite, I tell people to put on their Sherlock Holmes hat. Ask what sounds good; make it a visual for them.
Ask: "Would you like some lumpy, bumpy mashed potatoes or a smooth and creamy soup?" Or ask: "If your taste buds were going to travel around the world, where would they want to go today?"
Our advice: Eat, chemo buddies, eat!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Cancer patients helped by options
By Jolene Thym
Few people realize, however, that almost 80 percent of the patients who undergo cancer-related treatments become malnourished.
Rebecca Katz, a nationally recognized wellness expert and a senior chef and educator at the Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, Calif., has undertaken a mission to change that statistic by harnessing what she calls the "power of yum."
Nourishing, good-tasting food, she says, represents the most important and most-often-overlooked element in treating the 1.5million U.S. cancer patients.
And, she adds, everyone should take to heart a message: Delicious, well-
balanced foods - velvety ginger-carrot soup, orange-pistachio couscous, watermelon granite - help enhance health, whatever the circumstances.
These days, Katz is basking in sudden celebrity after her latest book, The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery, picked up double honors at the prestigious International Association of Culinary Professionals awards.
The book that Katz describes as an "underdog" won in both the health category and as the "People's Choice."
In her San Rafael, Calif., garden, she recently talked about fame, glory, health and the power of yum.
Q: Does healthful eating really prevent or cure cancer?
A: We don't use prevent or cure when we talk about the power of eating well, because the fact is that in today's world, there are so many ways in which we are exposed to potentially harmful elements. So many factors - air, water, food packaging - are out of our control. This is about risk reduction.
But eating healthy, nutrient-dense foods is one of the ways we can take that control back. . . . The more whole foods you eat, the more you create an inhospitable environment for cancer cells.
Q: Why has it taken so long to recognize the role of good nutrition?
A: Nurturing is not rocket science. Considering food as healing has been around for a very long time. Even my Magic Mineral Broth recipe is basically the ancient art of alchemy - it's food as medicine.
Q: Let's talk about that magical broth. You call it your "Rosetta stone of soup," an equal-opportunity base for tea, soups or stews - full of magnesium, potassium and sodium.
A: I made it because it tastes good, but it turns out to be one of the most healing foods a cancer patient can eat.
There has been so much research on the healing properties of various foods. The only question is when we will start integrating that research in our treatment approaches. This is where it starts.
Q: Were you surprised by the "People's Choice" award?
A: It was such a shocker. I think it's because this is a book that empowers people, puts them in charge of something when they feel like their whole life is out of control. People are ready for this.
Q: A staggering percentage of cancer patients are malnourished. What can a family do?
A: The biggest problem is that the treatments wreak havoc with the digestive system. Patients are often not hungry or feel sick.
I tell people that the goal when feeding a cancer patient is not to get them to eat - or to eat more.
The goal should be to introduce them to little bites of "yum" - nutritionally and flavor-packed bites in which every element of that mouthful counts.
The other problem is that foods often don't taste good to patients. When someone undergoes chemotherapy or radiation, their taste buds begin to misfire.
The challenge is to make something that will stimulate those taste buds. My solution is FASS: fat, acid, salt and sweet. It's something I developed to help people "fix" food so it appeals to the patient.
If it tastes too sweet, you add acid; if it's too salty, you add lemon, adjusting until the food comes in line with the taste bud signals.
I tell people the best thing they can ask a cancer patient is "How does this taste to you today? Let me fix it for you."
Q: What advice do you have when groups of friends want to provide meals?
A: Assign a team captain - one person who will find out what the needs are each week and what kinds of foods the patient feels like eating. Find out if they are having problems swallowing or if their mouth hurts.
Give small portions in small containers so they can be stored until the patient feels ready.
Q: Anything else?
A: When cancer patients suffer loss of appetite, I tell people to put on their Sherlock Holmes hat. Ask what sounds good; make it a visual for them.
Ask: "Would you like some lumpy, bumpy mashed potatoes or a smooth and creamy soup?" Or ask: "If your taste buds were going to travel around the world, where would they want to go today?"
Our advice: Eat, chemo buddies, eat!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Friday, September 10, 2010
Futuristic Nanotechnology May Be Used To Fight Cancer Someday
I hadn't heard about this type of potential anti-cancer therapy before--so I saved this CancerNetwork.com article for your review:
Nanoparticles reveal then kill cancers…maybe
By Greg Freiherr | July 27, 2010
Go back to the beginning of MRI, in the early and mid-1980s, and you’ll find an almost rabid adoption of the modality, despite scant evidence of its clinical value. MRI has since done much to gain the trust of the medical community, opening a diagnostic cornucopia in the process. But the future has to bring more if MR is going to extend this legacy. Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are working on it.
In research announced July 21 and presented at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine meeting in Philadelphia, they have created iron-containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes that, thanks to their ferrous character, show up beautifully on MRI.
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes are incredibly small concentric cylinders. They measure about a nanometer in diameter, about 1/10,000th the diameter of a human hair. But this alone is not enough to make them noteworthy. Nor is it sufficient to build them into MR imaging agents.
Iron-based imaging agents have been kicking around MRI labs for decades. What distinguishes them is the fact they absorb energy, laser energy to be exact, and turn it into heat.
Exposed to laser light while inside a tumor, these nanotubes become red-hot pokers that sear cancer at its cellular roots. Their iron content makes them visible with MRI, confirming they are in place to wreak oncologic mayhem.
Reflective of the research itself, progress with these nanoparticles is taking shape in tiny steps, actually mouse steps. As part of his ongoing Ph.D. thesis work at Wake Forest Baptist, Xuanfeng Ding demonstrated that the tiny particles were indeed visible under MRI and did heat up under laser light, so much that they could destroy tumor cells in which they have settled. Whether they ever will is hard to say.
A decade may pass from the inception of a good idea to the emergence of a pharmaceutical product. What’s remarkable—more remarkable than the potential of this one experimental concoction—is that this research is at once novel and routine: novel in the tailoring done to the particles to make them visible to MRI; routine in the tools applied during this process.
Nanotechnology is rapidly reshaping the future, it seems, for just about everything from imaging agents to electric car batteries. It is modern alchemy whose promise has not yet been achieved but, unlike medieval efforts to turn common metals into gold, likely will be.
How ironic that the very tiny will reshape the world on such a macro level.
Hey--whatever works!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Nanoparticles reveal then kill cancers…maybe
By Greg Freiherr | July 27, 2010
Go back to the beginning of MRI, in the early and mid-1980s, and you’ll find an almost rabid adoption of the modality, despite scant evidence of its clinical value. MRI has since done much to gain the trust of the medical community, opening a diagnostic cornucopia in the process. But the future has to bring more if MR is going to extend this legacy. Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are working on it.
In research announced July 21 and presented at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine meeting in Philadelphia, they have created iron-containing multiwalled carbon nanotubes that, thanks to their ferrous character, show up beautifully on MRI.
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes are incredibly small concentric cylinders. They measure about a nanometer in diameter, about 1/10,000th the diameter of a human hair. But this alone is not enough to make them noteworthy. Nor is it sufficient to build them into MR imaging agents.
Iron-based imaging agents have been kicking around MRI labs for decades. What distinguishes them is the fact they absorb energy, laser energy to be exact, and turn it into heat.
Exposed to laser light while inside a tumor, these nanotubes become red-hot pokers that sear cancer at its cellular roots. Their iron content makes them visible with MRI, confirming they are in place to wreak oncologic mayhem.
Reflective of the research itself, progress with these nanoparticles is taking shape in tiny steps, actually mouse steps. As part of his ongoing Ph.D. thesis work at Wake Forest Baptist, Xuanfeng Ding demonstrated that the tiny particles were indeed visible under MRI and did heat up under laser light, so much that they could destroy tumor cells in which they have settled. Whether they ever will is hard to say.
A decade may pass from the inception of a good idea to the emergence of a pharmaceutical product. What’s remarkable—more remarkable than the potential of this one experimental concoction—is that this research is at once novel and routine: novel in the tailoring done to the particles to make them visible to MRI; routine in the tools applied during this process.
Nanotechnology is rapidly reshaping the future, it seems, for just about everything from imaging agents to electric car batteries. It is modern alchemy whose promise has not yet been achieved but, unlike medieval efforts to turn common metals into gold, likely will be.
How ironic that the very tiny will reshape the world on such a macro level.
Hey--whatever works!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Phytochemicals May Prevent Damage To Colon Cells: Tips On Preventing & Treating Colon Cancer
Juliet Cohen writes articles on diseases and conditions and women health care. Here is a list of colon cancer related tips from her article, Colon Cancer and Nutrition, posted on Health News for USA:
Colon Cancer Treatment and Nutrition Tips
1. Chemotherapy is also used to treat patients with stage IV colon cancer.
2. Radiotherapy may be recommended Treatment fot colon cancer.
3. High-fiber foods help move waste through your digestive tract faster.
4. Calcium and vitamin D also seem to help protect against colorectal cancer.
5. Taking antioxidants, such as vitamin C or carotenoids, may reduce cancer risk but other studies have failed to back up these results.
6. Vegetables high in folate, like leafy greens, seem to offer particular protection from colon cancer, especially for those who drink alcohol.
7. Cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower, also contain phytochemicals that may prevent damage to colon cells.
Good advice! Juliet wrote a balanced, comprehensive article that's worth a look.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Colon Cancer Treatment and Nutrition Tips
1. Chemotherapy is also used to treat patients with stage IV colon cancer.
2. Radiotherapy may be recommended Treatment fot colon cancer.
3. High-fiber foods help move waste through your digestive tract faster.
4. Calcium and vitamin D also seem to help protect against colorectal cancer.
5. Taking antioxidants, such as vitamin C or carotenoids, may reduce cancer risk but other studies have failed to back up these results.
6. Vegetables high in folate, like leafy greens, seem to offer particular protection from colon cancer, especially for those who drink alcohol.
7. Cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower, also contain phytochemicals that may prevent damage to colon cells.
Good advice! Juliet wrote a balanced, comprehensive article that's worth a look.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Can Fruits, Veggies Help Ward Off Lung Cancer?
More potential benefits of eating fruits and vegetables:
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables may help protect some smokers from lung cancer, a new European study suggests.
But, the researchers stressed that quitting smoking will do far more to reduce risk than "an apple a day" or having a salad for lunch.
In the study, participants who ate a diet that contained a diverse mix of fruits and vegetables appeared to have a 27 percent lowered risk of a common type of lung cancer, the researchers reported.
Go to Can Fruits, Veggies Help Ward Off Lung Cancer? to learn more.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
TUESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables may help protect some smokers from lung cancer, a new European study suggests.
But, the researchers stressed that quitting smoking will do far more to reduce risk than "an apple a day" or having a salad for lunch.
In the study, participants who ate a diet that contained a diverse mix of fruits and vegetables appeared to have a 27 percent lowered risk of a common type of lung cancer, the researchers reported.
Go to Can Fruits, Veggies Help Ward Off Lung Cancer? to learn more.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Pre-Clinical Research Combining Rituximab With Anti-CD47 Antibody Looks Promising
We found this info on Media-Newswire.com. Good news for lymphoma patients?
New antibody-combination therapy developed at Stanford boosts human lymphoma cure rate in mouse models
More than half of laboratory mice with human non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are cured by a treatment involving just two monoclonal antibodies, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found.
(Media-Newswire.com) - More than half of laboratory mice with human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are cured by a treatment involving just two monoclonal antibodies, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found. The therapy combines the activity of rituximab, an antibody currently in use to treat the disorder, with another that blocks a molecule called CD47 on the surface of the cancer cells. Together the two antibodies synergize to trigger the host’s own immune system to eliminate the cancer.
“What we’re seeing is that we have a potential therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that can eliminate the disease in mice even without chemotherapy,” said the co-first author of the research, MD/PhD student Mark Chao. Currently, about 30 percent of patients with NHL die of the disease.
Because many cancer cells express elevated levels of CD47, the researchers hope that the potential therapeutic benefit shown in this study by the combination therapy will also extend to other types of cancers.
The findings of this study lay the groundwork for trials in humans. Last October, the researchers received a $20 million Disease Team Grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to bring the new antibody therapy into clinical trials in human patients with a related cancer — acute myeloid leukemia — within four to five years.
“The goal is to get the immune system to target and kill cancer cells,” said Ravindra Majeti, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of hematology at the medical school and a study co-author. “We found that, although treating the mice with either antibody alone was somewhat beneficial, treating with both antibodies simultaneously cured the mice in over 60 percent of the cases.”
The research is published in the Sept. 3 issue of Cell. Majeti and Irving Weissman, MD, director of Stanford’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, are co-senior authors of the study. Chao and acting assistant professor of oncology Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD, are co-first authors of the work. Weissman and Majeti are co-principal investigators on the CIRM grant and are both members of the Stanford Cancer Center.
“We want to bring this to patients as quickly as we can,” said Chao. The researchers point out that, although the CIRM grant focuses on investigating anti-CD47 therapies for acute myeloid leukemia, the drug development process will result in an antibody that could also be used for other cancers. They focused their preliminary investigations on non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma because they were curious as to how the anti-CD47 antibody would work with rituximab, which also binds to human lymphoma cells.
“Biologically, it makes sense that these two antibodies would work together,” said Majeti. “One, rituximab, binds to the lymphoma cells and serves as an activator for cells of the immune system. The other, anti-CD47, blocks a ‘don’t-eat-me’ signal these blood cancer cells use to evade the immune cells as they move throughout the body. But we were amazed at the robustness of the synergy between the two.”
Rituximab alone does not cure human patients with NHL. It must be combined with chemotherapy — and even then it does not always work. “A major limitation of our current therapeutic approaches is a lack of increasingly active agents for the most aggressive lymphomas,” said Alizadeh, who treats lymphoma patients at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. “Rituximab is the biggest advance that’s been made in the last 30 years. But even so, we lose about one-third of patients with systemic disease.”
CD47 came to the attention of the researchers in 2008 when Chao, Majeti and Weissman found that the molecule protected human leukemia cells from engulfment and destruction by a protective immune cell called a macrophage. Because many cancer cells have higher-than-normal levels of CD47 on their surface, the researchers speculated that an antibody that binds to CD47 and masks its appearance might allow the macrophages to go back to happily munching on the rogue cells.
Indeed, Alizadeh found that people whose lymphoma cells expressed higher levels of CD47 had a worse prognosis than did those whose cancer cells expressed lower levels of CD47. In particular, those with a form of the disease called diffuse large B cell lymphoma were significantly more likely to die of their disease if their cells had more of the molecule on their surface. Interestingly, he found that high CD47 expression correlates with other, previously identified prognostic factors.
“We’ve known, for example, that the cell-of-origin for these lymphomas is an important indicator of how a patient is likely to respond to therapy,” said Alizadeh. “But until now we’ve had no way to try to address that therapeutically.”
The scientists tested their theory in human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma primary cells and cell lines in culture dishes and in laboratory mice. They first showed that incubating human NHL cells in a culture dish with either mouse or human macrophages in the presence of anti-CD47 significantly increased the ability of the macrophages to eat and kill the cancer cells, and that this killing ability varied according to the levels of CD47 expressed on the cells’ surfaces.
Incubating the cells with rituximab had a similar effect. However, using both antibodies together dramatically increased the macrophages’ ability to wipe out the lymphoma cells in a way that was more than additive — that is, the activity of the anti-CD47 antibody and rituximab was synergistic.
When the researchers injected mice intravenously with cells from the human NHL cell line, the cells multiplied and the animals developed disseminated lymphoma. The eight mice treated with a control antibody all had to be euthanized due to tumor burden in just over 20 days. Although treating the mice with either rituximab or anti-CD47 decreased the number of tumor cells and prolonged the animals’ survival ( to about 30 days ), they eventually all died of the disease. But when the animals were treated with the combination antibody therapy, five out of eight mice lived for more than 180 days with no evidence of tumor cells.
Similar results were seen when the cells were injected into the flanks of mice, where they formed palpable tumors. Short-term treatment with the combination of the two antibodies allowed six out of seven of the animals to achieve a complete remission that lasted for more than 190 days, when the experiment was stopped.
Finally, because cell lines can accumulate genetic changes over time that differ from primary cells, the researchers repeated the experiments using cells isolated directly from human patients with NHL. They found that eight out of nine mice injected with diffuse large B cell lymphoma and then subsequently treated with the two antibodies lived for more than four months without evidence of disease. In contrast, all animals treated with the control antibody, or with either antibody alone, had to be euthanized due to progression of their disease.
The researchers are moving forward to conduct tests on other CD47-expressing cancer cells, which include acute leukemia, bladder and several other cancer stem cells. They speculate that they might see a similar synergistic effect between anti-CD47 and other cancer-specific monoclonal antibodies currently in clinical use. They are also moving ahead as quickly as possible to bring the anti-CD47 antibody treatment to trials in human patients.
“We first found this molecule when we compared leukemia stem cells in mice with their normal counterparts,” said Weissman, who is also a professor of pathology. “It is amazing to me that this new approach to cancer stem cells in mice showed us the most important hidden component of how the body is likely to attack all cancers — the macrophage — and how human cancers evade killing by using the ‘don’t-eat-me’ signal. Blocking this signal and adding an ‘eat-me’ signal to the lymphoma cells is the next step in therapy.
“Let’s hope that this treatment that cures lymphoma in mice will cure it in humans, but we must remember that we are still many steps from a clinical trial in humans,” Weissman added. “Many other exciting potential therapies have failed in humans.”
“In many ways this is a labor of love,” said Alizadeh. “It is a very humbling experience to walk into an exam room and tell a patient with lymphoma that you’ve run out of bullets to shoot at their cancer and to prepare them to give up. Hopefully, this work will be a testament to how hard we’re all trying to help such patients.”
Weissman, Majeti, Alizadeh and Chao have filed a patent application relating to the process for using the CD47 antibody.
Other Stanford researchers involved in the work include medical student Chad Tang; graduate student Max Jan; postdoctoral scholars Saar Gill, PhD, and Charles Chan, PhD; research assistants Adriel Cha and Feifei Zhao; assistant professor Brent Tan, MD, PhD; clinical instructor Christopher Park, MD, PhD; clinical fellow Holbrook Kohrt, MD; and Ronald Levy, MD, the Robert K. and Helen K. Summy Professor at the School of Medicine.
The research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Stanford Cancer Biology Program, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Smith Family Fund.
More information about the Department of Medicine and the Department of Pathology, which also supported the work, is available online at http://medicine.stanford.edu/ and http://pathology.stanford.edu/.
There is so much progress being made in the blood cancers--lymphoma, leukemia, multiiple myeloma and others. Too bad solid tumor research is not moving as quickly.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
New antibody-combination therapy developed at Stanford boosts human lymphoma cure rate in mouse models
More than half of laboratory mice with human non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are cured by a treatment involving just two monoclonal antibodies, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found.
(Media-Newswire.com) - More than half of laboratory mice with human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are cured by a treatment involving just two monoclonal antibodies, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found. The therapy combines the activity of rituximab, an antibody currently in use to treat the disorder, with another that blocks a molecule called CD47 on the surface of the cancer cells. Together the two antibodies synergize to trigger the host’s own immune system to eliminate the cancer.
“What we’re seeing is that we have a potential therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that can eliminate the disease in mice even without chemotherapy,” said the co-first author of the research, MD/PhD student Mark Chao. Currently, about 30 percent of patients with NHL die of the disease.
Because many cancer cells express elevated levels of CD47, the researchers hope that the potential therapeutic benefit shown in this study by the combination therapy will also extend to other types of cancers.
The findings of this study lay the groundwork for trials in humans. Last October, the researchers received a $20 million Disease Team Grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to bring the new antibody therapy into clinical trials in human patients with a related cancer — acute myeloid leukemia — within four to five years.
“The goal is to get the immune system to target and kill cancer cells,” said Ravindra Majeti, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of hematology at the medical school and a study co-author. “We found that, although treating the mice with either antibody alone was somewhat beneficial, treating with both antibodies simultaneously cured the mice in over 60 percent of the cases.”
The research is published in the Sept. 3 issue of Cell. Majeti and Irving Weissman, MD, director of Stanford’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, are co-senior authors of the study. Chao and acting assistant professor of oncology Ash Alizadeh, MD, PhD, are co-first authors of the work. Weissman and Majeti are co-principal investigators on the CIRM grant and are both members of the Stanford Cancer Center.
“We want to bring this to patients as quickly as we can,” said Chao. The researchers point out that, although the CIRM grant focuses on investigating anti-CD47 therapies for acute myeloid leukemia, the drug development process will result in an antibody that could also be used for other cancers. They focused their preliminary investigations on non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma because they were curious as to how the anti-CD47 antibody would work with rituximab, which also binds to human lymphoma cells.
“Biologically, it makes sense that these two antibodies would work together,” said Majeti. “One, rituximab, binds to the lymphoma cells and serves as an activator for cells of the immune system. The other, anti-CD47, blocks a ‘don’t-eat-me’ signal these blood cancer cells use to evade the immune cells as they move throughout the body. But we were amazed at the robustness of the synergy between the two.”
Rituximab alone does not cure human patients with NHL. It must be combined with chemotherapy — and even then it does not always work. “A major limitation of our current therapeutic approaches is a lack of increasingly active agents for the most aggressive lymphomas,” said Alizadeh, who treats lymphoma patients at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. “Rituximab is the biggest advance that’s been made in the last 30 years. But even so, we lose about one-third of patients with systemic disease.”
CD47 came to the attention of the researchers in 2008 when Chao, Majeti and Weissman found that the molecule protected human leukemia cells from engulfment and destruction by a protective immune cell called a macrophage. Because many cancer cells have higher-than-normal levels of CD47 on their surface, the researchers speculated that an antibody that binds to CD47 and masks its appearance might allow the macrophages to go back to happily munching on the rogue cells.
Indeed, Alizadeh found that people whose lymphoma cells expressed higher levels of CD47 had a worse prognosis than did those whose cancer cells expressed lower levels of CD47. In particular, those with a form of the disease called diffuse large B cell lymphoma were significantly more likely to die of their disease if their cells had more of the molecule on their surface. Interestingly, he found that high CD47 expression correlates with other, previously identified prognostic factors.
“We’ve known, for example, that the cell-of-origin for these lymphomas is an important indicator of how a patient is likely to respond to therapy,” said Alizadeh. “But until now we’ve had no way to try to address that therapeutically.”
The scientists tested their theory in human non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma primary cells and cell lines in culture dishes and in laboratory mice. They first showed that incubating human NHL cells in a culture dish with either mouse or human macrophages in the presence of anti-CD47 significantly increased the ability of the macrophages to eat and kill the cancer cells, and that this killing ability varied according to the levels of CD47 expressed on the cells’ surfaces.
Incubating the cells with rituximab had a similar effect. However, using both antibodies together dramatically increased the macrophages’ ability to wipe out the lymphoma cells in a way that was more than additive — that is, the activity of the anti-CD47 antibody and rituximab was synergistic.
When the researchers injected mice intravenously with cells from the human NHL cell line, the cells multiplied and the animals developed disseminated lymphoma. The eight mice treated with a control antibody all had to be euthanized due to tumor burden in just over 20 days. Although treating the mice with either rituximab or anti-CD47 decreased the number of tumor cells and prolonged the animals’ survival ( to about 30 days ), they eventually all died of the disease. But when the animals were treated with the combination antibody therapy, five out of eight mice lived for more than 180 days with no evidence of tumor cells.
Similar results were seen when the cells were injected into the flanks of mice, where they formed palpable tumors. Short-term treatment with the combination of the two antibodies allowed six out of seven of the animals to achieve a complete remission that lasted for more than 190 days, when the experiment was stopped.
Finally, because cell lines can accumulate genetic changes over time that differ from primary cells, the researchers repeated the experiments using cells isolated directly from human patients with NHL. They found that eight out of nine mice injected with diffuse large B cell lymphoma and then subsequently treated with the two antibodies lived for more than four months without evidence of disease. In contrast, all animals treated with the control antibody, or with either antibody alone, had to be euthanized due to progression of their disease.
The researchers are moving forward to conduct tests on other CD47-expressing cancer cells, which include acute leukemia, bladder and several other cancer stem cells. They speculate that they might see a similar synergistic effect between anti-CD47 and other cancer-specific monoclonal antibodies currently in clinical use. They are also moving ahead as quickly as possible to bring the anti-CD47 antibody treatment to trials in human patients.
“We first found this molecule when we compared leukemia stem cells in mice with their normal counterparts,” said Weissman, who is also a professor of pathology. “It is amazing to me that this new approach to cancer stem cells in mice showed us the most important hidden component of how the body is likely to attack all cancers — the macrophage — and how human cancers evade killing by using the ‘don’t-eat-me’ signal. Blocking this signal and adding an ‘eat-me’ signal to the lymphoma cells is the next step in therapy.
“Let’s hope that this treatment that cures lymphoma in mice will cure it in humans, but we must remember that we are still many steps from a clinical trial in humans,” Weissman added. “Many other exciting potential therapies have failed in humans.”
“In many ways this is a labor of love,” said Alizadeh. “It is a very humbling experience to walk into an exam room and tell a patient with lymphoma that you’ve run out of bullets to shoot at their cancer and to prepare them to give up. Hopefully, this work will be a testament to how hard we’re all trying to help such patients.”
Weissman, Majeti, Alizadeh and Chao have filed a patent application relating to the process for using the CD47 antibody.
Other Stanford researchers involved in the work include medical student Chad Tang; graduate student Max Jan; postdoctoral scholars Saar Gill, PhD, and Charles Chan, PhD; research assistants Adriel Cha and Feifei Zhao; assistant professor Brent Tan, MD, PhD; clinical instructor Christopher Park, MD, PhD; clinical fellow Holbrook Kohrt, MD; and Ronald Levy, MD, the Robert K. and Helen K. Summy Professor at the School of Medicine.
The research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Stanford Cancer Biology Program, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Smith Family Fund.
More information about the Department of Medicine and the Department of Pathology, which also supported the work, is available online at http://medicine.stanford.edu/ and http://pathology.stanford.edu/.
There is so much progress being made in the blood cancers--lymphoma, leukemia, multiiple myeloma and others. Too bad solid tumor research is not moving as quickly.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Monday, September 6, 2010
Drug Appears to Prolong Survival in Stomach Cancer Patients... But Don't Get Too Excited
Here is an article about an almost 30% increase in survival rates among stomach cancer patients who add trastuzumab to standard cisplatin/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy.
Good news--but don't get too excited about the news. Read all about it in this article on Yahoo Health:
Drug Appears to Prolong Survival in Stomach Cancer Patients
THURSDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Use of the drug trastuzumab in addition to chemotherapy can extend stomach cancer patients' survival by nearly three months, a new study has found.
However, an editorial accompanying the study questions whether the treatment is cost-effective. The study and comment were both published in the Aug. 19 online edition of The Lancet.
The ToGA study, which included 584 patients at 122 centers in 24 countries with HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer, found that the addition of trastuzumab to standard cisplatin/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy resulted in a median survival of 13.8 months, compared with 11.1 months for patients who received chemotherapy alone -- a 26 percent difference.
The findings of the phase 3 clinical trial suggest that using trastuzumab with chemotherapy should be considered a new standard option for patients with this type of stomach cancer, said Yung-Jue Bang, of Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea, and colleagues.
Every day is precious. But adding less than 3 months to a patient's median survival rate is hard to get excited about--unless you are one of those patients, have good insurance and the side-effects aren't too bad.
Read more about it--including how British officials may not approve it's use over there due to high cost for a small return.
U.K. experts questions the cost-effectiveness of the treatment.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Good news--but don't get too excited about the news. Read all about it in this article on Yahoo Health:
Drug Appears to Prolong Survival in Stomach Cancer Patients
THURSDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Use of the drug trastuzumab in addition to chemotherapy can extend stomach cancer patients' survival by nearly three months, a new study has found.
However, an editorial accompanying the study questions whether the treatment is cost-effective. The study and comment were both published in the Aug. 19 online edition of The Lancet.
The ToGA study, which included 584 patients at 122 centers in 24 countries with HER2-positive advanced gastric cancer, found that the addition of trastuzumab to standard cisplatin/fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy resulted in a median survival of 13.8 months, compared with 11.1 months for patients who received chemotherapy alone -- a 26 percent difference.
The findings of the phase 3 clinical trial suggest that using trastuzumab with chemotherapy should be considered a new standard option for patients with this type of stomach cancer, said Yung-Jue Bang, of Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea, and colleagues.
Every day is precious. But adding less than 3 months to a patient's median survival rate is hard to get excited about--unless you are one of those patients, have good insurance and the side-effects aren't too bad.
Read more about it--including how British officials may not approve it's use over there due to high cost for a small return.
U.K. experts questions the cost-effectiveness of the treatment.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Does Hormone Replacement Therapy Cause Invasive Breast Cancer?
Interesting article from a Website called Health News For Americans:
Hormone Driven Invasive Breast Cancer
August 27th, 2010
Is there such thing as hormone driven invasive breast cancer?
At present, the number of breast cancer patients have drastically reduced in the US and some experts say that this was due to the reduction of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use.
In the United States, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is quite popular. HRT and mammography are chosen by the individuals themselves and certain factors influence the choice they make.
In some countries, mammogram is administered in state levels and it is already considered a routine activity especially among women aged 40 years and older. Women who take HRTs also get their medicines through prescriptions.
The relationship between HRT and breast cancer is still not yet established. The evident reason behind it is probably the lack of worldwide coverage. The data collected are often limited in some states or countries only. Other countries don’t gather info as to the number of HRT prescriptions and breast cancer patients.
Read the rest--and view a related video--by going to:
Is there such thing as hormone driven invasive breast cancer?
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Hormone Driven Invasive Breast Cancer
August 27th, 2010
Is there such thing as hormone driven invasive breast cancer?
At present, the number of breast cancer patients have drastically reduced in the US and some experts say that this was due to the reduction of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use.
In the United States, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is quite popular. HRT and mammography are chosen by the individuals themselves and certain factors influence the choice they make.
In some countries, mammogram is administered in state levels and it is already considered a routine activity especially among women aged 40 years and older. Women who take HRTs also get their medicines through prescriptions.
The relationship between HRT and breast cancer is still not yet established. The evident reason behind it is probably the lack of worldwide coverage. The data collected are often limited in some states or countries only. Other countries don’t gather info as to the number of HRT prescriptions and breast cancer patients.
Read the rest--and view a related video--by going to:
Is there such thing as hormone driven invasive breast cancer?
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Innovative Cancer Treatment Delivery Advances Patient Care
The following news release is, for all practical purposes, an advertisement for Cancer Treatment Canters of America. But we thought it was worth a look. Why? The emphasis on medical team building and more patient involvement with their own care--a key to improved quality of life:
Innovative Cancer Treatment Delivery Advances Patient Care
(NAPSI)-It may seem surprising, but, on average, cancer patients spend less time with their oncologists than they do on a lunch break. The United States Department of Labor mandates that a lunch break be 30 minutes or more, yet according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average time that cancer patients spend with their oncologist is just 24.5 minutes.
However, an innovative approach to cancer treatment by Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) called Patient Empowered Care may be changing all that. Patient Empowered Care uses a team approach, offering patients an average of between two and three hours with a full Empowerment Team every time they visit the hospital for treatment. The team includes a medical oncologist, naturopathic oncology provider, registered dietitian, nurse care manager, clinic nurse and others-who come to the patient in one comfortable room, one right after another, for a focused visit.
According to Edgar D. Staren, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., senior vice president for clinical affairs and chief medical officer at CTCA, Patient Empowered Care helps to advance care through health literacy-essentially, giving patients more time and greater access to all clinical team members for more responsive, personalized care.
“When patients are provided clear and thorough information and an understanding of their condition, they are empowered to make educated decisions about their cancer care,” added Dr. Staren.
Hard to argue with any of this. We didn't reproduce the balance of the release. Lots of promo stuff about CTCA. But if you would like to contact them for more info, we can pass along their contact info:
For more information about Cancer Treatment Centers of America, visit www.cancercenter.com or call (888) 841-9129. For more information about Patient Empowered Care, visit www.cancercenter.com/patient-empowered-care.cfm.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Innovative Cancer Treatment Delivery Advances Patient Care
(NAPSI)-It may seem surprising, but, on average, cancer patients spend less time with their oncologists than they do on a lunch break. The United States Department of Labor mandates that a lunch break be 30 minutes or more, yet according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average time that cancer patients spend with their oncologist is just 24.5 minutes.
However, an innovative approach to cancer treatment by Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) called Patient Empowered Care may be changing all that. Patient Empowered Care uses a team approach, offering patients an average of between two and three hours with a full Empowerment Team every time they visit the hospital for treatment. The team includes a medical oncologist, naturopathic oncology provider, registered dietitian, nurse care manager, clinic nurse and others-who come to the patient in one comfortable room, one right after another, for a focused visit.
According to Edgar D. Staren, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., senior vice president for clinical affairs and chief medical officer at CTCA, Patient Empowered Care helps to advance care through health literacy-essentially, giving patients more time and greater access to all clinical team members for more responsive, personalized care.
“When patients are provided clear and thorough information and an understanding of their condition, they are empowered to make educated decisions about their cancer care,” added Dr. Staren.
Hard to argue with any of this. We didn't reproduce the balance of the release. Lots of promo stuff about CTCA. But if you would like to contact them for more info, we can pass along their contact info:
For more information about Cancer Treatment Centers of America, visit www.cancercenter.com or call (888) 841-9129. For more information about Patient Empowered Care, visit www.cancercenter.com/patient-empowered-care.cfm.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Check-Out Two Part Series About Nutrition & Bone Marrow Cancer
An online publication I write for, The Myeloma Beacon, ran a two part story this week about nutrition and multiple myeloma, which is a bone marrow cancer. Go to Guide To Nutrition In Multiple Myeloma – Part 1: An Introduction, by Francie Diep. Worth a look for all cancer patients/survivors.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Friday, September 3, 2010
Financial Stress Part Of Being A Cancer Caregiver
Here is a link to a wonderful, touching article about caregiving from CureToday.com:
Hard Times, BY JOANNE KENEN
How to make ends meet during caregiving.
This very well written article combines the pain and emotion of caring for one with cancer, along with some tips and helpful links for dealing with financial stress associated with a cancer diagnosis.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Hard Times, BY JOANNE KENEN
How to make ends meet during caregiving.
This very well written article combines the pain and emotion of caring for one with cancer, along with some tips and helpful links for dealing with financial stress associated with a cancer diagnosis.
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat & Pattie
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Eating Broccoli Can Ruduce Risk Of Prostate Cancer
Another great article from Elements4Health.com:
Chemical in Broccoli Interacts With Cells to Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk
Broccoli Light has been cast on the interaction between broccoli consumption and reduced prostate cancer risk. Researchers have found that sulforaphane, a chemical found in broccoli, interacts with cells lacking a gene called PTEN developing.
Richard Mithen worked with a team of researchers to carry out a series of experiments in human prostate tissue and mouse models of prostate cancer to investigate the interactions between expression of the PTEN gene and the anti-cancer activity of sulforaphane. He said, "PTEN is a tumour suppressor gene, the deletion or inactivation of which can initiate prostate carcinogenesis, and enhance the probability of cancer progression. We've shown here that sulforaphane has different effects depending on whether the PTEN gene is present".
The research team found that in cells which express PTEN, dietary intervention with SF has no effect on the development of cancer. In cells that don't express the gene, however, sulforaphane causes them to become less competitive, providing an explanation of how consuming broccoli can reduce the risk of prostate cancer incidence and progression. According to Mithen, "This also suggests potential therapeutic applications of sulforaphane and related compounds".
I eat broccoli everyday for a variety of reasons. Never hurts to add another reason--reduced risk of prostate cancer--to the list!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Chemical in Broccoli Interacts With Cells to Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk
Broccoli Light has been cast on the interaction between broccoli consumption and reduced prostate cancer risk. Researchers have found that sulforaphane, a chemical found in broccoli, interacts with cells lacking a gene called PTEN developing.
Richard Mithen worked with a team of researchers to carry out a series of experiments in human prostate tissue and mouse models of prostate cancer to investigate the interactions between expression of the PTEN gene and the anti-cancer activity of sulforaphane. He said, "PTEN is a tumour suppressor gene, the deletion or inactivation of which can initiate prostate carcinogenesis, and enhance the probability of cancer progression. We've shown here that sulforaphane has different effects depending on whether the PTEN gene is present".
The research team found that in cells which express PTEN, dietary intervention with SF has no effect on the development of cancer. In cells that don't express the gene, however, sulforaphane causes them to become less competitive, providing an explanation of how consuming broccoli can reduce the risk of prostate cancer incidence and progression. According to Mithen, "This also suggests potential therapeutic applications of sulforaphane and related compounds".
I eat broccoli everyday for a variety of reasons. Never hurts to add another reason--reduced risk of prostate cancer--to the list!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Commentary: Cancer Nutrition Sites Take Advantage Of Most Vulnerable
Just a short commentary. As I review and research nutrition related cancer news each day, one can't help but notice all of the "nutrition cures cancer" sites.
To be fair, a majority of Websites are selling something--that's the only way they can survive. Even my two sites feature our Help With Cancer Bookstore. But we only sell a few books each week--it's really there more as a service--an idea still waiting to be fully developed. I keep telling Pattie we will add more books to our selection--someday.
But my criticism of these other Internet sites is they are misleading. Like snake oil salesmen of the past, they pitch antioxidant powders, liquids and gels--potions and programs of every size and scope. Some are reasonably priced and some are very expensive.
But to promise something they can't deliver--a cure for cancer or the hope of a "cancer free lifestyle" is unconscionable.
I find the vast majority of medically related sites seem credible. But wonder off into the hinterlands of cyberspace and hold on to your wallet! Worse yet, consider your overall health before you give in to the latest detoxifying trend or lifesaving extract from some tropical plant.
Feel good, keep smiling and please be careful "out there!" Pat
To be fair, a majority of Websites are selling something--that's the only way they can survive. Even my two sites feature our Help With Cancer Bookstore. But we only sell a few books each week--it's really there more as a service--an idea still waiting to be fully developed. I keep telling Pattie we will add more books to our selection--someday.
But my criticism of these other Internet sites is they are misleading. Like snake oil salesmen of the past, they pitch antioxidant powders, liquids and gels--potions and programs of every size and scope. Some are reasonably priced and some are very expensive.
But to promise something they can't deliver--a cure for cancer or the hope of a "cancer free lifestyle" is unconscionable.
I find the vast majority of medically related sites seem credible. But wonder off into the hinterlands of cyberspace and hold on to your wallet! Worse yet, consider your overall health before you give in to the latest detoxifying trend or lifesaving extract from some tropical plant.
Feel good, keep smiling and please be careful "out there!" Pat
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