Pill as good as chemo on lung cancer, but costlier

news.yahoo.com — Some advanced lung cancer patients already treated with chemotherapy might be able to skip some of the bad side effects of another series of chemo by taking a pill instead, a study suggests. An international study showed patients on Iressa, an expensive, newer targeted treatment, survived about as long as those on another course of chemotherapy. "This will provide us with another drug in our armory," said Dr. Michael Seckl, head of Cancer Research UK's Lung Cancer Group at Imperial College in London. Seckl was not connected to the research, which was published Friday in the Lancet medical journal. Few treatments for lung cancer exist, and most patients die within a few years of diagnosis. Lung cancer kills about 1.4 million people every year. read more...

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Glass implant on tumor helps track cancer in mice

news.yahoo.com — LONDON (Reuters) – A technique using a tiny glass window implanted on the skin of a mouse allows scientists to track individual cancer cells as they spread and attack other parts of the body, according to a study published on Sunday. This window could one day play a big role in analyzing how well developmental drugs block cancer from spreading, said Jeffrey Segall, a researcher at the Albert Einstein college of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York. "We hope this technology can be used to test the ability of various drug treatments to inhibit tumor cell invasiveness and metastasize," said Segall, who led the study. "In addition, the technology may be useful for following drug effects on tumor growth." A single tumor is easier to treat but many times cancer cells metastasize by entering the bloodstream and spreading to other parts of the body. This is far more dangerous and what mainly kills people with the disease, Segall added. read more...

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U.S. Reported 25,000 Cases of HPV-Related Cancers Annually

news.yahoo.com — An estimated 25,000 cases of cancers associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) occurred in 38 states and the District of Columbia between 1998 and 2003, U.S. officials reported Monday. HPV is a group of viruses that includes more than 100 different types, more than 30 of which can be sexually transmitted. Most people with HPV infections don't develop symptoms or health problems, but some HPV types can cause cancer. In its report, which covers the period before the HPV vaccine was available, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the most common sites for HPV-associated cancers were the cervix, head and neck, anus, vulva, penis and vagina. HPV-associated cancers occur most often in the cervix -- about 10,800 per year. Black and Hispanic women had higher rates of cervical cancer than white and non-Hispanic women, the CDC said. read more...

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Vitamin E and Selenium No Help in Preventing Prostate Cancer

healthnews.com — Vitamin E and selenium supplements do nothing to help prevent prostate cancer. In fact, there is some evidence of increased risk for the disease when taking vitamin E. National Cancer Institute researchers have reported that they are halting a significant portion of a major study to determine whether vitamin E and selenium may help to prevent prostate cancer. Until now, over 35,000 men ages 50 and older have been taking either or both supplements or a placebo in the study known as the SELECT trial. read more...

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Cancer drug Avastin may work as imaging tool too

health.yahoo.com — Genentech and Roche's cancer drug Avastin can help find tumors as well as treat them, scientists said on Wednesday. After tagging the antibody drug with a radioactive tracer and injecting it into mice, researchers found it successfully targeted cancer cells and this enabled them to produce well-defined images of tumors during scanning. When compared with images of the same tumors taken using standard imaging, the Avastin images were better and also showed up tumors in earlier stages and at smaller sizes. The research was presented at a EORTC-NCI-AACR conference on cancer in Geneva by Zheng Jim Wang, director of molecular imaging at privately owned company MPI Research Inc and an assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. read more...

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Oral Mucositis: Side Effect Of Anticancer Therapy Highlighted During B

medicalnewstoday.com — As millions of Americans participate in educational initiatives as part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they should keep in mind an important yet under-recognized consequence of breast cancer therapy: oral mucositis, one of the most common and debilitating side effects of cancer treatment. Oral mucositis (OM) is a painful inflammation/ulceration of the mucous membranes in the mouth. It results from erosion of epithelial cells in the oral cavity (cells lining the surface of the throat and esophagus) during cancer treatment. In addition to severe pain, patients with OM often have difficulty eating and swallowing, as well as greater susceptibility to infection. Needless to say, the effects of OM can have a profoundly negative effect on cancer patients' quality of life. read more...

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A head-to-toe look at breast cancer's real effects

medindia.net — Let's face it: Your mom, your sister-in-law, your co-worker, your best friend from college -- someone you know has had breast cancer. Someone you care about has sat white-faced, clutching the kitchen phone, or in a doctor's office, and gotten the scary news that every woman dreads -- news that one out of eight of us will hear in our lifetime, 250,000 of us this year alone. If there's an upside to this breast cancer picture it's that the odds of surviving are getting better all the time. In the United States, there are more than 2 million breast cancer survivors who are learning to live -- and live well -- with what was once a death sentence. That means there are even more opportunities for us to share the breast cancer experience with a friend or family member, and more reasons to try to understand what they're going through and how we can help. read more...

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Quality Cancer Care: Making Sure You Get It

healthnews.com — Cancer is a common disease and affects one out of every two families. One out of every two men will get cancer and one out of every three women will get cancer. Of Americans over 65 years old, 21% are cancer patients. Therefore, achieving the best quality in cancer care is important to each of us since we will either have cancer, have a family member with cancer, or have a friend with cancer whom we want to help. read more...

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