Cancer expert Eric Winer, MD, says he’s worried about a new study that reveals radiation treatment rates following lumpectomy for breast cancer are low across the United States.Dr. Winer, from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston, ...
Cancer expert Eric Winer, MD, says he’s worried about a new study that reveals radiation treatment rates following lumpectomy for breast cancer are low across the United States. Dr. Winer, from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston, Massachusetts, expressed his concerns to the Press before the 2008 Breast Cancer Symposium in Washington, DC, sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and several other cancer and breast disease societies.
Dr. Winer says, “I am shocked to see such low rates for radiation. This is a really important finding. “It shows that there are many women still falling through the cracks. What is happening to the 20% of women who do not have radiation? Where are they disappearing to? We must find them." Dr. Winer points out that only 74% of white women and 65% of black women received radiation after lumpectomy, saying radiation treatment%26hellip; “should be a standard of care in all but the oldest and sickest women." Breast cancer survival rates are comparable to those seen in women who have mastectomy when radiation therapy is given to women after conservative surgery, yet it appears that too many women are only receiving partial therapy.
The findings come from a review of Medicare records involving 37,000 women treated in 2003 with new diagnosis of early stage breast cancer and lumpectomy - 34,024 of the women were white. Disparity was also associated with treatment of black women, with only 65% of black women receiving radiation compared to 75% of white women.
Grace Smith, MD, PhD, MPH, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas presented the findings at the meeting, saying, "We don't know if fewer black women are receiving radiation therapy because it is not offered to them, because they decline treatment, or because they are unable to complete a whole course of treatment." Dr. Smith suggests that some work is needed to get the word out that radiation after lumpectomy provides important benefits to women for breast cancer survival.
The researchers also found that geographic location had no effect on whether radiation treatment was received, studying nearly 80,000 patient records. Their analysis showed that 39% of women in urban areas and 38% in rural areas received the recommended tratment.
Past studies have shown that radiation therapy improves survival rates in younger women who have lumpectomy for breast cancer. The benefits to women over age 70 have not been proven.
Sources:
Racial disparities in treatment for early invasive breast cancer: A national Medicare study of radiotherapy after conservative surgery
Radiation therapy in urban and rural breast cancer patients
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/580259
More......
2/07/2009
Study Shows More Women with Breast Cancer and Lumpectomy Should Receive Radiation Therapy
Ugly Cell: Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in the Brain
A 69-year-old woman presented with a brain mass that was thought to be a primary brain tumor. Instead, our diagnosis turned out to be Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Anaplastic Type. This is not a lymphoma that is restricted to the central n...
A 69-year-old woman presented with a brain mass that was thought to be a primary brain tumor. Instead, our diagnosis turned out to be Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Anaplastic Type. This is not a lymphoma that is restricted to the central nervous system; but thus far in this patient the malignancy has only shown up in the brain. A representative photomicrograph from this case illustrates how ugly these tumor cells can be: 
More......
Colon cancer chemotherapy
Or trail and error… Vicky shares her father’s colon cancer chemotherapy and the scary chemotherapy side effects. Vicky’s father was diagnosed with stage iv colon cancer that has spread into his lungs and liver. Her fathe... Or trail and error%26hellip; Vicky shares her father%26rsquo;s colon cancer chemotherapy and the scary chemotherapy side effects. Vicky%26rsquo;s father was diagnosed with stage iv colon cancer that has spread into his lungs and liver. Her father started his chemotherapy for colon cancer with Avastin cancer drug. This colon cancer chemotherapy worked well that it broke down the tumor but%26hellip; it also put a hole in his colon. The doctors managed to remove the cancer during surgery. One year later her father had undergone 3 different colon cancer chemo drugs, but none seems to work. So now they are trying again to give Avastin chemotherapy, be it in a lower dose and see what%26rsquo;s going to happen. Since Avastin worked before and is now given in a smaller dose, I would suggest Vicky%26rsquo;s father to find %26amp;#34;something%26amp;#34; that enhances the power of the chemotherapy. Google for alternative cancer treatments that have proven to enhance the results of chemotherapy. Get some inspiration from our post where we describe how Jim%26rsquo;s son survives metastatic liver cancer using chemotherapy and alternative treatments for cancer. What%26rsquo;s utterly important is your father%26rsquo;s overall strength. With a longer history of chemo colon cancer treatments, one can imagine your father%26rsquo;s immune system, his spirit and his body strength can all use a boost. It is said that a persons diet is very important in preventing colon cancer. Since the advice below helps to maintain a general healthy lifestyle, it%26rsquo;s good that you make it part of your lifestyle: In an holistic cancer treatment, all of these should be practiced in stead of thinking: well, at least I practice one from the list%26hellip; Hepatic Arterial Infusion or HAI is a new cancer treatment for people with metastatic colon cancer. This cancer treatment administers the chemotherapy drugs to the liver through a catheter into the main artery supplying the liver. Even more high tech is the use of an Hepatic Artery Infusion pump. The placement of such an hepatic artery infusion pump into the blood supply of the liver allows chemotherapy medication to be delivered directly into the liver. The pump will be connected to the hepatic artery after liver resection and will give up to 6 months of additional chemotherapy. Although it looks promising in clinical trials, most likely your hospital won%26rsquo;t have the pump available. And although it looks %26amp;#34;clean%26amp;#34;, it%26rsquo;s still chemotherapy, be it straight delivered into the liver. Vicky commented her father%26rsquo;s secondary liver cancer first at What do you say to man who is going to die and left her update describing the colon cancer chemotherapy treatments at Avastin cancer drug. My dad was on Avastin chemotherapy when he was first diagnosed with colon cancer back in February of last year. He only got two doses in before he had to have emergency surgery, because it had worked so well that the tumor had broken down, and put a hole in his colon. They ended up getting the tumor out, but they had to stop using the Avastin because this chemo was too strong and they were afraid it might rupture another hole in his colon. So here we are a year later and he has been through three other types of chemo, none of which have worked. They are now going to try to put him back on the Avastin starting today, a lighter dosage, and see if that works, this is his last chance, so we are keeping our fingers crossed, that it will work as well as it did the first time, on his liver and lungs, and at least extend his life a couple of more years. I will keep you updated on his progress. Try to make your loved ones life as meaningful as you can for their last days. My father has stage 4 colon cancer that has moved into his lungs and liver, diagnosed in February 2008. I struggle everyday with that thought, how do you say good bye , but also keep on living. I know that God has a special place for my father, and that he will be OK . It is just getting there that is hard. A big hug for Vicky and her family! Thanks for keeping us updated and try what Patrick Swayze said to Barbara Walters recently: %26amp;#34;gotta have a dog!%26amp;#34;. I would say love is important and I see you are giving all you have. Yet every extra love can make a difference! Vicky%26rsquo;s father is our next metastatic liver cancer survivor! Vicky%26rsquo;s father underwent more than 1 different colon cancer chemotherapy with positive results using Avastin, be it with the scary chemotherapy side effect that shrinking the cancer made a hole in his colon. We wished we knew then what we know now: when you add the following alternative cancer treatments to chemotherapy, you end up with an holistic cancer treatment that has a better outcome than only using chemotherapy. We repeat again what we learned from our metastatic liver cancer survivors so far how they treat cancer: All our hugs and fingers crossed that Vicky%26rsquo;s new Avastin colon cancer chemotherapy will work! Technorati Tags: alternative cancer treatments, avastin, chemotherapy, chemotherapy side effects, Colon Cancer, colon cancer chemotherapy, HAI, Hepatic Arterial Infusion, holistic cancer treatment, Liver Cancer, Metastatic Liver Cancer, patrick swayze, Secondary liver cancer, stage iv colon cancer
Enhance your health using alternative cancer treatments
Colon cancer prevention
New colon cancer treatments
Vicky%26rsquo;s father colon cancer chemotherapy story
Colon cancer chemotherapy summarized
More......
Chemotherapy Options for Prostate Cancer
ANNOUNCER: Traditionally, chemotherapy had little to no role in treating advanced prostate cancer.TOMASZ BEER, MD: Initially, there were many, many studies that looked at chemotherapy agents that really weren't showing much activity at all ... TOMASZ BEER, MD: Initially, there were many, many studies that looked at chemotherapy agents that really weren't showing much activity at all in advanced prostate cancer. And in fact when I started working on it, the mantra was that chemotherapy's not helpful in this cancer. CELESTIA S. HIGANO, MD: At the end of the '80s, one of my colleagues wrote a review article about chemotherapy in the setting of prostate cancer, and their conclusion was that there was no benefit for chemotherapy. ANNOUNCER: Doctors had been using the steroid prednisone to alleviate symptoms associated with advanced prostate cancer, and in the 1990s, a chemotherapy agent was proven effective for decreasing pain. CELESTIA S. HIGANO, MD In the mid-'90s, we had the study with mitoxantrone and prednisone showing that the combination of the chemotherapy with prednisone was better than prednisone alone for helping patients with symptoms. TOMASZ BEER, MD: Mitoxantrone in combination with prednisone can have important benefits in terms of pain control and quality of life, without extending life. But in patients who have advanced cancer and have significant symptoms, quality of life benefits were very important. ANNOUNCER: But before 2004, oncologists couldn't give patients much hope that chemotherapy could improve survival. TOMASZ BEER, MD: And then docetaxel came along, which not only improved upon mitoxantrone with regard to pain control, but also provided for the first time a benefit with regard to survival in men who have advanced metastatic prostate cancer and who are no longer responding to hormonal therapy. ANNOUNCER: Docetaxel, under the brand name Taxotere, has been proven to not only alleviate symptoms of cancer, but it also has shown a survival benefit. CELESTIA S. HIGANO, MD: In the clinical trials, the median time -- that means half the patients -- lived as long as 18 to 19 months, and half the patients lived less long. And that is a two-month improvement over the median for the other combination, which was mitoxantrone and prednisone. But I think that when you say there's a two-month survival advantage, some people are rather shocked at how short that is. But this is for a whole group of men. This is not what the individual may get. And in fact, we've had some excellent, good long-term results with patients. I have patients who have had metastatic prostate cancer on and off chemotherapy for over five years. ANNOUNCER: Currently docetaxel plus prednisone is the FDA-approved regimen for advanced prostate cancer. But researchers are also testing docetaxel with other agents in a number of clinical trials. CELESTIA S. HIGANO, MD: We're at the beginning of a big learning experience about what other drugs we can combine with docetaxel to improve on what we've seen with docetaxel and prednisone. ANNOUNCER: Some drugs used added to docetaxel are biologic agents, which target the blood supply to cancer cells. TOMASZ BEER, MD: Most of the exciting new drugs that are being added to it are not conventional chemotherapy drugs, but novel drugs that we consider so-called biologic agents: drugs that target various activities or parts of the cancer that we think may give us an advantage. So drugs that target the cancer's ability to resist chemotherapy, the cancer's ability to grow its own blood supply. ANNOUNCER: Another promising agent tested in combination with chemotherapy is a vitamin D compound. TOMASZ BEER, MD: It turns out that cancer has receptors for activated vitamin D, which is calcitriol, and I'll call it calcitriol from now on. And in the lab, calcitriol can cause cancer to die, stop it from growing, and is synergistic with chemotherapy agents, including docetaxel. And what we found was, there was a significant difference in survival in favor of the combination. So the median survival in patients treated with docetaxel alone was about 16.5 months, and the median survival for the combination arm hadn't been reached as of the last analysis, but is estimated at 24.5 months. ANNOUNCER: There is no cure for advanced prostate cancer, but oncologists are confident that more advances in treatment are on the way. TOMASZ BEER, MD: I think there's never been a better time to be a prostate cancer researcher. We have so many new drugs that hold promise, and really the most frustrating thing is how long it takes to get the answers. Both our patients and we are impatient and we would like to know right now what's going to help, and how can we move forward. CELESTIA S. HIGANO, MD: The nice thing about being my age is that I got to live through the era when there was supposedly nothing we could do with chemotherapy to a time when we can offer chemotherapy to most patients and feel very good about the kinds of improvements we see in their quality of life.
ANNOUNCER: Traditionally, chemotherapy had little to no role in treating advanced prostate cancer.
More......
Grape Seed Extract & Leukemia Cell Suicide
At the Hippocrates Health Institute, I met a lovely woman with dark brown hair and very fair skin from South Africa.Almari (I love her name) now lives in Los Angeles and, despite her zest for life and beauty and radiance and outward appeara...
At the Hippocrates Health Institute, I met a lovely woman with dark brown hair and very fair skin from South Africa. Almari (I love her name) now lives in Los Angeles and, despite her zest for life and beauty and radiance and outward appearance of health, has leukemia.
Almari is heading in for a bone marrow transplant on February 2nd and asked that I keep her in my thoughts. I will also keep her in my heart and am praying for her complete recovery. Perhaps you can too, as the power of our vast connectedness is only starting to be understood.
While I regularly read the science news , scanning for natural approaches to heal disease and promote health, my attention is more attuned to leukemia these days after meeting Almari.
On December 22nd, a press release from the American Association for Cancer Research got my attention when they reported:
%26quot;An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract.%26quot;
That's an amazing statistic. If a pharmaceutical drug could combat cancer cells so heroically in 24 hours, all without harming normal cells, well the originating company's stock rise would be enough to put the U.S. economy into a good mood.
Instead, this research is being quietly reported in this month's Clinical Cancer Research journal.
The press release on grape seed extract and leukemia cells went on to report:
%26quot;These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers,%26rdquo; said the study%26rsquo;s lead author, Xianglin Shi, Ph.D., professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky.
%26ldquo;What everyone seeks is an agent that has an effect on cancer cells but leaves normal cells alone, and this shows that grape seed extract fits into this category,%26rdquo; he said.
While the researchers are cautious and say it's premature to see grape seed extract as a chemo-protective agent, it's still very promising research from my perspective. Here's to all the right follow-on research and to an era where this kind of research -- on safe, natural, truly healing agents from nature -- gets more prominent notice and concommitant funding.
More......
Posts
