New research from a 16-year study indicates that early-stage breast cancer patients who have completed five to 10 years of drug and/or chemotherapy treatment have a one in five - around 20 percent - chance of relapse.
Between 1985 and 2001, oncologists/researchers at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center examined 2,838 patients with stage I to III breast cancers who had been treated at the center. All were cancer-free five years after initial treatment with surgery or surgery and radiation.
All of the women underwent up to five years of additional treatments with chemotherapy, the anti-estrogen drug tamoxifen or both. After a 28-month follow-up, 215 women developed recurrent cancer.
This incidence rate put the risk at 7 percent for women with stage I breast cancer, 11 percent for stage II, and 13 percent for women with stage III cancer. This relapse rate increased to 20 percent 15 years after first being diagnosed.
"The risk of relapse was still small, but certainly not insignificant," Abenaa M. Brewster, M.D., an oncologist and researcher with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center told WebMD. "I think these numbers are somewhat reassuring, but they also highlight the need for new [therapeutic] options for women who have completed five years of treatment."
Factors associated with the risk of recurrence were tumor grade, hormone receptor status and endocrine therapy.
Forms of treatment available to newly diagnosed patients usually include surgery and radiation therapy (chemotherapy) or surgery and drug therapy.
Up until the year 2000, drug treatment consisted of tamoxifen for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive tumors (they respond to hormone treatments). Today, a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors are used.
In the study, 34 ER-negative women had a relapse and 149 ER-positive women did. The study and results were published Tuesday in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Estrogen-receptor (ER) negative tumors are considered more deadly than ER-positive ones. However, "women who had ER-positive cancer were more likely to have late recurrences than those with ER-negative," according to Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., the American Cancer Society deputy chief medical officer in healthday.com.
However, what to do about this continued risk is up in the air, Dr. Lichtenfeld said.
A possible treatment alternative is in the works by British and Finnish researchers, who are testing a combination of two inexpensive, commonly used and easily available drugs on killing cancer-cells in tumors.
The first drug is doxorubicin, a common chemotherapy-regimen drug, followed 24 hours later by the osteoporosis medication zoledronic acid. When tested on mice, the drug combo was 99.99 percent effective in killing such cells. Human trials are currently underway with results expected later this year.
This announcement was also made in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Each year in the U.S., around 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. In the U.K., almost 46,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
Showing posts with label national news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national news. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Health Care Hoopla: A Primer from the AP
It looks to me like the main problems/areas of instability or unease would lie in:
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Philly Local: Philadelphia VA Prostate Cancer Scandal
Published on June 23, 2009 in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.
I contributed some reporting to this story.
Specter plans hearing on VA prostate cancer treatment
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer
Four years ago, after talking to doctors at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, the Rev. Ricardo Flippin opted for a radiation therapy that would precisely target his prostate cancer and leave nearby organs unharmed.
Instead, his prostate cancer got too little radiation while his rectum received so much that he suffered excruciating, permanent damage.
Flippin, 68 - a minister, teacher, and Air Force veteran - is hardly unique.
The Philadelphia VA has notified 92 prostate cancer patients treated between 2002 and 2008 that their "brachytherapy" radiation doses were too high or too low. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has shut down the brachytherapy program in Philadelphia and three other VA hospitals with less serious problems.
Yesterday, the unfolding scandal prompted Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) to say he would hold a hearing on the matter in Philadelphia on Monday.
Read more here...
I contributed some reporting to this story.
Specter plans hearing on VA prostate cancer treatment
By Marie McCullough
Inquirer Staff Writer
Four years ago, after talking to doctors at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, the Rev. Ricardo Flippin opted for a radiation therapy that would precisely target his prostate cancer and leave nearby organs unharmed.
Instead, his prostate cancer got too little radiation while his rectum received so much that he suffered excruciating, permanent damage.
Flippin, 68 - a minister, teacher, and Air Force veteran - is hardly unique.
The Philadelphia VA has notified 92 prostate cancer patients treated between 2002 and 2008 that their "brachytherapy" radiation doses were too high or too low. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has shut down the brachytherapy program in Philadelphia and three other VA hospitals with less serious problems.
Yesterday, the unfolding scandal prompted Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) to say he would hold a hearing on the matter in Philadelphia on Monday.
Read more here...
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
New Clue Found In Cause Of SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the leading cause of death among infants younger than 1 year old, could result from a deficit imbalance of serotonin levels in the brain, according to a new study published in the July issue of the journal Science.
SIDS describes the sudden, unexplained death of an infant between 1 month and 1 year of age. Also called "crib death" since it often occurs while the infant is asleep, SIDS strikes many seemingly healthy infants and can only be diagnosed after ruling out all other possible causes. African Americans and Native Americans are two to three times more likely than Caucasians to die from SIDS, and boys are more often affected than girls.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter - a signaling chemical - that affects brain and organ function throughout the body, influencing an individual's mood balance and playing a role in everything from depression, anger and appetite, to the regulation of body temperature, heart rate and arousal from sleep.
Dr. Cornelius Gross, Ph.D., and colleagues from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory near Rome, Italy, made the "chance discovery" of SIDS-like symptoms while attempting to determine serotonin's role in aggression and society. They observed that genetically engineered mice with abnormally low levels of serotonin experienced erratic drops in heart rate and a drop in body temperature. But it was after over half of the mice used in the study died, all before three months of age, that the scientists made the association between serotonin levels and SIDS.
Dr. Gross emphasized that the SIDS-like symptoms exhibited by the lab mice were not indicative of symptoms experienced by human infants who suffered from SIDS, since the mice had been engineered to have an overactive gene that inhibits serotonin production.
SIDS incidence rates peak at three to four months in babies born at full-term, and at around three to four months after the due date of babies born prematurely. This period is notable as the time around when infants can turn over by themselves while asleep, thus increasing the likelihood of putting their faces against soft material.
However, as noted by Dr. Gary Emmett, a general pediatrician with Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, precautionary measures have cut the incidence rate in the U.S. by more than 50 percent in the past 20 years. According to the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics, SIDS deaths are down from 1.43 deaths per live birth (1984) to 0.51 deaths per live birth (2005) - around 2,500 deaths annually.
The study's findings are far from being conclusive, it supports previous studies done by Dr. Hannah Kinney, from the Children's Hospital of Boston, where inadequate serotonin levels were linked to SIDS, but not in a way that could establish a method to measure risk or related symptoms.
Doctors and researchers hope that this connection might spur further awareness, interest and development into creating ways to screen infants for risk of SIDS.
"Now that [low serotonin levels has] come up as strongly related to two different species, we know we're on the right track [and] it'll encourage people to study this more in living human beings," said Dr. Emmett.
Referring to his study, Dr. Gross added that "Maybe there is some kind of signature we could find in these mice before they have a crisis, some way they respond when they wake up from sleep. That might help us identify those kids most at risk [for] SIDS and provide parents with some[thing] ... before a crisis occurs."
Heather Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
SIDS describes the sudden, unexplained death of an infant between 1 month and 1 year of age. Also called "crib death" since it often occurs while the infant is asleep, SIDS strikes many seemingly healthy infants and can only be diagnosed after ruling out all other possible causes. African Americans and Native Americans are two to three times more likely than Caucasians to die from SIDS, and boys are more often affected than girls.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter - a signaling chemical - that affects brain and organ function throughout the body, influencing an individual's mood balance and playing a role in everything from depression, anger and appetite, to the regulation of body temperature, heart rate and arousal from sleep.
Dr. Cornelius Gross, Ph.D., and colleagues from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory near Rome, Italy, made the "chance discovery" of SIDS-like symptoms while attempting to determine serotonin's role in aggression and society. They observed that genetically engineered mice with abnormally low levels of serotonin experienced erratic drops in heart rate and a drop in body temperature. But it was after over half of the mice used in the study died, all before three months of age, that the scientists made the association between serotonin levels and SIDS.
Dr. Gross emphasized that the SIDS-like symptoms exhibited by the lab mice were not indicative of symptoms experienced by human infants who suffered from SIDS, since the mice had been engineered to have an overactive gene that inhibits serotonin production.
SIDS incidence rates peak at three to four months in babies born at full-term, and at around three to four months after the due date of babies born prematurely. This period is notable as the time around when infants can turn over by themselves while asleep, thus increasing the likelihood of putting their faces against soft material.
However, as noted by Dr. Gary Emmett, a general pediatrician with Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, precautionary measures have cut the incidence rate in the U.S. by more than 50 percent in the past 20 years. According to the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics, SIDS deaths are down from 1.43 deaths per live birth (1984) to 0.51 deaths per live birth (2005) - around 2,500 deaths annually.
The study's findings are far from being conclusive, it supports previous studies done by Dr. Hannah Kinney, from the Children's Hospital of Boston, where inadequate serotonin levels were linked to SIDS, but not in a way that could establish a method to measure risk or related symptoms.
Doctors and researchers hope that this connection might spur further awareness, interest and development into creating ways to screen infants for risk of SIDS.
"Now that [low serotonin levels has] come up as strongly related to two different species, we know we're on the right track [and] it'll encourage people to study this more in living human beings," said Dr. Emmett.
Referring to his study, Dr. Gross added that "Maybe there is some kind of signature we could find in these mice before they have a crisis, some way they respond when they wake up from sleep. That might help us identify those kids most at risk [for] SIDS and provide parents with some[thing] ... before a crisis occurs."
Heather Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
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This premeditated and concerted effort at stifling wide and more complete coverage of events of national and public significance, especially through physical abuse and arrest, is an abomination, as well as being illegal and unconstitutional.
Why is this abuse and arrest of journalists not being covered by any mainstream media? This is news and journalists should be making it known - such abuse affects all of us, not just those who dare to have the guts and chops to shine a light on it. When there is corruption, we're supposed to follow it, not run away... It's like being a tornado chaser. We're not wishing for it to happen, but if it's there, it's there.
In a world where federal governance and law enforcement are relied upon with increasing frequency and without regulation and checks of power, how can we possibly expect to extricate ourselves from partisan politics if we cannot even recognize our responsibility to society and fulfill our duty to question authority's restraints over discourse and information?