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Watchful waiting is viable option for many men with low risk prostate cancer

Active surveillance, also referred to as watchful waiting, is a viable option for many men with low risk prostate cancer although the concept continues to cause distress and confusion. James L. Mohler, MD, of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Prostate Cancer, discussed the role of active surveillance as well as other treatment options recommended in the recently updated NCCN Guidelines™ for Prostate Cancer at the NCCN 15th Annual Conference.

18 Mar 2010

Cryotherapy may become the future treatment for cancer

Cryotherapy, an interventional radiology treatment to freeze cancer tumors, may become the treatment of the future for cancer that has metastasized in soft tissues (such as ovarian cancer) and in bone tumors.

18 Mar 2010

SBRT doubles rate of primary tumor control compared to conventional radiotherapy

Early findings suggest a radiation therapy that involves numerous highly-focused and potent radiation beams provides targeted tumor control in nearly all patients, reduces treatment-related illness, and may ultimately improve survival for patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer, according to a study in the March 17 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on cancer.

18 Mar 2010

Blocking GM-CSF could reduce inflammation and deleterious effects of cigarette smoke exposure

Researchers in Australia have demonstrated that blocking a certain protein can reduce or prevent cigarette smoke-induced lung inflammation in mice. Inflammation underlies the disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and many other smoking-related ailments.

18 Mar 2010

Novel findings point to new therapeutic approaches for common types of cancer

Increased understanding of the Skp2 gene and its relation to cellular senescence may lead to the development of novel agents that can suppress tumor development in common types of cancer, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center report in the journal Nature.

18 Mar 2010

Agendia to participate in groundbreaking clinical trial for breast cancer

Agendia, a world leader in molecular cancer diagnostics, announced today it will participate in the highly anticipated I-SPY 2 TRIAL for breast cancer, set to launch at the first of nearly twenty research sites.

18 Mar 2010

New findings promise to have fundamental significance in the fight against cancer

Cells have two different protection programs to safeguard them from getting out of control under stress and from dividing without stopping and developing cancer. Until now, researchers assumed that these protective systems were prompted separately from each other.

18 Mar 2010

I-SPY 2: The Biomarkers Consortium launches clinical trial for high risk, fast-growing breast cancers

The Biomarkers Consortium, a unique public-private partnership that includes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and major pharmaceutical companies, led by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), today announced the launch of a highly anticipated clinical trial to help screen promising new drugs being developed for women with high risk, fast-growing breast cancers—women for whom an improvement over standard treatment could dramatically change the odds of survival.

18 Mar 2010

SBRT improves survival in patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer

Highly-focused stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can eliminate the targeted tumor while avoiding treatment-related illness and may ultimately improve survival for patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer, according to early findings of a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group study published in the March 17 cancer-themed issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

17 Mar 2010

SBRT may improve survival rates for lung-cancer patients: Study

A radiation therapy that uses multiple radiation beams to target tumors precisely has been shown to eliminate the primary tumor and ultimately may improve survival rates for lung-cancer patients unable to undergo surgery, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians who led a national clinical trial of the treatment.

17 Mar 2010

Liver cancer: Treatment with intra-arterial yttrium-90 microspheres promising

An interventional radiology treatment-the use of intra-arterial yttrium-90 microspheres for liver cancer (also known as hepatocellular carcinoma)-shows promise in prolonging life for many patients with this devastating condition, according to researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 35th Annual Scientific Meeting in Tampa, Fla.

17 Mar 2010

Clarient's Ovotax test may help improve patients’ response to taxane therapy

Clarient, Inc., a premier technology and services resource for pathologists, oncologists and the pharmaceutical industry, today announced that data from a new study shows that Clarient's Ovotax™ assay may effectively predict which ovarian cancer patients will respond favorably to taxane therapy and could, therefore, be spared the potential side effects of this rigorous and sometimes toxic chemotherapy agent.

17 Mar 2010

Circulating tumor cells could help guide treatment and improve quality of life for cancer patients

One of the most dangerous characteristics of cancer is its ability to metastasize, or spread through the body. For this reason, oncologists have a major need for better tests to detect cells that break away from primary tumors to travel to other parts of the body.

17 Mar 2010

Low-income patients with brain tumors are less likely to be referred to specialty hospitals

African-American, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged patients with brain tumors are significantly less likely to be referred to high-volume hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery than other patients of similar age, the same gender, and with similar comorbidities, according to new research by Johns Hopkins doctors.

17 Mar 2010

Radiofrequency ablation helps prolong life of colorectal cancer patients

Approximately half of Americans living with colorectal cancer will develop liver metastases at some point during the course of their disease. Radiofrequency ablation, a minimally invasive treatment that applies heat directly in the tumor causing cancer cell death with minimal associated injury to the surrounding healthy liver, contributes to prolongation of their life by nearly three years, note researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 35th Annual Scientific Meeting in Tampa, Fla.

17 Mar 2010

Patent applications continue to alter medical landscape to improve patient care

Over the past 40 years, more than 2,400 patents and patent applications-pioneering modern medicine with the devices and drugs that advance minimally invasive treatments-have been filed by members of the Society of Interventional Radiology.

17 Mar 2010

Novel procedure opens door to new and future treatment for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer-known as the most fatal cancer with no known effective treatment-requires a radical new therapy. A promising approach may come in the form of tiny gold nanoparticles-loaded with a therapeutic agent to kill cancer-in a novel procedure called "nanoembolization," said researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 35th Annual Scientific Meeting in Tampa, Fla.

17 Mar 2010

Study provides new perspective on cell movements

When cells move about in the body, they follow a complex pattern similar to that which amoebae and bacteria use when searching for food, a team of Vanderbilt researchers have found.

17 Mar 2010

Genentech submits ACTEMRA sBLA to FDA

Genentech, Inc., a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group, today announced that the company submitted a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ACTEMRA® (tocilizumab) for the prevention of structural joint damage (as assessed by radiograph) and improvement in physical function in adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

17 Mar 2010

Boosting radiation dose for prostate cancer patients does not increase severity of side effects

Boosting the radiation dose given to prostate cancer patients to a level that cut tumor recurrence in half did not increase the severity of side effects reported by patients up to a decade later. The study led by Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center researchers also found that patients characterized the impact of continuing side effects on their quality of life as considerably less bothersome than would be expected, based on earlier studies.

17 Mar 2010