Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

MicroCT-based virtual histology

Utah and Texas researchers combined miniature medical CT scans with high-tech computer methods to produce detailed three-dimensional images of mouse embryos - an efficient new method to test the safety of medicines and learn how mutant genes cause birth defects or cancer.

8 May 2006

Important insights into how cells regulate certain growth-proteins

Researchers here have discovered a new mechanism used by cells - and manipulated by retroviruses - to control the making of certain essential proteins, including some involved in cancer.

8 May 2006

$New procedure to treat fractured vertebrae caused by spinal tumors$

New procedure to treat fractured vertebrae caused by spinal tumors

A radiologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has developed a new procedure to treat fractured vertebrae caused by spinal tumors, a procedure that may decrease the risk of complications, which are experienced by 5 to 10% of patients with malignant tumors of the spine.

8 May 2006

Breast conserving surgery is a good option for early breast cancer

For women diagnosed with a type of non-invasive breast cancer, removing the breast is not the only treatment option.

8 May 2006

Does age matter in selection of treatment for men with early-stage prostate cancer?

For men under the age 55 with localized prostate cancer, external beam radiation may be an effective alternative to both conservative and more invasive treatments, according to a new study.

8 May 2006

Selecting patients for breast conserving therapy: The importance of lobular histology

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) of the breast can be treated with breast conserving surgery (BCT), as is invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), without greater future risk of radical surgical treatment or additional surgeries, according to a new study.

8 May 2006

Online infusion calculator and a computerized drug ordering system reduces medication errors in children

Two new studies from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center show that computerizing ordering of chemotherapy and other types of intravenous drug infusions for children greatly reduces the risk of potentially dangerous medical errors.

8 May 2006

Significant changes in tumor growth can be detected through short interval follow-up

These growths may have important clinical implications in the management of patients, enabling early discontinuation of potentially toxic chemotherapy drugs.

4 May 2006

Patients have high expectations about breast cancer screening mammography

A substantial proportion of women have beliefs about their personal risk of breast cancer, and expectations about the performance of mammography that are abnormally high or unrealistic, according to a survey conducted at University of Michigan Health Systems in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

4 May 2006

Cancer cure worth $50 trillion

A new study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy, calculates the prospective gains that could be obtained from further progress against major diseases.

3 May 2006

Image-guided kidney biopsy can diagnose benign kidney tumors and has a low rate of complications

For the study, 407 image-guided kidney lesion biopsies were performed in 377 patients using either CT, ultrasound, or a combination of both to guide a small needle through the skin of the patient to take a sample of the lesion.

3 May 2006

Researchers pinpoint autism's genetic roots

By deleting a gene in certain parts of the brain, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created mice that show deficits in social interaction that are reminiscent of humans with autism spectrum disorders.

3 May 2006

Combination of genetic mutation and viral infection may cause prostate cancer

Significant recent interest in the literature (JAMA 2006;295:1503, Lancet, epub) and by patients has arisen in response to a presentation given by Dr. Eric Klein of the Cleveland Clinic at the 2006 Prostate Cancer Symposium in San Francisco, February 24, 2006.

3 May 2006

Cancer survivors in Norway have normal living conditions

In the context of sociological research, cancer patients' quality of life and living conditions constitute their welfare.

3 May 2006

Inhibiting cell process may give cancer drug a boost

A molecule that interferes with the internal scaffolding that shapes the cell may kill cancer cells, retard the growth of tumors and give a boost to a common chemotherapy drug, according to findings appearing in the May 3 issue of the European Journal of Cancer.

3 May 2006

Hormone therapy still the most effective for menopause symptoms

A new study has found that estrogen therapy is the best treatment for menopause-related hot flashes.

3 May 2006

Advocacy group has win in terminally ill fight for access to experimental drugs

The Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) and the advocacy group Abigail Alliance, have been successful in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

3 May 2006

Underage and abusive drinkers very profitable for the alcohol industry

According to new research in the U.S. the underage drinking market is making the alcohol industry a neat $23 billion a year and that figure represents 17.5 percent of all money spent on alcohol in the U.S. annually.

3 May 2006

Therapeutic gene suspected to cause cancer

One of the few gene therapy studies that had ever been successful was terminated in 2003, because several of the treated children had developed leukemia.

3 May 2006

Differential effects of HOXB4 on nonhuman primate short and long-term repopulating cells

Transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs, the cells that can give rise to all blood and most immune cell types) can save patients whose own hematopoietic system is defective or has been destroyed (often through radiation or chemotherapy of cancer).

3 May 2006