A day after announcing his battle with cancer, former All Back Wayne "Buck" Shelford has been named the "face" of a footwear brand.
Shelford will be the frontman for John Bull footwear, which sells work boots in New Zealand and Australia.
Yesterday he revealed he was undergoing treatment for lymphoma, a cancer which affects white blood cells.
Shelford said it was a "lower-grade cancer" and there wasn't much of a story in it.
John Bull marketing manager Phillip Dewis said the former All Black's toughness and resilience made him a an apt representative of the company's boots.
Shelford's powers of endurance were witnessed in a 1986 match against France, Mr Dewis said.
"During a bloody game, Buck received a torn scrotum whilst in a scrum. This alone would leave most men screaming in agony and heading for the nearest hospital, yet Buck calmly instructed the physio to stitch him up, and he played on."
Shelford said he was happy to work with John Bull because the company did a lot of good work in the community.
source : news.yahoo.com
Monday, June 25, 2007
Cancer victim Shelford to front advertising campaign
Former All Blacks rugby hardman Shelford battles cancer
Former All Blacks captain Wayne "Buck" Shelford, one of international rugby's iconic hardmen, is battling cancer, his wife told the Sunday Star-Times newspaper.
"We found out a month ago and he has five more months of treatment," Jo Shelford said. "We are very positive and pleased with how the treatment is going."
The famous backrower No. 8 is being treated for lymphoma, a cancer affecting white blood cells.
Shelford, 49, captained the All Blacks from 1987 to 1990 during a golden era when they never lost a game.
His reputation as a fearless, uncomprising player was born from his second international in 1986 when in a Test against France his scrotum was torn open, leaving one testicle hanging out.
He calmly told the team physio to stitch the wound and carried on playing.
"I was knocked out cold, lost a few teeth and had a few stitches down below," he later recalled of that game.
"It's a game I still can't remember -- I have no memory of it whatsoever."
The All Blacks lost the match 16-3, the only time Shelford was on the losing side during his distinguished 22-Test career.
When he was dropped from the All Blacks in 1990 there was a national "Bring Back Buck" campaign, which was ignored by the New Zealand selectors, and he moved to England where he coached successfully for several seasons.
source : news.yahoo.com
New cancer research centre for Sydney
A $100 million cancer research centre to be built at Sydney University is already being credited with luring leading scientists home to undertake crucial research.
The centre, an Australian first to establish facilities for research and clinical drugs trials into both adult and children's cancers, was announced by University of New South Wales Vice-Chancellor Fred Hilmer.
The Lowy Cancer Research Centre, which will house up to 400 cancer researchers, will be located adjacent to UNSW's Faculty of Medicine at its Randwick campus, in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Westfield founder Frank Lowy and his family have donated $10 million toward the facility - the largest single philanthropic donation ever received by the university.
Top grants have come from the NSW government, $18.3 million, and from the federal government - $13.3 million.
Professor Philip Hogg, director of the UNSW Cancer Research Centre, will head adult cancer research at the Lowy centre and will be able to bring back the British trial of a new cancer drug his team developed.
Development of a drug known as glutathionarsenoxide (or GSAO) was completed in 2003 but Prof Hogg was unable to get funding for early trials.
The drug aims to stop cancer tumours from developing blood vessels to continue their growth after initial cell development.
Clinical trials are about to begin at the Cancer Research UK, a non-profit cancer foundation.
Trials of a second generation of the drug would also have had to be shipped overseas but the creation of the Lowy Centre has attracted the people and the $2 million to trial the drug at the one location in Sydney.
"What the facility does is it enables us to take our research efforts to the next level," Prof Hogg said.
He said both an Australian cancer researcher now at Cambridge University and one at Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California, will return to work at the Lowy Centre.
"It provides a beacon if you like for other great cancer researchers and gives them a reason to come here and work in Sydney."
Another prominent clinician, oncologist Robyn Ward, recently joined the UNSW team as a professor of medicine, a move which helped Prof Hogg win further funding for the second drug trial.
He said drug companies back 99 per cent of advanced drug trials but only after initial trials show promise for a new drug.
"The combination of the two of us was good enough to get funding outside of the drug-company-sphere to do the trial," Prof Hogg said.
"The trial on this second drug is a good example of how that sort of initiative will allow things to happen that probably wouldn't have happened otherwise."
The Lowy Centre also will house the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia, which was looking to expand into a now home.
It will be the first time adult and children's cancer research will be located at the same facility, Prof Hogg said.
Since cancer in children and cancer in adults develop for inherently different reasons, there has never previously been one centre to house research for both.
But Prof Hogg said that by combining them, and with clinical trials, the Lowy Centre would continue to attract top researchers and trial funding.
"It's more than just a building," he added.
The Lowy Centre is due to be completed by late 2009.
source : news.yahoo.com
New Cancer Drugs Prove Their Worth
New cancer drugs often save lives, but are they cost-effective?
Two new analyses of two new breast cancer drugs found that they are indeed worth what you pay for them.
The aromatase inhibitor Aromasin (exemestane) and the monoclonal antibody Herceptin (trastuzumab) have already been proven in clinical trials to improve survival.
As new breast cancer drugs exit the pipeline and enter the market, the U.S. health-care system, including the insurance companies or governments paying for therapy, want to know if the drugs are economically, as well as clinically, viable. And new drugs are almost always more expensive compared to the usual standards.
"This is always important to do when you have a drug or a procedure or intervention that is expensive compared to standard care," said Nicole Mittmann, senior author of the Aromasin study, and a scientist with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Toronto. "The clinical data still drives the decision to use the medication, and this is another piece of the puzzle in the decision-making process."
Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology with Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La., said, "The clinical research trials we've done in the last 50 years have been spectacular, and we know how good or how not good our treatments are, and because of the excellent clinical research that's been done, we can then ask ourselves can we afford these treatments.
"These two studies involving Herceptin and Aromasin clearly show that doing these two maneuvers are very, very cost effective in certain subgroups of women with breast cancer. When insurance companies come to you and ask why are you doing this, you have excellent studies to back them up," he added.
A large clinical study had already shown that women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer who switched from tamoxifen to Aromasin after two to three years lived longer than women who took tamoxifen continuously for five years.
But aromatase inhibitors are more expensive than tamoxifen, which has been around for years. And aromatase inhibitors do have some side effects, including musculoskeletal problems such as osteoporosis and fractures.
"Tamoxifen is pretty cheap. Aromasin is newer and more expensive," Mittmann said. "Is the added cost worth the added benefit?"
Cost-effectiveness is measured in number of life years gained and is also adjusted for the quality of life gained, expressed as quality-adjusted life year (QALY).
In Canada and elsewhere, the commonly accepted threshold for a QALY is $50,000 (Canadian dollars).
In this case, the authors found that using tamoxifen and Aromasin sequentially for five years (after 2.5 years of surgery and other standard therapies) improved disease-free survival at an additional cost of $2,889 (Canadian) per patient. This translates into an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $24,185/QALY gained, well below the $50,000 bar.
"If this is $24,000, it seems to make sense that this is good value for money," Mittmann said.
According to Mittmann, the model would be applicable to the U.S. market.
The authors of the second study estimated that women would gain three years of life, on average, by adding Herceptin to therapy.
Over a woman's lifetime, the cost-effectiveness ratio would be $26,417/QALY (U.S.), again, below the commonly accepted threshold.
The Aromasin study was funded by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer Inc., which makes the drug. The Herceptin study was funded partly by Genentech, which makes Herceptin.
The new studies are published in the Aug. 1 issue of the journal Cancer.
source : news.yahoo.com
Friday, June 22, 2007
Radio Host With Cancer Bowing Out
Lowell Sun columnist and radio host Paul Sullivan announced Wednesday that his battle with cancer has prompted him to leave his daily air job.
Sullivan has announced he will leave his WBZ radio show next week for health reasons.
Sullivan has had four surgeries since he was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma three years ago.
In a letter released Wednesday morning, Sullivan said the burden has just become too much for his friends, family and colleagues.
He said he hopes to continue to contribute to the station in some capacity.
Breast Cancer Risk May Be Hidden In Small Families
A new study has found that the genetic risk for breast cancer may be hidden in small families.
Women who have mutations in the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are at an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
Only around 2 percent of breast cancers are due to mutations in these specific genes, doctors said.
In families where multiple women are diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancers, the chance that other related females have the mutations increases dramatically.
Researchers observed over 300 women who had at least one relative diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50. They found that those with small families were almost three times more likely to have the breast cancer genes compared to women with large families.
Doctors recommend women in small families who have one female relative diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age or any relative with ovarian cancer to consider genetic testing.
source : news.yahoo.com
Omega-3 fatty acids rich diet may help lower genetic prostate cancer risk
A new study by boffins at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine has found that a diet rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in certain fish or fish oil, nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils may help lower prostate cancer risk in men with a genetic predisposition to cancer.
The study was conducted on a mouse model by a team of researchers led Yong Chen.
The researchers studied the effects of such a diet on Pten-knockout mice that are predisposed to develop prostate tumours.
The authors found that a nutritionally balanced diet high in omega-3 fatty acid reduced prostate tumour growth and increased survival in these animals, whereas omega-6 fatty acids had the opposite effects.
They also found that introducing the enzyme omega-3 desaturase into the Pten-knockout mice reduces tumour growth in a manner similar to the omega-3 rich diet as it converts omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids.
The researchers went on to show that the effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids on prostate cancer development is mediated in part through cell death that is dependent on a protein known as Bad.
Together, the data highlight the importance of the interaction between genes and diet in prostate cancer and imply a beneficial effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on delaying the onset of human prostate cancer.
The study appears in the July print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
source : news.yahoo.com
Novel method of drug delivery to inhibit prostate cancer cells' growth developed
A doctoral candidate in pharmacy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a novel method of drug delivery to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells.
Danny Goldstein, a student who was recently conferred the Barenholz Prize for Creativity and Originality in Applied Research for his work, says that the well-known drug, paclitaxel, exhibits a wide spectrum of anti-tumour activity.
However, the therapeutic application of the drug in cancer therapy is limited due to its low water solubility, which makes it difficult to effectively deliver the drug to the points needed, he says.
These are the reasons why there arose a need for novel methods that would allow the delivery of effective concentrations of paclitaxel over extended time intervals while minimizing toxicity, adds the researcher.
Previous studies have already shown that the HER2 receptor is over-expressed in prostate cancer cells, and that an antibody called trastuzumab binds specifically to HER2. But no clinical data ever indicated that this antibody would provide any relief for prostate cancer patients.
Goldstein, a student of Prof. Simon Benita, has now shown that that attaching trastuzumab molecules to the surface of oil droplets in nano-emulsions makes possible the targeting of such droplets to cells over-expressing the HER2 receptor.
He coupled trastuzumab with emulsions containing the toxic agent paclitaxel-palmitate, and evaluated the efficiency of these emulsions in laboratory tests on cancerous prostate cells and on mice with induced prostate cancer.
He found that this emulsion compound did not cause a hypersensitive reaction upon injection, and yielded better results than known drug treatments while inhibiting tumour growth substantially.
Goldstein, however, cautions that the inhibiting activity of tumour metastases growth was not absolute, and that further research to combat metastatic prostate cancer was needed.
Prof. Benita hinted that clinical trials using the new method could begin in about two years.
source : news.yahoo.com
Diet plus exercise up survival after breast cancer
Among women who have been treated for breast cancer, those who stick to a healthy diet and are moderately active seem to live longer, results of a new study indicate. A good diet alone or exercise alone doesn't have the same benefit.
"It looks like if you get your physical activity going and get your fruits and vegetables in you can reduce your risk (of dying) significantly," study co-author Dr. John Pierce told Reuters Health.
Several studies have shown that diet and exercise may each contribute to breast cancer survival, but little research has looked at the effect of both diet and exercise together. Pierce, director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, in La Jolla, California, and his team looked at the combined effects of diet and exercise for breast cancer survivors.
They studied 1,490 women who had been treated for breast cancer 2 years earlier, on average.
Overall, only 30 percent of these women maintained the healthiest type of lifestyle, including eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily and engaging in physical activity equivalent to a half-hour of brisk walking six days a week.
These women had a 44 percent lower risk of dying within a 10-year period than did their peers, Pierce and his team report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
What's more, this lower risk of death remained true regardless of whether the women were obese, study findings indicate. The effect of physical activity and diet was "so strong it wiped out the body mass index effect," Pierce said. However, obese women were less likely than nonobese women to report such healthy habits.
A similarly reduced risk of death was not apparent among non-physically active women who consumed the highest amounts of fruits and vegetables or among physically active women who did not eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, the investigators note.
"Doing each one alone didn't do it," Pierce said. "There was no benefit from each one alone, but there was a benefit from both together."
source : news.yahoo.com
Diet could be life or death for prostate cancer patients
Switching to a healthy diet rich in fish and nuts could be the difference between living or dying for men prone to to prostate cancer, new US research indicates.
A study published in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that omega-3 fatty acids found in the foods may improve the prognosis for men with a genetic predisposition to the condition.
Working with mice genetically engineered to develop prostate tumors, scientists fed some of the mice a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids from birth. These mice had fewer tumors and a longer life span than those not fed the diet. Survival was 60 percent in mice fed a high omega-3 diet, 10 percent in mice on a low omega-3 diet and zero percent in mice fed a diet high in omega-6, a different type of polyunsaturated fatty acid found in vegetable oils.
In normal mice not engineered for prostate cancer, all survived regardless of diet, according to the study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids include cold water fish such as salmon, halibut, tuna, sardines and mackerel, and fish oil such as cod liver oil. English walnuts and flaxseeds also contain omega-3s.
"This study clearly shows that diet can tip the balance toward a good or bad outcome," said Yong Q. Chen, senior researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
"It's possible that a change in diet could mean the difference between dying from the disease and surviving with it."
Taking a recommended daily dose of omega-3s can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease and lower blood pressure slightly, previous studies have shown. High doses may have a harmful effect, such as excess bleeding, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Prostate cancer is among the leading causes of cancer death in men.
source : news.yahoo.com
Greek Orthodox church leader has cancer
The leader of Greece's influential Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, has cancer in his large intestine and liver, doctors said Thursday.
Christodoulos, who has helped thaw centuries of tension with the Vatican but is often accused of meddling in domestic politics, has been hospitalized since June 9, and has already undergone intestinal surgery.
The two cancers were not directly related and had not spread from one site to the other, said the head surgeon at the state-run Aretaion hospital, Dionysis Vorros.
Hospital doctors described the church leader's condition as treatable, saying he would remain in intensive care for at least three more days and likely be allowed to return home next week.
The 68-year-old Orthodox leader's illness has led to an outpouring of sympathy in a country where 97 percent of the population is baptized Orthodox Christian. Even officials who have criticized him for meddling in state affairs have visited him in the hospital.
Elected Church leader in 1998, Christodoulos received the late Pope John Paul II in 2001 in the first visit by a pontiff to the Orthodox country in nearly 1,300 years.
Christodoulos followed up last year with a historic visit to the Vatican, where he met Pope Benedict XVI.
source : news.yahoo.com
Morning sickness tied to lower breast cancer risk
If there's any good news about morning sickness, this may be it. Women who experience nausea and vomiting during pregnancy may have a lower risk of breast cancer later in life, according to new research.
Dr. Jo Freudenheim from the University at Buffalo in New York reported the finding this week in Boston, at the annual meeting of the Society for Epidemiologic Research.
Freudenheim and her colleagues interviewed 1001 women with recently diagnosed breast cancer, ages 35 to 79, and 1917 "control" subjects matched to the case patients by age, race and county of residence.
Several pregnancy-related factors -- pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and weight gain -- were evaluated, but had no significant effect on future incidence of breast cancer.
In contrast, pregnancy-associated nausea and vomiting was associated with about a 30 percent lower risk of breast cancer. Greater severity and longer duration of the symptoms reduced the risk even further.
Freudenheim cautioned, however, that this is an epidemiologic study, so the findings should not be "over-interpreted." Confirmation of their findings, she added, will require replication in other populations.
source : news.yahoo.com
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Shrinks to treat cancer patients now
Psycho-oncology is a new concept in India, but it is fast being recognised as an essential tool in the care and treatment of cancer patients.
Jayshree was detected with breast cancer five years ago, and that day onwards her life came to a complete standstill.
But now Jayshree is leading a healthy and normal life. So how did this come about?
Says Jayshree, “Psycho-oncology is a must for oncology patients. Definitely doctors have a major role to play but they are curing my body. What about my mental status?"
Jayshree was lucky to have met leading psycho-oncologist Dr Brindha Sitaram who helped her and her family deal with the tremendous psychological, emotional and social distress that cancer brings to patients and their families alike.
"We have found in our clinical experience that it motivates patients, dropout rates become lower, people tolerate treatment better and quality of life is far better. At any given point of time we have 15 lakh cancer patients in this country. Unfortunately we have no data to talk about, the magnitude of the psychological distress of the patients that they go through,” says Dr Sitaram who is also founder-director of Centre of Psycho-Oncology for Education and Research (COPER).
A growing necessity for an institute that provides qualified psycho-oncologists, prompted her to start COPER. And setting up the institute though was anything but easy.
Says Dr Sitaram, “There was a lot of resistance in the beginning because they thought that going to a psycho-oncologist is like saying they have gone crazy but slowly things are opening up. But what we need to clarify is that these patients don't go through psychiatric problems. These are psychological problems that you and I could have.”
So psycho-oncology helps cancer patients and their families look at the human face of cancer while fighting the disease.
source : news.yahoo.com
New Procedure Detects Oral Cancer
The next trip to your dentist could save your life. That's because many local dentists have a new screening test that can detect oral cancer in its early stages. The test is called ViziLite.
The patient rinses with a special mouthwash for one minute to dehydrate potential cancer cells. The doctor then uses a special light to inspect the entire mouth.
Any suspicious tissue will glow in the dark.
Dr. Phil Golden has already done close to 200 of the screenings and sent at least four patients to have biopsies.
He said the test is extremely accurate.
"They have a negative predictive value of 99.1 percent, which means there's less than 1 percent chance of this screening missing oral cancer," Golden told WXII 12's Margaret Johnson.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 34,000 new cases of oral cancer will be diagnosed this year. It said about 7,500 of those patients will die.
Golden said the new screening could help reduce those numbers. He recommends it for anyone over 18.
source : news.yahoo.com
Study Probes Whether Diet Can Cut Colon Cancer Risk
A study to examine whether a Mediterranean diet can help prevent colon cancer is being conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Over three years, the researchers hope to recruit 120 people, age 21 or older, who've had colon polyps or colon cancer or have a family history of the disease. Participants will follow either a Mediterranean diet or the Healthy People 2010 diet for six months. They'll be able to choose foods they prefer from recommended food groups lists, and a dietitian will work closely with each participant by telephone.
Along with its emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, olive oil and nuts, the Mediterranean diet limits high fat meats and processed foods. The Healthy People 2010 diet -- from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- emphasizes fruits, vegetables and whole grains, along with moderate fat intake and limits on saturated fat.
"Overall eating patterns appear to be more important for cancer prevention than intakes of specific nutrients or food groups. We hope this study will give us an indication of the benefits that a person's diet can have on health, especially in terms of reducing the risk of colon cancer," Zora Djuric, research professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and principal investigator on the Healthy Eating for Colon Cancer Prevention study, said in a prepared statement.
A recently completed study of 70 women, ages 25 to 65, found that those who ate a Mediterranean diet decreased the amount of unhealthy polyunsaturated fat they consumed by 50 percent and increased their intake of healthy monounsaturated fats by the same amount.
The women on the Mediterranean diet also ate nearly double the amount of fruits and vegetables as women who ate a normal diet and had twice the blood levels of antioxidant micronutrients called carotenoids.
source : news.yahoo.com
Girls could be vaccinated against cervical cancer in Britain
The British government took a step Wednesday toward offering vaccinations against cervical cancer for girls as young as 12, a measure that could be carried out by late next year.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended the use of vaccines to guard against the human papilloma virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection which causes most cases of cervical cancer.
The Department of Health said it had agreed "in principle" to accept the body's advice, but would wait for an independent review of the costs to the National Health Service.
Cervical cancer kills more than 1,000 women in Britain annually.
The vaccinations would be offered to girls throughout Britain, but would not be compulsory.
Currently, there are two vaccines -- Gardasil made by Merck and Sanofi Pasteur and Cervarix made by GlaxoSmithKline -- which are designed to be used in an immunisation programme.
Gardasil was introduced to Britain last year.
The government has not approved it for use on the National Health Service, although Britain's Press Association news agency said it has been approved in dozens of other countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia.
Cervarix is expected to receive its European Union licence later this year.
Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said: "It is great news that vaccines have been developed that protect women against this form of cancer and I am delighted to announce that we intend, in principle, to introduce a HPV vaccine into the national immunisation programme."
"A significant amount of planning is required before we can introduce the immunisation into our programme," she said.
"We are still working on the details and logistics, and will work closely with the NHS to ensure the vaccination can be delivered effectively. However, we are hoping that girls will start being vaccinated from as early as 2008."
The department said smear testing would continue after the vaccine is introduced.
source : news.yahoo.com
Breast cancer genes can come from father
A deadly gene's path can hide in a family tree when a woman has few aunts and older sisters, making it appear that her breast cancer struck out of nowhere when it really came from Dad.
A new study suggests thousands of young women with breast cancer — an estimated 8,000 a year in the U.S. — aren't offered testing to identify faulty genes and clarify their medical decisions.
Guidelines used by insurance companies to decide coverage for genetic testing should change to reflect the findings, said study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Weitzel of City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif. Testing can cost more than $3,000.
"Interestingly, it's about Dad," Weitzel said. Half of genetic breast cancers are inherited from a woman's father, not her mother. But unless Dad has female relatives with breast cancer, the faulty gene may have been passed down silently, without causing cancer. (Men can get genetic breast cancer, too, but it's not common.)
Weitzel said doctors often overlook the genetic risk from the father's side of the family.
The study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at the genetic test results from 306 women diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50.
None of the cancer patients in the study had a family history of breast or ovarian cancer.
Among the women with plenty of female relatives, about 5 percent had BRCA gene mutations. But among those with few sisters and aunts older than 45 (when breast cancer would be likely to appear), almost 14 percent had mutations of the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2. That suggests that these cancer patients were unaware of their genetic mutations because there were so few women in the family to signal a cancer risk.
The researchers defined few female relatives as fewer than two on either the father's or mother's side of the family.
Women who were adopted and don't know their family medical history should be aware of the findings, Weitzel said. Women whose female relatives died young before breast cancer had time to show up also are affected.
When such a woman gets breast cancer before age 50, she should get a genetic test, said Dr. Noah Kauff, a cancer geneticist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. That would help her decide whether to have the unaffected breast or her ovaries removed to prevent more cancer. Kauff was not involved in the research, but wrote an accompanying editorial.
"The study allows physicians and patients to make an argument to insurance carriers that, although there's not a family history of breast cancer, it's still reasonable to test and it should be a covered benefit," Kauff said.
Genetic testing helps a woman choose her next medical steps. A woman with breast cancer who has a BRCA gene mutation has a four times greater risk of developing cancer in the other breast and a 10 times greater risk of ovarian cancer than does a woman with breast cancer who has no BRCA gene mutation.
Some women with a family history of breast cancer choose to have a BRCA genetic test so they can decide whether to reduce their cancer risk by removing their ovaries and breasts before any cancer appears. Drug therapy and monitoring with annual MRI tests offer alternatives.
Testing the genes of more women would cost more money, but Weitzel said that won't add significantly to health care costs and will prevent cancer in some of the women.
The study also showed that three commonly used predictive models don't accurately estimate the genetic breast cancer risk for women without a family history of cancer. The American Cancer Society recently based its recommendation for annual MRIs on risk assessments from the predictive models.
source : news.yahoo.com
Radio Host With Cancer Bowing Out
Lowell Sun columnist and radio host Paul Sullivan announced Wednesday that his battle with cancer has prompted him to leave his daily air job.
Sullivan has announced he will leave his WBZ radio show next week for health reasons.
Sullivan has had four surgeries since he was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma three years ago.
In a letter released Wednesday morning, Sullivan said the burden has just become too much for his friends, family and colleagues.
He said he hopes to continue to contribute to the station in some capacity.
source : news.yahoo.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
GW says Canada backs cannabis drug for cancer pain
A pioneering cannabis-based drug will be considered by Canadian regulators for approval as a treatment for cancer pain, its British developer GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said on Tuesday.
The drug called Sativex is an under-the-tongue spray which is already on sale in Canada as a treatment for pain in multiple sclerosis, but GW sees another promising market for the drug as a means of controlling pain associated with cancer.
GW said it is required to accept conditions from Health Canada within 30 days, after which the regulator would finalize its marketing authorization within another 30-day period. The drug is being marketed in Canada by Bayer AG.
Investec analyst Ibrahim Mahmood said he did not expect Canadian approval of Sativex for cancer pain to generate significant sales, but it served as a promising signal for approvals in larger markets.
He reiterated his "buy" recommendation on GW stock with a target price of 244 pence, more than 160 percent above current levels. GW shares rose as much as 5 percent to 92-1/2 pence, valuing the firm at 108.7 million pounds ($215.8 million).
"The evidence continues to mount inexorably across the board both clinically and commercially in support of Sativex," Mahmood said in a note.
GW also announced a net loss of 6.7 million pounds ($13.3 million) for the six months to March 31 after a loss of 6.9 million last year. The company said it had a net cash inflow of 2 million pounds during the half year.
source : news.yahoo.com
Now, FISH on a chip for quicker, cost-effective cancer diagnosis
Canadian researchers have for the first time miniaturised an important diagnostic test for cancer, and automated it onto a microfluidic chip.
The new technology, developed by University of Alberta researchers in Edmonton, opens up the possibility of better, faster cancer treatment and greater accessibility to fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), a complex test that detects mutations in chromosomes for a number of different types of cancer.
It is based on a microfluidic chip the size of a microscope slide, developed by Chris Backhouse, professor of electrical engineering, and cancer scientist Dr. Linda Pilarski, that can perform FISH on a handheld diagnostic device.
The researchers claim that the new system will allow FISH to be performed within a day for a fraction of the cost of current analysis methods, which take days conduct the test.
The rapid detection of chromosomal mutations with the help of new technology, say researchers, will significantly increase a doctor's ability to tailor treatment strategies to target individual cancers.
"The ability to design 'personalized' therapies means that patients will be able to receive more effective treatments sooner and avoid exposure to side effects from treatments that will not help them," Pilarski said.
"This is representative of how miniaturization can make our health care more accessible while creating new economic opportunities here in Alberta," Backhouse added.
The new technology has been hailed by the scientist fraternity.
"The work of Dr. Pilarski and her associates will have great impact, and quite quickly - on the diagnosis of patients with a broad spectrum of diseases," said Dr. Roderick McInnes, Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Genetics.
The work is being published this month in IET Nanobiotechnology, and it will be presented at the 11th International Myeloma Workshop, a medical conference being held in Greece from June 25 to 30.
source : news.yahoo.com
