Cancer Research Blog

PoOkyxD asked:

Watch in HD here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iEeEH_FAwA&fmt=22

I’m in the pit right behind Nicole Scherzinger! Check out my other videos for clips from the concert.

From left to right:
Keyshia Cole
Fergie
Leona Lewis
Ciara
Carrie Underwood
Mariah Carey
Mary J Blige
Beyonce
Miley Cyrus
Rihanna
Ashanti
Natasha Bedingfield
Nicole Scherzinger

For the 5th consecutive year, Fashion Rocks will bring together world-renowned performers and fashion icons on one stage to tune up the style, turn out the fashion and turn up the volume.

Hosted by Denis Leary with performances by Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Chris Brown, Mariah Carey, Chris Cornell, Duffy, Fergie, Kid Rock (with special guest Lynyrd Skynyrd), Lil Wayne, OneRepublic, Pussycat Dolls, Rihanna, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban … and introducing Solange

Content

uctelevision asked:

Can vitamin D help prevent certain cancers and other diseases such as type 1 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain autoimmune and chronic diseases? To answer these questions and more, UCSD School of Medicine and GrassrootsHealth bring you this innovative series on vitamin D deficiency. Join nationally recognized experts as they discuss the latest research and its implications. In this program, Cedric Garland, Dr. P.H., discusses the expected vitamin D serum level for cancer prevention. Series: Vitamin D Deficiency - Treatment and Diagnosis [2/2009] [Health and Medicine] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 15767]

Content

Groshan Fabiola asked:


Even though thyroid cancer is a disease that cannot be prevented, it is a curable affection and can be treated by using an appropriate treatment. In addition, treatments of thyroid cancer usually include surgeries, radioactive iodine and radiation therapy and depend on the stage and the type of cancers.
To begin with, a common method used in patients with papillary, follicular or medullary is radiation therapy, a procedure which is used if the patient has a risk of recurrence following surgery alone, such as the type of cancer known as Tall Cell Variant. Moreover this procedure is used when the tyroid cancer is adherent to the trachea, has mediastinal lymp node involvment or doesn’t take up RAI. It is important to note that radiation therapy has brought significant results especially for the severe types of thyroid cancer and also for the patients who still present residual cancer after the surgery.

Secondly, even though radiation therapy is considered a efficient method, surgery is still the most common procedure in the treatments for tyroid cancers.

Unlike the partial surgeries, such as the removal of a single lobe of the thyroid gland (lobectomy), an extensive surgery which includes the whole removal of the thyroid gland thyroidectomy (only small remnant of throid tissue with parathyroid glands remain attached to the thyroid). It is important to mention that in many cases when the thyroid gland is not completely removed, the tumor may appear again.

Futhermore, in the cases of severe thyroid cancer, patients may need another treatment after they passed through a surgery. One of the most common procedure is the supplemental thyroid hormone, hormones which replace the ones produced by the thyroid. Patients who already suffered a surgery tend to become hypothyroid and in this way they need extra thyroid hormones in order to keep the remaining thyroid gland inactive through a feedback system.

Much more, another procedure used in the thyroid cancer treatments is the use of radiation iodine (RAI). This procedure is usually used for patients who suffer from tumors with high risk features such as sizes of 1.5cm, tumors which have spread to other tissues and lymph nodes and also thyroid cancer that has come back. What is more, a usual treatment used in many types of cancers and sometimes in tyroid cancer is chemotherapy. In addition certain chemotherapy drugs such as adriamycin, etoposide or cisplatin are usually used in patients who suffer from anaplastic thyroid cancer or affections which occured due to the prolonged exposure to RAI or radiation therapy.

All in all, treatments for thyroid cancer vary from a person to other and even though this type of cancer is curable, specialiasts still try to find new procedure for certain patients that don’t respond to conventional therapy or patients with poor prognosis analastic disease.

For more information about thyroid cancer or about thyroid symptoms please visit this website http://www.thyroid-info-center.com/



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Groshan Fabiola asked:


Colorectal cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the United States. While colorectal cancer is highly treatable in its incipient stage, when it is diagnosed late, the disease becomes life-threatening. Statistics indicate that there are more than 150.000 new annual cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed in the United States. Although this type of cancer can be effectively prevented, it accounts for more than 50.000 deaths among the American population each year.

Colorectal cancer has the highest incidence in people with ages over 50 and it is more commonly seen in obese, smokers and physically inactive people. Although it can occur in all ethnical groups, this type of cancer is very common in African Americans. Statistics indicate that in the last few years, both the incidence and the mortality rate of colorectal cancer have known a pronounced increase among African American people. Research results reveal the fact that African American women are exposed to a very high risk of developing colorectal cancer due to obesity, unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle.

Doctors claim that colorectal cancer can be effectively treated if the disease is timely diagnosed. They state that modern medicine holds new, reliable means of preventing the progression of colorectal cancer and that people should be screened for potential malignancies more often. Regular colorectal cancer screening is recommended to anyone at risk of developing this type of cancer. The categories at risk of developing colorectal cancer are: people with ages over 50, overweight people, people with chronic gastrointestinal diseases, smokers, people who have a family history of adenomatous polyposis, non-polyposis colon cancer, Gardner’s syndrome or Peutz-Jeghers syndrome and people who have suffered colon cancer surgery.

Colorectal cancer screening can be performed through multiple methods. In present, the procedures used in cancer screening are quick, safe and reliable. Furthermore, the costs of a complete annual examination for colorectal cancer are very low. A complete examination should include fecal occult blood testing, flexible sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, and barium enema. These tests can easily reveal the presence of malignant colonic polyps, tumors and carcinomas in the early stages of colorectal cancer.

Nowadays, there are three basic programs used in colorectal cancer screening. The first program involves fecal occult blood testing and sigmoidoscopy. Fecal occult blood testing should be repeated annually, while sigmoidoscopy should be repeated every five years. The second program involves an initial total colon examination, followed by distal colon barium enema every five years. The last program recommended by oncologists involves an initial total colon exam, followed by colorectal examination every ten years. As the methods of colorectal screening provide similar results, patients are allowed to choose anyone of these three programs, with the condition to respect the schedule recommended by their doctor.

For more resource on different colon cancer subjects please click this link http://www.colon-cancer-center.com. You can also find valuable information about colon cancer treatment or even about metastatic colon cancer



Content

Lauren Ellerman asked:


The term “medication error” covers a whole manner of sins. What is a medication error? Perhaps it is better to explain by providing examples of medication errors.

Example A – your physician is aware you are allergic to a medication but prescribes it anyway;

Example B – Other medications you are currently taking are contra-indications to a new medication your physician just prescribed, but she doesn’t read the medication package insert and now you are taking medications which may prevent the others from being effective, or worse, their combination may cause injury;

Example C – Medicine A can only be taken by people who can walk or are otherwise mobile, and physician prescribes it for his double amputee patient who cannot get out of bed;

Example D – Pharmacy receives a prescription for medication A but fills your bottle with medication B;

Example E – Pharmacy fills correct prescription but prints wrong dosing directions so you are now taking the medication 9 times a day, rather than 3 times per day ordered by your doctor. An overdose occurs causing injury.

There are almost too many examples of medication errors to list. And many players in the health care field can cause or fail to prevent medication errors, from physicians, to nurses and pharmacists. Medication errors are such a big deal in health care today that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has been researching errors these errors while attempting to create and implement programs and rules which would prevent such errors. How is the FDA doing at minimizing these errors and the resulting needless injuries and deaths? Well, it must be a difficult challenge because the FDA admits “Improving patient safety continues to be a challenge.” Final Summary of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Action Items - Doing What Counts for Patient Safety: Federal Actions to Reduce Medical Errors and Their Impact, February 2001, available at: http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/mederrors/patientsafety.htm#14.

So what can be done to prevent medication errors?

1. Keep an active record of all medications you are taking. Write it down and provide copies to all physicians.

2. Research any medication allergies. How do you know you are allergic? What is the generic name of the drug to which your are allergic – know it all.

3. Tell your pharmacist about all medications you are taking. He may only have records of medications dispensed at his pharmacy – so give them notice of all medications.

4. Tell your family and provide them with a list of your medications. It is likely that in an emergency you will not be able to speak for yourself.

5. Speak to your physician – ask why she is prescribing each medication? What are the side effects? Have you been on this medication before? Keep a record.

6. Unsure about dosage? Unsure about combination with other medications? CALL YOUR PHYSICIAN… Call, and write down the name of who you spoke with and what they said. KEEP NOTES.

The Federal Government has also produced a list of how to prevent medication errors. See http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/35/945/medication%20errors%20fact%20sheet.pdf. What is recommended? Pretty similar list to ours – sadly, both lists are created for consumers and patients. And it is important to note that it is not your duty to prevent all medication errors. It is the duty of your healthcare provider to do so, but if they fail, your diligence may be the difference between another preventable injury or death from a medication error and a close call.

So please, be organized and diligent about your medications. And if you have had a medication error occur, and have suffered injury as a result, please do not hesitate to contact our firm.



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Drdecharge01 asked:

A new cure for cancer

Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Dr.Anna Hardy asked:


Breast cancer is a largely unknown disease until today, despite the fact that it affects almost ten percent of the women above the age of forty years all over the world. The causes of this killer cancer are not known even after decades of research into it. Similarly it is unknown why some women have higher chances of getting breast cancers than others.

Though the causative factors are not known, some risk factors have been identified. There is no medical proof why these factors make the disease more probable, but this is a study of observation. In a vast cross-section of women with the observed risk factors, it has been found that the chances of getting breast cancers are very high.

The various risk factors for breast cancer are as follows:-

(1) Family History of Breast Cancer

If a near relative like a mother or a sister has had breast cancer, then there is a very high chance that the cancer will occur sometime in life. This propensity is observed even if far relatives such as cousins and aunts have had breast cancer, though the chances are lesser as the relatives are more removed. Even if a male relative has had breast cancer or prostate cancer, then there is a chance of getting breast cancer. This clearly indicates that breast cancer runs through family lines through inheritance. Certainly the chances are very high if more than one family member has had breast cancer.

(2) Personal History of Breast Cancer

If a woman has had breast cancer in the past, then there is a great chance that the breast cancer may recur. This is true even if the cancer had been removed in its benign stage itself. Sometimes the cancer cells spread into the nearby lymph. This makes a possibility that the cancer will occur in the opposite breast. In fact, women who have had cancer in one breast have 50 to 75% more chances of developing the cancer in the other breast.

(3) Diseases of the Breast

Several breast diseases can increase the chances of having breast cancer. Changes in the cells of the breasts can lead to atypical hyperplasia. This condition can cause a three to fourfold increase in the possibility of getting breast cancer in the later years. This risk also exists if the atypical hyperplasia has occurred in other women of the family. Another such condition is the benign breast tumor condition known as fibro adenoma. However, women with fibrocystic breasts generally do not have any added vulnerability to breast cancer. Yet, such conditions could make the breasts lumpy and hide the real tumors (if any) during mammography.

(4) Lifestyle

In today’s world, lifestyle is the single largest contributing factor for the proliferation of breast cancer among women. Several elements of the lifestyle have been found to be directly accordant with the prevalence of breast cancer. Smoking and alcoholism in women are among the chief factors. Even diet has been pointed out as an important risk factor. Women who consume a diet with more high-cholesterol fats in them have higher chances of breast cancer. At the same time leading a sedentary lifestyle without indulging much in physical activity are also potentially dangerous.

(5) Radiation

It has been found that women who undergo radiation therapies in their chest region at a young age have an increased risk of developing breast cancer in their later lives. Radiation therapy is generally prescribed for women with conditions like Hodgkin’s disease or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So women who have undergone such treatments may get breast cancer in their later years.

(6) Hormonal Imbalances There are several factors that can change the hormone balance of the body. Some of them are:- a) Beginning the menstrual cycle early, i.e. before the age of twelve years, b) Having the first pregnancy after the age of thirty years, c) Having no pregnancy at all, d) Having a late menopause. All these conditions can increase the level of estrogen in the body. This increases the risk of getting breast cancer to a mild extent. Apart from that women who take regular birth control pills, breast enhancement supplements, antidepressants and antihistamines and hormone modifying supplements stand at a higher risk to get breast cancers.

The above are the major risk factors for breast cancers. But since the study on breast cancers is not yet complete, the above is by no means a complete list. There are several other indications of breast cancers, like breast implant operations; but these have not yet been confirmed. The implants used in the earlier days were made of silicone gels. These were riskier in terms of breast cancer. However, nowadays the silicone gel implants have been replaced by saline implants. This has reduced the risk to a great extent.

It must be also noted that women have much higher chances of getting breast cancer than men. In fact, most people think that breast cancer is a disease that affects only women. This is not true. Men also get breast cancers, but to a much lesser degree than women. Also, age is a very important factor. The chances of getting breast cancer are much higher when the woman has crossed the age of 50 years.

Read more about the Breast Cancer Information and other breast care issues at http://www.mysecrethealth.com



Content for WordPress

Groshan Fabiola asked:


Staging is used by the doctors to evaluate how much the cancer has invaded the organism and to decide further what methods of therapy to apply.

The colon cancer staging began with the Duke’s classification system which contained three stages: A, B, and C. After a while Astler-Coller brought modifications to this classification, adding one more stage: the D stage. In 1978 Gunderson & Sosin brought other modifications to the classification and a few years ago, the American Joint Committee on Cancer has come with a new classification called TNM containing four stages.

Nowadays the doctors use more often the TNM classification and the Duke’s classification in staging the colon cancer.

Duke stage A refers to the fact that the cancer affects only the mucosa of the bowel and does not get further to other structures of the colon.

Duke stage B1 shows that the cancer has reached the muscularis propria of the colon but did not get through it.

In Duke stage B2 the tumor has got through the muscularis propria of the colon.

In Duke stage C1 the cancer has reached the muscularis propria and has also affected the local lymph nodes.

In Duke stage C2 the tumor has got through the muscularis propria of the colon and has also reached the local lymph nodes.

Duke stage D shows that the cancer has spread towards other tissues and organs.

The TNM staging refers to tumor, nodes and metastasis.

T1: the cancer has affected the mucosa and the submucosa too.

T2: the cancer has extended to the muscularis propria.

T3: the cancer has passed through the muscularis propria and has reached the subserosa.

T4: the cancer has affected all the colon’s layers and it is spreading o the nearby organs.

N0: it means that no lymph nodes are affected yet.

N1: the cancer has affected 1 to 3 local lymph nodes.

N2: the cancer is found in more than 4 local lymph nodes.

M0: it means that no metastases are present.

M1: it means that distant metastasis can be seen.

Another classification which is more accurate contains both the Duke’s and the TNM classification.

Stage I: T1 N0 M0; T2 N0 M0 means that the disease has extended in the inner layers of the colon but it has not spread to other structures yet.

Stage II: T3 N0 M0; T4 N0 M0 means that the nearby structures of the colon and rectum have been invaded but the lymph nodes are clear.

Stage III: any T, N1-2, M0 refers to the fact that the lymph nodes are affected by the disease but the distant organs are still safe.

Stage IV: any T, any N, and M1 means that metastases have appeared, and so the cancer has spread to distant organs like lungs and liver.

For greater resources on colon cancer or especially about metastatic colon cancer please visit this link http://www.colon-cancer-center.com/metastatic-colon-cancer.htm



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Groshan Fabiola asked:


Since in US, more than 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer are discovered every year a more effective treatment was desperately needed.

At the prostate cancer symposium in Orlando, co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Eric J. Small, MD, UCSF professor of medicine and urology presented the findings of the study he led helped by other 19 US institutions, regarding an effective treatment for prostate cancer.

Scientists said that the rate of survival increased by four and a half months in those who were administered the cancer vaccine compared with those who got the placebo.

For the patients this is great news because it gives them hope that an even better vaccine could be discovered. This vaccine is not like the others that are designed to prevent a disease. This is made to treat advanced prostate cancer by increasing the immune system’s response to cancer cells.

The vaccine was well tolerated by patients and the side effects were mild: fever and chills. This is good news because chemotherapy and radiation gives a lot of unbearable side effects.

Small included in the study 127 patients suffering of asymptomatic metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). 82 of them received the vaccine and 45 got placebo. They were administered three shots over six weeks. The treatment continued three years.

For those treated with the vaccine, the median rate of survival was 25.9 months. For those who got a placebo treatment, the overall of survival was 21.4 months.

The conclusions were that 115 patients of this group had progressive disease at the time of data analysis and all patients were followed for survival for 3 years.

Scientists do not know if the vaccine will work on patients suffering of early-stage prostate cancer and of explosive terminal cancer. The vaccine, called Provenge, does not cure cancer but at least it slows it down.

Other cancer vaccines are being developed for treating: leukemia, breast cancer, colon cancer, and kidney and pancreas cancer as well.

The human body is not able to recognize the cancer cells and that is why it can not fight them without help. The vaccine is designed to alert the body is cancerous cells are present. Provenge has been made out of a genetically engineered protein and a dendritic cell provided from the patient’s bloodstream. After getting the vaccine shots, the immune system will react and will activate immune T-cells to find and destroy the cancer cells.

This discovery is important not only for those who suffer of the disease but also for the field. This vaccine confirms what everybody denied, that vaccines can really work.

For more information about prostate cancer and about prostate cancer treatment please review this web site http://www.prostate-cancer-center.com



Posted by Nikhil Gupta

Juliet Cohen asked:


Fallopian tube cancer is a cancer which affects the uterine trompex reproductive system female. It is more common for cancer to the diffusion with a fallopian tube elsewhere inside of the body that so that a new cancer develops in the Fallopian tube. The cancer of Fallopian tube typically assigns women between the ages of 50 and 60. The symptoms of fallopian tube cancer include the bleeding, the abdominal exercise. Cabdominal pain which is relieved by a passage of blood or an aqueous discharge can be an indicator of cancer of Fallopian tube. Fallopian tube cancer accounts for only 2% of gynaecological cancers of cancer.

The symptoms of fallopian tube cancer can also imitate those of other gynaecological problems. Some of the more common symptoms of this disease can include the abnormal bleeding, the abdominal pain or a feeling of pressure in the abdomen, the abnormal discharge which is white, clear or rosâtre and a pelvic mass per hour of the diagnosis, which is present in until two-third of patients. The cancer of Fallopian tube typically assigns women between the ages of 50 and 60. It is more common in the Caucasian women who had little or the aucuns children.

There is proof that women who have inherited the gene linked to breast and ovarian cancer, called BRCA1, are also at an increased risk of developing fallopian tube cancer. The treatment depends size and stage on cancer, and if it deviated with other sectors from the body. The treatment for the cancer of Fallopian tube implies usually the surgery. The surgery comprises usually the displacement of the uterus, the cervix, of the uterine trompex and the ovaries, a process called a total abdominal hysterectomy. The therapy of chemotherapy will depend on your age, your desire to have children, like the type and the stage of your tumour.

Chemotherapy typically includes the paclitaxel (Taxol) and the carboplatin. Chemotherapy is called the systemic treatment because drug enters the blood stream, travels by the body and can kill out of the cells of cancer in all the body. For some cancers, the radiation therapy is useful. For the cancer which deviated with other parts of the body, removing as much cancer that possible improves the bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy surgery to remove all the two uterine trompex and their ovaries, as well as the epiploon.



Content