September 25, 2006, 5:16 AM CT

When You Find A Mammogram Abnormality

If you get a call from your doctor telling you that your mammogram was abnormal, do not panic. Mammogram abnormality does not always represent breast cancer. Now if you have an abnormal mammogram what to do now?

Experts in the field indicate that if an abnormality is detected in the mammogram performing a breast biopsy is the best strategy, for follow up of the abnormality even though there are several other options available.

Breast biopsy is considered to be the standard approach to mammogram abnormality, and recently a report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) compared the effectiveness of biopsy, with four other available options. These options includes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound imaging, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning; and scintimammography.

The report convincingly concludes that biopsy is the gold standard; when it comes to the long-term follow up an abnormality that is detected in the mammogram.

Of course biopsy is more invasive, but is a more accurate test and requires sampling of the breast tissue. The removed tissue is analyzed under the microscope using special stain to determine the presence of malignancy.

The four tests mentioned above were not as accurate as a biopsy. These tests missed between 4 percent and 9 percent of breast cancers in women with average risk. The report also suggest that in higher risk women the miss rate would be even higher.........

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September 20, 2006, 8:48 PM CT

Painless prostate biopsy

Prostate biopsy need not be the painful ordeal that a number of men anticipate, as per findings presented at the annual meeting of North Central Section of the American Urological Association in San Diego.

By administering topical anesthetic several minutes previous to lidocaine injection at the prostate apex and the surrounding rectal tissue significantly reduces pain during the procedure, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, report.

Typically, local anesthetic has been injected between the prostate base and seminal vesicle where the neurovascular bundle lies, presenter Dr. Richard Ashley told Reuters Health.

"But what we find is that, when we inject at that location, even though it is anatomically correct, the patient still experiences a lot of pain," he said.........

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September 20, 2006, 8:38 PM CT

Fatty Fish Consumption Protects Women From Cancer

Context The epidemiological evidence that fatty fish consumption may be associated with the lower risk of several cancers is not consistent and no studies of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) exist.

Objective To examine the association between fatty and lean fish consumption and risk of RCC in women.

Design, Setting, and Participants The Swedish Mammography Cohort, a population-based prospective cohort study of 61 433 women aged 40 to 76 years without previous diagnosis of cancer at baseline (March 1, 1987-December 14, 1990). Participants filled in a food frequency questionnaire at baseline and in September 1997.

Main Outcome Measure Incident renal cell carcinoma.

Results During a mean of 15.3 years (940 357 person-years) of follow-up between 1987 and 2004, 150 incident RCC cases were diagnosed. After adjustment for potential confounders, an inverse association of fatty fish consumption with the risk of RCC was found (P for trend =.02), but no association was found with lean fish consumption. Compared with no consumption, the multivariate rate ratio (RR) was 0.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35-0.91) for women eating fatty fish once a week or more. Compared with women consistently reporting no fish consumption, the multivariate RR was 0.26 (95% CI, 0.10-0.67) for those women reporting consistent consumption of fatty fish at baseline and 1997 (based on a subset of 36 664 women who filled in the baseline and 1997 questionnaires, with 40 incident RCC cases during the 1998-2004 follow-up period).........

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September 20, 2006, 5:03 AM CT

Increased suicide trend among breast implant recipients

Women who have breast implants might not have a higher mortality rate, but they have a higher risk of dying from suicide according to new research findings. In this by the Canadian Public Health Agency and Cancer Care Ontario which reviewed 24,600 women observed that having breast implants is not a cause of increased mortality. Nevertheless they observed that suicide rate among women with breast implants is 73% higher than in the general population. These study findings are published these findings in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Reserchers Universit Laval's Jacques Brisson and Louis Latulippe and their colleagues collected data on 17,400 women from the province of Quebec and 7,200 from Ontario who had received breast implants for cosmetic purposes between 1974 and 1989. These women, who had undergone the surgery at an average age of 32, were followed regularly during a 15-year period. The researchers found that a total of 480 women with breast implants died during that period, comparable to the mortality rate of the general population.

Researchers found mortality rate in women with breast implant to be 26% lower than in the control group. Fewer deaths occurred from breast cancer and heart occurred in this group. The researchers say that this lower mortality rate is not the result of the breast augmentation procedure itself, but rather of a double selection bias. "First, a woman must be in relatively good health to undergo breast implant surgery," points out Dr. Brisson. "Also, women who receive breast implants tend to be of higher-than-average socioeconomic status. Thus, women who undergo breast augmentation surgery are more likely to be in better health than the general population".........

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September 19, 2006, 8:48 PM CT

New Strain Of Mice Will Help Leukemia Research

Cancer scientists have developed a new strain of mice that should help reveal how an unusual change in a certain gene contributes to a especially deadly form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

A study of the strain by its developers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) suggests that the genetic change comes early in the disease, and that it over-activates a second gene that helps govern blood cell development.

The genetic change, known as a partial tandem duplication, is located in a gene called MLL (for mixed-lineage leukemia). A partial tandem duplication is a type of gene mutation that occurs when a section of a gene is repeated, like a stutter in the gene's DNA.

The new mouse model should help leukemia scientists to learn how this mutation contributes to AML development, and it may lead to new ways to treat, diagnose and perhaps prevent the disease.

The findings were published online Sept. 14 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

"When leukemia strikes, it's like a hurricane arriving without an advance weather forecast - you have no information about how it got there, and it's a level-5 storm," says Michael A. Caligiuri, principal investigator of the study and director of the OSUCCC.

"Studying live models like this mouse strain helps us begin to understand the earliest events in the development of leukemia. This in turn will someday allow us to understand what causes leukemia in people, predict who is at greatest risk and prevent leukemia from ever developing in those patients."........

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September 18, 2006, 7:05 PM CT

Dear Cancer

DEAR CANCER is a book of inspiration and comfort that will make the reader laugh, cry, and see adversity in a new light.

The author shares her true story of living with stage IV breast cancer from the shock of diagnosis to the rigors of chemotherapy and other treatments.

Written with honesty, sensitivity and humor, DEAR CANCER will support and encourage anyone who is confronted by cancer, or any life-changing illness, or event.

DEAR CANCER touches EVERY emotion from extreme sadness and rage, to joy and gratitude.

It is a gift you must give to your body, mind and soul.

About the Author

Laura Parisi King is a Licensed Master Social Worker. She is the author of GRANDA, a young adult novel about stereotypes and self-discovery. Her short stories have appeared in LISTEN Magazine. Laura has been a contributor to COPING Magazine, a creative writing instructor, and a columnist for the newsletter TAKING THE FEAR OUT OF CANCER. She has been interviewed on radio and television, and she has been the guest speaker in schools in New York and Florida.........

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September 18, 2006, 7:00 PM CT

Pre Operative Chemotherapy For Rectal Cancer

Preoperative chemotherapy is very usually used in the therapy of rectal cancer. But is there any evidence of better outcome with preoperative chemotherapy in comparison to post-operative chemo treatment?

As per an article recently reported in the New England Journal (NEJM), chemotherapy survival rates are similar among patients with rectal cancer whether chemotherapy is given before or after surgery.

The rectum is the last portion of the large intestine. Standard therapy for rectal cancer often includes the surgical removal of as much of the cancer as possible. Unfortunately, surgery for the removal of rectal cancer may result in loss of sphincter control. In an attempt to combat this, scientists have been evaluating the effects of chemotherapy or radiation treatment previous to surgery, referred to as neoadjuvant treatment.

The concept behind neoadjuvant treatment is to shrink the cancer as much as possible previous to surgery so that the cancer may be completely removed with minimal surgery, thus maintaining sphincter control.

Furthermore, chemotherapy may immediately start killing cancer cells throughout the body, versus postponing chemotherapy until the patient has healed from surgery. Most patients with rectal cancer who are to undergo surgery are treated with radiation treatment previous to surgery.........

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September 17, 2006, 10:12 PM CT

New Drug Against Gleevec Resistance

Though enormously successful, the leukemia drug Gleevec has some downsides. Recent studies have linked the drug to heart failure in a small number of patients, and drug resistance continues to be a problem. But now, scientists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia may have found a new way to sidestep such resistance. They have discovered that by reactivating a protein that is normally shut off in leukemia and in Gleevec-resistant cancer cells, leukemia development is halted.

A drug that could turn on the gene that makes the protein C/EBP-alpha, a "transcription factor" mandatory for cells to differentiate, then, might control or even eliminate the cancer.

As per Bruno Calabretta, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cancer biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, transcription factors are molecular switches that turn on genes when their function is needed. C/EBP-alpha expression is low in leukemia cells such as those with the BCR-ABL protein defect, which causes chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a disease that Gleevec treats so well.

Typically gleevec is normally prescribed for patients early on in cml, which is characterized by an overabundance of white blood cells. But when the disease advances to the terminal stage, or "blast crisis" phase, the cells, called blasts, remain undifferentiated and accumulate rather than becoming more mature white blood cells called granulocytes. Gleevec is much less effective in this stage, Dr. Calabretta says. Yet, in leukemia cells that respond to therapy with Gleevec, expression of C/EBP-alpha increases.........

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September 15, 2006, 1:58 PM CT

Look for signals of Cancer Metastasis

This concept suggest that cancer cells shift between two alternating states, travelers and nesters. This shift represents a new understanding of how cancer metastasizes, or spreads to other parts of the body, said the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists who conducted the study.

The most aggressively cancerous cancer cells have a "toggle switch" that enables them to morph into highly mobile cells that invade other tissues and then nest comfortably in their new surroundings, a new study in rats suggests.

"Understanding this toggle switch might ultimately enable researchers to find ways to stop cells from metastasizing, which is the most deadly trait of cancer," said the study's lead investigator, Mariano Garcia-Blanco, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular genetics and microbiology.

The scientists will publish their findings in the Sept. 19, 2006, issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, now available on line. The research was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Until now, researchers have believed that cancer cells must transform permanently from stationary epithelial cells into migratory mesenchymal cells in order to metastasize.

The Duke team discovered that highly cancerous cells are equal parts epithelial and mesenchymal, transitioning between the two as their surroundings necessitate. The proteins that the cell produces dictate which way the cell shifts.........

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September 14, 2006, 9:13 PM CT

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards Dies Of Esophageal Cancer

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, whose brassy, tough-talking persona and trademark white hair cut an indelible profile in Democratic politics, died Wednesday evening at her home in Austin, surrounded by her family, her spokesman, Bill Maddox said.

She was 73.

Richards, who served as governor of the Lone Star State from 1991 to 1995, announced in March that she was being treated for esophageal cancer. Maddox said Richards had shielded a number of family members and friends from the extent of her illness.

"It was a shock to a lot of us," he said.........

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