The Cancer Society fears the effect on cancer sufferers if Dunedin loses neurosurgery.
Chief executive Mike Kernaghan and board member Dr Blair McLaren, a medical oncologist, outlined their concerns for cancer patients and their families if the South Island’s neurosurgeons are all based in Christchurch.
Dr McLaren, clinical leader of oncology for the Southern Blood and Cancer Service, warned the prospective change may also put at risk a long-standing national cancer contract for radiosurgery, which had neurosurgery input.
Dunedin Hospital was the only provider of radiosurgery in New Zealand.
Dr McLaren was concerned about the effect on sufferers – and their families – if they had to be transferred to Christchurch.
“It’s about disrupting a family at a critical phase of their life.”
He believed the situation was governed by “political” motivations, rather than clinical.
The focus must be on the patients.
When Southland and Otago oncology services were merged in 2008, delivering treatment close to patients’ homes was made a priority.
Centralising administration of a service did not mean centralising treatment, he said.
Some treatments, including radiotherapy, were only available in Dunedin. (more…)
Surgery for localized prostate cancer offers a significantly higher survival rate than either external-beam radiation or hormonal therapies, according to a new study led by researchers at UCSF.
The differences among therapies were more prominent at higher levels of cancer risk, and suggest, the researchers say, that in many cases surgery should play a greater role in treatment strategies for patients with prostate cancer that is likely to recur or spread.
The study is available online in the journal Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society.
Most previous reports comparing treatment outcomes among different treatment options have looked only at PSA responses to treatment, rather than at the more important long-term survival outcomes, according to the researchers. Measuring levels of PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, in the blood, is intended to help determine whether prostate cancer has recurred or spread, although in many cases a rising PSA level does not necessarily mean the cancer will progress.
Roughly one man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, according to the American Cancer Society. (more…)
A Connecticut researcher has identified a new chemotherapeutic drug that renders metastatic cancer cells harmless.
Dr. Joan McIntyre Caron’s groundbreaking cancer research is featured in the latest edition of PLoS ONE an interactive open-access journal for the communication of peer-reviewed scientific and medical research.
Dr. Caron says she chose to test the compound, methyl sulfone, as a potential chemotherapeutic agent for two reasons: first, methyl sulfone has a chemical structure that is similar to a known microtubule-binding compound and some microtubule-binding compounds are used for chemotherapy; second, methyl sulfone has a well-established safety profile in humans. Dr. Caron currently has a patent pending for this drug and its use.
Dr. Caron’s research focused on a cure for metastatic cancer, the deadliest form of the disease. Unlike conventional research approaches Dr. Caron’s research did not focus on destroying the cancerous cells but rather sought to identify a compound that would render the cells harmless while not affecting normal cells. In essence the compound taught the diseased cells to behave like normal cells. (more…)
Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is an extremely rare cancer. Only 100 to 500 cases are diagnosed in the US each year, making up less than 30% of all mesothelioma cases. Peritoneal mesothelioma is a cancer affecting the abdominal lining, or peritoneum (paira-tin-e-um), which is why is is sometimes referred to as abdominal mesothelioma. This membrane supports and covers the organs of the abdomen.
The peritoneum is made of two parts, the visceral and parietal peritoneum. The visceral peritoneum covers the internal organs and makes up most of the outer layer of the intestinal tract. Covering the abdominal cavity is the parietal peritoneum. Cells in these linings secrete a fluid which allows organs to move against one another. For instance, as the intestines move food through the body. The cells of the mesothelium are designed to create fluid, but the cancer can cause them to overproduce, creating a build up of excess fluid in the abdominal cavity….. (more…)
A gene therapy approach is designed to treat mesothelioma by correcting the genes that allow a cancerous tumor to grow, potentially controlling tumor size and spread. Like immunotherapy, gene therapy clinical trials are currently underway. While a relatively new treatment, and still very much in the experimental stages, it is showing great promise and effectiveness in tests and clinical trials.
The goal of gene therapy is to get at the root cause of a disease. Because genes hold the instructions for making proteins and other building blocks necessary for cell function, if a gene’s instructions are incorrect or missing, the “ingredients” for a healthy cell and person may be lacking. Instead of dealing with the errant effects of faulty genes after the fact, gene therapy attempts to deliver the proper instructions to your cells, avoiding the negative affects altogether….. (more…)
A BLAZING skip containing asbestos caused a fire alert in the early hours of yesterday morning (Sunday).
The alarm was raised by residents living along Northbourne Avenue, Shanklin, at around 3am.
Householders were advised to close their windows while firefighters dealt with the blaze.
The skip, which contained burning astestos, was outside a property being renovated.
Firefighters gave the all clear at 5.16am.
The hospital said the operation was performed last month on a man in his 60s from Hiroshima Prefecture who was suffering from advanced cancer in the right lung and other parts. It decided to perform the autotransplantation operation because it would not cause rejection or breathing problems from simply removing the lung.
In the operation, a conservation solution for transplantation was injected into the extracted right lung and cancer was removed after a cooling treatment was applied to last for eight hours. The lung was put back into the body after no cancer was confirmed in the lung. The patient recovered his vital capacity up to about 70% and can play golf and do other exercise, according to the hospital……. (more…)
