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…)

No wonder why humans get lung cancer!! Think about this. the sticky tar contains poison and remains in your lungs each time you smoke, and your lungs need much calorie to remove these poisons from your blood! you will live shorter than you think! but think about your family or children’s life!

New investigation results, ‘Gynaecologic challenging issues in the management of BRCA mutation carriers: oral contraceptives, prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy and hormone replacement therapy,’ are detailed in a study published in Gynecological Endocrinology. According to recent research published in the journal Gynecological Endocrinology, “BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have a 54-85% and 45% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, respectively, and a 18-60% and 11-27% lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer, respectively. Oral contraceptives (OCs) significantly reduce the risk of ovarian cancer also in BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers.

via:New Research

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…)

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.

via:asbestos

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…)

Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma is a quite uncommon type of cancer caused due to asbestos exposure. While it is difficult to diagnose Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma, it hardly responds to any type of therapy. This is the most serious of all asbestos-related diseases. The possibility of finding this type of cancer is on the lips and the larynx. However, in certain cases it may affect the oral cavity as well. Like all other forms of mesothelioma cancers, this cancer is a fatal disease and hardly responds to any method of treatment. Even though radiation therapy is recommended for the treatment of these cancerous tumors, but some of them may not be radiosensitive and may defy radiation for treatment. …….. (more…)

Keith L. Black, M.D., and other prominent neurosurgeons at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will join other cancer specialists, nurses, a psychologist, dietitians and an expert in complementary medicine to present a brain tumor conference for patients, families and caregivers Saturday, July 10, 2010 from 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“Outsmarting Brain Tumors” is free and open to the public, with lunch and validated parking included, but preregistration is required……….. (more…)

There’s a enthusiastic and hairy back to titty cancer. Not the disease itself, which is life-disruptive at its foremost and deathly at its bad. But there are celebratory races with survivors path the completion product, accumulation lifted in crow; press covers conformation celebrities who bang survived the disease; and sound ribbons seemingly everyplace.

Other cancers receive less attention. These cancers may not have a warm and fuzzy side, but we agree that people diagnosed with them deserve our support and kindness.

But one cancer is noteworthy for the lack of empathy and compassion it elicits.

“Lung cancer is the ugly stepsister of cancer,” was how one person described it to me.

When she was diagnosed, most people assumed that she smoked. She didn’t. (Some 10 to 15 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer are nonsmokers. For reasons not fully understood, lung cancer is more common in nonsmoking women than in nonsmoking men).

Even her friends who knew she didn’t smoke interrogated her to find the cause. There was an underlying sense that if she wasn’t at fault, someone or something else was.

Blame seems to be the unspoken word when lung cancer is discussed.

People with other cancers aren’t blamed. We don’t accuse them or even wonder if they did something to cause their cancers. The cancer just is.

Anyone who has had cancer can tell you how difficult it was to get the diagnosis and then to share that news with family and friends. Imagine how much more difficult it would be if you sensed people thinking — or even saying, “Well, that’s what you get for smoking.”…….. (more…)