Dr. Karen Lindfors, a professor of radiology and chief of breast imaging at the University of California, Davis Medical Center, examines the mammogram of a patient.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
October is breast cancer awareness month. Women should know there is no reliable evidence that routine mammograms reduce death from breast cancer, and there’s good evidence that they cause harm.
A twinge can be all it takes to convince patients they have a new tumour
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to treat cancer. It is often paired with surgery, radiotherapy and immunotherapy in a cancer treatment plan.
From Shutterstock,
Tumour evolution was first identified 40 years ago. We’re finally making good progress with it.
Therapies on a nano scale rely on engineered nanoparticles designed to package and deliver drugs to exactly where they’re needed.
from shutterstock.com
Nanoparticles are a form of transport for drugs and can go places drugs wouldn’t be able to go on their own. They make drug delivery more targeted, reducing collateral damage to healthy tissues.
In the early stage of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma the disease is curable in more than 90% of the cases.
Shutterstock
In Australia, there is no system in place to support people returning to work after cancer treatment – or to provide advice to their employers on how to help them.
Childhood cancer desperately needs more research.
from shutterstock.com
Children’s cancer is a rare disease, which means the market is small and pharmaceutical companies have few incentives to develop drugs for these cancers.
Mice that had only water before receiving chemotherapy, experienced less or no side effects compared to mice fed normally.
强 石/Flickr
Research in animals and humans shows periods of fasting before and after chemotherapy protects healthy cells while killing cancerous ones more efficiently.
New tools help doctors and breast cancer patients decide whether chemotherapy is needed. A recent study suggested that many can forgo chemo. But the decision is complicated. Here’s why.
One in ten cancer patients can expect to face fertility issues after their treatment.
from shutterstock.com
One in ten cancer patients will face fertility issues after treatment, but less than 50% are given options to preserve fertility. And those who are offered options can face significant cost barriers.
Cancer’s development and progression represent an evolutionary process.
from shutterstock.com
Humans can more easily tolerate tumours in large or paired organs than in small, critical ones. This could be why the latter have evolved more cancer-fighting mechanisms.
Some cancer patients at St Vincent’s hospital were treated with off-protocol doses of a chemotherapy drug.
Alastair Gilfillan/Flickr
Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer that has a very poor prognosis. Despite the current best therapies half its sufferers survive for 15 months and less than 5% are alive after 5 years.
Research shows some families pressure doctors to attempt heroic interventions on elderly relatives.
Javier Sánchez Salcedo/Flickr
We found one third of patients near the end of their life received non-beneficial treatments in hospitals around the world. These included initiating chemotherapy and providing emergency surgery.
Methotrexate is used for arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer.
FedEx/Flickr
Methotrexate is a drug used for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. It is taken on just one day a week. Accidental daily dosing can cause life-threatening toxicity.