Cancer Treatment Today

Personalized medicine is an up and coming approach, by which individual's risks and factors are taken into account to prescribe therapy. Genetic tests are a part of the approach. BREVAGen evaluates 7 breast cancer-associated factors. Risk is calculated by multiplying the product of the individual risks by the Gail model risk The Gail model is the first of several proposed ways to calcucalte an individual's riask for breast cancer.  BREVAGen has

Fulvestrant is FDA indicated for the treatment of hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women with disease progression following anti-estrogen therapy. (Faslodex)Fulvestrant is a hormonal treatment that works differently than other hormonal treatments. It acts not by competing with estrogen but by selectively down modulating it and causing it to be degraded and disappear.   It used to be thought that this unique

Questions of theodicy (why bad things happen to good people) are often predicated on an inadequate understanding of the distinction between pain and suffering. The two are different and distinct. The concept of suffering has been extensively analyzed in the medical and bio-ethical literature. Much of this work was done by Cassel. in brief, the relevant point is that there is a distinction between pain and suffering. Life often brings with it pain,

Because irinotecan penetrates the brain-blood barrier and has an effect in primary brain cancer, there is some interest in using it for brain metastasis, especially for lung cancer and breast cancer. Most studies of irinotecan had been for brain mets of small(SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer(NSMCLC) and not breast cancer and have had mixed results. One study enrolled several different cancer types and reported complete responses with irinotecan-based

It is generally accepted that stage I and II breast cancer does not require staging for distant metastases. Stage II is divided into stage IIA and stage IIB based on tumor size and whether it has spread to the axillary lymph nodes (the lymph nodes under the arm). In stage IIA, the cancer is either not larger than 2 centimeters and has spread to the axillary lymph nodes, or between 2 and 5 centimeters but has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes.

Preclinical data demonstrate in vitro synergy for combinations of docetaxel (Taxotere) and cyclophosphamide. As single agents, both drugs have proven highly active against breast cancer, and the activity of the combination has been confirmed by several phase II studies. More recently, it has proven adjuvant efficacy on par with anthracycline containing regimen in a trial to directly compare AC to Taxotere/Cytoxan (TC) as adjuvant treatment in breast

Breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) is a chronic, debilitating disorder that is frequently misdiagnosed, treated too late or not treated at all. Being able to quantitively follow it or predict its onset or severity would be clinically useful. Bioimpedance is one method of obtaining scores that may prove predictive with followup and over time.  The L-Dex XCA is a bioimpedance analyzer designed to assist in the clinical assessment of unilateral

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy came into vogue in the seventies and eighties, spurred on by the success of organ preservation strategies in cancers such as laryngeal and rectal cancer. It used to be thought there are two potential benefits of neoadjuvant chemotherapy: downstaging a breast tumor so lesser surgery can be performed - lumpectomy instead of mastectomy, and to potentially treat early occult metastatic disease and to improve survival. The first

The Taxol and Tykerb combination has recently been shown to improve quality of life in metastatic breast cancer patients versus Taxol alone.  In a phase 3 randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, first-line therapy with Tykerb plus Taxol significantly improved clinical outcomes based on a pre-planned. The combination of investigational Tykerb (lapatinib) and Taxol (paclitaxel) as neoadjuant chemotherapy appears effective

Breast tomosynthesis is a 3-dimensional (3-D) imaging technology that involves acquiring images of a compressed breast at multiple angles during a short scan. It is more comfortable than standard mammography. The individual images are then reconstructed into a series of thin high-resolution slices that displayed individually or in a dynamic movie-like mode. Tomosynthesis can reduce or eliminate the tissue overlap effect. While holding the breast