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Cancer & Death with Dignity – My Final CANCERMD Blog
Writing When Cancer Hits Home (http://www.amazon.com/When-Cancer-Hits-Home-Empowered/dp/0615391117) was a labor of love. After 15 years treating patients with cancer and having experienced my father’s and both of my wife’s parents’ cancer journeys, I felt compelled to write to help other future patients and families. I started thecancermd.com blog to provide timely information on cancer-related topics that couldn’t be [...]
Does Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer Hurt the Heart?
A major study published in the March 14, 2013 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has made national headlines and is causing great concern for thousands of patients with breast cancer: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1209825. The study’s conclusion is that radiation doses to the heart during RT for breast cancer cause an increased risk of major [...]
Activity & Sitting Time for Colorectal Cancer Survivors
St. Patrick’s Day 2013 is almost here, as is college basketball’s March Madness. But there’s another reason for excitement this month. March is Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Awareness Month & a time to celebrate CRC survivors: http://www.cdc.gov/features/colorectalawareness/. A timely paper published in the March 1 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology does just that. Lead author, [...]
Mammograms for All Women Over 40: The Good, the Bad…
An article in the February 18, 2013 online edition of the Wall St. Journal asks readers, “Should All Women Over 40 get Annual Mammograms?” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323539804578260241902140764.html?mod=WSJ_GoogleNews&mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1). For a few decades now, that’s been the recommendation to American women by most of their doctors. So, why has there been so much controversy about this cancer screening test [...]
Acupuncture Helps Fatigue After Breast Cancer Treatment
Fans of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices please take note. Researchers in the UK recently published the results of a major trial evaluating acupuncture for treatment of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in the Journal of Clinical Oncology: http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/30/36/4470.abstract. The results are impressive! Alexander Molassiotis RN, PhD from the University of Manchester and his colleagues enrolled 302 [...]
AVAGLIO Trial Good News for Patients with GBM Brain Tumors
Glioblastoma multiforme (known as GBM) is a notoriously aggressive common primary brain tumor in adults. Good news regarding treatment of these tumors is rare. That’s why the recently reported early results of the AVAglio trial are that much more remarkable. The initial treatment for patients diagnosed with a GBM is maximal safe surgical resection of [...]
Pat’s Picks for Major Cancer Treatment Advances in 2012
Oncologists and cancer researchers have trudged a few more steps forward in the marathon “race toward a cure” in 2012. The following link from the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Roth et al highlights several of these: http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2012/12/04/JCO.2012.47.1938.short?rss=1. I’ll briefly lay out my top three from this list which I’ve chosen, not because they’re the most fascinating [...]
Adventures with “Lumpy & Sneaky” – A Cancer Journey
Since it’s the most common non-skin cancer diagnosed in women, virtually everyone knows someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. On the other hand, most people have never even heard of soft tissue sarcoma, let alone knowing someone dealing with that type of cancer. Sadly, my good friend’s girlfriend, Jen, has been dealing with [...]
Breast Cancer Chemotherapy for 4 vs 6 Cycles? CALGB 40101
While many patients diagnosed with breast cancer are cured with breast surgery +/- radiation therapy, tens of thousands of women each year receive chemotherapy to improve their chances of survival. But how much chemotherapy is enough versus too much? The CALGB 40401 trial, published in the November 20, 2012 Journal of Clinical Oncology, addresses this question. [...]
Early Stage Lung Cancer – A Cure Without Cutting
As Lung Cancer Awareness Month comes to an end this November, I’ve chosen to highlight a promising new radiation treatment for patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that either decline surgery or are “medically inoperable” (unable to have surgery due to poor health, usually weak heart or lung function). This technique is [...]
