| 15-year-old heads up effort to fight grandma's cancer
There are many ways to fight cancer: drugs, homeopathic medicines, chemotherapy, radiation. It can also be fought with a grandchild's love.Shirley Smalling, 69, got the phone call one year ago this month and the doctor was brief and to the point: You have infiltrating ductal carcinoma - in layman's terms, breast cancer.“That's not the news you want to hear," Smalling said.With heavy hearts, the family gathered at Smalling's Dillard Road farm as usual that Sunday after church for lunch.The weekly gathering has always been a special event for Shirley and Victor Smalling's three children and five grandchildren.“As long as I can remember, it's always been lunch at Grandma's house after church," said Victoria Dickson, the Smallings' 15-year-old granddaughter. “The first word out of everyone's mouth as babies is 'grandma.' "Shirley Smalling has endured months of radiation treatment and is now taking medication to fight the disease.Victoria, always the organizer in the family, has decided to tackle the disease in her own way.“I was sitting in church one Sunday and it just came to me," she said.
Exercise, Psychological Counseling Could Ease Cancer-Related Fatigue
Cancer patients suffering from symptoms of fatigue might find some relief through regular exercise and psychological counseling to deal with stress, according to a new review.Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of patients with cancer and those undergoing treatment with radiation and chemotherapy. According to the American Cancer Society, 90 percent of patients in cancer treatment experience fatigue that can range from �mild lethargy to feeling completely wiped out.�The reviewers, led by Paul Jacobsen of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., said that fatigue affects patients� quality of life, with one-third feeling that it, �interferes with their ability to work, relationships with others and physical and emotional well-being.�There has been growing interest in helping these patients manage the symptoms of exhaustion with nonpharmacological treatments, and the systematic review aimed to determine the effectiveness of psychological therapy and exercise in meeting the goal.The review appears in the November issue of the journal Health Psychology.
Texas Oncology
MIDLAND Texas Oncology has set a patient open house today at its new location, which opened for patient care earlier this month. The new, state-of-the-art facility houses the latest technology in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including the only Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy technology in Midland and a new CT scanner. The open house runs from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the new location, 400 N. Garfield Ave. .
Breakthrough Vaccine May Prove Successful for Treating Brain Cancer
Researchers at New York University's Clinical Cancer Center and several other U.S. medical colleges believe they may have found a breakthrough vaccine to treat the most deadly form of brain cancer. The vaccine actually uses proteins found in brain tumors of patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and fatal form of brain cancer, to destroy the tumors themselves. Several universities including NYU, Duke University and the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit are testing it. The five-year study will track the effects of the vaccine on patients, who receive radiation and chemotherapy treatments over a three-year period. The participants will receive the vaccines every couple of weeks at first, then once every few months and several times per year for three years and will be screened for two additional years following the treatment.
Metastatic colorectal cancer - NICE: insufficient evidence to ...
The Appraisal Committee has prepared a Final Appraisal Determination on the use of Avastin and Erbitux in metastatic colorectal cancer and submitted it to the Institute.
The main recommendations made are as follows:
Avastin ( Bevacizumab ) in combination with 5-FluoroUracil plus Folinic Acid, with or without Irinotecan, is not recommended for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
Erbitux ( Cetuximab ) in combination with Irinotecan is not recommended for the second-line or subsequent treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
People currently receiving Bevacizumab or Cetuximab should have the option to continue therapy until they and their consultants consider it appropriate to stop.
The management of metastatic colorectal cancer is mainly palliative and involves a combination of treatments ( such as palliative surgery, chemotherapy and radiation ), symptom control and psychosocial support.
Breast cancer treatment could be better for patien
Breast cancer treatment has come a long way. In recent years patients have been getting what's called partial breast radiation therapy, which takes one week instead of seven. Now there's a new kind of this therapy that could be even better for patients. .
New Image-Guided Radiotherapy System Benefits High-Risk Patients
ScienceDaily (Dec. 10, 2007) A new radiotherapy system that combines high-tech imaging with precision tumor-targeting capability is helping cancer specialists at Stony Brook University Medical Center treat patients. Those with medically inoperable tumors, at high-risk for surgery, or who do not want surgical treatment may benefit most from the ExacTrac® X-ray 6D System for image-guided radiotherapy. The system adds to patient options for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), a technique that features high radiation doses with pinpoint precision to tumors. .
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