What we're reading ... March 19, 2010

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | MARCH 19, 2010

Each week the staff of CURE shares some of what they've been reading the past week with our readers. Please let us know what you think and what you've been reading, too!

Oncology Nursing
Oncology nurse Theresa Brown, RN, is a regular contributor to The New York Times, and this week she writes about violence in the oncology ward in "Violence on the Oncology Ward." Violence against nurses is a huge issue. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 48 percent of all non-fatal injuries from occupational assaults occur in the health care setting. And as Brown relates, oncology nurses are not immune.
Lena Huang
Fitness & Nutrition Editor

Marriage
In Marie Claire's "For Better, For Worse," Diane Reiners talks about how cancer has affected her marriage, for better and for worse. While her husband deals with a disfiguring, terminal diagnosis of tongue cancer, they try to make the best of it. "Cancer doesn't make it easier to love someone," she says. "Cancer is hard work; our marriage is easy. But taking care of him can leave me without much time to take care of myself--I don't go for checkups with my own doctors and I quit going to the gym. Still, there is nothing--nothing--I'd rather be doing than being there with him." It's a very powerful story, and unfortunately, one that doesn't have a happy ending. But knowing how much they loved each other, it does make you appreciate the journey.
Elizabeth Whittington
Managing Editor, curetoday.com

Teens and Cancer
"In Cancer Fight, Teens Don't Fit In" is about teenagers and how they have different struggles than children or adult cancer patients. They are in an in-between stage and generally lack the proper support they need and sort of fall into this "gap." It also talks a little bit about why teenagers generally have poorer cure rates than children or adults--from not being involved in clinical trials to just being more difficult to treat since they aren't children, and they aren't adults. You can read more about teen in our First Line Childhood Cancer section "Teens Helping Teens," which discusses a program called Teen Connector.
Bunmi Ishola
Editorial assistant

What we're reading ... March 12, 2010

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | MARCH 12, 2010

Each week the staff of CURE shares some of what they've been reading the past week with our readers. Please let us know what you think and what you've been reading, too!

How to Save a Life
I saw "How to Save a Friend from the Brink" on CNN Health the other day and it reminded me of a friend who had expressed suicidal thoughts during a long fight with cancer. In this article, people who have been there provide insight on what friends and family should say and do during critical moments.
Lena Huang
Fitness & Nutrition Editor

Prostate Cancer Screening
There's been a lot of prostate cancer in the news lately with the American Cancer Society's updated guidelines on prostate cancer screening and the recent Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. The New York Times published "The Great Prostate Mistake," a column on prostate cancer screening written by Richard J. Ablin, who discovered PSA (prostate-specific antigen). Yesterday, readers responded in "Should I Get the Prostate Cancer Test?" Both are a good read and are perfect examples of why this screening controversy is just that--which is why "Talk to your doctor" is more important now than ever.
Elizabeth Whittington
Managing Editor, curetoday.com

Your Job
I found this Cancer and Careers workbook, Living and Working with Cancer, while I was doing research for an upcoming article. It's an 81-page workbook that helps walk cancer patients through coordinating their jobs/careers after and during a cancer diagnosis. It summarizes the various laws and options that benefit patients, including ADA, FMLA, and disability, and also offers advice on how to deal with coworkers, manage work responsibilities, returning to work after taking time off, keeping a work diary, etc. The last 50 pages or so are worksheets patients and survivors can use create their own "cancer workbook."
Bunmi Ishola
Editorial assistant

Some early-stage prostate cancers benefit from hormonal therapy

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | MARCH 10, 2010

At the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held March 5-7 in San Francisco, researchers presented a study that showed men with early-stage prostate cancer can benefit from a combination of hormonal therapy and radiation therapy.

Knowing that not all men are at the same risk for recurrence, investigators of the phase 3 RTOG 94-08 study analyzed the results after stratifying nearly 2,000 men as being low-, intermediate-, or high-risk for recurrence. They found that men with intermediate risk who received short-term total androgen suppression and radiation lived longer than men with similar risk who received radiation only. Intermediate risk was defined as having a Gleason score of 7, or a score of 6 or less with either a PSA between 10 and 20 or a staging subcategory of T2b (where cancer is present in 50 percent of one lobe of the prostate gland).

Intermediate-risk patients in the combination arm received a total of four months of hormonal therapy, with radiation therapy beginning after two months. After two years, a repeat biopsy was performed in 843 men to gauge recurrence--of 439 men who received the combination therapy, 78 percent had no sign of a recurrence; in the 404 men who received just radiation, only 60 percent had no evidence of cancer. After 12 years of follow-up, 51 percent of intermediate-risk patients in the combination group were alive compared with 46 percent in the radiation-alone group. Researchers noted that previous studies show that men at high-risk should receive more than four months of hormonal therapy, so there was more focus on the results for intermediate-risk patients.

Researchers also found that men with low-risk disease did not benefit from the combination, which highlights another interesting point about the new way we're studying medicine. If all of the patients receiving the combination had been lumped into just one group, the results would have not been as dramatic. It might also have driven some men to undergo the cost, side effects, and inconvenience of a therapy that would ultimately have had no benefit for them. Continuing to analyze subgroups in trials such as these will show us how best to use certain therapies for certain patients.

The benefit of the combination in intermediate-risk patients could be even greater than what the study initially suggests. While researchers designed the study using radiation therapy that was standard in 1994, the field has seen many advances since then, such as being able to provide higher, more targeted--and albeit, safer--doses. A new trial called RTOG 0815 will be studying men with intermediate-risk, early-stage prostate cancer, but using 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy or intensity-modulated radiation therapy with androgen deprivation therapy to see if the benefit of the combination still exists. (You can read more about these radiation techniques in "Targeted Strike.") Details of the RTOG 0815 clinical trial can be found at clinicaltrials.gov.

What we're reading ... March 5, 2010

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | MARCH 5, 2010

Each week the staff of CURE shares some of what they've been reading the past week with our readers. Please let us know what you think and what you've been reading, too!

Infection
A story in The New York Times (Rising Threat of Infections Unfazed by Antibiotics) caught my eye as someone who has dealt with a MRSA staph infection. The story focuses on the new hospital-acquired infections that make MRSA look like the common cold. This is something every cancer patient needs to know about since hospitals are where we hang out way too much.
Kathy LaTour
Editor-at-Large & cancer survivor

Male infertility and cancer
An article in the Wall Street Journal examines if male infertility could be a sign of other diseases, such as cancer. Researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston have found that mutations in certain genes linked to male infertility may be related to colon and testicular cancers.
Lena Huang
Fitness & Nutrition Editor

Multiple myeloma
The MMRF (Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation) launched their new newsletter this month, MMRF FastFacts. It will replace their previous newsletter, SmartBrief. It includes clinical trials, events, breaking news in multiple myeloma research, and updates about MMRF. You can sign up for the next issue by signing up at www.themmrf.org.
Elizabeth Whittington
Managing Editor, curetoday.com

New drug extends survival in advanced chemo-resistant prostate cancer

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | MARCH 5, 2010

Results announced at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium this week show impressive gains in prostate cancer, especially those with metastatic cancer and few treatment options. For men with chemotherapy-resistant advanced prostate cancer, hope may be in a new investigational chemotherapy presented at the meeting being held today through Sunday in San Francisco.

Although most prostate cancers respond to hormonal therapy, or androgen deprivation therapy, some do not. These hormone-resistant prostate cancers are usually treated with Taxotere (docetaxel), but if patients progress on the drug, patients usually have few, if any, options. A newer generation taxane-based drug, cabazitaxel, could provide those patients with another treatment.

The drug was shown to increase median survival by 30 percent. Of the 755 patients in the study, those who received cabazitaxel lived a median of 15.1 months compared with about 12.7 months in patients taking mitoxantrone--a highly significant difference, said Oliver Sartor, MD, who presented the study.

Patients with this type of advanced prostate cancer usually have about a year survival, but Sartor noted that twice as many patients reached the two-year survival mark with cabazitaxel. "It is also, I think, particularly meaningful for patients who really don't have other alternatives today," Sartor said at a press briefing prior to the conference.

Nicholas Vogelzang, MD, who moderated the press briefing Wednesday, noted that although a three month survival advantage may seem small, it is a huge advancement in terms of cancer research. "Almost all the advances in [cancers] have come in these sorts of incremental advances. Three months is a major clinical advance," he told reporters. "It is exactly the same difference that led the FDA to approve docetaxel, and docetaxel now has become more and more widely used."

The phase III international study, called TROPIC, compared cabazitaxel, which is administered intravenously once every three weeks, with mitoxantrone, a commonly used chemotherapy, but one that has shown no survival benefit in this patient population. Sartor noted that researchers chose to use mitoxantrone to give patients an active therapy, as opposed to a placebo. All patients received the steroid prednisone. Further results of the study will be presented at the 2010 ASCO annual meeting in early June, including progression-free survival, tumor response rates, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response. However, researchers have suggested that those results are also favorable.

The maker of cabazitaxel, Sanofi-Aventis, is working with the FDA on submitting the drug for approval soon and was granted fast-track status in December. If approved, it could be available as early as end of this year.

Vogelzang said the argument could also be made now that the drug could be used earlier, "...now that there is something that works, the therapy might be given earlier and the survival advantage could potentially become even greater."

Current trials are looking into whether the drug should be given before hormone-resistant cancers progress on Taxotere, as well as in other tumor types.

You can view the study abstract at www.asco.org.

What we're reading ... February 26, 2010

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | FEBRUARY 26, 2010

Fertility
The first woman to give birth to a second baby after ovarian tissue transplant was featured in an Associated Press article I saw in the Washington Post: "Woman 1st giving birth twice with ovary transplant." Before receiving chemotherapy for bone cancer, Stinne Holm Bergholdt of Denmark had a portion of her ovary removed. Doctors transplanted a portion of that ovary after Bergholdt completed therapy a year later. The transplant took and Bergholdt now has two beautiful children. This is very encouraging news for women seeking to preserve fertility during cancer treatment.
Lena Huang
Fitness & Nutrition editor

Cancer Strategy
An interesting Forbes article "The Mathematics of Cancer," highlights how Larry Norton, a leading breast oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and other scientists believe that by stopping cancer from spreading--instead of just multiplying--may lead to better and curative treatments. We touched on a similar topic in Heal with Mutations & Math. Both are worth a look!
Elizabeth Whittington
Managing editor, curetoday.com

Clinical Trials
This is a three-part series (Target Cancer) done by the New York Times looking at a clinical trial for a melanoma drug. It dives into the various aspects of being involved in a clinical trial--from the doctor and patient perspectives. I think it provided a great visual of the ups and downs of being involved in the clinical trials, the risk that everyone involved has to take, and the moments of despair when there's a failed outcome or the moment of triumph when the outcome is good. Each article is accompanied by a video, and there's a "Q&A on clinical trials" blog that the writer, Amy Harmon, moderates.
Bunmi Ishola
Editorial assistant

Updates
A great resource for those who want to keep up with the latest in cancer findings is to sign up for the National Cancer Institute Bulletin. Every issue has the latest findings from major scientific journals, in-depth articles, special reports, clinical trial information, legislative updates, and federal agency news. The latest bulletin includes research on hypofractionated radiation, kidney cancer, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and more.
Kathy LaTour
Editor-at-Large

A nagging wife

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | FEBRUARY 23, 2010

I'm a nagging wife. After a year of telling my husband he needs to see a dermatologist to get a few moles looked at, he finally relented. I'm sure he thought I was just being overly cautious and a little paranoid. Granted, every three months, I wonder if I've developed the cancer featured in the latest CURE issue, but a good baseline body check can't hurt.

He grudgingly went, but I think in the long run, he was relieved to get it over with. The dermatologist scraped tissue from about three moles on his back and chest, and he was eventually diagnosed with dysplastic nevi, which are benign, but people who have them can be at a higher risk of developing melanoma later on.

The National Cancer Institute has a brief booklet on dysplastic nevi and melanoma. It also includes a checklist on how to perform your own body check and help for identifying suspicious moles and lesions. There is also an upcoming mobile application that may allow you to take a photograph of your mole and send it on for a risk assessment of melanoma and other skin cancers.

About a year after that initial visit, my husband went back to the dermatologist yesterday and had one of the moles surgically removed. We're waiting to see if he needs more tissue removed and to confirm that it's still benign. While it's probably nothing to worry about, I'm glad he went. Sometimes we all need a little push to get screenings or have something checked out by a health care professional. I do think I have my work cut out for me when he turns 50, though.

What we're reading ... February 19, 2010

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Roger Ebert & Thyroid Cancer
This week, Esquire featured a powerful glimpse into the life of film critic Roger Ebert written eloquently by Chris Jones (Roger Ebert: The Essential Man). Diagnosed with thyroid cancer, Ebert has endured multiple surgeries that robbed him of his ability to speak, but through writing, this Pulitzer-prize winning critic has not lost his voice. To read more about Ebert's journey, look into his blog for the Chicago Sun-Times at http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/.
Lena Huang
Fitness & Nutrition Editor

Cancer Advances
The American Society of Clinical Oncology just put out its Clinical Cancer Advances 2009. The report gives an overview of the top advances in 2009, including drugs, standards of care, and prevention and screening. I was encouraged to see among the recommendations, enhanced coordination of care of cancer patients, including end-of-life care. The report also called for a strengthening of the nation's clinical research system.
Kathy LaTour
Editor-at-Large & cancer survivor

Colorectal Cancer Screening
While colonoscopies are the old standby when people think of colorectal cancer screening, there are actually several different types of tests people can use to screen for the cancer. Right now, only about 50 percent of people age 50 and older get annual screenings, and one reason, experts think, is because colonoscopies just aren't that fun. This article from the Associated Press (Millions missing out on colon cancer screening) talks about some of those barriers, but also how a simple in-home stool test could boost screening rates--and possibly save lives.
Elizabeth Whittington
Managing editor, curetoday.com

Congratulations, Drew Brees

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | FEBRUARY 15, 2010

Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, has more than just a Superbowl ring to be proud of. Brees, who led the Saints to their first Superbowl win, also secured a $100,000 grant for the city's Patrick F. Taylor Hope Lodge, a place for out-of-town cancer patients and caregivers to stay for free while they undergo treatment.

The grant contest, which was sponsored by Pepsi's Refresh program, pitted Brees against two other NFL football stars raising money for their selected charities. More than half a million votes were cast by fans at www.nfl.com/partner?partnerType=refresh-project. While the other two charities received $25,000, the New Orleans Hope Lodge will be able to use the $100,000 first-place prize money to help fund ongoing services to patients and caregivers, including apartment-style housing complete with community-hosted dinners, laundry, library, and free transportation to local cancer centers. For more on ACS Hope Lodges and other accommodations for cancer patients, read CURE's Far From Home from the Fall 2008 issue.

Brees chose the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge after touring the facility with his wife in November. (You can take a virtual tour here). The Superbowl champion also supports cancer research with his Brees Dream Foundation , an organization that works toward advancing cancer research and providing care, education, and opportunities for at-need children.

Brees is considered a hero in New Orleans to many--and not just to football fans. Congratulations, Drew!

What we're reading ... February 12, 2010

BY ELIZABETH WHITTINGTON | FEBRUARY 12, 2010

Each week the staff of CURE shares some of what they've been reading the past week with our readers. Please let us know what you think and what you've been reading, too!

Cancer Research
The New York Times book review on "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot caught my eye and made me want to buy the book. It tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a woman who died of cervical cancer in the 1950s and whose cells were taken without permission and eventually developed into drugs to treat numerous diseases, such as polio, leukemia, and the flu. Lacks left behind five children, and Skloot documents their story, which the reviewer describes as "the interplay of race, poverty, science and one of the most important medical discoveries of the last 100 years."
Lena Huang
Fitness & Nutrition Editor

Book Review
I just finished Glenn Rockowitz's book Rodeo in Joliet, his autobiographical romp through what should have been the last three months of his life. I didn't even care that he never told us what kind of cancer he had because his irreverence kept me gasping and laughing. Diagnosed at 28, two weeks before the birth of his son and one week before his dad is given an equally chilling diagnosis, Rockowitz grabs cancer by the udder. You have to read the book to see what I mean.
Kathy LaTour
Editor-at-Large & cancer survivor

Keeping Faith
"Suffering Well: Faith Tested by Pastor's Cancer" shares the story of Matt Chandler, a 35-year-old pastor with brain cancer. Clark, whose faith was shaken only once when he asked, "Why me?" uses his faith to get him and his family through a trying time--one that may not have a happy ending, in the traditional sense.

"Whatever happens, he says, is God's will, and God has his reasons. For Chandler, that does not mean waiting for his fate. It means fighting for his life."

He says he believes that, although his life is in God's hand, Chandler also has responsibilities--to use his brain, to take advantage of technology, to walk in faith and hope, and to pray for healing. It's only one look at how cancer survivors use faith and spirituality to get them through a life-threatening illness.

For more stories on how survivors' faith and spirituality, whether it comes from an organized religion or a belief that there is a higher power, helped them through cancer, look for CURE's upcoming article "Keeping the Faith," due out with the Spring issue next month.
Elizabeth Whittington
Managing editor, curetoday.com

No Smoking
A Seattle Times blog on philanthropies highlighted a huge grant to stem the number of lung cancer cases in Africa: Gates Foundation ramps up tobacco control efforts in Africa. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco will kill more than 8 million people in 20 years, with 80 percent in developing countries. However, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working to lower that percentage with a $7 million grant to the American Cancer Society and a $10 million grant to the World Health Organization--both aimed at lowering tobacco-related cancer in Africa.
Bunmi Ishola
Editorial assistant