Cancer screening rates low

BY LENA HUANG | JANUARY 31, 2012

The percentage of Americans getting screened for cancer is below national targets with lower rates in the Asian and Hispanic populations, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute in a study released last Friday.

The study revealed that in 2010 breast cancer screening rates were 72.4 percent, which is below the target of 81 percent set by Healthy People 2020, a government initiative to set benchmarks to measure the impact of prevention activities. Cervical cancer screening was at 83 percent compared with the benchmark of 93 percent; and colorectal cancer screening was at 58.6 percent lower than the target of 70.5 percent.

According to the report, screening rates in the Asian population were "significantly lower" at 64.1 percent for breast cancer, 75.4 percent for cervical cancer and 46.9 percent for colorectal cancer. Hispanics were less likely to be screened for cervical cancer (78.7 percent) and colorectal cancer (46.5 percent) compared with non-Hispanics at 83.8 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively.

In a statement accompanying the study, lead author Sallyann Coleman King, MD, said, "It is troubling to see that not all Americans are getting the recommended cancer screenings and that disparities continue to persist for certain populations. Screening can find breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers at an early stage when treatment is more effective." King, who is also an epidemic intelligence service officer in the CDC's division of cancer prevention, added, "We must continue to monitor cancer screening rates to improve the health of all Americans."

While financial costs may be a barrier to some in obtaining screening, the report also notes programs that can help. The CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides access to free or low-cost screening and diagnostic services to underserved women across the country. The CDC's Colorectal Cancer Control Program offers access to screening to underserved men and women in 25 states. In addition, reducing financial barriers to preventive care is an aim of the Affordable Care Act. Under the act, breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening is covered free under Medicare and new health insurance plans.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence
• Cancer apps

Cancer apps

BY LENA HUANG | JANUARY 13, 2012

Last summer, the National Cancer Institute and the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology challenged innovators to create applications that help cancer patients, survivors and healthcare professionals. The winners were recently announced and were each awarded $20,000 to develop their technology. Although these apps are still in the early stages of development, you can test some out and see what the future may look like for technology that helps us along the cancer journey. Here are the two winners:

1. Ask Dory! was developed by Chintan Patel, PhD, and Sharib Kahn, MD, of Applied Informatics to help patients find clinical trials. It utilizes information from clinicaltrials.gov and takes you through a decision tree, or series of questions, to personalize and find the best trial for you. Dory was named after the curious fish in "Finding Nemo."

2. My Cancer Genome was developed by researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center as a personalized support tool to help patients, caregivers and healthcare providers match genetic mutations to therapies, treatments and clinical trials. Developers have started with cancers that are known to have genetic links and plan to add new content as more genes and diseases are connected and as more targeted therapies emerge.

The semifinalists also had intriguing ideas. One program focuses on cancer screening and decision making, and the other plans to provide personalized strategies for reducing cancer risk. If you are interested in seeing the semifinalists, you can look here.

Congratulations to these innovators who are working to use the latest technology to make cancer more understandable and personalized!

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Drug shortage webinar

BY LENA HUANG | NOVEMBER 10, 2011

Although President Obama issued an executive order last week to tackle the growing shortages of some medicines, the results of that order may not come fast enough for many cancer patients in need of treatments. More than 22 chemotherapy drugs, about 35 to 40 percent of the total number of approved cancer drugs, are in short supply.

To support cancer patients' concerns and provide help, Fight Colorectal Cancer is hosting a free webinar on the drug shortages called "What to do when your doc is out of 5-FU (or leucovorin or irinotecan)" on November 16 at 8:00 p.m. (EST). Dr. Lindsey Poppe, the pharmacy clinical manager of oncology for the University of North Carolina hospital system, will provide alternatives and advice for patients and discuss how to take action to get your government representatives involved in a resolution. To participate, register here.

After Nov. 16, the webinar can be accessed at fightcolorectalcancer.org.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Women's retreat to heal from cancer

BY LENA HUANG | JULY 20, 2011

Shambhala Mountain Center is hosting its fifth annual retreat "Courageous Women, Fearless Living: A Retreat for Women Touched by Cancer," and if you act fast, the Center is giving away two free registrations!

The goal of this nurturing retreat is to provide support and healing to those on the cancer journey by "integrating body, mind and heart." Professionals will give classes on healthcare, nutrition, meditation, yoga, visualization and art therapy. Leaders include Victoria Maizes, MD, executive director of Dr. Andrew Weil's University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, and Linda Sparrowe, writer, yoga instructor and editor-in-chief of the magazine Natural Solutions.

Shambhala Mountain Center is located on 600 beautiful acres in northern Colorado. It has been offering programs and retreats on meditation, yoga and other contemplative disciplines since 1971. The Center is also affiliated with Shambhala International, a network of over 170 groups, centers and retreats around the world.

To apply for the two free registrations, click here. The drawing will be on July 25, 2011, so register soon! Good luck!

To find out more about the retreat, click here.

Here are some comments from past "Courageous Women, Fearless Living" attendees:

"This program will help me to begin my 'new life' – perfect timing, perfect content. I just finished radiation one month ago and had no idea what to do next! Now I know I am reborn."

"Thank you for sharing this sacred land. You worked so hard to show us love and compassion. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I felt so loved. This may have saved my life – I had lost hope, but now...I want to go on."

"For me, the five days we spent together in this blissful healing environment was wonderful from so many perspectives. I loved the nutritional guidance, the yoga, the meditation, the healing visualizations and most of all the courageous women, so full of life and vigor."

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

New FDA sunscreen rules

BY LENA HUANG | JUNE 17, 2011

This week, the Food and Drug Administration announced new regulations on sunscreens that will go into effect next year. These regulations include:

• a maximum SPF of 50 because 50+ doesn't offer more protection,

• SPF will include UVA and UVB light protection (currently SPF only refers to UVB),

• and "waterproof" or "sweatproof" cannot be used to describe sunscreens but "water resistant" can be used if product testing proves it can be resistant at two intervals, 40 or 80 minutes.

The new regulations were the topic of the Diane Rehm show yesterday. As always, I found her show informative, and in her usual style, Rehm interviewed both proponents and critics, one critic who said it has taken the FDA over 30 years to come up with these rules, while skin cancer rates continue to multiply each year in the U.S.

While this may be true, it's important to focus on what we can do. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer, and yes, skin cancer rates continue to climb each year. So what can we do about this now? The dermatologist that Rehm interviewed had some great suggestions. She said we should stop thinking sunscreen is just for the beach, but something we use every day we are exposed to the sun. Also, we need to reapply sunscreen every couple of hours because it can come off from sweat or rubbing with a towel or napkin.

I also learned from the show that sunscreen has about a two-year shelf life. Sunscreens that have been around longer than that may not provide the full protection, if any. For those who don't want to wear sunscreens, there are many options for sun protective clothing. The American Cancer Society provides some additional skin cancer prevention tips at its website.

The American Academy of Dermatology also has helpful online tools such as prevention tips, a "mole map" to help you determine skin cancer and locations where you can get free skin cancer screenings.

So while the FDA regulations may be late and won't be in effect for another year, don't use that as an excuse not to use sunscreen or wear protective clothing or hats. Every bit helps in the fight against skin cancer.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Cynthia Nixon talks about cancer and "Sex and the City"

BY LENA HUANG | MAY 13, 2011

While there are many inspiring aspects of my job as CURE's senior managing editor, one of my favorite moments of the year is attending CURE's Extraordinary Healer Award for Oncology Nursing. This year's event honored three outstanding nurses who went above and beyond to help their patients. But the evening also pays tribute to all oncology nurses and how they encourage and sustain those on the cancer journey.

At this year's event, the mistress of ceremonies was Cynthia Nixon who is known for her role as Miranda on "Sex and the City" and for countless other characters she has portrayed in plays, movies and television. Among her many awards are Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy and Golden Globes. All this is very admirable, no doubt, but I am also impressed by Nixon's advocacy as a breast cancer survivor.

I had the opportunity to chat with Nixon for a few minutes before she went on to host the Extraordinary Healer event. She spoke openly about her breast cancer experience and shared details of her treatment. She also shared her mother's story, a two-time survivor who, after being first diagnosed with breast cancer, had to advocate for a lumpectomy over mastectomy during a time when lumpectomies were not common. And Nixon discussed the "Sex and the City" episodes in which Samantha had breast cancer.

I asked Nixon if having cancer changed her life. She said, "It's so hard to know. I got cancer the year I turned 40. Turning 40 was a big deal for me, not necessarily in a bad way. It just felt like I had arrived at a real peak in my life--that I could look forward and I could look back. I had a big party and invited people from my past, my present, and people I didn't know well but always wanted to be friends with. And I feel like the cancer only added to that feeling--that we are not going to be here forever. Are you living your life the way you want it to be? What are the things you've always wanted to do or meant to do? You're still here, and you're 40. Why aren't you doing them? It sounds small but I started taking singing lessons, things like that, that really made me put my money where my mouth was. You can't constantly defer--at some point, you have to step up."

To read the entire interview, click here. And tell us what you have "stepped up" to change in your life after cancer.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Free to breathe

BY LENA HUANG | MAY 6, 2011

In 2006, the National Lung Cancer Partnership created Free to Breathe, a program that started as a walk to raise awareness and research funding for lung cancer. Today, Free to Breathe has grown into over 30 events across the country, which include run/walks, yogathons and golf tournaments. There's also a national walk week (November 5-11) in which you can pick any day of the week that works for you to walk anywhere in your community at any distance!

For those of you in the Dallas area on May 21, some of the CURE team will be waking early to participate in the Free to Breathe 5K run/walk and 1 mile walk at the Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve at 2801 East Spring Creek Parkway in Plano, Texas. Join us, and help bring attention to a disease that is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

For more information about the Dallas Free to Breathe or to find an event in your area, check out the website here.

The National Lung Cancer Partnership is a nonprofit organization of doctors, researchers, patient advocates and survivors who are devoted to raising awareness of lung cancer, to improving patient education for the disease and to generate funding for research. Since its inception, it has funded over $2.2 million in research and provided patient education to countless people. To learn more about the National Lung Cancer Partnership and the work it is doing, check out the website here.

Do you participate in a cancer-related event? Tell us about it so we can spread the word!

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Palliative care at diagnosis

BY LENA HUANG | AUGUST 20, 2010

Yesterday, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study endorsing early palliative care for patients with metastatic lung cancer. The study found that patients who were assigned palliative care at diagnosis had a better quality of life, had less depression, and lived longer (approximately two months) than patients assigned to standard care.

Palliative care focuses on creating the best quality of life for patients suffering from symptoms of a disease. This may be by alleviating treatment side effects, such as pain, with medication. It can also be through providing nutritional advice or even spiritual counseling. Palliative care is a holistic approach to caring for a patient's mind and body so that he or she will be in the best possible condition for treatment and to enjoy daily life.

So it seems obvious palliative care is available to everyone, right? Not so, says an accompanying editorial to the NEJM study. "Despite the increasing availability of palliative care services in U.S. hospitals and the body of evidence showing the great distress to patients caused by symptoms of illness, the burdens on family caregivers, and the overuse of costly, ineffective therapies during advanced chronic illness, the use of palliative care services by physicians for their patients remains low. Physicians tend to perceive palliative care as the alternative to life-prolonging or curative care--what we do when there is nothing more that we can do--rather than as a simultaneously delivered adjunct to disease-focused treatment," says Amy S. Kelley, MD, and Diane E. Meier, MD, from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

In 2008, CURE featured an article on palliative care that brought to light the importance of this specialty, especially for cancer patients who suffer many side effects of treatment. More and more, we are seeing cancer patients living with metastatic or chronic disease, sometimes waiting for the next greatest therapy and sometimes keeping the cancer at bay with cyclical treatments. With palliative care to help ease their burdens, these patients can continue to enjoy daily life and hopefully be stronger physically and mentally to undergo treatment.

Perhaps this is best put by Patty Szostak, a cancer patient who received palliative care and who was interviewed for our story. "I do get scared. But I am able to feel joy. And I still have a mental image of myself at age 90 in my garden with the cats running around, and me pressing seeds into the ground. That's the picture I have. And I'm not giving up on it." That level of hope and joy should be available to all cancer patients.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Cancer survivors needed for online support study

BY LENA HUANG | JULY 22, 2010

Last September, I blogged about a study that sought to improve the lives of cancer survivors by providing online support. And while that study has been closed, the Stanford Patient Education Research Center recently received additional funding to offer another workshop –- one targeted to people who have survived cancer more than once.

Study manager Katy Plant, MPH, said the new program was initiated to address this patient population who could not qualify for the first study. Researchers are looking for survivors who have been originally diagnosed with cancer and have had a new or recurring cancer within the last five years.

This six-week, Internet-based workshop called "Cancer: Thriving & Surviving" aims to help survivors with the unique issues that confront them post-treatment, such fatigue, emotional concerns, physical changes, and late effects of treatment. This program also offers survivors the opportunity to connect with other survivors online.

Each workshop will bring together about 25 survivors and will be facilitated by two trained moderators with at least one moderator being a cancer survivor. Participants will also have access to an online learning center and discussion boards, and will be asked to log in at their convenience two or three times for a total of about two hours a week during the six-week workshop.

The study will assess the effectiveness of this program. A similar study by Stanford showed that participants who developed confidence in managing their own health required fewer medical interventions and were overall healthier.

Results from the first study will be released early next year. For more information and requirements for the current study, go to http://cancersurvivors.stanford.edu or email cancersurvivors@standford.edu.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence

Be the change

BY LENA HUANG | JUNE 28, 2010

This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, and Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, were interviewed about the National Conference on Volunteering and Service taking place in New York City over the next few days. This annual conference is billed as the "world's largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, government, and corporate sectors" and is sponsored by the Points of Light Institute and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

In hearing Bloomberg and Booker talk about service and volunteering, I recalled the many cancer volunteers I have encountered in both my professional and personal life. I thought of Mac and Lisa Tichenor who, after their son died of osteosarcoma, started the What Would Willie Want Foundation to fund and encourage research in sarcoma. I thought of the many oncology nurses I have interviewed who spent time outside of their jobs to lead a cancer support group or to organize a cancer fundraiser. I thought of the hundreds of volunteers it takes to make a Race for the Cure run smoothly. I thought of my friend, Jan, who volunteers at a hospital to keep people company while they are receiving chemotherapy. And I thought of the many volunteers at hospitals, clinics, and hospice who helped my mom during her cancer journey.

During the interview, Booker said this, "We have to understand our generation. We're not being called to storm the beaches in Normandy or Midway; we are not being called to join together for the civil rights movement. We are being called to understand that we still in America drink deeply from wells of freedom we did not dig. We have an obligation to serve. Democracy is not a spectator sport. All those who want a great America have to understand they have a role to play. You can't talk about schools, and you can't talk about crime without first realizing, I can do something for mentoring a young person, from getting involved in neighborhood groups to do something about it."

Whether or not cancer has touched your life, you can "do something about it" by volunteering or by giving. For a disease that can be devastating and scary, giving back is one way to feel empowered over the helplessness and fear. As Booker said, I think we all have a "role to play" in changing cancer in our communities and during our lifetimes. And there are so many opportunities--from raising funds, running a 5K or helping a 5K run, to volunteering by helping patients at hospitals or caring for a friend who is ill.

During the interview, Booker pointed out the number of hours we spend watching television and what an impact it would make to devote even some of those hours to volunteering or service. Think of the transformation we could create by dedicating time to someone else; it could be all the difference in the life of a cancer patient.

• Two new drugs approved, one pulled from the pipeline
• Cancer screening rates low
• A call for more pancreatic cancer research
• An introduction to cancer: From a father and his daughter
• The cushion of silence