What we're reading ... 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 editorCancer 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.comClinical 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 assistantUpdates

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