SPOTLIGHT -
The Choice to Work
Creating a plan is critical for patients who work during treatment.
Message from the Editor
Making medical decisions grants patients power—and uncertainty.
A Worry-Free Way to Support Nonprofits?
Letters from Our Readers
CURE's Survivors special issue, treatment side effects, treating renal cell carcinoma, and a survivor's map.
Lessons Learned
Deciding between complex cancer treatment options can be overwhelming, and each choice has pros and cons, but following a few tips of advice may ease the decision-making process
A Cunning Predator
Therapies improve for asbestos-caused cancer.
A Waste of Taste
Taste alterations during therapy can make food unpleasant.
Taming the Dragon
Dragon boat racing embraced by breast cancer survivors.
The Shadow Survivors
A childhood cancer diagnosis often makes well siblings feel like they’re battling the disease too.
In Situ Breast Cancer: Is It Really Cancer?
Status of noninvasive breast cancer gets some clarity.
Power to the Patient
Doctors and patients confront shared decision-making.
Treatment Boost for MDS
Deep in the bone marrow lies the reason for blood disorders classified as myelodysplastic syndromes—stem cells gone awry.
Getting the Care You Deserve
Cancer treatment involves many specialists, some patients may not be aware of.
Back in Action After DCIS
Treatment options for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a precursor to breast cancer.
People & Places
People and organizations involved in cancer issues and awareness.
Fatal Fibers
Asbestos exposure is the main cause of mesothelioma, accounting for more than 80 percent of cases.
Working Through Caregiver Grief
Experts recommend bereaved caregivers find a routine after a loved one’s death, either by returning to work or setting up another type of schedule instead of being home alone in order to escape from the grief.
Job-Searching Hints for Survivors
Reentering the workforce after a cancer diagnosis can add anxiety to an already stressful job hunt and whether a survivor chooses to disclose a diagnosis or not, there are a few helpful guidelines to consider.
Arms in Motion
Lymphedema can develop as a result of removing or destroying lymph nodes during surgery or radiation, causing arm heaviness and swelling, but research shows that exercise, lymph drainage, compression and protection helps manage lymphedema and alleviate symptoms.
Creating a Dragon Boat Team
Cancer survivors can easily start their own dragon boat team with the following advice.
Sisterhood
Some siblings may take on a parental role while others become advocates, but individual reactions to a cancer diagnosis vary greatly, depending the sibling relationship and the sibling’s age at diagnosis
Watch It or Treat It?
Many experts consider lobular carcinoma in situ, LCIS, to be a precursor to invasive breast cancer, but there is still debate over the best treatment including surgery and prevention with tamoxifen or Evista.
Do Women Under 50 Need Mammograms?
The risks and benefits of mammography screening vary by age—the benefit for women over age 50 has been proven, but debate continues about the benefit of screening younger women, beginning at age 40.
The Scoring System
Researchers designed the Van Nuys Prognostic Index to aid in treatment decisions for women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, DCIS.
When the Choice Is Not Cure
Cancer patients do not always seek a cure if the price could be months of misery from toxic treatment.
Classifying & Clarifying MDS
Improvements in the classification of myelodysplastic syndrome, MDS, based on varying characteristics in the disease have better defined prognosis and helped patients and doctors make treatment-related decisions.
Cure Becomes Less Risky
Allogeneic stem cell transplantation and improvements in conditioning treatments may make transplant available to more patients and lower risk of severe side effects.
Cancer with a Known Cause
About 20 percent of patients develop secondary MDS—when the disease is caused by chemotherapy, such as alkylating agents, or radiation used to treat a previous cancer—and current research is focused on finding genetic alterations that will provide better treatment options for these patients.
Mitigating Litigation
Asbestos litigation has become the most costly mass tort in U.S. legal history.
House Call
Dr. Aman Buzdar discusses the latest breast cancer treatment strategies with aromatase inhibitors.