Fall 2008

Expanding coverage across the entire cancer continuum.

Women at high risk for breast cancer may lower their risk of developing the disease by undergoing a preventive, or prophylactic, mastectomy.

Educational conference for thyroid cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.

Traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, includes a variety of therapies, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, and meditation exercises for health and well-being.

Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau and Stand Up To Cancer.

Specialty pharmacies have been a health care staple for years.

American Cancer Society launches online video sharing.

Does vitamin D prevent cancer?

What you need to know about breast cancer prevention.

Treatment anxiety can be conquered [and besides, it usually turns out to be unfounded].

Information on managing the side effects of cancer therapy.

Colorectal cancer survivors take their message to Congress.

New law funds pediatric cancer research.

Study shows smoking cessation aids and advice not reaching minorities.

Patients who travel for treatment now have more places to stay.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s survivorship clinic.

How patients negotiate the transition to their post-treatment life can be framed by a number of factors beyond their control, including age and gender.

The Institute of Medicine’s From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition offers a number of recommendations for improving survivors’ care.

Patient denial places added burden on caregivers.

A single, young, BRCA1 carrier chooses prophylactic mastectomy in Pretty Is What Changes.

New research and tools illuminate the multiple treatment paths faced by patients with early-stage invasive breast cancer.

Role of antioxidants called into question -- again.

New options for surgery and radiation cause debate in early-stage breast cancer.

Helpful definitions of terms that guide treatment decisions in early-stage breast cancer.

Constipation during treatment can be alleviated.

A trek to the finish line.

Velcade is now available for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients and new drugs emerge as potential treatment to a serious side effect.

The growing need for shared decision-making in medicine.

Anyone considering traveling for cancer treatment should thoroughly research the treatment facility services, specialties and pysicians and plan ahead for a place to stay and living expenses.

With so many options, patients need specific information from their physicians in order to make decisions that fit their goals and situation.Jeffrey Belkora, PhD, director of Breast Care Center Decision Services at the University of California, San Francisco, hosts Guidesmith, a public interest website that “focuses on how you can use leadership, teamwork, and decision making skills and tools to guide yourself, or someone else, through high-stakes situations.”The prompt sheet that is provided to breast cancer patients at UCSF to stimulate questions to ask the doctor is available on the site, and covers areas such as treatment options, goals of treatment, the impact of each choice, and barriers that might exist.