Spring 2006

Occurring in up to 86 percent of chronic pain patients, breakthrough pain can be relieved by medication that acts within minutes for a short time.

Cancer that has spread to the bone can cause chronic pain, and many patients are undertreated for it. Now, pain specialists are addressing this problem and creating pain strategies specifically for metastatic cancer patients.

Winning Essays from Quilted Northern Time for Thanks contest.

Resources for co-survivors.

Resources recommended for when dealing with Medicare.

Tracing the steps to the creation of Medicare Part D.

The human body sometimes produces its own immune response to renal cell carcinoma that results in spontaneous disease remission.

With no standard screening test for kidney cancer and few symptoms until it’s advanced, early-stage disease is often discovered by accident when imaging scans, such as computed tomography, are used to look for other medical problems.

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, comprising more than 90 percent of all kidney cancers.

Staging, the process of finding how far the cancer has spread, guides treatment decisions for kidney cancer.

Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD, talks about his involvement in the history of Herceptin.

Herceptin can cause cardiac toxicity

Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD, discusses HER2 and the development of Herceptin.

A timeline of important Herceptin developments.

Survivors battle long-term pain with newer methods.

The new drug for pancreatic cancer and other treatments being tested.

Reviews of three books covering cancer etiquette, living with colon cancer, and a husband's view on his wife's cancer.

Coretta Scott King died of ovarian cancer, and Sheryl Crow postponed her tour for an operation.

Revlimid is approved for certain types of myelodysplastic syndrome, and Sutent was approved for both advanced kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Dealing with the “tyranny of positive thinking.”

For some people, cancer becomes a motivator.

A father and daughter spend 39 mornings in radiation oncology.

Cancer survivors have the right to complain, but it is hard when everyone expects you to be positive, cheerful, and optimistic.

A discussion on the difference between sadness and depression complete with signs and symptoms that differentiate the two.

Young adult survivor Molly McMaster turns her experience into a national tour and non-profit group dedicated to raising awareness on colon cancer.

Eight years after its approval, Herceptin emerges as the best weapon against HER2-positive breast cancer.

Newer oral cancer drugs will be covered under the new prescription drug plan.

Advanced treatments take form for a notoriously hard-to-beat cancer.

New statistics are promising, but more is needed.

Unique programs give gratitude and support to co-survivors.