While treatment for inflammatory breast cancer has improved in recent years, it still carries a worse prognosis than many other forms of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the 5-year survival rate for inflammatory breast cancer is 40 percent, compared with 87 percent for all breast cancers.
In typical breast cancers, the tumor forms a lump that a person can feel or see on a mammogram. In the inflammatory kind, which makes up 1 to 2 percent of the roughly 180,000 new breast cancer cases per year, the cancer “is often not a mass,” says Dr. Eric Winer, chief of the Division of Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “Instead, the breast is often warm, red, swollen and tender.” The cancer is often misdiagnosed as an infection treatable by antibiotics.
Do men who frequently smoke pot have a higher risk of testicular cancer than those who do not? It’s possible, according to a new study. However, the researchers say the link is currently a “hypothesis” that needs further testing.
Testicular cancer is relatively rare — a man’s lifetime chance of developing the disease is about 1 in 300 (and dying of it is about 1 in 5,000). Frequent or long-term marijuana smokers could have about double the risk of nonusers, according to the report in the February 9 issue of the journal Cancer.
Can EVOO — extra-virgin olive oil — cut the risk of breast cancer?
Yes — but only the 20% to 30% of breast cancers that express the HER2 molecules, suggest studies by Javier A. Menendez, PhD, at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Girona, Spain, and colleagues.
The Spanish researchers wondered why some studies show that the olive-oil-rich Mediterranean diet cuts breast cancer risk while other studies do not. They theorized that the active compounds in olive oil only affect certain cancers.
Women who underwent chest radiation therapy for a childhood cancer have a significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer at a younger age. Yet a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that many of them do not undergo the recommended screenings.
“Most young women at risk of breast cancer following chest radiation for a pediatric cancer, including women at highest risk (Hodgkin lymphoma survivors), are not being appropriately screened,” Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and colleagues write.
Susan Craig’s brother Roger died of a pulmonary embolism in 2007, at age 38. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in high school, he had been on antipsychotic drugs for years. At the time of his death, he was carrying 280 pounds on his 6-foot-4-inch frame.
Craig, a public relations specialist who works at Columbia University in New York City, knew that Roger’s medications could cause weight gain. But she had never been told that the drugs he was taking might be harming his heart.
Patrick Swayze has been released from hospital after voluntarily admitting himself for pneumonia treatment.
His representative Annett Wolf told People magazine that the 56-year-old actor was now back at home.
“I am happy to announce that Patrick Swayze is home after a brief hospitalisation for pneumonia,” she said.
Swayze, who went in for observation on January 9th, may have only two years to live after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.
An autonomous institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore has announced the discovery of a human protein called Bax-beta (Baxß), which can potentially cause the death of cancer cells and lead to new approaches in cancer treatment.
“Our research findings reveal that Baxß protein levels are normally kept at essentially undetectable levels in healthy cells by the protein degradation machine in cells known as proteasomes,” said Dr Victor Yu, who led the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) research team.
There are two numbers blazoned on the new bike Lance Armstrong will ride in the Tour Down Under and the American sporting legend and cancer campaigner says they sum up the reasons for his return to professional cycling.
The first – 1,274 – refers to the number of days between when the Texan retired at the end of the 2005 Tour de France and the start of his comeback in Adelaide.
While the second – 27.5 – refers to the estimated millions of cancer deaths worldwide in that time.
“So in those 1,274 days approximately 27.4 million people around the world have died from this disease,” Armstrong said on Saturday.
Using some mouthwash brands can increase the risk of getting mouth cancer, a new study claims.
Rinsing with mouthwash containing alcohol makes it easier for cancer-causing substances like nicotine to penetrate the lining of the mouth, says the report’s author, Professor Michael McCullough.
More than 3,000 people were examined for the research, giving ‘sufficient evidence’ that using mouthwash is linked to the development of oral cancer.
TAIPEI (AFP) – Taiwanese authorities on Sunday banned smoking in all indoor public places in what campaigners say is a “milestone” in turning Taiwan into a smoke-free island.
Smoking had previously been banned in public areas including hospitals, schools, theatres, libraries, office buildings and elevators.
Under the new law, it is banned in all other public facilities such as hotels, restaurants, karaoke bars, Internet cafes and roofed transport stations.
