Cancer Blog

Compared to men who have traditional prostate cancer operations, Harvard researchers say there is a greater risk of losing sexual function and urine control in men who have prostate cancer surgeries designed to reduce blood loss and hospital stays, reports the Detroit Free Press.

During the prostate cancer surgery in question, surgeons use a technique that requires three or four small cuts in the abdomen. According to the article, this technique is used in 40% of procedures to remove prostates.

Findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that men undergoing this type of surgery were 40% more likely to be impotent and 30% more likely to be incontinent,

A Detroit urologist who helped pioneer the technique for this surgery, which was introduced in 2001, disagrees with the study's findings.

Dr. Mani Menon, director of the Vattikuti Urology Institute at Henry Ford Hospital, shared data on 4,800 prostate cancer procedures of this type, which show the complication rates in Detroit are half of those reported by the national study. And unlike the study, his data includes men of all ages.

If you have undergone this type of prostate cancer procedure, you can voice your opinion at our Prostate Cancer Message Board.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the sale of Cervarix.

Cervarix is a cervical cancer vaccine produced by British drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline and has been approved for use in girls between 10 and 25 years of age.

The vaccine is intended to offer protection against human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18, which cause approximately 75% of cervical cancers in North America, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Cervarix will compete with Gardasil, a cervical cancer vaccine which has been sold in the United States since June 2006.

The new vaccine is expected to be available in the U.S. by the end of this year.

New research suggests that dose-dense chemotherapy improves survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer, reports U.S. News & World Report.

A common first-line treatment for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer is paclitaxel and carboplatin every three weeks. Research from Japan, however, suggests dose-dense weekly treatment with paclitaxel may increase overall survival in these patients.

During this phase 3 study, researchers analyzed 637 women by comparing the two treatment methods. All participants had advanced epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer or primary peritoneal cancer.

According to the report, of the 637 women, 320 received conventional treatment of six cycles of paclitaxel and 317 received the dose-dense paclitaxel on days one, eight and 15. Both groups received carboplatin on day one of a 21-day cycle.

Researchers found women in the dose dense group had a 29% lower risk of cancer progression and a 25% lower risk of death than women in the conventional treatment group.

Toxicity caused 113 patients in the dose-dense group and 69 patients in the conventional therapy group to stop treatment. Severe anemia was experienced by 214 patients (69%) in the dose-sense group and in 137 (44%) of the standard therapy group.

The study was published recently in The Lancet.

What are your thoughts about this new chemotherapy treatment? Share your experiences with treatments that fight gynecological cancers by posting your thoughts at the CancerCompass Gynecological Cancer Message Board.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a blood test that helps ovarian cancer patients and their doctors decide what type of surgery should be done and who should perform the procedure, reports Reuters.

OVA1 helps detect ovarian cancer in a pelvic mass that is already known to require surgery. Despite negative clinical and radiographic tests for ovarian cancer, OVA1 helps identify women who will benefit from referral to a gynecological oncologist for surgery. If other test results suggest cancer, "referral to an oncologist is appropriate even with a negative OVA1 result," reports Reuters.

OVA1 tests the levels of five different proteins that change due to ovarian cancer. Results appear in a numerical score between 0 and 10 to indicate the likelihood that the pelvic mass is benign or malignant.

Reuters reports that the OVA1 test is intended for women 18 years and older who are already selected for surgery because of their pelvic mass. It is not intended for ovarian cancer screening and is not a definitive diagnostic tool for ovarian cancer. Also, this test should not replace other diagnostic and clinical procedures.

Share your thoughts about OVA1 or other lab tests at the CancerCompass Diagnostic Lab Tests Message Board.

New research suggests an experimental osteoporosis drug called denosumab may help reduce fracture risk in patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer.

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded Denosumab was associated with increased bone mineral density and reduced the incidence of new vertebral fractures in men receiving androgen-deprivation therapy for nonmetastatic prostate cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommended the drug for women being treated for osteoporosis and men experiencing bone loss from prostate cancer treatments, reports the LA Times.  While the recommendation means the drug's makers, Amgen Inc., are one step closer to have denosumab approved, the FDA won't officially decide until October.

Researchers randomly assigned prostate cancer patients to receive either a subcutaneous 60 mg dose of denosumab or a placebo every six months for 36 months. Changes in bone mineral densities at the femoral neck and total hip were measured, along with any new vertebral fractures at 24 months and 36 months.

Overall findings suggest bone mineral density of the lumbar spin increased by 5.6% in the denosumab group as compared with a loss of 1%t in the placebo group. Significant differences between the groups were seen as early as 1 month and sustained throughout the 26 month period.

What are your thoughts about this drug? Share your thoughts about denosumab or your current cancer treatment experiences at our Prostate Cancer Message Board.

Researchers are suggesting a very low dose of estrogen might help women fighting breast cancer prevent a reoccurrence, reports Reuters.

Dr. Matthew Ellis of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues studied 66 women with advanced breast cancer who were treated with an aromatase inhibitor that blocks estrogen. Some of these drugs include Pfizer's Aromasin, Novartis's Femara and AstraZeneca Plc's Arimidex. Women taking part in the study all experienced a relapse after treatment with these estrogen blocking drugs.

Doctors gave the women estradiol, a form of estrogen, in both high and very low doses. Both doses helped 30% of the women, with the lower dosage being more tolerable, according the study's findings.

Also, Reuters explains the treatment was not always permanent. In that 30% of women helped by the estrogen, the tumors did in fact start growing again. One-third of these women were helped by being placed back on an aromatase inhibitor instead of chemotherapy which is often more toxic and less tolerable.

What treatments has your doctor placed you or a loved one on to fight breast cancer relapse? Share your experience with members of the CancerCompass Breast Cancer Discussion Board.

Research from two different studies suggests head and neck cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) are more treatable, which means better survival rates, reports ABC News.

In the current study, researchers analyzed 106 white and 95 black patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. They found the median survival was 52.1 months for white patients and 23.7 months for black patients. Overall survival in the oropharyngeal cancer subgroup found whites had a median survival rate of 69.4 months compared to blacks with 23.7 months.

The finding, published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, could explain why black Americans with oropharyngeal cancer (throat cancer) do worse than whites, say researchers.

ABC News quoted one doctor who noted that the study "implies that the apparent black-white difference in outcomes is really a difference in who is infected with HPV." He went on to add that the research could help in comprehending the biology of cancer.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. says the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set September 7th as a decision date regarding experimental drug Zevalin's use in treating non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), reports Reuters.

The FDA recently accepted Spectrum's resubmission to review Zevalin, which typically means U.S. regulators would review the drug 60 days from the date of the submission's acceptance, says Reuters.

Zevalin is already approved to treat patients with relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular B-cell NHL.

Discuss your experiences with Zevalin or other medications used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at our Lymphoma Message Board.

Previous studies have suggested metformin - a drug used to control diabetes - helps diabetic breast cancer patient survival rates. A new study from doctors at the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center provides additional clinical data that tests the drug's efficacy in diabetic breast cancer patient treatments that include neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The study, published recently in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, measured the pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in 2,529 early-stage breast cancer patients, 68 of which were diabetic and taking metformin and 87 diabetic patients not taking metformin.

Measuring pCR rates is one way doctors can test a drug's efficacy in patients. When these rates are high that usually indicates a higher likelihood the drug itself is working.  

During this recent M.D. Anderson study, researchers discovered higher pCR rates in diabetic breast cancer patients taking metformin than diabetic breast cancer patients not taking the drug.

Researchers say further study is warranted to determine the potential of metformin as an anti-tumor drug.

Has diabetes affected your breast cancer treatment? Share your experiences at the CancerCompass Breast Cancer Message Board.

Dasatinib is an effective treatment for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in an accelerate phase (CML-AP) when imatinib treatments fail, suggests a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

This phase II trial study explored the safety of dasatinib by prescribing 174 imatinib-resistant patients 70 mg of the drug in oral form twice daily.

Researchers reported the 12 month progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 66% and 82%, respectively. Dasatinib was well tolerated with the most frequent side effects being diarrhea, cytopenias, as well as pleural effusion.