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.

Late-stage study data presented this month by Synta Pharmaceuticals Inc. reinforces the likelihood that the company will produce its skin cancer drug elesclomol, reports the Associated Press.

Synta Pharmaceuticals Inc. is testing elesclomol, in combination with paclitaxel, to help treat patients with the skin cancer known as metastatic melanoma.

The company says additional data revealed that lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) could help predict how well elesclomol will work in improving survival outcomes. LDH is an enzyme that plays an important role in cell energy production.

In addition, the company released a statement that said the results show "there are clear signs" the drug will benefit patients with normal LDH. To date, adverse effects have been restricted to patients with high LDH.

For safety reasons, Pfizer has stopped patient enrollment for a late-stage lung cancer trial of its experimental drug, figitumumab, reports Reuters.

The company said independent safety monitors recommended halting the study after deaths occurred in patients taking figitumumab.

Patients currently enrolled in the study may continue their treatment in consultation with their physicians. As of 9/30/2009, 681 patients were enrolled in the Phase 3 study out of a target of 820, reports the company.

Clinical trial investigators and regulatory agencies were notified; they will work closely with the safety monitoring committee on analyzing the date before issuing further guidance.

Two U.S. studies show the majority of childhood cancer survivors to have healthy pregnancies and children later in life, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Study authors say life-saving treatments, such as chemotherapy, may affect a child's future reproductive health, and as the number of childhood cancer survivors increases, research is necessary to determine the effects.

One study, published this month in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, compared 1,898 infants who were born to childhood cancer survivors diagnosed before age 20 to 14,278 infants born to women without childhood cancer. While infants born to the childhood cancer survivors weren't at risk for death or birth defects, they were 54% more likely to be born preterm and 31% more likely to weigh less than 5.5 pounds at birth.

Rates of diabetes, preeclampsia and anemia during pregnancy were similar among both female childhood cancer survivors and women who weren't treated for childhood cancers.

Another study in the same journal issue analyzed 470 children of men who had childhood cancer. Researchers found a "borderline risk" of the children weighing less than 5.5 pounds at birth, especially if their father was treated with chemotherapy. Also, female partners of male childhood cancer survivors were not at increased risk for pregnancy complications. However, women did have a higher risk of preeclampsia if their male partner had certain types of childhood cancers, specifically brain tumors.

Are you a childhood cancer survivor? Share your experiences after treatment with other survivors at our Side Effects Message Board.

A U.S. study has uncovered additional genes associated with head and neck cancers, which could lead to more targeted gene therapies, wrote United Press International in a recent article.

UPI reports the study found 231 new genes associated with head and neck cancers, which is responsible for 2.1% of all U.S. cancer deaths. Scientists at the Henry Ford Hospital in San Diego said previously, only 33 genes were associated with head and neck cancers.

Study results were announced in San Diego during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Foundation.

What are your thoughts about the potential for these new genes to create more targeted therapies? Post your comments below, or start a discussion with cancer survivors, patients and caregivers on our Head And Neck Cancer Message Board.

Texas wants to be the nation's second largest source of cancer research funding, according to an Associated Press report.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas is pushing to spend $3 billion on cancer research over the next decade. That would put the agency in second place nationwide for research funding, after the National Cancer Institute.

According to the AP report, cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong helped convince voters in the Lone Star State to approve a 2007 bond measure to fund the initiative.

Cancer researchers should expect to see funding from Texas as soon as spring 2010.

Scientists from deCode genetics recently announced they have discovered four novel single-letter variations in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs) that may increase prostate cancer risk, reports Reuters.

The SNPs are located on chromosomes 3q21, 19q13 and 8q24, a region of the genome where deCode and other scientists have found risk factors for prostate, breast, colon and bladder cancer.

These findings, published in the journal Nature Genetics, were followed by a population-based analysis in Iceland of these and other published sequence variants linked with increased prostate cancer risk. The analysis suggests that by testing for these published SNPs it is possible to identify the 1.5 percent of men who are at more than 2.5 times the average risk for the disease.

Discuss this and other genetic research with cancer patients, survivors and caregivers at the CancerCompass Genetics Message Board.

New research suggests a common sexually transmitted infection called trichomoniasis could increase prostate cancer risk, reports The Washington Post.

As part of a large body of ongoing research called the Physicians' Health Study, doctors from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston analyzed blood samples from 673 prostate cancer patients. Compared to 673 men without prostate cancer, those with the infection were more than twice as likely to develop prostate cancer that was advanced when it was diagnosed a decade later, and nearly three times as likely to get a lethal case, according to findings published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

According to researchers, the sexually transmitted infection may increase prostate cancer risk by causing inflammation in the prostate gland. Trichomoniasis is specifically caused by a parasite called trichomonas vaginalis, which infects approximately 174 million people worldwide each year, making it the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection. According to the Washington Post report, three-quarters of infected men don't realize it.

Doctors say more research is necessary to confirm the results of this study.

What you think about this study? Share your thoughts and experiences at the CancerCompass Prostate Cancer Message Board.

U.S. News and World Report health Blogger Deborah Kotz says new research from the American Institute for Cancer Research suggests 70,000 cases of breast cancer - representing 40% of new U.S. cases - could be prevented every year if women took the following actions:

1. Maintain a healthy body weight. For your typical 5-foot 4-inch woman that means a weight range of 105 to 142 pounds or a body mass index between 18.5 and 25.
2. Exercise. Researchers recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.
3. Limit alcohol consumption. No more than one serving of alcohol per day, which means 5 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of liquor or 12 ounces of beer.
4. Breast-feed. Research suggests new mothers breast-feed exclusively for up to 6 months.

With the exception of genetic mutations, Kotz says many breast cancers have no known cause, which means these four steps are suggestions for possible ways of protecting yourself.

Learn more about the Causes & Risk Factors of Breast Cancer.

New research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology questions whether dioxin increases the risk of cancer, reports Reuters.

Dr. James Collins, an epidemiologist at Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan studied the long term health effects of pesticide plant workers exposed to a form of dioxin known as TCDD. Researchers studied 1,615 workers exposed to higher than normal amounts of TCDD over an average of 36 years.

This form of dioxin is listed as a known human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Despite higher levels of Dioxin exposure, researchers found "no more cancer deaths among exposed workers than among the general population," reports Reuters. While 4 workers suffered from a highly malignant soft-tissue sarcoma, researchers were unable to observe a trend that linked those cases, and other diseases the workers suffered from, with TCDD exposure.