Tag: Chemotherapy

Is the Internet awash with Cancer misInformation with potentially tragic Consequences for Patients?

There are few stubborn myths about cancer

Six stubborn myths about cancer
Is the internet awash with misinformation about cancer, with potentially tragic consequences for patients?

There are few illnesses as terrifying in the public consciousness as cancer. With up to a third of us getting cancer at some stage in our lives, it is almost impossible to remain untouched by the disease. As an ominous reminder of our mortality, cancer scares us to the point that discussions about it are often avoided and the language we use is couched in euphemisms.

While it would be impossible to address all the legends on the subject, David Robert Grimes – physicist and researcher at Oxford University – dispells some of the more persistent misunderstandings:

  • Cancer rates are rising
  • Sharks don’t get cancer
  • Cancer is a modern disease
  • Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are poisons
  • There is a cure, but big pharma is suppressing it
  • Cancer can be cured by X

Read Six stubborn myths about cancer, TheGuardian, 30 Aug 2013

New early Breast Cancer Test guiding adjuvant Chemotherapy Decisions

Oncotype DX is only suitable for certain types of breast cancer

'Chemotherapy-sparing' test offered
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK

A new breast cancer test – Oncotype DX – that could spare thousands of women the ordeal of chemotherapy has been approved – by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) – for use in the NHS in England and Wales.

The test works out the odds of a some tumours spreading round the body and should help doctors decide more accurately which patients will need chemotherapy.

Read ‘Chemotherapy-sparing’ test offered, by James Gallagher, BBC News, 26 Sept 2013

Sources: Gene expression profiling and expanded immunohistochemistry tests for guiding adjuvant chemotherapy decisions in early breast cancer management: MammaPrint, Oncotype DX, IHC4 and Mammostrat
NICE, September 2013

DES and Breast Cancer:

2013 Hope for protecting Cancer Patients from Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy

Can drugs shield sensitive gastrointestinal tract from toxic effects?

Cancer treatment breakthrough? Scientists reveal hope for protecting patients from radiotherapy and chemotherapy
Radiotherapy are radiations induced by photons (X rays) and particulate radiations

Scientists may have found a way of protecting cancer patients from the lethal effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy using drugs that shield the sensitive gastrointestinal tract from the toxic effects of the treatment.

Read Cancer treatment breakthrough? Scientists reveal hope for protecting patients from radiotherapy and chemotherapy
by Steve Connor, The Independent. 31 July 2013.

Chemotherapy alternatives: new Cancer Tools allow Patients to reconsider harsh Cancer Treatments

Combination of new technology and more-targeted cancer drugs

A development stage biotechnology company is leading the way to a new approach to cancer treatment, adding years of survival and doing so without toxic side effects at lower cost than pricier new cancer drugs.

  • Video by IBTimesTV, Published on 2 May 2013

Find out more

  • After decades of using one-size-fits-all therapies to combat cancer, doctors are using new tools to help decide when their patients can skip chemotherapy or other harsh treatments. An approach to oncology that has been in place for decades is beginning to yield to an arsenal of long-term clinical studies, genetic tests and novel drugs that target cancer cells and their infrastructure.
  • Read Skip Chemo? New Cancer Tools Allow Patients To Reconsider Harsh Cancer Treatments
     HuffPost Healthy Living, 15 May 2013.
  • More posts on Cancer and Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy damages healthy Cells; boosts Tumour Growth, Resistance to further Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy can backfire and make Cancer worse by triggering Tumor Growth

Surprised? US Scientists Find That Chemotherapy Boosts Cancer Growth” Chemotherapy can damage healthy cells? Say it isn’t so? You don’t need a degree to figure this one out. Poison kills indiscriminately– always has and always will. While damaging healthy cells, chemotherapy also triggers them to secrete a protein that sustains tumour growth and resistance to further treatment. Researchers in the United States made the “completely unexpected” finding they claimed while seeking to explain why cancer cells are so resilient inside the human body when they are easy to kill in the lab.”

Read Surprised? US Scientists Find That Chemotherapy Boosts Cancer Growth

Related Posts

Breast Cancer: Women treated with Radiation face increased Heart Disease Risks

Radiation raises heart risks for breast cancer survivors

Read Radiation raises heart risks for breast cancer survivors by Liz Szabo

” Women treated with radiation for breast cancer are more likely to develop heart problems later, even with the lower doses used today, new research suggests. ”

  • Radiation can keep breast cancer from returning, but also damage the heart
  • Breast cancer survivors face a number of long-term complications due to treatment
  • Chemotherapy can cause heart failure and can put women into early menopause

Read Radiation raises heart risks for breast cancer survivors
by Liz Szabo, USA TODAY, Mar 14, 2013.

Chemotherapy can backfire and make Cancer worse by triggering Tumor Growth

Damage responses in benign cells… may directly contribute to enhanced tumor growth kinetics

Shock study: Chemotherapy can backfire, make cancer worse by triggering tumor growthScientists found that healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted more of a protein called WNT16B, which boosts cancer cell survival.

” The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected ” said Peter Nelson, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.  Read Shock study: Chemotherapy can backfire, make cancer worse by triggering tumor growth,
nydailynews, 2012.