Oncology

• Angelina Jolie's Double Mastectomy: Q&A

  

  Posted 8:45 PM 5/14/2013

  May 14, 2013 -- Actress and activist Angelina Jolie's recent decision to have a preventive double mastectomy highlights the difficult choices facing women who find out they have a high risk for breast cancer because of their genes.

  Although relatively rare, mutations in the BRCA1 and (More)
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• Night Shifts May Raise Risk of Ovarian Cancer

  

  Posted 9:13 PM 3/15/2013

  March 15, 2013 -- Another study has shown a link between night-shift work and cancer, this time an increase in the risk of ovarian cancer.

  Much of the previous work on the link between cancer and night work has focused on (More)
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• Q&A: Valerie Harper's Cancer

  

  Posted 9:49 PM 3/6/2013

  March 6, 2013 -- Actress Valerie Harper, best known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda in the 1970s, has learned she has leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.

  The condition happens when cancer spreads to the brain and spinal cord.

  Now 73, Harper told People magazine she received the diagnosis in January.

  The American (More)
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• Q&A: Breast Cancer in Young Women

  

  Posted 9:22 PM 2/28/2013

  Feb. 28, 2013 -- Young women found the news surprising and more than a little scary: Cases of advanced breast cancer have been rising in women 25 to 39 over the past three decades, researchers reported this week.

  From 1976 to 2009, the number of cases of advanced breast (More)
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• Supercomputer Watson Takes on Cancer

  

  Posted 5:29 PM 2/15/2013

  Feb. 15, 2013 -- IBM's Watson, the supercomputer that grabbed headlines after beating the best contestants on Jeopardy!, now is setting its sights on cancer.

  Two years after Watson's victory on the game show, IBM is offering up the pizza-box-sized computer for health care. Its developers have chosen to debut it prominently in cancer care.

  Watson's first application is (More)
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• Cancer as a Death Sentence & Other Myths Dispelled

  

  Posted 8:52 PM 2/4/2013

  Feb. 4, 2013 -- Today, on World Cancer Day, the organization behind this annual event is aiming to dispel several myths about cancer.

  The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is trying to counteract the myths that cancer is a death sentence and a disease of the wealthy, the elderly, and developed countries.

  In fact, more than half of the deaths from cancer (55%) happen (More)
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• Dental X-rays Linked to Brain Tumors

  

  Posted 4:19 AM 4/10/2012

  April 10, 2012 -- Getting frequent dental X-rays appears to increase the risk for a commonly diagnosed brain tumor, a new study finds.

  Exposure to ionizing radiation -- the kind found in X-rays -- is the biggest known environmental risk factor for (More)
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• Study: No Link Between Cell Phone Use and Cancer

  

  Posted 10:59 PM 10/20/2011

  Oct. 20, 2011 -- In recent years, people have been whipsawed by conflicting studies about the risks posed by low levels of radiation given off by cell phones.

  Now, one of the largest and longest-running studies ever to look for a link between mobile phone use and brain tumors shows that cell phone use doesn't increase the risk of (More)
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• Seizure Drug May Extend Lives of Brain Cancer Patients

  

  Posted 10:25 PM 8/31/2011

  Aug. 31, 2011 -- As many as half of all people with a common and potentially lethal type of brain cancer known as a glioblastoma will have a seizure at some point during their illness.

  Doctors often prescribe a drug to help control these seizures. But until now little was known about which drug, if any, is the best choice.

  When added to standard treatment, an older seizure drug, called (More)
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• Expert Panel: Cell Phones Might Cause Brain Cancer

  

  Posted 9:49 PM 5/31/2011

  May 31, 2011 -- The expert panel that evaluates cancer risks today said that cell phones might possibly cause brain cancer.

  The announcement comes from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Like the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society relies on IARC (More)
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• FDA Approves New Device for Brain Tumor Treatment

  

  Posted 4:47 PM 4/18/2011

  April 18, 2011 -- The FDA has approved a new noninvasive portable device for the treatment of a deadly type of brain tumor. The device uses electrical fields to slow and possibly reverse tumor growth.

  The device, manufactured by Novocure, is called the NovoTTF-100A System and is meant for adults with (More)
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• Genetic Defect at Work in Deadly Brain Tumors

  

  Posted 11:39 PM 12/22/2010

  Dec. 22, 2010 -- Scientists say they've discovered a genetic defect that may contribute to the development of as many as one in four cases of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive type of brain tumor.

  The defect, a deletion in a gene known as NFKBIA, prevents cells from making enough of a protein that acts as a natural tumor suppressor.

  Without the (More)
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• Many Patients with Incurable Brain Tumors Seek Complementary Therapies

  

  Posted 5:26 PM 12/14/2010

  Dec. 14, 2010 -- Many people diagnosed with incurable brain tumors turn to complementary therapies to slow the growth of their cancer or relieve side effects like fatigue and depression, new research shows.

  The study, published in the Dec. 14 issue of the journal (More)
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• Vaccine May Help Treat Brain Cancer

  

  Posted 9:30 PM 10/4/2010

  Oct. 4, 2010 -- A new vaccine for a deadly brain cancer known as glioblastoma doubled the survival time of patients, researchers from Duke University report.

  Unlike other vaccines given to prevent disease, ''this vaccine is given when patients get the cancer," says researcher John (More)
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