Technique Finds Hard-to-Spot Breast Tumors
A new system nimbly finds tumors masked by dense breast tissue that mammograms ordinarily can't spot - and at half the cost and with a vastly lower rate of false positives.
The technique, known as Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI), is especially targeted at the nearly one-fourth of women above 40 who have dense breast tissue, which allows malignancies to lie hidden until it's too late.
What's done with MBI is simply to inject a radioactive tracer into the breast. It's absorbed by the cancer cells, and the resulting "glow" is picked up by special cameras. The body excretes the tracer within a day.
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Cancer Patients In Need of Psychological and Social Support
A recent report from the Institute of Medicine addresses the toll that cancer therapies have on patients' mental and emotional state that may potentially cause other health problems. Cancer treatments save and prolong many people's lives; however, care that focuses solely on eradicating tumors without acknowledging a patient's well-being can increase the patient's suffering and affect their ability to follow through on treatment. The report proposes that oncology care providers use a new standard of care that accomplishes three goals: screen patients for distress and other problems, coordinate and connect patients with health care or service providers who can treat these problems, and periodically re-evaluate patients to determine if patient care needs adjustment.
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Lung Cancer Treatment
There is some encouraging news tonight regarding the treatment of lung cancer.
A minimally invasive procedure is shown to be so effective at zapping away tumors, it’s prolonging the lives of patients far beyond what’s currently expected.
The best way to get rid of lung cancer is to cut it out. But many patients, like Candi Harrah, can’t have surgery, leaving them stuck with few good options. “My husband had noticed that I coughed up a little blood which I didn’t think was unusual because of sinus stuff, you know it is really easy to get nose bleeds when you have severe allergies.” But at the age of 50, after years of smoking cigarettes, Candi got a disturbing diagnosis: lung cancer. “The gentleman who read the scans said basically you have three months to live, we will make you as comfortable as possible. I said there is no way, there is no way I accepted that,” says Candi.
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Breast Cancer Treatment
There is important research that will directly affect one out of every four women diagnosed with breast cancer. Herceptin, a treatment used to boost the benefits of chemotherapy and surgery has been shown to be highly effective, and experts are saying it’s a must-use.
Now, two new studies say herceptin can reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and the overall risk of death.
Three years ago, when Wendy Funk she was only 35, she thought her life was over. Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 32, her cancer had later spread. “When I had the breast cancer metastasis, they had given me six months to live,” says Wendy.
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LUNG CANCER SEED TREATMENT
There is new hope for patients diagnosed with lung cancer but with too much lung disease to go through surgery to get their cancer removed. Radioactive seeds deliver concentrated doses of radiation treatment to the specific areas affected by cancer.
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ABRAXANE BREAST CANCER TREATMENT
Four years ago Maryann Dillon was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
“You’re just numb, any time you receive a diagnosis like that, you’re just numb,” says Maryann.
Maryann says she felt like she was given a death sentence. Because her cancer spread, surgery was not an option so she began intense rounds of chemo and drug therapy.
“They said that I had a year, maybe a year and a half to live. And it was diagnosed as a terminal cancer,” says
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