SCCA Cancer News Watch 
SCCA's compilation of important cancer news from around the world.
| 2009
ACS Says Let Men Decide on Prostate ScreeningFor the first time since 2001, the American Cancer Society has updated its advice on prostate cancer screening. And the upshot is that now more than ever men need to talk with their doctors about whether having a PSA test makes sense for them. .. Read More Oral Cancer's Toll CruelIt brought a tough, All-Star NBA coach to tears this week. And it stilled the voice of a famous film critic. Head and neck cancers are rare, but known to be severe -- they can strip away a person's voice, distort the face and rob the basic abilities to eat, drink and swallow. The cancer can be so disfiguring, some patients seldom appear in public. Read more Aspirin May Help Prevent Return of Breast CancerBreast cancer survivors who took aspirin after completing treatment were half as likely to die or have their tumors spread around the body compared with survivors who didn't take aspirin, a long-running study of 4,164 nurses showed. Read more Millions Missing Colon Cancer ScreeningNearly half the people who need potentially lifesaving checks for the nation's No. 2 cancer killer - colorectal cancer - miss them, despite years of public efforts to make colon screening as widespread as tests for breast and prostate cancer. Read more Results Unproven, Robotic Surgery Wins ConvertsLast year, 73,000 American men — 86 percent of the 85,000 who had prostate cancer surgery — had robot-assisted operations... Read more Racial Disparities Persist in Cancer DiagnosisThe incidence of advanced breast cancer diagnosis among black women remained 30 percent to 90 percent higher compared to white women between 1992 and 2004, according to new findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Read more A World of DifferenceToday is World Cancer Day. Most of us, however, are affected by cancer every day—by the memories of loved ones we've lost, by the struggle for survival that friends and family members are enduring, or by our own experiences battling the disease. Tragically, far too many people who should beat cancer die from it. In fact, 40 percent of all cancer is preventable and one-third can be cured if detected early and treated effectively. Read more Ovarian Cancer Symptoms Speak Out — But What Are They Really Saying?It used to be accepted that ovarian cancer was a “silent killer.” However, recent data have reproducibly demonstrated that the vast majority of patients with ovarian cancer have symptoms for at least several months before their diagnosis. Read more Smokers with Cancer Could Quit and Double SurvivalPeople with early lung cancer who quit smoking could double their chances of surviving, a new study says. Until now, there has been little proof that quitting smoking after developing lung cancer makes any difference to survival. Read more Living With a Formerly Fatal Blood CancerBefore 2000, fewer than half of CML patients survived seven years; now nearly 90 percent are alive seven years after diagnosis and ... lead relatively normal lives. Read more New Breast Screening Limits Face ReversalAnnual mammograms, seemingly on their way out under new federal guidelines last year, may be coming back. The final health-care bill is likely to require coverage for more mammograms than the new guidelines recommend after women's groups, doctors and imaging-equipment makers stepped up pressure on lawmakers -- one of many threads of the bill negotiated behind the scenes. Read more |
| 2009