Articles

Long-term coffee drinking may be related to a decrease in risk for endometrial cancer, according to a recent study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Coffee is emerging as a means of defense against cancers linked to obesity, estrogen, and insulin, Edward Giovannucci, MD, ScD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health said.

Excessive blood sugar levels are linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The findings appear in a recent online edition of the British Journal of Cancer.

The study involved nearly 5000 postmenopausal women participating in the National Institutes of Health’s landmark Women’s Health Initiative study. Fasting blood sugar and insulin levels for these women were assessed at baseline and several more times during the following 12 years.

Studies continue to show that nurses need care, too. However, finding or acknowledging a need for such care can be a challenge in a society that upholds an attitude of bravado among medical caregivers. Wellness programs for medical staff, including one developing at Stanford, are slowly incorporating employee support. “We need to teach resiliency, perspective and balance,” says Stanford Hospital’s Chief of Surgery, Tom Krummel.

According to a study presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), women in their 40s would benefit from annual screening mammography. More specifically, women in this age group with no family history of breast cancer are just as likely to develop invasive breast cancer as women with a family history of the disease.

More than 1 million patients receive cancer treatment in an outpatient oncology clinic each year. Unfortunately, infections from both community and healthcare settings remain a key reason for hospitalization and death among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. In an effort to help shield this at-risk patient population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is introducing a new program that includes tools to assist both clinicians and patients in the prevention of infections.

After determining that the drug is unsafe and ineffective for breast cancer treatment, the FDA recently revoked the agency’s approval of the breast cancer indication involving Avastin use in combination with paclitaxel for patients with HER2-negative breast cancer.

Severe high blood pressure; bleeding and hemorrhaging; heart attack or heart failure; and the development of perforations in different parts of the body such as the nose, stomach, and intestines are the risks included with the use of bevacizumab.

A national support and advocacy group for those at risk for or living with lung cancer, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA), recently issued its annual National Report Card on Lung Cancer. This report is a general assessment of the nation’s response to the ongoing high mortality rate of  lung cancer.

Dear Colleague,

Women without the BRCA gene mutation don’t have a heightened risk of breast cancer, even if they have relatives who carry one of the mutations themselves, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers.

The recent findings refute a 2007 study, which stated that such women could have a 2 to 5 times higher risk of developing breast cancer compared with the general population, even if their test for the 2 genetic mutations was negative.

Many US oncologists say they are good at managing their patients’ pain, yet they consider their pain management training to be poor, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.