By PEGGY ORENSTEIN From: nytimes.com ONE of the nastier aspects of breast cancer is that it doesn’t have the five-year sell-by date of some other malignancies: you’re not considered “cured” until you die of something else. Although it becomes less likely, the disease can come back eight, 10, even 20 years after treatment. I fell on the wrong side of …
HPV Test vs. The Pap Smear: Which Detects Cancer Better?
By: Alexandra Sifferlin From: time.com When it comes to detecting cervical cancer, the Pap test has been the gold standard for more than 60 years. But as the role of human papillomavirus virus (HPV) in contributing to the cancer has emerged in recent years, screening for HPV has started to rival the Pap. And last week, a study of more …
Can Big Data cure cancer?
By: Miguel Helft From: fortune.com A tale of two twenty-something computer whizzes, a mountain of money from Google, and one of the oldest, most vexing problems of all time. You’ve heard the story before. A couple of whiz kids meet at an elite college, bond over their love of computers, and after a few late-night hacking sessions, build a website …
Legislation promoting early detection of breast cancer unites right and left on Capitol Hill
By: Bruce Alpert From: nola.com Promoting early detection and medical care for breast cancer is uniting members of Congress from the left and right. On Thursday, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a leading conservative, joined with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a liberal, to introduce legislation reauthorizing the 2010 EARLY Act, which has helped identify gaps in education and awareness among young …
Breast cancer: One-shot therapy gets NHS nod
By James Gallagher From: bbc.com A pioneering breast cancer treatment that replaces weeks of radiotherapy with a single, targeted shot is set to be offered on the NHS. The dose of radiation is delivered from inside the breast, once a tumour has been removed in surgery. It would benefit up to 36,000 people and should also save the NHS money. …
Study Finds New Cancer Risk from Hysterectomy Device
By Jennifer Levitz From: wsj.com A surgical device commonly used in hysterectomies has the potential to spread more types of cancer in a woman’s body than previously thought, new research released Tuesday shows. The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association also reinforces an earlier government assessment that use of the device, a laparoscopic power morcellator, is risky. …
Cancer Patients Choosing Hypnosis Over Counseling
By: Dr. Maria Simbra From: cbslocal.com Dealing with cancer is difficult both physically and emotionally, especially when the treatments start, but some cancer patients are now using a new tool to help them get through it. Being diagnosed with breast cancer can be frightening. “Having a diagnosis of any kind of cancer, I imagine, is devastating, and your mind races,” …
Veterans waiting longer for cancer care, researchers say
By Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield CNN From: clickondetroit.com Sgt. Terry Mitchell withstood fire deep in the mountains of Vietnam and was exposed to Agent Orange. He survived that grisly war, but now, four decades later, his wife believes his life was cut short by delays in care at the Veterans Administration. On August 8, 2012, a pathology report found …
Cat Poop Parasite Shows Promise in Treating Cancer
by Jennifer Vie From: discovery .com A kitty poop parasite has led to a treatment that wipes out cancer in lab tests, including aggressive melanoma and ovarian cancer, preliminary studies have found. By itself, the single-celled parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is bad news because it can cause illness in infected people and cats. It thrives in the intestines of cats and …
Local cancer center drops Obamacare patients
By JENNIFER ROBISON LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL A billing dispute has cost enrollees in the state’s health insurance exchange access to Southern Nevada’s largest oncology practice. Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada has left the provider network of Nevada Health CO-OP, a nonprofit insurer created to sell coverage through the Nevada Health Link exchange. Because Nevada Health CO-OP was the only carrier …