Cancer In Plain English - Cancer Information

Breast Cancer: Where are we today?

RemwesMedical — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:56:42 +0000

Breast Cancer remains a very serious and important medical problem in the world. Every year, over 170,000 women and over 2,000 men will be found with breast cancer.
In the 1980s, we started to use mammograms in order to screen women for the possibility of having breast cancer. This has been a revolutionary step and a life saver for thousands of women. As we would expect, with the use of mammograms, we now find many cancers very early in their course, which in the past would have never been found until it was too late and the cancer might have already spread.
The question one would ask is: Since women now use mammograms as a way to find breast cancer early before it spreads, does this mean that we no longer find breast cancer that is advanced by the time we find it? Unfortunately, the answer is no. This is truly unfortunate.
It seems that there is a group of women who have a tendency (which is probably genetic in origin) to developing very aggressive breast cancers and that when they are found with breast cancer, their cancers are already spread. Thankfully, this is a small percentage of the women who develop breast cancer. This group of women, the ones who develop a very aggressive breast cancer from the “get go” is made up of only about 5% – 10% of all women who develop breast cancer. Research is currently ongoing to see if we can find other ways to know who are these women who develop aggressive breast cancers from the start and how to find them earlier than what is possible with a mammogram. To this end, the use of things such as the BRCA cancer genes and blood tests are being explored as a possible means of finding these women who have the tendency to develop aggressive breast cancers and to try to catch them as early as possible.
The good news is that we are making progress. The findings of new and promising ways to try to find out who are the women at risk for this aggressive form of breast cancer continue to come frequently. As we learn of them, we here at Cancer In Plain English will post them here for you in easy to understand language. Our desire is to make complicated cancer information very easy to understand so that everyone can know as much as possible. All of these concepts are as well available on the breast cancer audio CD which is available on the www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com internet web site.

Ghrelin stimulates appetite in cancer patients

RemwesMedical — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:11:14 +0000

A new treatment has been discovered which increases the appetite and the nutritional intake of patients with cancer.
A major problem, when it comes to cancer, is the loss of appetite. People with cancer just are not hungry. This loss of hunger in cancer patients (and in anyone who is not hungry) is called “Anorexia”. Unfortunately, this lack of appetite could not come at a worse time. Just when a person needs to eat and take in nutrition in order to build up strength with which to fight the cancer, they lose all desire to eat.
Until the development of this new medication known as Ghrelin, the major means for stimulating appetite in cancer patients was with a medication known as Megesterol (or Megace). This is a hormone which stimulates appetite in many cancer patients and, until now, was the best we could do in order to try to stimulate appetites in patients with cancer.
Well, enter Ghrelin. This is a relatively new hormone which was discovered by Dr. Kojima and colleagues in 1999. Its function is to circulate in the body and to stimulate the development of hunger.
In a study published in February of 2010 in the medical journal Cancer, researchers in Sweden administered Ghrelin as a daily subcutaneous injection for 8 weeks to patients with cancer who had poor appetites. More or less half the patients were given Ghrelin at a low dose and the other half were given Ghrelin at a higher dose.
The results of this study showed that the patients with cancer and a poor appetite who received the higher doses of Ghrelin tended to have significantly improved appetites, improved retention of their body weights and improved levels of energy. What’s more, the patients who received Ghrelin did not have any noteworthy side effects from this medication.
As such, it seems that we have now discovered a new medication for the stimulation of appetite in patients with cancer. For cancer doctors, the finding of this new means to stimulate the appetite of patients with cancer could not come a moment too soon. Lack of appetite has been a difficult problem for patients with cancer for a very long time. All of these concepts and many more are covered and discussed in the Colon Cancer audio CD available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com

Cigarette smoking and Colon Cancer

RemwesMedical — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:47:30 +0000

Inheriting a gene that increases one’s risk for the development of cancer is like inheriting a loaded gun. That gun never needs to go off unless someone or something pulls the trigger.
When we think of cigarette smoking and the health risks that come with that activity, we think of lung cancer, emphysema and other breathing ailments; however, we typically do not think of Colon Cancer.
Well, as per an article published in February of 2010 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research that thinking may soon change.
Researchers have known for years that cigarette smoking is not only related lung cancer. It is as well associated with other cancers such as Kidney Cancer and Throat Cancer.
The findings in this recent study indicate, however, that it may as well increase the chances of developing Colon Cancer in people who inherit a gene that makes them more susceptible to the development of colon cancer.
Drs. Pandel and Lynch of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas studied a total of 752 people who were known to have inherited a gene for a form of colon cancer known as the Lynch Syndrome type of colon cancer. This form of colon cancer is also called the HNPCC syndrome. What they found is that patients who inherited the gene for this form of cancer and who smoked had a much higher chance of developing colon cancer than in patients who inherited that gene and who did not smoke – or who had quit smoking for at least 2 years or more.
The key here is that cigarette smoking seems to increase the risk of colon cancer in these people who have already inherited a gene that places them at an increased risk of cancer. As we mentioned earlier, this is comparable to having inherited a loaded gun, but it did not go off until cigarette smoking comes along and pulls the trigger.
What we can “take away” from the findings of these researchers is that cigarette smoking, although known to be harmful to the lungs can hurt us in ways that we never imagined. If, by chance, a person has inherited the gene for this form of colon cancer, does not know it AND starts to smoke cigarettes, his or her risk of colon cancer is thus increased. As such, it is important to not start smoking and if we already smoke, to do all we can to stop smoking. As we can see from this recent journal article, like a sinister and stealthy assailant, cigarette smoking can cause us harm in many and sometimes unexpected ways. All of these concepts and many more are discussed in easy to understand language in the Colon Cancer Audio CD available on the Internet web site www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.

Ramucirumab – no food supply for you!

RemwesMedical — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:26:31 +0000

There is a promising new medicine for the treatment of various forms of cancer. This new medicine is known as RAMUCIRUMAB.
Cancer is a formidable foe. It not only starts out quietly and often grows quietly, it also makes sure that it creates its own blood supply to feed its growing appetite as it grows.
Lately, researchers have focused on this ability of cancer to create its own blood supply – its supply lines as it were – as an Achilles’ heel with which to attack and kill growing cancers. If we stop a cancer’s ability to feed itself, we thereby stop its ability to grow and ultimately to survive.
The way that cancers make new blood supplies is by making a protein in the blood called a VEGF. Think of VEGF as a baseball that comes to the baseball glove. The baseball glove is the VEGF RECEPTOR.
Well, when the baseball (the VEGF) arrives at the baseball glove (the VEGF RECEPTOR) this triggers the production of new blood vessels which in turn bring more blood and nutrition to the growing cancer.
Well, a relatively new medication which has been recently approved for the treatment of both Colon Cancer and Lung Cancer is called Bevacizumab (or Avastin). Avastin binds to the baseball (the VEGF) BEFORE it has a chance to be caught by the baseball glove (the VEGF RECEPTOR). Thus, if VEGF can never get to the VEGF RECEPTOR, then the reaction that happens when those two get together can never happen and, thus, no new blood vessels are made.
Well, what if we were to now make a new medicine to target not the baseball but the baseball GLOVE?
Well that is what the experimental medicine, Ramucirumab is. This is the first medicine that targets the baseball GLOVE (the VEGF RECEPTOR). What’s more, it SPECIFICALLY targets a very SPECIFIC TYPE of baseball glove. In other words, it specifically targets a type of VEGF Receptor known as the TYPE 2 VEGF Receptor. Thus, if the VEGF Receptor is taken out of commission, then, again, as with the medicine Bevacizumab (Avastin), the cancer cannot make new blood vessels to feed itself.
In a recent article in the February 10th, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researches prove that this new medicine can be safely given to patients and it is reasonably well tolerated. It also promises to be a new addition to our armaments and weapons for treating cancer. Even though this medicine, Ramucirumab, is still investigational, it promises to be a wonderful new addition to our treatments for possibly Colon Cancer, Lung Cancer and possibly Kidney Cancer.
All of these concepts and more are covered in easy to understand language in the the Lung Cancer and Colon Cancer audio CDs available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com

Degarelix for the treatment of Prostate Cancer

RemwesMedical — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:33:51 +0000

There is an exciting new medication which was just recently approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the USA) on December 24th, 2008 for the treatment of advanced Prostate Cancer. This new medicine is known as Degarelix and it is made by a company known as Ferring Pharmaceuticals.
Once prostate cancer has grown and has spread outside of the prostate gland, it is typically no longer able to be cured but is able to be controlled for years with what is known as hormonal therapy. The types of hormone therapies that have been available for us to use until now have been of two basic types.
One is the “LHRH agonists” of which Leupron or Zoladex are common examples and the other is the “Antiandrogens” of which Casodex or Eulexin are common examples.
Well, we now have a third type of hormone therapy that has been approved by the FDA and this one is called Degarelix. What Degarelix does is to actually BLOCK the GnRH RECEPTOR. GnRH stands for “Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone” and this is a hormone that originates in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus which stimulates the production of another hormone called LH (Leutenizing Lormone). This LH hormone, then, in turn causes the testicles to produce testosterone.
There are “receptors” in the brain that, when triggered, cause the brain (i.e. the hypothalamus part of the brain as we mentioned earlier) to produce GnRH which in turn, as we have seen, causes the production of LH which in turn stimulates the testicles to produce Testosterone. Thus, by blocking the RECEPTOR for GnRH in the brain, the brain is not stimulated to produce GnRH. Thus, since no GnRH is made, then no LH is made and thus finally, no testosterone is made thus by the testicles. Prostate cancer depends on the presence of testosterone in the body as its stimulus for growth and spread. Therefore, without testosterone, the cancer stops growing and shrinks – often for years.
The best part about this new medication known as Degarelix, is that it avoids what is known as the “flare” reaction that is sometimes a problem with the use of the more classic “LHRH agonists”. All of these concepts and many more are covered in very easy-to-understand language in the Prostate Cancer audio CD available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.

Prolia: A promising new drug for Prostate Cancer

RemwesMedical — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:01:46 +0000

Prolia (or, as it is also known, Denosumab) is an exciting new medication which promises to help men with prostate cancer with the damage to their bones that can result from the treatments that are given to control their prostate cancers.
Just as cars use gasoline for fuel and jet planes use airplane fuel, prostate cancer uses the hormone known as Testosterone as its fuel. Testosterone stimulates the growth and spread of prostate cancer. An excellent and easy way to stop prostate cancer, then, is to shut down the production and/or the effects of Testosterone in the body. This is readily and reliably achieved by “anti-Testosterone” medications known as LHRH agonists, antiandrogens or both given together. Over time, however, these wonderful “anti-Testosterone” medications, which do so much good for men with prostate cancer, can cause the bones of the body to become weaker, brittle and possibly even break or fracture.
Prolia, which is also known by the more scientific name of Denosumab, is a new and exciting medication produced by a company known as Amgen in California, which is showing excellent promise for helping to improve the bone loss that results from the use of the Testosterone-stopping medications mentioned earlier.
There are other medications on the market that help to stop bone loss – particularly one known as Zometa made by a company known as Novartis, which until now has been pretty much the “go to” medication when it comes to treating the bone loss resultant from the use of Testosterone-stopping medications. The key with this new medicine known as Prolia (also known as Denosumab), however, is that it works in a very new way to combat the bone loss.
How does Prolia (Denosumab) work? Well, in order to understand how Prolia works, we first need to talk a little bit about how our bones work in general. The way the bones of our bodies work is that they are constantly breaking themselves down and building themselves back up again over and over again constanly in order to keep our bones fresh and strong. Really? Yes, really. The key, however, is that this happens constantly but very slowly and so we do not notice it. All we notice is that our bones remain hard and strong and they continue to support our bodies.
Well, Prolia (Denosumab) STOPS the “break down” part of the “break down and build up” cycle we just mentioned earlier. By stopping the “break down” half of the cycle, the bones of the body will only continue to “build up” and get stronger and not get weaker.
The nice thing about Prolia (Denosumab) is that it seems to promise to be good not only for the bone loss that happens to men who are receiving Testosterone-stopping medicines as part of their treatment for prostate cancer, but it also promises to be good for women with breast cancer who are being treated with hormone therapies for their breast cancers. What is even better is that Prolia does not seem to have any worse side effects than Zometa (which has been pretty much the “standard” medicine to help avoid bone loss until now) – except, perhaps, a few more episodes of low calcium blood levels. This is an easy situation to monitor with a blood test from time to time and then to treat.
All of the above concepts and much more information is covered in very easy-to-understand language in the Prostate Cancer audio CD which is available on the www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com web site.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

RemwesMedical — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:12:16 +0000

Inflammatory breast cancer is a very aggressive form of breast cancer that is very different from the other forms of breast cancer and one which is very important to know.
This form of breast cancer is an infrequent form of breast cancer. It accounts for only 1% – 5% of newly diagnosed and newly found breast cancers. As such, thankfully since it is such an aggressive cancer, it is very infrequent.
A key fact to remember with inflammatory breast cancer is that there is usually NO LUMP! A woman with inflammatory breast cancer will not feel a mass or a lump. In inflammatory breast cancer, the whole breast is usually red and warm and the skin of the breast looks thick and dimpled. In fact, the skin of the breast looks so much the way the skin of an orange looks that textbooks describe the way the skin of the breast appears in inflammatory breast cancer as a “Peau d’orange” look – which literally means the “skin of an orange” look.
What this means is that breast cancer has been able to slowly infiltrate the skin of the breast and is spread all through the breast under the skin. This is such, that many times one can make a diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer by just taking a punch biopsy of the skin of the breast.
It is very important to know that inflammatory breast cancer is a particularly aggressive and fast moving form of breast cancer. If left alone, this form of breast cancer can be rapidly fatal for the woman – sometimes in as little as three months!
As such, if a woman feels that her entire breast is red, tender, warm to the touch and the skin is thickened, she needs to see a physician right away. It is important to know that a mild infection of the skin of the breast, which is sometimes called a “mastitis” can look just like inflammatory breast cancer. Thus, if your doctor tells you that the skin of your breast is red, tender, warm to the touch and thickened because you have an infection in your breast, please make sure to ask him or her if it is possible that what is happening in your breast is not an infection of the breast but possibly an inflammatory breast cancer. All of these concepts are explained in very easy to understand language in the Breast Cancer audio CD available on the web site www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.

Breast Cancer Stage

RemwesMedical — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:54:01 +0000

There are four key and most important things to remember and to have in mind when it comes to breast cancer.
The first is to know if the woman with the breast cancer is still having menstrual periods or not. Breast cancer behaves differently in women who are as yet having regular periods compared with the way it behaves in women who are no longer having regular periods.
The second is the size of the tumor when it is found. This is important because this will tell us about the possibility of the tumor to spread. The larger the tumor size when it is found, the greater the chance for it to have spread by the time we have found it.
The third is the finding or not of lymph nodes in the axilla (or, as is more commonly known, the “armpit”) which show that the cancer had spread to them. This is key as it tells us if the cancer has had the opportunity to spread to this site by the time we find it. If it has, this is a very key finding that dictates how aggressive we need to be in order to try to keep the cancer from ever returning.
The fourth and final key point to know when breast cancer is found, is if the breast cancer had what are known as receptors present in it. These receptors are called Erstrogen receptors, Progesterone receptors and HER-2 receptors. If the cancer does have receptors present, this will help us know how to treat it. If it does not have receptors present, this will then let us know how else to treat the breast cancer.
All of the above concepts and more are available in very easy to understand language in the Breast Cancer audio CD available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com.

An exciting new discovery for Prostate Cancer

RemwesMedical — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:28:24 +0000

There has been a recent discovery of a way to tell the difference between prostate cancer in a man which will grow slowly and will behave in a sleepy and quiet manner from prostate cancer in a man which will grow very quickly and powerfully and will kill the man if it is not treated immediately and aggressively. This is exciting news! Men have dearly needed to know how to be able to make this distinction for years!
Prostate cancer is a very frequent form of cancer. The key, however, is that for most men prostate cancer is something that they die WITH and not die FROM. What this means is that for most men, prostate cancer is a process that affects them but it is one which they can live with for years and at the end of their lives, they die from other causes (such as a heart attack or heart failure) and not from the prostate cancer that they have been carrying for years.
But what of the men in whom the prostate cancer is not so slow growing? What of the men in whom the prostate cancer grows very aggressively? How can we tell the difference between the prostate cancers in men which will remain sleepy and quiet for years (and for possibly the rest of their lives) from the prostate cancers in men which will grow terribly fast and be deadly if not treated aggressively and immediately?
Well, doctors at the Institute for Cancer Research at the Royal Marsden Foundation in Surrey, UK have recently shown, in an article published on January 26th, 2010 in the British Journal of Cancer that there are genes that may indeed be able to help us make this critical distinction between these two groups of prostate cancers in men.
Doctors AHM Reid and colleagues have identified a combination of genes that if present in a man with prostate cancer, indicate that that man has a much more aggressive and lethal form of prostate cancer. Equally important is the information that if a man has prostate cancer does NOT have these gene changes, he may very likely have a very slow growing and much less deadly form of prostate cancer.
The genes that these doctors have identified are called the PTEN gene and the ERG/ETV1 gene rearrangement. Drs. Reid and colleagues demonstrated that if a man with prostate cancer has the PTEN gene AND the ERG/ETV1 gene rearrangement in his prostate cancer, his cancer will grow much faster and much more aggressively. On the other hand, if a man with prostate cancer does NOT have the PTEN and ERG/ETV1 gene rearrangements, his prostate cancer will grow very slowly and will be much less lethal.
Indeed, these researchers have shown that 85% of men with prostate cancers which DID NOT have the PTEN gene and the ERG/ETV1 gene rearrangement were alive 11 years after the finding of their prostate cancer. By comparison, ONLY approximately 14% of the men who had prostate cancers which DID have the PTEN gene and the ERG/ETV1 gene rearrangements were alive at 11 years after the finding of their cancers.
All of the above concepts and information and much more are available in very easy to understand language in the Prostate Cancer audio CD available on www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com

In the treatment of lung cancer does it help to receive chemotherapy after surgery? – YES!

RemwesMedical — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:22:21 +0000

A key factor when it comes to treating lung cancer is that if the lung cancer is found early in its growth, it may be possible to remove it surgically. To remove a lung cancer by surgery is the BEST CHANCE for cure that a patient with lung cancer can have. Unfortunately, there are many patients in whom the lung cancer returns just a few months after having removed it surgically. Also unfortunately, and more importantly, is the fact that when the lung cancer returns after having removed it surgically, it is then usually incurable. A key question is then: Is there something we can do in order to try to keep the lung cancer from coming back after having removed it surgically? The answer is yes!
In a recent set of articles and an editorial in the January 1, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Doctors at the Cross Cancer Institute in Alberta, Canada have shown that it helps to receive chemotherapy after the surgery is performed to remove the lung cancer. They have shown that by giving chemotherapy following surgery, the chemotherapy helps to keep the cancer from returning. The act of giving chemotherapy following surgery is what is known as ADJUVANT chemotherapy.
These doctors have shown that if a lung cancer is found early (at least stages II and III) and is able to be removed surgically, if the person then receives chemotherapy with a chemotherapy medication known as Cisplatin accompanied by another chemotherapy medicine known as Vinorelbine (also called Navelbine), the person who receives chemotherapy this way after surgery, will have a significantly lower risk of having the cancer return compared to a person only had surgery to remove the cancer and did not receive any chemotherapy following the surgery.
These doctors at the Cross Cancer Institute in Canada and in an accompanying editorial written by Dr. Jean-Yves Douillard of the Centre Rene Gauducheau for Medical Oncology in St Herblain, France, have noted that even after following these patients for over 9 years after their surgery and/or chemotherapy, the patients who received surgery AND THEN chemotherapy lived longer and had less chances for their cancers to return compared with patients who received ONLY surgery and DID NOT receive chemotherapy after their surgery.
Thus, in conclusion, these studies show that if one has surgery to remove a lung cancer that has been found early, it is important and it makes perfect sense to ask one’s doctor about the possibility of receiving chemotherapy after the surgery in order to do all that is possible to keep the cancer from coming back. All of these concepts and more are covered in very easy to understand language in the Lung Cancer audio CD available on the www.CancerInPlainEnglish.com web site.