Try to prevent cancer
What you eat and drink, how you live, where you work, are all factors that can affect your risk for cancer. Except for quitting smoking, the best way to cut your risk of cancer is to maintain a healthy lifestyle - a healthy weight, keep physically active and make healthy food choices.
The Great American smoke out is the third Thursday in November every year. Quitting isn’t easy but it can be done. We need to encourage and support all the people who put in the effort to quit.
2007 the American cancer society breast cancer advisory group modified the guidelines for breast screening to include an annual MRI for high risk women, greater than 20%.
American cancer society report, cancer statistics 2007, shows there was a drop of 3,014 cancer deaths in the U.S. from 2003-04, the most recent year when mortality data was available from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Major developments in 2006 cancer research are interesting:
2006 the FDA approves Avastin for first-line treatment of patients with unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic non-squamous, non-small cell lung cancer.
2006 TM-601, a drug derived from scorpion venom for preventing tumor cell spread and metastasis in brain cancer is in phase 1 clinical trials.
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among woman worldwide. June 2006 the FDA licensed GardasilR, the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases caused by certain types of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) if administered prior to exposure to the sexually transmitted viruses. The next step is to develop a vaccine designed for those who are already infected with the disease.
Other vaccines in the works are:
Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School of N.H. is heading clinical trials for GlaxcoSmithKline’s Cervarix.
Johns Hopkins University continues progress on an oral vaccine against a different coat protein, the L2 protein, to treat as well as prevent cervical cancer. They also hold a pending patent on a vaccine against cervical cancer that uses the adenovirus as a vaccine delivery helper.
Successful vaccines can translate in to major advances in public health.
Unlike most cancers, advanced kidney cancer responds poorly to chemotherapy but responds well to immunotherapy or biological therapy, often making it a good treatment choice. Evidence exists that kidney cancer is one of the few cancers the human body can fight. Immunotherapy is designed to boost the bodies immune system. Interleukin-2 is currently the most effective drug used against advanced kidney cancer. It can successfully treat about 10% of patients who receive it. High doses can produce side effects that can be severe so patients may stay at the hospital up to 10 days. Alpha-interferon is another biological agent widely used though it’s not proven to be as beneficial as IL-2.
There are clinical trials are a way to test a new treatment in order to prove it’s safe, effective and possibly better however there’s no guarantee the new treatment will be safe, effective or better than standard treatment.
Millions of Americans believe they have adequate health coverage but may actually be underinsured – their insurance will not cover the full range of services they may need and end up in financial hardship or go with out treatment they need.
For clinical trials, Massachusetts Legislation in 2002 says all health plans issued or renewed after Jan 1, 2003, must provide payment for services that are consistent with the usual and customary standard of care provided under the trial’s protocol and that would be covered if the patient did not participate in the trial.
Manny’s cancer was advanced, he fought with everything he had and though it was a good fight, a tough fight, we lost.
We need to stop this nasty disease and we can - if we do it as a TEAM!