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News & Views: What if chemo doesn’t help you live longer or better?
Posted on July 27, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

iStockphoto

Terminal cancer patients sometimes get chemotherapy in the belief that it will ease their symptoms. But a study finds that many who get the treatment near death actually have a poorer quality of life.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: More Mammograms May Not Always Mean Fewer Cancer Deaths
Posted on July 22, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

iStockphoto

A comparison of women in 547 U.S. counties found that getting more women in for screening mammograms didn’t lower death rates from breast cancer. More small cancers were found.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Teens Dying Of Cancer Face Intensive Treatments In The Final Days
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

James Bridges/Temple Hill
Entertainment/Kobal Collection

Young cancer patients are more likely than older adult patients to be hospitalized or get chemo in the month before death, a study finds. Talking about end-of-life wishes is crucial, researchers say.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Despite National Progress, Colorectal Cancer Cancer Hot Spots Remain
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit1, CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

Alyson Hurt/NPR

Since 1970, the national colorectal cancer death rate has been cut in half. But progress has lagged in the Lower Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and counties in eastern Virginia and North Carolina.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: When it comes to SPFs and sunscreens, we’re still in the dark
Posted on June 18, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit1, CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

iStockphoto

Changes in sunscreen labels designed to make them clearer don’t seem to be doing the job, a survey finds. Less than one quarter of people knew that SPF value relates to preventing sunburns.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: It’s time to pay attention to ‘below-the-belt’ cancers
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images

That’s another way of referring to gynecological cancers, which strike more than 1 million women a year — and are on the rise in the developing world.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Why Some Doctors Hesitate To Screen Smokers For Lung Cancer
Posted on May 15, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

Medical Body Scans/Science Source

Medicare now pays for some long-term smokers to get an annual test. These scans could save thousands of lives each year, but some doctors still worry risks outweigh benefits.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Federal Panel Revisits Contested Recommendation On Mammograms
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

Kari Lehr/Image Zoo/Corbis

In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said the benefits of mammograms for women under 50 were small at best. A firestorm ensued. Now the organization is back with the same message.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Screening Tests For Breast Cancer Genes Just Got Cheaper
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

iStockphoto

A company has priced its test for mutations linked to breast and ovarian cancer at $249 — far less than the thousands of dollars another firm charges. But is there a downside for the worried well?

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: The Great Success And Enduring Dilemma Of Cervical Cancer Screening
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

American Cancer Society/AP

The Pap smear has dramatically decreased rates of cervical cancer, but testing too often has a downside, too. Many women say they aren’t yet ready to follow new guidelines and skip the annual tests.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: The hidden cost of mammograms: More testing and overtreatment
Posted on April 21, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

Hero Images/Corbis

Each year the U.S. spends billions of dollars on unnecessary tests and treatments that result from inaccurate mammograms, some scientists say. They’re calling for more selective screening.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Angelina Jolie Pitt has ovaries removed, citing cancer fears
Posted on March 24, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

angelina jolie

Writing in the New York Times, the actress, who had a preventative double mastectomy two years ago, says she carries a gene that gives her an elevated risk of cancer and describes the decision to undergo preventative surgery to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.

Read more her full statement at NYTimes.com.

News & Views: Stats split on progress against cancer
Posted on March 23, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

cancer line graphMatthias Kulka/Corbis

When you dig into the numbers on cancer, the results are mixed. Overall, deaths are up. But survival five years after diagnosis has improved for many forms of the disease, including breast cancer.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Why hasn’t the war on cancer been won?
Posted on by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit1, CA Unit5, Cancer, News | | Add comment |

doctor searchingVidhya Nagaragjan for NPR

Medical researchers have made only modest progress treating the most common cancers since the war on cancer was declare in 1971. The disease has proved far more complicated than doctors had hoped.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: How much can women trust that breast cancer biopsy?
Posted on March 19, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

slide pathologists use to look for signs of cancer in biopsyBoilershot Photo/Science Source

A new study finds pathologists are great at spotting cancer, but less so at identifying atypical cells and DCIS, which is troubling because both conditions can go on to become invasive cancer, and misdiagnosis could lead to women getting too much treatment — or not enough.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Harnessing the Immune System to Treat Cancer
Posted on February 9, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

what if you could help the immune system respond to cancer cells?

Our immune systems constantly fight off disease — protecting us from colds, flu and infection, but could they also help us treat cancer? An experimental new treatment called immunotherapy is helping patients’ immune systems fight cancer.

Read more at NPR.org.

News & Views: Can Connecticut force a teenager to undergo chemotherapy?
Posted on January 20, 2015 by Katherine Malanson | Categories: CA Unit4, CA Unit5, Cancer | | Add comment |

Cassandra, a 17-year-old with Hodgkin lymphoma

A 17-year-old says she doesn’t want to undergo treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, but her doctors and the state say she will die without it. The Connecticut Supreme Court is hearing the case.

Read more at NPR.org.