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New Chemotherapy Combo Holds Promise for Lung Cancer
Preliminary research has produced promising findings regarding a possible alternative treatment for people with a common type of lung cancer.
The new combination of chemotherapy drugs could eventually become another option for people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, which is very difficult to treat, the Japanese researchers suggest.
Even if it works, however, the treatment isn't likely to add many months to the lives of patients. And the study only represents the second in three necessary stages of research.
"We really don't know if it's better than current therapy," said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer with the American Lung Association. Still, he added, "more study is warranted."
At issue are patients with advanced cases of non-small cell lung cancer, which makes up about 85 percent to 90 percent of lung cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society.
Treatment with chemotherapy drugs is difficult, because the medications can cause side effects and may not add more than a few months to a patient's life, said lead investigator Dr. Isamu Okamoto, an associate professor in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Kinki University School of Medicine in Osaka.
But new treatments are needed, Okamoto said, even if they don't greatly extend life spans. "The main purpose of chemotherapy for metastatic advanced non-small cell lung cancer is to improve quality of life, since the patient populations are never cured," he said.
The new study looks at 56 patients with advanced lung cancer who were treated with chemotherapy drugs called S-1 and irinotecan.
Chemotherapy drugs are designed to kill cancer cells while causing as little harm as possible to healthy cells. Irinotecan is already in use in the United States; S-1 is approved in Korea and Japan, but not yet in the United States.
The findings are published in the Aug. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
About 28 percent of patients responded to the treatment. They lived for an average of 15 months and made it an average of 4.9 months without getting worse.
The researchers reported that the patients suffered less severe side effects than would be expected if they'd taken the usual platinum-based chemotherapy.
According to the researchers, studies of the existing platinum treatment suggest that patients who take it live for an average of seven to 14 months.
The next step would be to directly compare the new chemotherapy regimen to the existing platinum treatment by randomly assigning patients to one or the other. Preliminary research has produced promising findings regarding a possible alternative treatment for people with a common type of lung ... more -
The Dutch ban public smoking tommorrow.
Following the lead of Ireland which took a tough stance against tobacco in 2004. The Dutch will join the list of European countries that ban smoking in cafes and restaurants.
How will this effect their tourist industry? Following the lead of Ireland which took a tough stance against tobacco in 2004. The Dutch will join the list of European countries th... more -
Cuba unveils lung cancer vaccine
Cuban scientists on Tuesday unveiled a therapeutic lung cancer vaccine which they say is the first in the world and extends the lives of victims by up to five months. Gisela Gonzalez at the Havana Molecular Immunological Center, where the unveiling was held, said that research on the Cimavax EGF vaccine began in 1992, with the first clinical test in 1995.
It is the first registered vaccine in the world designed to battle lung cancer, said Gonzalez, who heads the medical team that developed the compound.The vaccine, based on two proteins, triggers an immune response from the victim's body and has no side effects, Gonzalez said.
The research team's director of clinical investigations, Tania Crombet, said that the vaccine serves as a compliment to conventional methods like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, allowing cancer victims to live between four and five months longer, and improves their breathing and decreases their pain.
The vaccine is available in Cuba, and will be commercialized in Latin America, starting in Peru, Gonzalez said. Cuban scientists on Tuesday unveiled a therapeutic lung cancer vaccine which they say is the first in the world and extends the lives ... more -
Employers ponder tough tactics to halt smoking
Howard Weyers tried the "carrot" approach by giving his employees incentives and encouragement to quit smoking. But when that didn't work, he resorted to the stick. A big stick.
Weyers, owner of a health care benefits administrator in Lansing, Mich., gave his 200 employees an ultimatum in 2004: Quit smoking in 15 months or lose your job. He refused to hire smokers. Ultimately, he extended his smoking ban to employees' spouses and monitored compliance through mandatory random blood testing.
Weyers' method, while effective, wouldn't fly in California because the state has laws that prohibit employers from making hiring or firing decisions based on employee participation in a legal activity.
About 45 million Americans, 4 million of whom live in California, smoke cigarettes despite more than three decades of public efforts to encourage people to quit.
California, on both the state and local levels, has been at the forefront of anti-smoking efforts with laws to ban smoking in public places. A law went into effect in January that prohibits drivers from smoking when children are in the car. Still, smoking costs the state an estimated $8.6 billion in direct medical costs and $7.3 billion in lost productivity a year, according to the California division of the American Cancer Society.
In addition to lost work hours, employers have a vested interest in getting their workforce to kick the habit, given that they pay a large portion of health care costs and are the main source of health insurance for more than half the population. Howard Weyers tried the "carrot" approach by giving his employees incentives and encouragement to quit smoking. But when tha... more -
Run From the Cure - The Rick Simpson story
A Film By Christian Laurette - After a serious head injury in 1997, Rick Simpson sought relief from his medical condition through the use of medicinal hemp oil. When Rick discovered that the hemp oil (with its high concentration of T.H.C.) cured cancers and other illnesses, he tried to share it with as many people as he could free of charge - curing and controlling literally hundreds of people's illnesses... but when the story went public, the long arm of the law snatched the medicine - leaving potentially thousands of people without their cancer treatments - and leaving Rick with unconsitutional charges of possessing and trafficking marijuana!
Canada is in the middle of a CANCER EPIDEMIC! Meet the people who were not allowed to testify on Rick's behalf at the Supreme Court of Canada's Infamous Rick Simpson Trial on September 10, 2007... INCLUDING A MAN WHO WAS CURED OF TERMINAL CANCER USING HEMP OIL!
IF YOU SEE ONLY ONE DOCUMENTARY THIS YEAR... MAKE IT THIS ONE!
(Parental Guidance Suggested - Mature subject matter.) A Film By Christian Laurette - After a serious head injury in 1997, Rick Simpson sought relief from his medical condition through the ... more -
Fruit, veg and tea may protect smokers from lung cancer
Conducting the first research of its kind, UCLA researchers have discovered what could be an amazing development.
According to the study, if smokers eat 3 servings of fruit and veg a day as well as drinking green or black tea, they raise their amount of these super special lung cancer fighting flavenoids ingested, supposedly making them less susceptible to lung cancer.
The researchers have openly admitted that more research needs to be done, but what they have found has left them optimistic.
“What we found was extremely interesting, that several types of flavonoids are associated with a reduced risk of lung cancer among smokers.” Conducting the first research of its kind, UCLA researchers have discovered what could be an amazing development. ... more -
Smoking: It is all in the genes.
Genetic differences between people that may help explain why some smokers get lung cancer and others do not. Scientists have pinpointed a region of the genome containing genes that can put smokers at even greater risk of contracting the killer disease. Genetic differences between people that may help explain why some smokers get lung cancer and others do not. Scientists have pinpointe... more
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Lung Cancer Genes Identified - TIME
It's the nicotine that kills you.
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Lung cancer genes identified
Smokers are much more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers — that has been a scientific truism for decades. But what about the 80% of smokers who don't develop lung cancer? Are they just the lucky ones? A trio of new studies suggests that the explanation for why they escape the disease may lie partly in their genes. Smokers are much more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers — that has been a scientific truism for decades. But what about th... more
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Cigarette company paid for lung cancer study
The revelation that a researcher’s study was underwritten by a tobacco company has caused an appearance of bias...
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Will you be one of the billion that smoking will kill?
According to United Nations health agency up to an estimated billion people could die this century from tobacco related deaths if countries continue to fail in fully adopting the World Health Organization's recommendations on smoking.
These are frightening numbers, and seem a fair representation considering the report, the first of its kind, analyses tobacco policies of 179 countries.
Shockingly, the report also uncovered that 40 percent of countries still allow smoking in hospitals and schools. According to United Nations health agency up to an estimated billion people could die this century from tobacco related deaths if coun... more -
Study: Cannabis bigger cancer risk than cigarettes
Researchers in New Zealand found that smoking one joint of cannabis (weed, marijuana, whatever term is your favorite) is equal to smoking 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer. YIKES.
This is the first study to show a strong link between cannabis use and incidence of lung cancer. Apparently the method of smoking does matter.
Read on to
a) learn about this interesting subject generally,
b) learn how to smoke your cannabis in a way that won't equal 20 cigarettes, or
c) all of the above. Researchers in New Zealand found that smoking one joint of cannabis (weed, marijuana, whatever term is your favorite) is equal to smok... more -
Lung cancer linked to lack of sun exposure
Aww man! So basking in the sun can help lower risk of lung cancer, but raise your risk for skin cancer?
"Researchers found lung cancer rates were highest in countries furthest from the equator, where exposure to sunlight is lowest.
It is thought vitamin D - generated by exposure to sunlight - can halt tumor growth by promoting the factors responsible for cell death in the body."
To sunbathe or not to sunbathe? Aww man! So basking in the sun can help lower risk of lung cancer, but raise your risk for skin cancer? ... more
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Lung Cancer
