New Directions
Dear Readers, Your author is en route to Chicago to attend the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. It’s the first time in years I’ll be there, and I’m looking forward to ...
Oncology (cancer)
Get Cancer. Lose Your Job?
The harsh reality is that people who have had cancer treatment are sometimes perceived as a burden on a working group
Palbociclib Appears to Prolong Progression Free Survival in Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer
As for 10 months of PFS, that’s valuable. Imagine that you’re 55 years old and living with metastatic breast cancer. A drug that is likely to delay, by most of 2 years, your tumor’s expansion into the lungs …A concern I have is that this study wasn’t blinded,
JAMA Review on Mammography Points to the Need for Better Ways to Advise Women and Detect Breast Cancer
This new JAMA article reviews the literature. At a glance, it may add to the growing perception among journalists, primary care physicians and others – including ordinary women – that mammography’s effectiveness has been, again, disproved.
Shirley Temple Made It Easier to Talk About Having Breast Cancer
What I choose to remember about Shirley Temple is that she lived for 41 years after having a mastectomy for breast cancer. In 1972 she spoke openly about her medical condition, and encouraged other women to seek medical care if they noticed a lump, and not to be afraid of the disease. She made it easier for us, today, to talk about breast cancer treatment and options.
More on Mammography, Breast Cancer, Misleading Arguments, Emotion and Women’s Health
While therapy has improved quite a bit since 1985, the greatest benefit derives from most women avoiding the need for life-long treatment by having small tumors found and removed before they’ve spread.
Birth of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance
The new Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance includes a spectrum of agencies, young and old, working together. The goal is to promote knowledge and research about breast cancer metastases – to develop more effective, less toxic treatments, and to improve the lives of people living with Stage 4 disease.
Good News from SCOTUS on Gene Patents, But Questions Remain
What goes unaddressed by the justices is the patentability of cDNA based on common genetic variants in cancer. Those are “naturally occurring” mutations, inasmuch as they arise in humans….And the Supremes need to know about biology.
On Friends Affected by Cancer, and Environment Oncology
If I could pick a field for future investigation that might lead to insight on cancer’s causes and, ultimately, reduce the cancer burden 30 and 50 years from now, I might choose the tiny, under-funded area of environmental oncology
Questions for ASCO – on Tamoxifen, ATLAS and aTTom
The problem with Tamoxifen is that it has anti-estrogen effects that many young (and older) women consider undesirable. Already our breasts have been cut. Feeling “feminine” is not trivial.