Cancer Research Lab

The level of a particular type of non-cancerous DNA fragment circulating in the sera of prostate cancer patients appears to be useful as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator, German researchers report in the January issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

“The detection of short circulating DNA fragments in patients’ serum allows distinguishing of prostate cancer patients and patients with benign prostate hyperplasia — including healthy controls — sensitively and specifically,” lead investigator Dr. Jorg Ellinger said.

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A multi-center French study has shown that mucoadhesive buccal miconazole gel tablets is effective for the treatment of radiation-related oropharyngeal candidiasis.

The study, led by Rene-Jean Bensadoun of Antoine Lacassagne Center in Nice, is published in the January 1 issue of Cancer. It involved 282 patients with head and neck cancer.

Patients received 14 days of mucoadhesive buccal miconazole (Loramyc, BioAlliance Pharma, Paris, France), given as a single 50 mg tablet once a day, or miconazole oral gel, 500 mg, administered in four divided doses of 125 mg each.

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Infections at the incision site are common after breast surgical procedures, especially after cancer-related breast surgery, and these infections result in more than $4,000 extra hospital-related costs per patient, according to research reported in the January Archives of Surgery.

Dr. Margaret A. Olsen of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis and colleagues retrospectively studied 949 women who underwent mastectomy or breast reconstruction procedures between 1999 and 2002 at a hospital affiliated with Washington University.

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A nerve-sparing approach to radical prostatectomy shortens the period until continence is regained and improves long-term continence rates, new research shows.

Previous studies demonstrated that preservation of the neurovascular bundle can improve post-operative potency rates, but whether nerve-sparing surgery improves incontinence was unclear, senior author Dr. Craig D. Zippe, from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and colleagues note in the December issue of Urology.

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Transgene therapy with hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1a is well tolerated in patients with critical limb ischemia, according to the results of a phase I study reported in the February 19th early online issue of Circulation.

HIF-1a has the potential to normalize intracellular oxygen levels by increasing the synthesis of multiple proangiogenic cytokines and genes that facilitate survival of ischemic tissue, the authors explain.

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As a treatment for breast cancer, radiotherapy, even modern regimens, appears to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for March 7.

Earlier reports have indicated that radiotherapy regimens used in the 1970s elevate cardiovascular risk, but it has been less clear if more recent regimens also increase the risk.

“Apart from the clear benefits of adjuvant radiotherapy, physicians should still be aware of the potentially increased risk of cardiovascular disease following specific radiotherapy regimens in long-term breast cancer survivors,” senior author Dr. Flora E. van Leeuwen, from the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, and colleagues note.

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Dr. Hans Lilja and colleagues analyzed the long-term predictive power of tPSA, free PSA (fPSA) and human kallikrein 2 (hK2) levels measured between the ages of 44 and 50 years in 21,277 men enrolled in the Malmo (Sweden) Preventive Project between 1974 and 1986. The analysis focused on 462 participants who later developed prostate cancer and 1222 matched controls who did not.

The risk of prostate cancer in older age ranged from 1.0% to 7.5% if the mid-life tPSA was 0.5 ng/mL or lower, the investigators report in the February 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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In select cases, image-guided, percutaneous cryoablation is a safe and effective means of obliterating tumors in the kidney, according to a report this week at the 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology in Seattle.

The percutaneous approach is also “much cheaper, has a much quicker recovery time and a much shorter hospital stay” compared with laparoscopic surgery, Dr. J. Louis Hinshaw, of University of Wisconsin in Madison, said.

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Although screening with low-dose CT may increase detection of lung cancer, it does not lead to a meaningful reduction in deaths from the malignancy, new research suggests. As such, further studies are needed to determine whether CT screening for lung cancer should become standard practice.

CT screening of current and former smokers is used at a number of centers based on the belief that such screening will catch lung cancer at an early, more curable stage. However, there are limited data to support that screening actually improves outcomes.

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Following treatment of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) refractory metastatic colorectal cancer with oxaliplatin and irinotecan, survival is greater in patients under the age of 70 years, according to Australian researchers.

In the February issue of the British Journal of Cancer, Dr. Niall C. Tebbutt of Austin Hospital, Heidelberg and colleagues conducted an Australian population-based study using a government insurance database covering 2002 and 2003 and involving almost 3000 patients.

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