Cancer Research Lab

Capecitabine and oxaliplatin are effective alternatives to fluorouracil and cisplatin, respectively, for treating advanced esophagogastric cancer, according to a report in The New England Journal of Medicine for January 3.

The results indicate that “oral capecitabine is at least as effective as infused fluorouracil and that oxaliplatin (which does not require hydration) is at least as effective as cisplatin (which does require hydration) with respect to overall survival,” Dr. David Cunningham, from the Royal Marsden Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust in Surrey and London, UK, and colleagues conclude.

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Compared with combined chemo/radiotherapy, total laryngectomy improves survival in patients with stage IV laryngeal cancer, according to a report in the Archives of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery for December.

The results also show that black patients and those with Medicare or Medicaid insurance have inferior outcomes, which may be the result of limited access to care.

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Cancer patients often refuse opioid medications out of the belief that the drugs are offered as a “last resort” rather than as legitimate pain killers that can improve their quality of life, British investigators report.

“As a palliative care physician, I encounter patients almost daily who refuse morphine for their pain in spite of being compromised in terms of function and mood,” Dr. Colette M. Reid told Reuters Health. “We conducted a qualitative study rather than using standard quantitative questionnaires to ask patients about their views on opioids, because we wanted to know what they actually thought.”

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Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is as effective when delivered percutaneously as with a surgical approach, but with lower morbidity, according to a report in the December issue of the Archives of Surgery.

However, surgical RFA may be preferable for larger tumors.

RFA has been shown to be 85% to 95% effective in ablating HCC 3 cm or less in diameter, the authors explain, but it remains unclear whether the percutaneous or surgical approach should be favored.

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In children with non-CNS malignancies, fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET combined with CT in a single examination shows significantly better diagnostic performance than does conventional imaging, such as contrast CT or MRI, researchers report in the December issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

As Dr. Richard L. Wahl said in a statement, “PET/CT is useful in finding small tumors in small children and is a promising imaging tool in evaluating pediatric malignancies.”

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Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how two molecules fight in the blood to control the spread of cancer cells.

Researchers discovered that a large protein, which forms a protective shield around cancer cells and prevents them from causing secondary tumours, is attacked by a small protein that exists in the blood.

In diseases such as breast, lung and colorectal cancer, infected cells lose growth control and eventually form tumours at these sites. If caught early these tumours can be effectively removed surgically. However, when the cancer cells have invaded the blood, the effectiveness of surgery is reduced.

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Up to 73% of men with prostate cancer take nonprescription supplements, and smaller numbers use diet, exercise, or both in the hope of improving their outcome. Most of these men also receive conventional therapy, but a few depend on lifestyle alone. The appeal of lifestyle therapy is obvious but does it work? Experts don’t know, though research raises hope that it may have a beneficial impact, reports the July 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch.

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