According to findings published by the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance (AACII), cancer was last year (2011) the leading cause for critical illness insurance claims. Nearly half of all claims were for patients between ages 35 and 54. Stroke was the second leading cause followed by heart attack.



"Every year millions of Americans hear the dreaded words from a doctor, you have cancer or…

Social and emotional support are critical components of complete cancer care. Recognizing this fact, the Greenville Hospital System announced the partnership between the Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship, and the Cancer Support Community (CSC) – one of the largest worldwide providers of social and emotional support for cancer patients and their caregivers.



"Research shows that social and…

The Death of his first wife makes improving the Quality of Life (QoL) for patients with a brain tumor very personal for Mike Robbins, associate director of the Thomas K. Hearn Jr. Brain Tumor Research Center at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Robbins knows all too well that the likely outcome when patients are diagnosed with brain tumors that are "high grade" may not always be positive.



Brain…

Earlier today, Bert Vorstman, M.D., a Florida urologist with nearly 30 years expertise in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment, launched a series of exclusive medical reports detailing information and misinformation about prostate cancer screening and treatment options, including myths and marketing related information behind.



Vorstman releases his…

A groundbreaking new prostate cancer screening test – approved by the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and currently available in Europe and Australia – may change the face of screening through its more accurate readings and reduction of false-positive results.



Prostate cancer remains the second…

Research published in Nature Medicine shows that boosting a protein pathway in the body's blood making system protects mice from otherwise fatal radiation poisoning. Scientists in the multi-institutional study – posted online by the journal on June 24, 2012 – say their findings open the potential for new treatments against radiation toxicity during cancer treatment or environmental…

Researchers at the Van Andel Institute have identified a potential drug target for NK/T-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer responsible for claiming the life of a close friend and fellow researcher.



A study authored by Bin Tean Teh, M.D., Ph.D., and published this week in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for…

Results from the phase III CLEOPATRA study showed that women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (mBC) lived significantly longer (overall survival) when treated with the combination of pertuzumab (Perjeta™, Genentech/Roche), trastuzumab (Herceptin®, Genentech/Roche) and docetaxel chemotherapy, compared to trastuzumab and docetaxel chemotherapy alone. in the Phase III . These data will be submitted for presentation at an upcoming medical meeting.…

The 2012 ASCO Impact Report, a survey of physicians and healthcare professionals attending the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO), published by Encuity Research, the market research and analytics subsidiary of Campbell Alliance, revealed that this year's event had a significant impact on the treatment plans of…

Scientists at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have developed a small-molecule-inhibiting drug that in early laboratory cell tests stopped breast cancer cells from spreading and also promoted the growth of early nerve cells called neurites.



The research findings report were published online on June 22, 2012 in Chemistry & Biology. The scientists named their lead…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) determined by a vote of 11-0 [with 1 abstention] earlier today, that, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior lines of therapy that included a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent (IMiD), the benefit-risk assessment is favorable for the use of carfilzomib (proposed brand name Kyprolis™).…

The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference held June 1-5, 2012 in Chicago, IL. offered a wealth of new scientific and clinical data. It is expected that this year's event will have a significant impact on the patients treatment plans.



After reviewing this years meeting, a new type of targeted therapy was of particular interest to reviewer Daphna Halpern, Director of Oncology at…

An experimental treatment that combines intense chemotherapy with a radioactive isotope linked to synthesized neurotransmitter is being tested in newly diagnosed cases of high-risk neuroblastoma – a deadly, hard-to-cure childhood cancer.



The experimental radiopharmaceutical, 131I-MIBG, has already been tested in children with relapsed and resistant neuroblastoma, with encouraging results in reducing tumor size. This has prompted doctors in a new…

BPM 31510 targets the metabolic machinery of the cancer microenvironment to reverse the aerobic glycolytic phenotype of cancer cells also called the Warburg phenotype.  The Warburg phenotype has been related to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, malignancy, metabolic syndrome x, autoimmune disease and neuronal degeneration.



The endogenous small molecule resident in mitochondria restores oxidative phosphorylation and confers re-capitulation of the BCL-2…

Final results from a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase II clinical trial with the selective MET inhibitor tivantinib (ARQ 197;  ArQule, Inc. and Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited) as a single-agent, investigational, second-line treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows positive results. The data was presented at the…

Documenting a cancer patient’s family history (CFH) of cancer is important in establishing risk for primary and secondary cancer and identifying individuals who may be candidates for genetic counseling and genetic testing. Prior studies have demonstrated low rates of family history documentation and low referral rates for genetic counseling and genetic testing.



In 2011, the American Society for Clinical Oncology's (…

A multicenter study in Germany reports that it is feasible to routinely conduct high-quality molecular analysis of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) in local community hospitals that are not affiliated with academic medical centers. The study results, presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), indicate that molecular testing can be made available to more patients, and in many cases,…

Results of an international Phase III trial demonstrate that the new targeted oral drug, regorafenib, which targets angiogenic, stromal and oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinase, can improve outcomes for patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) that progress due to resistance to other available treatment options, including imatinib (Gleevec®, Novartis) and sunitinib (…

A study finds that female survivors of childhood cancer treated with radiation to the chest had a high risk of developing breast cancer at a young age, comparable to that of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. The findings also suggest that more survivors may be affected than previously thought. The results were presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).



Currently,…

A Phase III multicenter clinical trial finds that treatment with the investigational BRAF-targeted drug dabrafenib, an investigational, orally bioavailable inhibitor of the BRAF protein, reduced the risk of disease progression by 70% compared to standard…