A new study suggests that high degree of accuracy is detected by preoperative breast MRI when it is applied to a diverse group of fresh cancer patients. When applied to diverse population, the otherwise occult cancer shows higher degree of accuracy. This study has been published in the January issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

This result is an outcome of the study carried out at the University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in Seattle, WA.

592 patients diagnosed with recent breast cancer were reviewed under the study as they went through preoperative breast MRI. Cancer yields were computed and compared using the chi-square test across patient age, tumor type, density of breast, receptor status and lymph node status. Data of over 570 patients was analyzed after calculating their biopsy rates and positive predictive values of biopsy.

The findings showed that use of preoperative breast MRI in newly diagnosed cancer patients resulted in an added cancer yield of 12%. It is pretty higher than the added cancer yield of .08 to 6.7% that is seen with high risk screening breast MRI (a much more accepted indication of breast MRI).

Robert Gutierrez, MD and prime author of the study says that their patient population represents broader diagnostic and diverse population that results from the practice pattern at their site of routinely performing preoperative breast MRI in newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/acor-pbm011211.php

Scientists at The Peggy and Charles Stephenson Oklahoma Cancer Center have come out with a way to prevent the growth of pancreatic cancer and stop it at its early stage. CV Rao had his team have proven that a drug called Gefitinib can help with pancreatic cancer.

This drug is used in later stages of the cancer but the team has proved that if used early in minute doses then this drug can possibly stop the growth of pancreatic cancer. The research has been published in the latest issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

In an experiment, scientists were able to not only curb the growth of pancreatic cancer with Gefitinib but also completely treat the disease. These findings can be effective against early treatment of pancreatic cancer since the survival rate at the later stages is as low as 6 percent.

Though, the disease is usually identified at a later stage, the scientists are trying to figure out how best to detect it at an earlier stage. This drug is already approved for human use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and now the scientists can begin a Phase II clinical trial within the next 18 months.

Gefitinib targets signals of a certain gene that mutates when pancreatic center is present. There is also a possibility that this drug could be used effectively for other forms of cancer such as lung and colorectal cancer and other major diseases. However, more work needs to be done at the moment.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-01/uoo-uoo011111.php

Exercise has always been regarded beneficial for health and there’s no contradictory argument for that. But researchers at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis have associated exercise with colon cancer.

They have conducted a study which shows that consistent exercise lowers the risk of death by colon cancer. Researchers from the Washington University collaborated with those from American Cancer Society and carefully studied data available from the Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS II) to examine if physical activity was anyhow linked with colon cancer.

The researchers examined the data of more than 150,000 men and women and studied their level of physical activities between the year 1982 and 1997. These were compared with colon cancer diagnoses between 1998 and 2005 and with colon cancer deaths between 1998 and 2006. The study revealed that those who were in the habit of regular exercise for at least 10 years reported lower risk of colon cancer death.

Kathleen Y. Wolin, ScD cites that it’s never too late to start exercising and the study clearly hints at the beneficial aspect of physical activity. Hence, the public need to thoroughly absorb this message for their better well being.

Besides preventing colon cancer death, exercise also curtails the chances of getting afflicted by cardiac diseases, diabetes and other forms of cancer. Even a brisk 30-minute walk will do the body and mind a great deal of good and shall be helpful for the health in the long run.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/wuso-cea123010.php