A growing number of women with early stage breast cancer seem to be choosing to have the whole breast removed instead of just the cancerous lump, doctors are reporting.
Mastectomies were standard treatment until 1990, when studies showed that women whose cancers were small and confined to the breast did just as well if they had […]

Children who survive cancer face a much greater risk of heart problems later in life than their brothers and sisters who did not have cancer, new research shows.
Doctors have long known that certain chemotherapy drugs and radiation can harm the heart, but it has been seen as a relatively small price to pay for beating […]

A novel biweekly dosing schedule of Xeloda(R) (capecitabine) enabled safe delivery of higher daily doses in the treatment of advanced breast cancer, according to an investigational study published in the April 10, 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The data showed that a seven-days-on/seven-days-off (7-on/7-off) regimen, called “dose dense,” was generally well-tolerated up […]

A drug that targets the cell surface receptors that play an important role in many types of cancer can bring about significant tumour regression in breast cancer after only six weeks of use, a scientist told the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6). Dr. Angel Rodriguez, from the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center, Baylor […]

A cancer sufferer who won his fight to make NHS Grampian pay for a drug he hoped would prolong his life has lost his battle against the disease.
Mike Gray, 53, died on Wednesday at his home in Buckie, Moray, with his wife Tina, family and friends around him.
The health board had argued cetuximab would not […]

Swiss drugs firm Roche has missed analysts’ sales forecasts, after demand for cancer medicine Herceptin slowed and revenue from flu drug Tamiflu fell.
Roche’s shares were dented after sales fell 4% to 10.9bn Swiss francs (£5.5bn; ($10.9bn) in the first quarter of 2008.
However, when the impact of Tamiflu was excluded, sales rose by 9%.
Tamiflu sales slumped […]

Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia are inching closer to understanding how common blood pressure medications might help prevent the spread of pancreatic cancer. They have found in the laboratory that one type of pressure-lowering drug called an angiotensin receptor blocker inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth and causes cell […]

An experimental drug helped protect mice and monkeys from the damaging effects of radiation, researchers said on Thursday, in a finding that may lead to less toxic cancer treatments or an emergency treatment for radiation exposure.
They said the drug protected animals’ bone marrow and cells in the gut from being destroyed by radiation without interfering […]

A drug which may protect the body against damage from radiation has been developed by US scientists.
It is hoped it could make radiotherapy safer for people with cancer and could also be used in the event of a “dirty bomb” or nuclear disaster.
Known as CBLB502, and so far tested in animals, it switches on a […]

Some cancer patients in Northern Ireland are forced to ration medication because they cannot afford it, a charity has said.
Macmillan Cancer Support said prescription charges were “a tax on illness” and should be abolished.
The charity has called for an update from Health Minister Michael McGimpsey on his review into the charges.
Heather Monteverde from Macmillan Cancer […]