Category: Cancer

Regular physical activity reduces breast cancer risk irrespective of age

Glasgow, UK: Practising sport for more than an hour day reduces the risk of contracting breast cancer, and this applies to women of any age and any weight, and also unaffected by geographical location, according to research presented to the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9). Compared with the least active women, those with the […]

Deaths from breast cancer fall in Europe, but unexplained differences between countries remain

Glasgow, UK: Improvements in treatment, as well as enhanced access to care, underlie the sustained decreases in breast cancer mortality seen in 30 European countries [1] from 1989 to 2010. But there are notable variations between different countries that cannot be explained simply by the resources devoted to cancer care, and these differences need to […]

Obesity and diabetes have adverse effects on outcomes across different tumour types and should be taken into account when planning breast cancer treatment

Glasgow, UK: Both obesity and diabetes have adverse effects on outcomes in breast cancer patients who receive chemotherapy as primary treatment before surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy), according to research to be presented at the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9) on Friday. Although a high body mass index (BMI) is known to have a negative impact […]

Where are we with breast cancer in 2013? Good news for some, bad for others

Glasgow, UK: The global burden of breast cancer remains immense in 2013, with over 1.6million new cases being diagnosed annually. This burden has been increasing at a rate of 3.1% per year, and while the majority of new cases are diagnosed among women in developed countries, the 450,000 deaths per year from the disease are […]

Radiotherapy after mastectomy benefits women with breast cancer that has spread to just a few lymph nodes

Glasgow, UK: Women whose breast cancer has spread to just a few lymph nodes under their arm are less likely to have their disease recur or to die from it if they have radiotherapy after mastectomy, according to new research presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9) and published in The Lancet. [1] Dr […]

Genetic testing may improve selection of women with ER+ breast cancer for ten rather than five years of hormonal therapy

Glasgow, UK: Genetic analyses of results from 1125 postmenopausal women being treated for oestrogen responsive breast cancer have shown that some of them are more likely than others to have a late recurrence of their cancer and might benefit from ten years of hormone therapy rather than five. Prof Mitch Dowsett told the opening press […]

Freezing semen doubles the chances of fatherhood for men after treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma

Men with Hodgkin lymphoma who want to become fathers after their cancer treatment have greatly increased chances of doing so if they have frozen and stored semen samples beforehand, according to research published online in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1]. In the first study to investigate the impact on fatherhood of freezing […]

Teenagers and young adults diagnosed with cancer are at increased risk of suicide

Teenagers and young adults are at increased risk of suicide after being diagnosed with cancer according to a study published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology [1]. A study of nearly eight million Swedes aged 15 and over found that among the 12,669 young people diagnosed with cancer between the age of 15 […]

Variations in death rates after surgery for oesophageal and gastric cancers prompt European initiative to improve patient outcomes

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: A pilot study has shown large variations between European countries in patient survival after surgery for oesophageal and gastric cancers. The 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] heard on Tuesday that the reasons for these differences are not clear and cannot be explained simply in terms of the volume of patients treated […]

Biological therapy with cediranib improves survival in women with recurrent ovarian cancer

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Women with ovarian cancer that has recurred after chemotherapy have survived for longer after treatment with a biological therapy called cediranib, according to new results presented on Monday at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1]. Cediranib, which is taken in pill form, is an inhibitor of a cell signalling process involved […]