Cancer pain is one of the main focus in managing quality of life in cancer. Cancer bone pain is particularly problematic and debilitating, because narcotics and radiation have little effect. Reuters has reported on a study that suggests a “freezing approach” to alleviate cancer bone pain called cryoablation, with response rates in 80% of patients in a small study and with a lasting effect up to 6 months. Matthew Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., the study author and radiologist at the Mayo Clinic will present the results at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting this week (Nov 27, 2007). This approach was first reported by the Mayo Clinic in 2005 and continues today. A medical device technology is used for the procedure and the study was funded by a medical device company. Source: Reuters.
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From ThoughtBubbles.org: “There is no media hoopla about lung cancer, even though lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined.” Yvonne is right; last month we saw a flurry of pink ribbons. How many people know the color of the “lung cancer awareness” ribbon? (answer: clear, to signify that lung cancer is an invisible cancer). Lung cancer is often invisible to patients because they do not experience symptoms until relatively late in the disease, which is one of the reasons why lung cancer can be so deadly. Lung cancer is often invisible to the public because (and I speculate) of at least two reasons: 1) a stigma that lung cancer is “a smoker’s disease” when in fact, lung cancer has killed many non-smokers, men and women alike, and 2) lung cancer does not boast as many “survivors” who can later become vocal advocates the way breast cancer does.
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I discovered this blog too late, as blogger Lori Miller recently passed away from cancer.
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TargetingTumors.com
Cancer research often focuses on treatment options, including safety and efficacy. However, patients care about quality of life as well, and oncologists are beginning to pay attention to quality of life factors. Reuters reported on a study that suggests quality of life issues can influence cancer survival. Based on a study of 239 patients with lung cancer at Fox Chase and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, those who have poor quality of life before lung cancer treatment are more likely to die than patients with a better quality of life. Doctors who are used to looking at tumor size and stage of disease to predict a patient’s survival may consider looking also at the patient’s quality of life as a predictor. Quality of life was observed in this study as “the most significant predictor of overall patient survival.” Source: Reuters.
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Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and told he had months to live. He is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and delivered his “Last Lecture”, an university event where professors are asked to deliver their messages if it were their last chance to do so. For Randy this last lecture is literal. Here is the full clip courtesy of Google Video. Full lecture is also located here.