The Chemotherapy Concession Continues
The Side Hustle A recent study provided evidence that some oncologists prescribe chemotherapy based on their financial reward rather than the medical needs of their patients. This is a...
Colorectal Cancer
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Trifluridine and Tipiracil (Lonsurf®) for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
The combination of trifluridine and tipiracil has been given the unusual name Lonsurf® (from Taiho Oncology). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a tablet combining these two...
Chemo for Life?
Long Term Treatments There is an emerging trend in oncology to keep patients on anticancer drugs for longer periods, even years at a stretch. This concept was given support from two studies...
Brain Metastases
A Major Health Problem Brain metastases were once believed to be very rare. However, because of the increased use of sophisticated diagnostic techniques such as CT and MRI scans it is now...
Innovative Radiation Therapy
Ionizing Radiation Ionizing radiation, such as radium and X-rays, has been part of cancer treatment since the days of the Nobel laureate Marie Curie (1867-1934). These techniques now...
Adjuvant Radiation for Rectal Cancer?
Adjuvant Radiation for Rectal Cancer? In the same issue of the Lancet there is a meta-analysis of adjuvant radiation therapy for rectal cancer (Lancet 2001;358:1291-1304}. The authors (from the...
Natural Side Effect Treatments
DIY Solutions “If you are extending someone’s life, it should be a good life. God forbid that we extend your life for three months but those three months suck.” Mutlay Sayan, MD, Rutgers Cancer...
Monoclonal Antibodies
A Targeted Therapy Another type of targeted therapy is the “monoclonal antibody.” Normal antibodies are naturally produced by our B-type lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). They are...
Progress in Targeted Chemotherapy for Colorectal Cancer
Avoid Secondary Sources Hardly a week goes by that one does not read of some new breakthrough in the treatment of cancer of the colon and rectum (colorectal cancer). Since I published...
Choosing a Hospital
A Most Important Decision We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to choose wisely in this regard. Dealing with a cancer diagnosis is one of life’s most challenging moments. Oftentimes,...
Artichokes vs. Cancer
The Flower Bud of a Large Thistle I purchased two extraordinary-looking globe artichokes and incorporated them into a family dinner. This got me thinking about the various health properties of...
FWGE (Metatrol®) and Colorectal Cancer
Fermented Wheat Germ Extract is a Very Important Compound It contains chemicals called benzoquinones that have a unique effect on cancer. A study in the British Journal of Cancer showed that...
Honokiol and Cancer Stem Cells
Signal Transducers and Activators Honokiol is another promising anti-CSC agent that is available to present-day cancer patients without a prescription. Honokiol is a fascinating compound that has...
Pau d’Arco
Folk RemedyPau d’arco is an ancient South American folk remedy, derived from the inner bark of a trumpet-flowered vine, Tabebuia impetiginosa (Argentina) or Tabebuia heptaphylla (Brazil). These...
Melatonin and Metastatic Colon Cancer
IL-2 plus MelatoninIn the mid-1980s, interleukin-2 (IL-2) was much in the news as a high-dose (but also toxic) treatment for renal cell cancer and melanoma. But it was not known as an effective...
Is Green Tea or EGCG Dangerous?
Conflict between the Drug 5-FU and Polyphenols?We are often told that there is a conflict between the drug 5-FU and the polyphenols such as EGCG in green tea. Here, too, there is no unanimity...
Positive Results with PectaSol-C
Modified Citrus Pectin This year also brought a major advance in understanding the effects of modified citrus pectin (MCP) on cancer cells. Scientists at Columbia University published a paper...
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Neuroblastoma Swedish scientists have published an important paper on the positive impact of omega-3 fatty acids (found mainly in fish oil) on a certain type of childhood cancer called...
Intravenous Vitamin C
In the News AgainA study carried out by a research team from the Harvard School of Public Health and published July 1 in the New England Journal of Medicine (Fawzi, WW, 2004) showed that a...
Bill Fair’s Story
Bill Fair’s Story Even very dire prognoses have their exceptions. Throughout the years, we have seen people survive a long time with the most threatening kinds of cancer, people whose chances,...
ImClone’s Troubles
Two Billion Dollar Molecule In July 2002, the drug cetuximab (Erbitux®) was featured on the cover of Business Week. The New York Times called it the "two billion dollar molecule." Wall Street...
War on Cancer Is Being Oversold
Overhyping Decline in Cancer Deaths Is Leaving Promising Treatments Unexamined The number of cancer deaths in the U.S. declined by one-half of one percent between 2003 and 2004—and the world went...
Company Kills Negative Clinical Trial
Genentech, Inc. Halts a Phase III Clinical Trial In late June 2006, the pharmaceutical company Genentech, Inc. abruptly halted a large phase III clinical trial of its drug, Avastin. This trial...
‘Arms Race’ Grips War on Cancer: Cornell and Sloan Ready for Battle
Weill Cornell Medical College/New York-Presbyterian Hospital built a $650 million research tower to process genetic information about patients. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, across the...
Losing the War on Cancer – Fortune Magazine
“Why We're Losing the War on Cancer” An article of extraordinary importance has appeared in Fortune magazine. It is titled "Why We're Losing the War on Cancer." The author, Clifton Leaf, is...
The Lancet Debate
Questioning Radiation In late March 2002, Lancet published my letter criticizing an article advocating the use of radiation as a treatment for rectal cancer. (Moss RW. Preoperative and...
Angiogenesis Inhibitors
Doubts Arise New doubts have been raised about the safety and efficacy of drugs known as angiogenesis inhibitors. These drugs are designed to block the development of new blood vessels within and...
Celebrex and Colon Polyps
Big News from AACR (2006)The big news at the Spring 2006 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting was that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (Celebrex®)...
The Cancer Chronicles – Vol. 4 No. 4, Sept. 1993
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Stages & Grades
Transcript I want to explain about stages of cancer and grades of cancer, and you might want to know what stage and grade your cancer is in, but I also want to talk about why that's important....
Chemo Side Effects
There are few types of medicine that cause as many side effects as chemotherapy. The reason for this is because it goes back to the history of chemotherapy that it's targeted against fat, rapidly...
The PREDICT® Nomogram
Gray Zone An invasive ductal carcinoma that does not have any obvious signs of aggressiveness creates a difficult “gray zone” of confusion. The big question is whether or not a patient needs...
Companion Diagnostic Tests
An Excellent BusinessCompanion diagnostic testing is an excellent business, since everyone with a particular type of cancer is a candidate for the test, while only a minority who are positive for...
Studies Question Accuracy of Colonoscopies
Concerns Emerge Colonoscopy is a reasonably effective way of finding and removing colon polyps, the benign lesions from which most colon cancers develop. The United States Preventive Services...
Stunning Avastin Reversal
A Revocation In a stunning rebuke to a former director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an advisory panel has recommended removing the approval of the drug Avastin® (bevacizumab) for...
People Aren’t Statistics
Sir Thomas Lewis, MD Sir Thomas Lewis (1881-1945) once wrote a profound essay on this very question: “Diagnosis is a system of more-or-less accurate guessing, in which the end-point achieved is...