Columns
Category: Cancer
HPV Test Is Urged By Some
The Pap smear, used to detect cervical cancer, is done 50 million times each year in the United States and remains one of the best cancer-detection tools doctors have. In the 50 years since it was introduced in the United States, the death rate from cervical cancer has dropped by 70 percent. In poor countries…
Detecting, treating bladder cancer early
Four years ago, Ellen Pinzur, a Cambridge woman who had been a lifetime smoker, got a most unwelcome surprise. When she went to her gynecologist for a routine exam, he suspected she had a fibroid, a benign growth in the uterus. He sent her for an ultrasound. Sure enough, she did have a fibroid. But…
Thalidomide, once a pariah drug, finds a new life in cancer therapy
The drug thalidomide, which was banned in the United States after it caused serious birth defects in 10,000 babies worldwide four decades ago, can produce dramatic improvements in people with a cancer of the bone marrow, according to a study being published today.The study is a “significant advance” in treatment for myeloma, Dr. Kenneth Anderson,…
Cutting-edge drugs a must in treating rare cancer
With any serious disease, it’s obviously a good idea to find the best doctor – and the best hospital – you can. But with ovarian cancer, a rare disease that strikes 25,000 women a year, kills nearly 15,000, and is almost impossible to detect early – it’s absolutely essential. That’s because there are often no…
Odd remedy said to slow deadly cancer
Four years ago, Betty Frizzell, a retired schoolteacher from Cookeville, Tenn., was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest malignancies there is. Normally, people with advanced tumors, like Frizzell’s, live only about five months after they are diagnosed. Frizzell, now 64, is thriving on a diet of fruits and vegetables plus a regimen of…
Cancer patients battle fatigue
By this time Dr. Candace Jennings, 50, an orthopedic surgeon from Ipswich, figured she’d be back to work and blessed again with plenty of energy for her husband and sons, 7 and 13. But even though it’s been a year since she finished chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer, she’s only got half the energy…
Cancer treatment needs emotional rescue
Last week, Harvard researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that 28 percent of newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients turn to complementary therapies such as massage, herbs, relaxation techniques, and self-help groups – even though they had never used so-called alternative medicine before. In fact, the women most likely to turn to such therapies,…
Drugs could eradicate a fatal cancer
For years now, the incidence of some types of lymphoma – the cancer that killed former US Sen. Paul Tsongas, Jackie Onassis and Jordan’s King Hussein – has been among the fastest rising of all cancers, and no one is quite sure why. The death rate has been increasing, too. This year, 64,000 Americans will…
Hopes dim for controversial breast cancer treatment
Convinced by doctors that bone marrow transplantation offered the best chance at survival, thousands of women with breast cancer have agreed to the controversial procedure — despite the lack of proof that it could save, or even prolong, their lives more than standard therapy. Indeed, so many women — about 5,000 women a year —…
New drugs fight sores from cancer treatment
The worst part of Colleen Combes’ breast cancer treatment three years ago, besides losing her hair, was the awful mouth sores caused by chemotherapy. These ulcers “were like canker sores that had broken open, only much worse. They were everywhere – on my tongue, the inside of my lips, my cheeks. It was very painful….
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