Cancer Archive

Researchers have identified several genetic variations that raise prostate cancer risk, variations that may also account for the higher incidence of prostate cancer in African Americans.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have developed a new blood test for prostate cancer, which in a preliminary study proved better than the PSA test at identifying which men have cancer. The new test measures levels of the protein EPCA-2, which — unlike PSA — is produced almost exclusively by cancerous tissue.

PSA testing is not merely a prostate cancer screening tool. After treatment, PSA monitoring is the primary method of measuring treatment success and detecting early signs of cancer recurrence.

In a business, due diligence means doing your homework, exploring all the options, and taking reasonable steps to protect yourself. When trying to make a decision about how to treat early-stage prostate cancer, taking time to conduct due diligence is absolutely vital for three reasons:

• No expert consensus exists about which treatment for early-stage prostate cancer is best (or when treatment is best postponed).

Does it make sense to get a mammogram if you're 80? A colonoscopy if you're 85? Experts are still sorting it out.

Experts have battled over whether women should start getting screening mammograms for breast cancer at age 40 or 50. Hit the half-century mark these days, and chances are that your doctor has a present waiting for you: a referral for a colonoscopy. It's a given that women will start getting Pap smears, the screening test for cervical cancer, when they turn 21 or even sooner, depending on when they become sexually active.

Q. I'm 26 and positive for HPV. Is there any point in my getting the new HPV vaccine?

A. There are 30 to 40 strains of sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). The vaccine Gardasil targets the four strains most closely linked to cervical cancer and genital warts. For women not already infected with these strains, Gardasil is almost 100% effective at preventing genital warts and cancerous or precancerous lesions of the cervix. That's why public health officials recommend that girls ages 11 to 12 be vaccinated — before they become sexually active.

At your annual check-up, your doctor discusses the pros and cons of a PSA test. You decide to go ahead, and a week later you get a call with the unwelcome news that the result is high. The next step is a repeat test, with another week of waiting. High again, so you're referred to a urologist. It takes three weeks to get the appointment, another week to get your ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy, then a really long week of waiting. Now the verdict: You have prostate cancer. Fortunately, though, it looks like early disease that's very likely curable.

By now, nearly two months have elapsed since your first PSA test. Since your PSA was just 6 nanograms per milliliter, your risk of widespread disease is extremely low, and so you don't need to spend time lining up scans and waiting for more results. You're eager to get on with treatment, but your primary care doctor tells you it's not so simple. You have a choice of treatment, since surgery, radiation, and even deferred therapy ("active surveillance") are all reasonable. Your doctor sets up appointments with the urologist, a radiation oncologist, and a medical oncologist so you can get a full range of opinions. It takes another month to make the rounds, and then you spend a long weekend at a country inn to think things over with your wife.

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You are what you eat.

It's a bit of folk wisdom that contains more than a kernel of truth. Diet has a powerful influence on many diseases, including America's number two killer, cancer. But because cancer is so complex, with many genetic and environmental factors affecting risk, the link between your menu and your risk has been hard to decipher. In the case of red meat and colon cancer, however, new research provides a plausible explanation for a long-suspected association.

Dietary supplements are wildly popular in America. According to the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 40% of all American adults take one or more.

It's easy to see why supplements are so popular. Because few are regulated by the FDA, manufacturers and retailers can assert many benefits and advertise them aggressively. It's a good strategy, bringing more than $20 billion a year to the supplement industry. But is it good for your health? Are there other ways to gain the benefits claimed for supplements?

Ovarian cancer has long been called a "silent killer," because symptoms are thought to develop only after the disease has reached an advanced stage and is largely incurable. But health experts have identified a set of physical complaints that often occur in women who have ovarian cancer and may be early warning signs. These symptoms are very common, and most women with them do not have ovarian cancer. But for the women who do, the hope is that greater awareness will lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Four symptoms are more likely to occur in women with ovarian cancer than in women in the general population. These symptoms are bloating or increased abdominal size; pelvic or abdominal pain; difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary frequency or urgency.