http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In recent years, healthy people have been bombarded by stories in the media and on health websites warning about the dangers of too-low vitamin D levels, and urging high doses of supplements to protect against everything from hypertension to hardening of the arteries to diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-vitamin-d.html Health Wed, 01 May 2013 17:05:47 EST news286646738 Screening breast ultrasound performed after mammography on women with greater than 50% breast density detects an additional 3.4 cancers or high risk lesions per one thousand woman screened, a detection rate just under that of screening mammography alone for women with less dense breasts, a new study shows. Screening mammography detects 4-5 cancers per thousand women screened. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-screening-breast-ultrasound-cancers-mammography.html Cancer Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:02 EST news285436385 Johns Hopkins scientists have created a free, Web-based tool to help patients decide whether it's best to accept an immediately available, but less-than-ideal deceased donor kidney for transplant, or wait for a healthier one in the future. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-kidney-transplant-decision-tool.html Other Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:11:13 EST news284735465 Although previous research has linked alcohol consumption to an increased risk of developing breast cancer, a new study has found that drinking before and after diagnosis does not impact survival from the disease. In fact, a modest survival benefit was found in women who were moderate drinkers before and after diagnosis due to a reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a major cause of mortality among breast cancer survivors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-alcohol-consumption-impact-breast-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:00:02 EST news284644751 (HealthDay)—At no age is there an overall survival benefit associated with bilateral oophorectomy compared with ovarian conservation at the time of hysterectomy for benign disease, according to a study published online March 6 in Obstetrics & Gynecology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-survival-benefit-tied-bilateral-oophorectomy.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:10:01 EST news283430044 Surgery offers better survival benefit for men with localised prostate cancer, according to a large observational study, conducted by a group of researchers in Sweden and the Netherlands. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-surgery-superior-radiotherapy-men-localized.html Cancer Fri, 15 Mar 2013 03:00:05 EST news282499092 Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center studied patients with metastatic gastric cancer and found that those who have both surgery and radiation have better survival than those who receive one or no form of treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-surgery-survival-metastatic-gastric-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:25:32 EST news281190325 Testing medicines to prevent lung cancer requires treating many thousands of high-risk individuals and then waiting 5, 10 or 15 years to discover which of them develop cancer and which, if any, experience survival benefit from the treatment. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research proposes a possible waypoint on the way to benefit, which if validated, could dramatically reduce the number of patients needed and time required to test drugs for lung cancer prevention. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-marker-drug-response-pace-lung.html Cancer Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:35:32 EST news276878008 Olympic medallists live longer than the general population, regardless of country of origin, medal won, or type of sport played, finds a study in the Christmas issue published on BMJ today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-olympians-longer-population-cyclists-survival.html Health Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:30:11 EST news274642557 An experimental drug combination for preventing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was not significantly better than the standard regimen on key endpoints, according to a report of a phase 3 trial at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-experimental-graft-vs-host-disease-treatment-equivalent.html Cancer Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:02:54 EST news274381362 Results from a phase III clinical trial comparing a newer chemotherapy agent called eribulin mesylate with capecitabine, a standard drug used for chemotherapy today in women with previously treated metastatic breast cancer, showed that eribulin demonstrated a trend toward improved overall survival. This study was presented today by Peter A. Kaufman, M.D., during the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-standard-treatment-women-breast-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:40:18 EST news274098654 A study, published in the November 2012 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, showed the plasma test VeriStrat can predict response but not survival benefit from erlotinib. The study was conducted on a subset of patients enrolled in the NCIC Clinical Trials Group, BR.21 phase III trial of erlotinib versus placebo in previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-veristrat-response-survival-benefit-erlotinib.html Cancer Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:56:19 EST news269524551 Treatment with the drug sorafenib as a third or fourth line therapy does not result in improved overall survival among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to findings released at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna. However, a post-hoc biomarker analysis of the trial data that was also presented suggests that patients with EGFR-mutant tumors may benefit. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-sorafenib-survival-fourth-line-therapy.html Cancer Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:27:46 EST news268115208 Results of a phase 3 trial published in The Lancet Oncology have confirmed that the drug abiraterone acetate (marketed as Zytiga) offers a significant survival benefit to patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, which is spreading to other parts of their body (known as metastatic prostate cancer). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-phase-trial-abiraterone-acetate-efficacy.html Cancer Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:30:08 EST news267099053 A new drug treatment could offer hope to patients with advanced colorectal cancer who were intolerant of or did not respond to standard treatments, according to an article published in the Lancet Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-drug-trial-patients-advanced-colorectal.html Cancer Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:30:01 EST news265298306 (HealthDay) -- For elderly patients with colon cancer or those with stage II disease, the addition of oxaliplatin to fluorouracil with leucovorin (FL) does not seem to offer any survival benefit, according to a study published online Aug. 20 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-benefit-adjuvant-oxaliplatin-stage-ii.html Cancer Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:30:03 EST news264774167 Results of a phase III clinical trial of the drug Enzalutamide, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, show the drug extends life by an average five months in the most advanced stages of prostate cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-enzalutamide-months-survival-late-stage-prostate.html Cancer Thu, 16 Aug 2012 10:33:22 EST news264331988 Results of a SWOG clinical trial published August 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine show the combination of anastrozole and fulvestrant extended the median survival time of women with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer by more than six months compared to women treated with a standard therapy of anastrozole alone (47.7 months vs 41.3 months). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-anastrozole-fulvestrant-combo-drug-metastatic.html Cancer Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:00:07 EST news263056501 The cancer drug bevacizumab (Avastin) offers only a modest benefit in delaying disease progression in patients with advanced stage breast cancer, according to a systematic review by Cochrane researchers. The researchers assessed the efficacy of bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapy, an established cancer treatment in this indication, and found no overall survival benefit when adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-metastatic-breast-cancer-bevacizumab-impact.html Cancer Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:00:05 EST news261160877 Patients who had surgery for periampullary cancer (a variety of types of cancer that are located in and near the head of the pancreas, including an area called the ampulla where the bile duct joins up with the pancreatic duct to empty their secretions into the upper small intestine) and received chemotherapy had a statistically significant survival benefit, compared to patients who did not receive chemotherapy, after adjusting for prognostic variables, according to a study in the July 11 issue of JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-chemotherapy-cancer-pancreas-survival.html Cancer Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:14:04 EST news261155637 For some patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, treatment may begin before they undergo cystectomy, or surgical removal of the bladder. They may be advised by oncologists to receive chemotherapy before surgery. A large randomized clinical trial published in 2003 demonstrated a survival benefit for neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin) using a standard dose and schedule. However, in an effort to improve toxicity, standard MVAC has been essentially abandoned in favor of other regimens. All current standard neoadjuvant regimens require 12 weeks of chemotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-chemotherapy-surgery-benefits-patients-muscle-invasive.html Cancer Thu, 17 May 2012 09:46:56 EST news256466808 The most recent research released in June's Journal of Thoracic Oncology indicates there might be a positive correlation between tumor size and adjuvant platinum based chemotherapy in surgically resected patients with node negative non-small cell lung cancer. The study, published in the June 2012 issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer's (IASLC) Journal of Thoracic Oncology, analyzed the effect of tumor size and KRAS mutations on survival benefit from adjuvant platinum based chemotherapy in patients with node negative non-small cell lung cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-chemotherapy-effect-survival-based-tumor.html Cancer Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:01 EST news256308389 (HealthDay) -- Three new studies confirm that the drug lenalidomide can significantly lengthen the time that people with multiple myeloma experience no worsening of their disease, either after having a stem cell transplant or getting chemotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-drug-myeloma-patients.html Cancer Wed, 09 May 2012 20:50:01 EST news255805953 (HealthDay) -- Medicare patients who have advanced non-small cell lung cancer appear to get no survival benefit from adding the drug Avastin to standard chemotherapy, researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-avastin-benefit-older-lung-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:47:39 EST news253892752 (AP) -- A panel of cancer experts overwhelmingly backed the approval of a GlaxoSmithKline drug for a rare type of tumor, noting there are few other treatment options for patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-fda-panel-glaxo-drug-rare.html Cancer Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:15:15 EST news251471708 (HealthDay) -- Vandetanib does not improve overall survival for patients who have received previous treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a study published online Feb. 27 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-vandetanib-doesnt-survival-non-small-cell-lung.html Cancer Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:26:24 EST news249888365 Post-menopausal women with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer may have a new treatment option that could lengthen their lives, according to results of a study by the SWOG clinical trials network that were presented at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-anti-estrogen-combo-drug-hormone-sensitive-breast.html Cancer Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:26:21 EST news242475965 The combination of chemotherapy and radiation significantly improved the 5-year overall survival of patients with stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), according to a phase III study published Nov. 4 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-concurrent-chemo-confers-survival-benefit.html Cancer Sat, 05 Nov 2011 03:27:09 EST news239682397 Lung cancer patients with diabetes tend to live longer than patients without diabetes, according to a Norwegian study published in the November issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-lung-cancer-patients-diabetes-prolonged.html Cancer Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:23:46 EST news238044219 New research shows liver transplantation candidates without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) derive a greater survival benefit from a living donor liver transplant (LDLT) than waiting for a deceased donor liver transplant (DDLT). The study now available in the October issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, reports that survival benefit from LDLT remains significant across the range of model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores, but this benefit was not apparent for low MELD candidates with HCC. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-donor-liver-transplantation-survival-deceased.html Other Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:02:56 EST news236336564