Some breast cancer patients can retain lymph nodes, avoiding lymphedema
Removal of armpit lymph nodes can leave many breast cancer patients with lingering lymphedema, a painful and unsightly swelling of the arm.
Apr 13, 2024
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Removal of armpit lymph nodes can leave many breast cancer patients with lingering lymphedema, a painful and unsightly swelling of the arm.
Apr 13, 2024
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Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that altering the sequence of breast cancer treatment to administer radiation before mastectomy allowed for concurrent breast reconstruction surgery, ...
Apr 5, 2024
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Metformin is a widely prescribed drug for managing type 2 diabetes. In recent years, indications of its potential anticancer properties have emerged in research. A study conducted at the University of Helsinki has found that ...
Apr 12, 2024
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After the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002, many women have resisted taking hormone therapy (HT), especially after age 65 years, because of fears of increased risks for various cancers and heart disease. A new study ...
Apr 10, 2024
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New research from the University of Pittsburgh explains why metastatic uveal melanoma is resistant to conventional immunotherapies and how adoptive therapy, which involves growing a patient's T cells outside the body before ...
Apr 16, 2024
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It is possible to leave most of the lymph nodes in the armpit, even if one or two of them have metastases larger than two millimeters. This is shown in a trial enrolling women from five countries, led by researchers at Karolinska ...
Apr 4, 2024
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CAR T cell therapy has revolutionized the way certain types of cancer are treated, and the longer those CAR T cells live in a patient's body, the more effectively they respond to cancer. Now, in a new study, researchers at ...
Apr 10, 2024
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A combination of immunotherapy and targeted therapies show promise in managing metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common form of kidney cancer that makes up 90% of all cases. However, accurately predicting responses ...
Apr 5, 2024
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A pilot study led by UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators suggests that for people with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, administrating an immunotherapy drug in combination with chemotherapy ...
Apr 5, 2024
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A recent Northwestern Medicine study has discovered a previously unknown molecular mechanism that supports antitumor responses and cell survival in cytotoxic immune cells, according to findings published in the Journal of ...
Apr 9, 2024
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Cancer (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, and do not invade or metastasize. Most cancers form a tumor but some, like leukemia, do not. The branch of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer is oncology.
Cancer may affect people at all ages, even fetuses, but the risk for most varieties increases with age. Cancer causes about 13% of all human deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during 2007. Cancers can affect all animals.
Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells. These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. The heritability of cancers are usually affected by complex interactions between carcinogens and the host's genome. New aspects of the genetics of cancer pathogenesis, such as DNA methylation, and microRNAs are increasingly recognized as important.
Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two general classes of genes. Cancer-promoting oncogenes are typically activated in cancer cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive growth and division, protection against programmed cell death, loss of respect for normal tissue boundaries, and the ability to become established in diverse tissue environments. Tumor suppressor genes are then inactivated in cancer cells, resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle, orientation and adhesion within tissues, and interaction with protective cells of the immune system.
Diagnosis usually requires the histologic examination of a tissue biopsy specimen by a pathologist, although the initial indication of malignancy can be symptoms or radiographic imaging abnormalities. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on detectable molecular abnormalities in certain tumors, and which minimize damage to normal cells. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments.
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