RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

(Report via Medical News Today) A new formulation of the vitamin E extract tocotrienol could play a key role in treating cancerous tumors without harming healthy tissue.

(Report via Medical News Today)Researchers conclude in a paper just published on bmj.com that one in three breast cancers detected in a population with a public breast screening program is overdiagnosed.

Some cancers are harmless and will not cause symptoms or death during a patient’s lifetime. The cancer grows so slowly that the patient dies of other causes before it produces symptoms, or the cancer remains dormant or regresses. Overdiagnosis refers to the detection of those cancers.

New research from Trinity College Dublin published in this month’s Annals of Surgery points to a potentially significant advance in the treatment of patients undergoing major cancer surgery. The study was carried out by the esophageal research group at Trinity College Dublin and St James’s Hospital.
A randomized controlled trial showed omega-3 fatty acids given as part of an oral nutritional supplement resulted in the preservation of muscle mass in patients having surgery for esophageal cancer.

A new therapy for metastatic prostate cancer has shown considerable promise in early clinical trials involving patients whose disease has become resistant to current drugs. Of 30 men who received low doses of one the drugs in a multisite phase I/II trial designed to evaluate safety, 22 showed a sustained decline in the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in their blood.

The FDA-approved drugs Celebrex® and Lipitor® used respectively for arthritis pain and lowering one’s cholesterol are being tested by investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) to see if they hold any promise in slowing or stopping the growth of prostate cancer when combined. CINJ is a center of excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

European experts in cancer and nutrition are meeting in Zurich, Switzerland late this month to discuss cutting-edge research in one of the most important and fiercely debated topics in cancer prevention: the link between diet and cancer. There is growing evidence that many cancers may be prevented through healthy lifestyle, including a nutritionally balanced diet.

Serious flaws in a recent study, which concluded that high doses of vitamin C reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of cancer, are revealed in the current issue of Alternative and Complementary Therapies.

In the latest clinical trial for a technique to detect pancreatic cancer, researchers found they could differentiate cells that are cancerous from those that are benign, pre-cancerous, or even early stage indicators called mucinous cystic lesions.