A great news for cancer patients- a second chance. This is a new aggressive procedure for those suffering from cancer of abdomen and intestine. This procedure is a combination of CRS (cytoreductive surgery) and hipec (hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemotherapy). This treatment can also be used for ovarian cancer, appendix cancer, bowel cancer. The treatment with this procedure improves the quality of life and in some cases prolongs the life. CRS- removes all visible or macroscopic tumors from the abdominal cavity. Hipec - a hot, high concentrated dose of chemotherapy is given in the abdominal cavity to remove the remaining microscopic cancer cells. This treatment is prescribed for peritoneal mesthelmia which is cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen, and for the psuedomyxoma peritonei build up mucus in the abdominal cavitity. In some cases it can be used for cancer of colon. The cost of surgery in India is about 10 lakh rupees. There is a huge potential for this treatment,  [...]

Why do patients who need cancer treatment go to the west if they have the means and resources when India has more specialized advanced oncology departments then ever? It is the USA that is regarded as the best treatment point for cancer. The answer is disappointing and sad- from diagnosis to therapy there is glaring knowledge gap. Some of the reasons are: There is no compulsory registration of cancer patients and hence no data is available on different patterns of the disease. Since there is no information sharing all crucial decisions are taken by the individual doctor or pathologist. So there are about 28lacs of cancer at any given time in India, there are no official records regarding the number yet. The system of tumour boards -teams of oncologists, radiologists, and pathologists, is mandatory for all cancer cases in the west, but yet to be found in India. There are few specialized doctors with organ specific training and oncology centres with organ specific specialization. Diagnostics  [...]

The pollutants that can act as causes of cancer include the following: The air pollutants: The air pollutant that is held responsible for causing cancer is photochemical smog, which is a blend of sunlight, nitrogen oxides and VOCs. This air pollutant is primarily found in the metropolitan cities. According to current statistics, in every 1 million Americans there are 36 cancer patients. However, the density of cancer patients is a lot more among the people residing in industrial regions and freeways of the country. For example, Los Angeles County as a whole has 63 cancer patients in every 1 million people living here; however, the number of cancer patients becomes as high as 1,200 in every 1 million inhabitants for people living in the suburban regions of Los Angeles that have freeways running through them. People living around the industrial regions and freeways are at higher risk of developing cancer because of the presence of smog pollutants. The water pollutants: Similar to the air  [...]

The morose expression reveals it all. Michael Douglas found it hard to conceal his pain as it surfaced that Catherine Zeta-Jones, his wife is seeking therapy for manic depression as a result of being immensely stress-ridden due to his battles with cancer. The forty-one years old actress took admission into a psychiatric facility, Silver Hill where she’s reportedly sharing a ward with those suffering from alcoholism & drug addiction. She’s been in the hospital for 5 days & joins 10 to fifteen others in the over seven hundred pounds detoxification facility located in Connecticut’s New Canaan hosp. Catherine’s spokesperson corroborated that she did receive mental health therapy to assist her in coping with the traumatizing events she underwent on the personal front. The actress who has 2 young kids with Michael decided to get herself admitted for a short stay into the mental health centre so that her bipolar disorder II condition could be treated. She is reported to be feeling  [...]

As the summer is tapering off, many people might have got a resplendent tan or yet working towards one. Hopefully majority of these tans are bottle/canister derived and people have been diligently donning sunscreen. A startling but true fact is that there are several folks of colour that virtually do not use sunscreens at all like many from the Afro-American and Hispanic populaces. Their thought process is that they do not require using sun shielding creams/lotions – and this erroneous belief has lead to a distressing rise in melanoma-related deaths among them. Though individuals of color have a tendency of developing skin cancer at a comparatively lesser rate as compared to the Caucasian populace, when these people with darker skin tone do develop skin cancer, their fatality rates mostly surpass that of their white-skinned equivalents. As per information furnished by the American Medical Association, the 5-year survival rate in case of melanoma is merely fifty-eight percent in people  [...]

Psychedelic drugs inclusive of Ecstasy and LSD are being employed by physicians in tests for treating life-menacing conditions inclusive of post traumatic stress disorder and cancer. Researchers are yet again endeavoring to provide evidence that hallucinogenic drugs could be of medicinal assistance more than forty years subsequent to authorities having put a stop to their usage both recreationally as well as study wise. Presently there are several researches that are in progress in different places across United States that are investigating psychedelic drugs such as ecstasy (MDMA), psilocybin and LSD, deemed the key constituent of magic mushrooms. Even though the study is yet in its first round, early outcomes from New York Univ. research has indicated that entrants were less frightened and had lesser wide-ranging anxiety. These study entrants were additionally seen to possess increasing acceptance of the process of passing away or death with no significant side-effects. The use of  [...]

Though exact breast cancer causes continue to be fuzzy, but key risk factors are clear. Yet astonishingly, several females thought to be at high risk of developing breast cancer do not develop the disease whereas several other women that have no identified risk factors get the disease. Amongst the most important risk factors are progressing age and family case history of the disease. Risk would augment to some extent in case of women that had developed a non-malignant lump in their ovaries or breast tissues. A woman having a direct family history or first degree blood relatives like sibling, offspring or mother that has the disease could raise her chances of developing breast cancer by two to three folds. Investigators have been able to detect duo genes that are accountable for a number of cases of breast cancer running in families – known as the BRCA1 and BRCA2. Nearly 1 female in two hundred is believed to be a carrier of these genes. Women who have the gene are predisposed to developing  [...]

We are perennially being advised about how the everyday intake of multivitamins could aid in improving general health and wellbeing and could even shield from ailments like cancer. However, a novel study has indicated that this apparently healthful habit might in fact be a breast cancer risk factor. The study took into account information from 35,000 females from Sweden in the age group 49-83 years old, that did not have cancer at the commencement of a ten year time period. After ten years, the researchers uncovered that older females that were taking multivitamins were nineteen percent more prone to developing breast cancer in comparison to females that did not have multivitamins. This discovery was accurate irrespective of whether the females engaged in smoking, or were taking hormones intended for allaying menopause symptoms over that decade. Investigators of the latest study helmed by Susanna C.Larsson, PhD, from the Karolinska Inst., Stockholm, Sweden came to a conclusion that the  [...]

A recent study conducted by an able teamwork of radiologists and urologists from Mayo Clinic has unravelled a latest treatment on prostate cancer. David A. Woodrum, intervenient radiologist from Mayo Clinic stated that the safe conclusion of 4 recurrent prostate cancer cases employing (MR) magnetic resonance-guided heat (or laser interstitial thermal therapy) or cryoablation among whom earlier performed radical prostatectomy surgery (operative procedure for complete removal of prostate gland and adjoining constituents) was unsuccessful. Woodrum further added that MR-guided heat or cold (cryoablation) could bear out to be a promising latest treatment on prostate cancer that has recurred; it moulds therapy imaging and time-period to lesions mass and site thus offering an option to males with lesser invasiveness and trauma. He lay emphasis that use of ablation therapy in prostate cancer treatment is comparatively new-fangled. Four male patients in the study underwent recoup therapy after  [...]

Latest researches have illustrated that infrared sauna brings about notable recuperation among cancer patients. It is commonly concurred that cancer cells are incapable of surviving heat. Infrared sauna functions as a hyperthermic treatment that increases body temperature via artificial means letting the body manifestly scorch cancerous cells. Greater sensitiveness to heat has been observed in malignant cells as compared to normal healthy cells. Objective of hyperthermic treatment is to heat the body at the localized site of cancerous cells or tumor presence, localized parts or by treatment given to the complete body. Studies have shown that hyperthermic therapies have particularly been beneficial in ably annihilating cancerous cells which were resistant to invasive, incapacitating and appalling chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Thus, infrared sauna could be used as an effectual adjunct to chemotherapy, radiation therapy to derive optimal outcomes. The penetrative powers of infrared  [...]