Showing posts with label cancer prognosis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cancer prognosis. Show all posts

Monday, December 31, 2012

Symptoms of Colon Cancer

Colon cancer could be a common malignance of alimentary canal system and has nice threaten to our health. In early stage, carcinoma has no obvious symptoms or simply has the symptoms before lesion cancerous amendment, whereas as time goes by, a series of symptoms and physical signs would seem.

(1) Abdominal pain and symptoms of organic process tracts: the overwhelming majority of carcinoma patients have totally different degree of abdominal pain or abdominal discomforts, like abdominal hidden pain, left aspect abdominal distention, nausea, vomiting, loss of craving so on. once food feeding, the symptoms could exasperate and generally could company with intervallic diarrhoea or constipation, that square measure simply confused with the common diseases of right lower quadrant, like chronic rubor, ileocecal infectious disease, ileocecal junction segmental rubor or malignant neoplastic disease. it's typically believed that the symptoms of rightward abdomen carcinoma manifest as pain within the half higher than navel; whereas symptoms of leftward abdomen carcinoma manifest as pain within the half underneath t navel. If cancer tumour penetrates internal organ wall, it's going to cause native inflammatory adhesion or native symptom once the formation of chronic perforation. the placement of pain is simply the place wherever tumour localizes.

(2) Abdominal mass: it's sometimes irregular and in exhausting texture; its surfaces manifest nodosity; throughout early stage of colon cancer and colon cancer, abdomen mass encompasses a bound activity and should cause pain even press it slightly.

(3) Changes of movement and stool shape: this is often attributable to ulceration or infection caused by tumour sphacelus. as a result of poisonous substance stimulates colon to vary gut evacuation habit: increase or cut back the numbers for gut evacuation; alternate prevalence of diarrhoea and constipation, or prevalence of abdominal intestinal colic before gut evacuation and at that time, it might alleviate. If the position of tumour is underneath or simply localizes body part, then some body part irritation could seem, like porta bearing-down pain, troublesome laxation. Dejecture usually manifests as shapeless like pasty, and is mixed with mucous secretion and bloody pus. Sometimes, great deal of blood content could mislead the diagnosing as infectious disease, enteritis, hurt of haemorrhoid so on.

(4)Anaemia and absorption of chronic toxins: once the surface of tumour sphacelus seems ulceration, the colon could suffer from unceasingly capillary hemorrhage. Blood being mixed with dejecture could fail to catch the eye of carcinoma patients. However, anaemia, emaciation, weakness or weight loss is also caused attributable to chronic blood loss, poisonous substance absorption or deficiency disease. Advanced stage carcinoma patients could suffer from lump, megalohepatia, ascites, symptom, cachexy so on. If tumour penetrates abdomen or bladder or different organ and cause internal fistula, then similar symptoms shall be conjointly caused.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Symptoms of Breast Cancer

Early Symptoms of Breast Cancer

The symptoms that are listed conjure the bulk of the first symptoms of Breast Cancer. the primary factor that's typically noticeable is that the lump or mass within the breast. this can be one amongst the main indicators of Breast Cancer that is found within the early stage. it's attainable that a lump can type within the bodily cavity space still. alternative skin and tit connected symptoms conjointly|also are|are} common within the development of the Breast Cancer also however they will not be therefore noticeable within the early stages. detain mind that the first symptoms of Breast Cancer can also be tough as a results of alternative health issues therefore you must not assume the designation supported these symptoms occurring.

It is an honest plan for all girls to try to to breast exams a minimum of once a year. you'll get this done by your doctor or try it on your own. make certain that you just recognize specifically what you're yearning for. Early symptoms of Breast Cancer could go unremarked however once examining the world they're comparatively straightforward to Early. The lump ought to be noticeable and distinguished from the surface of the skin. If there's any modification within the texture and look of your breast skin or nipples then this could even be straightforward to note. If you retain examining your breasts on a daily basis then it'll be easier to spot once there has been any modification to that.
Regular breast examination will facilitate to find early symptoms of Breast Cancer and achievebetter treatment results.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer in girls

Symptoms of Breast Cancer in girls vary slightly . If you're a girl you will expect to expertise breast lump and changes of the skin and nipples in your breast space. There could also be alternative symptoms that would be tough except for this still although. you'll hunt for a full list of Breast Cancer symptoms however this has coated the bulk of the common symptoms that area unit probably to be detected by feminine patients with this kind of cancer.

Symptoms of Breast Cancer in Men

There area unit some similarities within the symptoms of Breast Cancer in men and girls however there area unit many variations that area unit additional probably to be detected by male patients. In several cases In several cases, it's unremarkably to visualize firm patches underneath the tit space of the skin. this might be a significant symptom that's tough by the male and totally different from females. it's attainable that symptoms of Breast Cancer in men can embody numerous forms of changes to the skin and nipples still. In most instances of Breast Cancer the symptoms area unit solely sometimes detected during a single tit. Also, if the Breast Cancer has unfold then you will expertise alternative symptoms like bone pain, weight loss, and general weakness.

The symptoms of Breast Cancer area unit largely to try to to with the breast skin and nipples. If the cancer spreads then symptoms could also be detected throughout the body still. once the cancer is in its early stages the symptoms area unit generally restricted to the breast space although.Even though these symptoms might not be able to realize at the primary look they're still comparatively straightforward to be detected if you examine the world. Ultimately, there area unit various symptoms of Breast Cancer and it's vital if you'll get timely examinations and effective treatments. So, visit a doctor timely once any abnormal symptoms area unit found.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Lung cancer and stigma: The USA's biggest cancer

The USA's biggest cancer killer gets a disproportionately small share of public attention and research dollars. One big reason is that lung cancer is seen largely as a self-inflicted "smoker's disease," says a new report from FairWarning, a nonprofit online publication. The fact that many people with the disease die too quickly to become advocates for their own cause also plays a role. With many dying within a few months, "there's not much time to fit a walkathon in," one expert says.

Lice treatment: A new prescription lotion for head lice called ivermectin left 75% of kids pest-free two weeks after one treatment in a new study, meaning it may work better than older remedies. But it wasn't tested directly against other treatments and lacks long-term safety data. So some experts say it's still a last resort. (HealthDay)

Mumps outbreak: A mumps outbreak that hit Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey in 2009-2010 spread largely through religious schools that used intense face-to-face teaching -- enabling the virus to spread even among people who had been vaccinated, researchers say. (Reuters)

Today's talker: Will your child share Halloween candy today? Or share toys at playtime? It may depend on whether anyone is watching, a new study suggests. The study found five-year-old children were more generous with a stash of stickers when they could see and be seen by the child on the receiving end and when their offerings were put in see-through boxes, rather than opaque containers. It seems children are like adults, a researcher says: "The more others know about their actions, the more likely they are to act generously." (NBC News)

Kim Painter, @USA TODAY

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Smoking and Drinking People who smoke or drink heavily may develop pancreatic cancer

At an earlier age than folks who avoid those habits, a new study suggests.

It's long been known that smoking is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer - a disease that is rarely caught early and has a grim prognosis. Only about five of every 100 people diagnosed with the cancer are still alive five years later.

The evidence on heavy drinking has been more mixed, but some studies have suggested it's also a risk factor.

Now, the new results show the disease may strike smokers and drinkers earlier in life.

"If you do have these habits, and you're going to develop pancreatic cancer, the age of presentation may be younger," said lead researcher Dr. Michelle A. Anderson, of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.

Her team also found that the effect disappeared for former smokers or drinkers if they had quit 10 years or more before being diagnosed.

On average, the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in your lifetime is about one in 71. And the average age at diagnosis is 72, according to the American Cancer Society.

But in this study, current smokers and heavy drinkers were diagnosed a decade earlier than that.

That could be an important motivator for people to quit smoking or curb their drinking, according to Anderson. "That's potentially an extra decade of life," she said.

The findings, reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, are based on 811 patients in a pancreatic cancer registry.

Those who were current smokers were typically diagnosed around age 62, versus age 70 among non-smokers. Heavy drinkers, meanwhile, were typically diagnosed at age 61 - almost a decade earlier than non-drinkers.

Heavy drinking was defined as roughly three or more standard drinks a day. A 12-ounce beer or five ounces of wine would equate to a standard drink.

The findings do not prove that smoking or drinking led to the earlier cancers.

But Anderson's team did account for a number of other factors, like body weight and family history of pancreatic cancer. And smoking and heavy drinking were still linked to earlier diagnoses.

What's more, Anderson noted, there was a "dose" effect.

Smokers who went through more than a pack a day were diagnosed at a younger age than people who smoked less than a pack per day. And once people had refrained from smoking or heavy drinking for a decade, the excess risk of an early cancer seemed to disappear.

According to Anderson, the findings could have implications in the future, if widespread screening for pancreatic cancer becomes a reality.

Right now, there's no test that reliably detects pancreatic cancer in people who have no symptoms. So even people with a strong family history of the disease are not routinely screened.

In order to move toward screening, doctors not only need good tests, but also to know who to screen and at what age to start, Anderson explained.

If smokers and heavy drinkers do tend to develop pancreatic cancer earlier, that could help experts figure out which people could benefit from screening, and when it should begin.

By Amy Norton

Monday, September 17, 2012

Cancer has become the leading cause of death among U.S. Latinos

Nosing past heart disease in 2009, researchers at the American Cancer Society reported Monday.

For most demographic groups and for the country as a whole heart disease is the top killer, claiming a total of 599,413 American lives in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 567,628 Americans died of cancer.

Among Latinos that year, the rankings were reversed: 29,935 died of cancer and 29,611 of heart disease, according to a study in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

The change may be due to demographics, said Rebecca Siegel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta and lead author of the study.

The average age of Latinos in the United States is 27 and of non-Hispanic whites is 42. In the overall population, cancer is the leading cause of death in people under 85 years of age.

"This is primarily driven by the young age distribution," Siegel said.

Cancer incidence and cancer deaths among Latinos remain lower than in non-Hispanic whites, and rates of both continue to fall due to improvements in lifestyle, early detection and treatment.

At the same time, advances in the treatment of heart disease have caused death rates to fall even faster, Siegel said.

"The overall message is positive," said Dr. Paulo Pinheiro, an epidemiologist at the University of Nevada who wasn't involved with the cancer society's report.

The American Cancer Society undertakes its analysis of cancer in Latinos every three years, compiling data from the National Cancer Institute, the CDC and other government sources.

Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S., the organization said, numbering 50.5 million in 2010 and making up 16.3% of the population.

Siegel and her colleagues estimated that 112,800 new cases of cancer would be diagnosed in Latinos in 2012, and that 33,200 Latinos would die this year from various forms of the disease.

They also examined incidence and mortality of the various cancer subtypes. Latinos are less likely than non-Hispanic white Americans to have the most common forms of cancer in the U.S.: breast, prostate, lung and colorectal.

But they are far more likely to develop forms of cancer that result from infection, including liver cancer (caused by the hepatitis B virus), stomach cancer (associated with the H. Pylori bacterium) and cervical cancer (caused by the human papilloma virus).

Incidence and death rates for cervical cancer, for example, are 50% to 70% higher among Latinas than among non-Hispanic white women, the report noted.

Siegel said the high rates of cervical cancer were a result of lower screening rates among Latinas.

"There's an opportunity there to reduce the risk," she said, adding that the cancer society wants to promote culturally appropriate interventions for Spanish-speaking people.

The longer Latinos are in the U.S., she said, the more they acculturate and the more their cancer risk should resemble that of non-Hispanic whites.

Pinheiro noted that U.S. residents from Mexico have lower cancer rates than people from Cuba or Puerto Rico, in part because they haven't been in the country as long.

He said he would like to see a cancer survey that compared like with like, matching Latinos who were born in the U.S. with their non-Hispanic white counterparts. However, birthplace data currently don't support such analysis.

By Eryn Brown

Monday, August 20, 2012

Breast Cancer Symptoms

In the initial stages, the breast cancer has no obvious symptoms and it vary in individuals from lumps to swelling and changes in the skin.

A lump too small which is felt does not cause any unusual changes and it is unnoticed.

However, in many cases appearance of new lump or a mass is the first sign noticed. The lump may be hard to touch with uneven edges and they are painless.

But there are cases the lump is very tender, round edged and soft. More lumps are painless.

Breast Cancer Symptoms are:
Swelling of part of the breast or all parts
Skin irritation in the breast.
Nipple pain,
Nipple begins to turn inward (inverted) slowly
Breast pain.


Appearances of changes in the nipple like redness, scaly formation,
thickening of the nipple.
A nipple discharge (bloody or clear fluid)
Changes in the skin of the breast like thickening.
Arm pit with lymph nodes or a mass or lump

It is essential to note that these symptoms always an indication for a breast cancer. But in some cases the above symptoms may be a symptom of non-cancerous conditions like in an infectious cyst.

In the early stages of the breast cancer, the cancerous tissue formation is hidden inside the tissues and it is always not possible to see the cancer by naked eyes. The changes happen in the breast may not be always cancer. A lump may come by an infection and it may disappear. The changes in the skin surface of the breast may be due to sunburn. A rash may be by an allergy. But all these symptoms to be decided for a benign or malignant type of growth.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Ovarian Cancer Women Have a Slightly Higher Risk

Obesity is also a risk factor among women who have never taken HRT, say international researchers.

Previous studies have suggested a link, but there has been conflicting evidence.

The latest research, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, analysed all worldwide data on the topic.

It looked at 47 epidemiological studies in 14 countries, including about 25,000 women with ovarian cancer and more than 80,000 women without ovarian cancer.

Lead researcher Prof Valerie Beral of the Oxford University Epidemiology Unit told the BBC: "By bringing together the worldwide evidence, it became clear that height is a risk factor."

She said there was also a clear relationship between obesity and ovarian cancer in women who had never taken HRT.

"Ovarian cancer can clearly be added to the list [of cancers linked to obesity]," she added.

Sarah Williams, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said the study produced a clearer picture of the factors that could affect a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer, and found that body size was important.

"Women can reduce their risk of this and many other diseases by keeping to a healthy weight," she said.

"For women trying to lose weight, the best method is to eat healthily, eat smaller amounts and be more physically active."

Commenting on the study, Dr Paul Pharoah, reader in cancer epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, said the increase in risk was small.

"If we compare a woman who is 5ft tall with a woman who is 5ft 6in tall, there is a relative difference in ovarian cancer risk of 23%.

"But the absolute risk difference is small. The shorter woman will have a lifetime risk of about 16-in-a-1000 which increases to 20-in-a-1000 for the taller woman.

"A similar difference in absolute risk would be seen when comparing a slim woman with a body mass index of 20 to a slightly overweight woman with a body mass index of 30."

The findings
  • A slight increase in the risk of developing ovarian cancer for every 5cm increase in height (taking into account other factors such as age, smoking, and alcohol consumption)
  • A slight increase in the risk of ovarian cancer with higher BMI, in women who have never taken hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
By: Helen Briggs

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Fitness Inspiration for Cancer Patients

Those who have cancer may feel like the treatments are more draining than the disease itself. These can sap their energy, making them feel weak and tired all of the time. They may even feel nauseous and sick. This is not the way that they want to live, and they will be glad to know that it is not the way that they have to live. Something that many people do not realize is that exercise can really help them to overcome these feelings. It can help them to regain their strength and to feel better.
Increased Strength
First of all, exercise can help them by increasing their muscle mass and making them physically stronger. The body will be weak already, so this strength can help them to feel like they are able to be more active. They will be able to do more things, showing them that their life can still be as fulfilling as they desire.

Better Blood-Flow and a Higher Heart Rate
Any exercise gets the heart working. This helps to prevent blood clots and other such problems. The rising heart rate can also make them feel less lethargic. This is one of the reasons that cancer patients have been shown to have a lower risk of a reoccurrence of cancer if they are exercising frequently.

An Improved Outlook
Exercise can just help people to feel better in an emotional sense. They will be more awake and alert. This will improve their mood. It can also help them to connect with those around them.

The Best Exercises
Some exercises are ideal for cancer survivors. One such exercise is simply stretching. Increased flexibility helps with blood flow and allows more exercises to be possible. Resistance training with weights or machines is also a good idea since patients will have often lose muscle mass during their treatment. They could also have gained fat, and having larger muscles will help them to burn it off. As they start to feel better, aerobic exercises such as walking or swimming are encouraged. These can also help to reduce fat.

How To Stay Motivated
When someone is not feeling well, it can be hard for them to want to do anything, let alone work out. They need to keep the positives in mind so that they can be encouraged to continue working out. They need to set goals for themselves. Even small goals, such as walking for a mile, can be helpful. Furthermore, they could reward themselves when they accomplish certain things. They should also think of exercise as a way of showing cancer that it cannot rule their life.

Many doctors and patients have noticed the benefits of exercise and healthy living throughout cancer treatment. Many hospitals have open fitness classes, and some gyms offer course designed for cancer patients or survivors. No matter what, patients with an unfavorable cancer prognosis, lean towards some sort of exercise routine. They are fun, social, and exciting ways to learn how to challenge the body.