NEW REPORT - RADIATION AND THE TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER

[Guest guest]

Something new and potentially very interesting from Ralph Moss. Also, at

the end, a very interesting memorial for a cancer researcher . . .

From: subscribe@...(Cancer Decisions News Staff)

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

Newsletter #324 01/20/08

NEW REPORT - RADIATION AND THE TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER

This week we're proud to announce the launch of the first report in our

new Cancer Decisions® series - a series designed to address specific

treatment-related decisions in a number of different cancers.

Our inaugural report, Radiation And The Treatment Of Breast Cancer,

reviews the role of radiation in breast cancer and offers a thorough and

thought-provoking analysis of its risks and benefits. Women weighing

decisions about radiation will find it an invaluable guide. Among the

topics covered are:

Understanding the risk of breast cancer recurrence

The use of radiation in different stages of breast cancer

The role of individual tumor characteristics in weighing risk

Breast conserving therapy (lumpectomy plus radiation)

Types of recurrence and their differing significance

Risks of radiation versus benefits

Evidence from major clinical trials concerning effectiveness

Concurrent chemotherapy and radiation

Advances in delivery of radiation treatment: new choices

Reviewing the report, , MD, radiation oncologist at Cancer

Treatment Centers of America, has written:

" Too often, radiation therapy is prescribed just because " that's the way

it's done " without considering the merits or drawbacks for the

individual. It is important for women with breast cancer to know all the

options so that they can be empowered to choose treatments that are both

medically appropriate and in keeping with their individual preferences

and values.

" Dr. Moss has written a comprehensive report describing the possible

risks and benefits of radiation therapy for breast cancer. The report

shows how breast cancer treatment has evolved over the years, from the

once-routine radical mastectomy, to current techniques of breast

preservation with lumpectomy and radiation therapy, and now to possibly

less damaging forms of radiation that treat only a portion of the breast

in a much faster time. "

You can order and download a copy of this report directly from our Web

site by clicking here:

https://webssl.cancerdecisions.com/list/optin.php?form_id=28

IN MEMORIAM - JUDAH FOLKMAN, MD (1933-2008)

The world of science, the medical profession and cancer patients

everywhere have this week suffered a great loss. Judah Folkman, MD,

Harvard-trained physician and surgeon, died suddenly and unexpectedly in

Denver, CO, apparently as a result of a massive heart attack.

Although trained as a clinician and appointed early in his career to the

post of surgeon-in-chief at Children's Hospital, Boston, Dr. Folkman was

inexorably drawn to cancer research. His interest in the biology of

tumor growth led him to focus on the pivotal role played by the blood

supply in cancer progression. He hypothesized that tumor growth might be

slowed down - perhaps even arrested entirely - by controlling the

ability of tumors to initiate the growth and development of new blood

vessels.

While the majority of the medical profession was still convinced that

the only way to tackle cancer was through more and more aggressive

chemotherapy, Folkman's observations formed the basis of an entirely new

approach to cancer treatment. His pioneering work in the development of

what are called 'antiangiogenic' agents (drugs that are aimed

specifically at reducing the blood supply to tumors) challenged the

vigorously-defended prevailing assumption that cytotoxic drugs were

always the best way to tackle cancer.

Folkman is rightly regarded as the father of 'targeted' cancer therapy,

and although current antiangiogenic drugs (of which Avastin was the

first exemplar) have not lived up to the extraordinarily high

expectations that were whipped up by the publicity blitz that surrounded

their arrival in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the rationale for their

use and the science underlying their development remains undeniably

elegant.

Folkman was a modest and unassuming man who shunned the celebrity status

imposed on him by his ground-breaking discoveries. When Nobel Laureate

injudiciously claimed, in an interview with the New York

Times, " Judah's going to cure cancer within two years, " Folkman rejected

such hyperbole and responded with a memorable and sobering reminder of

the often exasperatingly slow process involved in scientific research.

" If you're a mouse, " he said, " we can take very good care of you. "

 

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

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