Advances in Cancer Treatment

The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology opens in Chicago at the end of the month. ASCO has published short versions (abstracts) of the research to be delivered at this year's gathering on its web site. You can see all the releases here.  In the cancerpage.com news area, the ASCO-related stories with begin with ASCO in the title.

Obesity and Cancer

Guidelines on cancer and nutrition released last year recognize the significant role obesity plays in the risk of developing cancer.  The science points to two mechanisms that might explain the connection: obesity messes with the body's hormone levels, and some nutrients that have demonstrated anti-cancer qualities are trapped in fatty tissue and unable to do their anti-cancer job.  In a recent Yale Cancer Center Cancer Answers radio program, Dr. Susan Mayne, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale School of Medicine, talked about the new guidelines on cancer and nutrition. By right-clicking on this link, you can download an audio recording of the show here. This is an .MP3 audio file. The Cancer Answers program is available for weekly download. You can also subscribe to the podcast.  Find out more about that here.

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FDA Review

The only antibiotic approved for use against neutropenia when a fever is present is cefepime (marketed as Maxipime). The Food and Drug Administration began a safety review of cefepime last year when data first suggested that the antibiotic may lead to more deaths than other similar drugs. Nothing definitive has been determined, but earlier this week the FDA again urged doctors and patients to report any side effects when using cefepime.  You can read more about the concerns and how to report adverse events here. 

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Matching Patients with Clinical Trials

The Internet is making it easier to match patients with clinical trials as new tools are developed and businesses offer matching services online. The Wall Street Journal's  Laura Landro profiles some of these clinical trial matching sites and the business of clinical trials, here.  According to the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation, only 10% of those eligible to participate in clinical trials do so in the United States.