Legislation to mandate cancer care plans for Medicare patients was introduced in the U.S. House Wednesday.
The Comprehensive Cancer Care Improvement Act was re-introduced by
California's Lois Capps (Democrat) and Louisiana's Charles Boustany
(Republican). Read
more about the legislation here on Congresswoman Capp's web
site.
Fertility Following
Radiotheray
Female cancer patients of childbearing age should
avoid radiation therapy to the ovaries if possible because of the possible
damage done to reproductive health. That's the latest word following a
review of the literature because of the growing number of pediatric
and young adult cancer survivors. Researchers in Massachusetts looked
at fertility problems of cancer survivors who had had cranio-spinal,
abdominal and pelvic radiation. Cranio-spinal irradiation, while not focused on
the ovaries, caused hormonal changes that affected the ability to become
pregnant later in life. Read
more about the study here.
Compassion
Fatigue
Compassion
fatigue is an occupational hazard for the people most likely to chose
professions caring for sick people and treating the terminally ill. It's a
condition just recently recognized by health professionals themselves who began
to recognize problems of "a loss of compassion, cynicism, boredom, decreased
productivity, more sick days and ultimately higher turnover". What to look for
- chronic tiredness and irritability, lack of joy in life, engagement in
behaviors which are fine in moderation, such as drinking, at a destructive
level. Indiana University School of Medicine Researcher Caroline Carney
Doebbeling, MD, urges special training starting in nursing and medical school.
Read
more about her work here.
In the Lab/In the
Clinic
Small trial could offer hope for multiple
myeloma patients on dialysis with kidney failure. Combining chemotherapy with a
dialysis procedure that cleanses the blood of large immunological proteins
allowed 13 of the 19 patients to finish their chemo uninterrupted. Kidney
function was also restored in 13 patients. Read more about the
procedure here.
The drug lithium may protect brain tissue, particularly the hippocampus,
during brain radiotherapy. That's the finding from tests on mice at Vanderbilt
University. This holds promise especially for children facing long-term
neurological effects from brain cancer treatments. Read the article
here.
Does marijuana kill brain cells? Spanish researchers are studying
whether compounds in marijuana may actually kill brain cancer cells. Read the article in
the Journal of Clinical Investigation here.
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