Stand Up To Cancer

Two news stories about the Ugandan cancer epidemic caught my eye this week. As heartbreaking as cancer is in the Westernized world, it's much worse in a country where, annually, only $15 US is spent on health care per capita. One piece looks at Ugandan women with cervical cancer. Over 80% of these women aren't diagnosed until it's way too late.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200807220835.html

Another issue I'd never really considered is public health funding, which, in its admirable focus on communicable diseases such as AIDS, unfortunately ignores cancer - even cancers that are linked to HIV.

http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=718&Itemid=2929

But access issues exist everywhere. On the drive home from work the other day I heard a report on NPR about experimental cancer treatments in the UK. In order for the government to continue providing free and comprehensive health care for residents, the benefits of new cancer therapies must be weighed against their costs - meaning drugs like Tarceva, which extends the life expectancy of lung cancer patients by a couple of months at best, aren't up for grabs. Advocates of this system say it embodies an "all for one and one for all" mentality under which sacrifices are made by individuals for the good of the group. What do you think?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91996282

Breast cancer was in the news a lot this week. New research shows that breast self-exams - you know, the uncomfortable palpating we ladies are supposed to be doing in the shower once a month - lead to more unnecessary biopsies than life-saving early diagnoses. Whoops.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/18/AR2008071802788.html

We've talked a lot about genetic testing over in SU2C Mag - read about it here and here - and this week, a new study shows that women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, which place them at a higher risk for breast cancer, might fare better with some kinds of chemotherapy. This complicates what is already a tough decision for many women - should they get tested for the mutations?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/health/women-face-tough-decisions-about-breast-cancer-treatments/2008/07/24/1216492641964.html

On to happier news. We'll start with one for all you guys out there: a clinical trial recently started in Belfast for a prostate cancer drug that some scientists believe may represent the biggest advance in the field in 60 years.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/health/prostate-cancer-drug-trials-to-start-in-belfast-13920006.html

And now one for the ladies! The Gardasil vaccine, still a bit of a controversial topic here in the US, stands to completely eradicate HPV in Australia by 2050. And no more HPV means no more cervical cancer. Get out there and get those shots, girls.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24061999-421,00.html

SU2C friend Lance Armstrong is in the news yet again, renewing his efforts to spread the message about early detection. And this time he's got some pretty powerful friends. Former-Surgeon-General powerful. Nice.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKN2348201920080723

Finally, file this one under "too ironic for words": scientists at Stanford are harnessing the power of the tobacco plant in their attempts to grow a cancer vaccine. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/labnotes/archive/2008/07/21/tapping-tobacco-to-cure-cancer.aspx

That's it for now! Let us know what else we should be reading in the comments, and check in next Thursday for more links.

--Cat Vasko, Associate Editor of Su2c Mag