Stand Up To Cancer

A new University of Michigan study indicates that family and friends are influential in helping women make decisions related to breast cancer treatment. Women who had a friend or family member accompany them to their first appointment with a breast surgeon were found to be more likely to receive a mastectomy. "Family and friends have a potentially important role in treatment discussions. More than 70 percent of women brought someone with them to the appointment, providing a chance for surgeons to convey information to both the patient and her support person," said the study's lead author.
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/-brs/630492.html

Racial disparities in cancer diagnosis, treatment and survival are a huge problem in the US and worldwide. Now new research adds fuel to the fire. According to a study in the most recent issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, black people have a significantly higher risk of dying from pancreatic cancer than whites, even when controlling for factors like smoking and obesity. "Unfortunately, we were unable to explain these differences," noted one of the doctors involved in the study. "We still have a long way to go towards understanding pancreatic cancer disparities."
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/09/02/pancreatic-cancer-deaths-higher-for-blacks.html

Disturbing news out of Seattle: research indicates that former employees of the Hanford nuclear reservation in Richland, Wash, and other similar facilities are 11 times more likely to develop mesothelioma and three times more likely to develop multiple myeloma than the general population. Ninety-four of the 266 Hanford workers who had died prior to the study had died of cancer. The other sites studied with Savannah River, South Carolina, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Amchitka, Alaska.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_hanford_cancer_study.html?source=mypi

In other epidemiological/environmental news, diesel fumes have been linked with cancer growth. New research out of Ohio State University shows that the tiny size of inhaled diesel particles enables them to penetrate the human circulatory system, organs and tissues, potentially inducing the growth of new blood vessels that supply tumors. "The message from our study is that exposure to diesel exhaust for just a short time period of two months could give even normal tissue the potential to develop a tumor," said the study's senior author.
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/09/03/Diesel-fumes-linked-to-cancer-growth/UPI-13941251993485/

That's all for this week, but check back next Thursday for more!

--Cat