Your odds of surviving cancer depend on which country you live in. And, in the United States, it also depends on whether you’re black or white, a new study finds.

Economic differences among countries, access to health care, and the availability of cancer treatments feed the disparities in survival, the report said. Read the rest of this entry »

Chemotherapy patients have not lost access to care despite federal legislation that has reduced reimbursements to their doctors in recent years, a new report finds.

Critics feared the passing of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 would make treatment more difficult, but investigators from the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) found little difference in the distance chemo patients traveled to be treated and the time between diagnosis and start of treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

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A third of women who opt for breast-conserving cancer surgery say they now have an asymmetry between their breasts that greatly affects their quality of life, a new study says.

Women whose affected breast looked noticeably different after surgery were twice as likely to fear their cancer returning and to have symptoms of depression when compared with women whose breasts still appeared similar, according to the study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Their findings are published in the July 10 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Read the rest of this entry »

Genetic activity in breast cancer cells from younger patients could explain why tumors tend to more aggressive when they strike at a younger age.

“We haven’t had a good reason why younger women do worse than older women,” said senior study author Dr. Kimberly Blackwell, director of the clinical trials program in breast cancer at Duke University. “This study offers some insight into why younger women do worse.” Read the rest of this entry »

Updated findings from an analysis of existing research continue to suggest that the oft-touted monthly breast self-exam may actually do more harm than good.

There is no evidence that the practice actually decreases deaths from breast cancer while it may actually double the number of unnecessary biopsies in women who do the exam compared with women who don’t.

Read the rest of this entry »

Your odds of surviving cancer depend on which country you live in. And, in the United States, it also depends on whether you’re black or white, a new study finds. Economic differences among countries, access to health care, and the availability of cancer treatments feed the disparities in survival, the report said. Read the rest of this entry »