New Combination Therapy Improves Pancreatic Cancer Survival
A new combination of two standing drugs and radiation therapy has the potential to revolutionize the treatment and care of pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal diagnoses an oncologist can face with patients. Using data from studies by NFCR fellow Dr. Rakesh Jain, investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital used…...
“Pink Drink” to Aid Brain Tumor Treatment
Approved in June 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and launched commercially in-country in October 2018, 5-Aminolevulinic Acid (also known as 5-ALA, and composed of aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride) is an optical imaging agent for use in patients with high-grade gliomas. Nicknamed the “pink drink,” 5-ALA is a surgical…...
Hormone Therapy: Influencing Breast Cancer Treatment and Beyond
While recent medical discoveries, from drugs to imaging techniques, continue to revolutionize cancer care, none of them would be possible without foundations having been laid years, or even decades, earlier. Groundbreaking work by the late endocrinologist Jack Gorski, Ph.D., who passed away in 2006 and was funded by the National…...
Brain Cancer Surgery: Thriving in Recovery
Brain cancer is a formidable adversary in the world of oncology. Against substantial odds, patients work with dedicated doctors to mount a counter offensive. The road to recovery is, to no one’s astonishment, arduous, as brain surgery exposes the very epicenter of our being, behavior, personality, motor skills and memory.…...
Obesity & Chemotherapy
The effectiveness of certain chemotherapy drugs may be reduced by fat cells. This groundbreaking recent discovery was made according to a recent study published in November 2017 in Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Obesity has long been associated with a higher risk of…...
Struggles of Survivorship: Part 2 – Psycho-Social Implications
The mental status of cancer survivors can be fragile and destabilized. Psycho-social complications often arise, such as fear of recurrent illness, financial hardship, anxiety, difficulty handling the end of treatment, fatigue, lasting “brain fog”, broken relationships and even post-traumatic stress disorder. In order to navigate this myriad of challenging issues…...
Struggles of Survivorship: Part 1 – Pain
It is estimated that by the year 2030, deaths due to cancer will drop dramatically and life expectancy after diagnosis will have significantly increased. Whereas this is encouraging news and proof positive that the practice of oncology and the drugs used to treat cancer have become progressively more effective, there…...