Cancer - June 2014 Archives

Cancer survivors: Dealing with guilt when others don't live on Guilt is a normal feeling as you search for the meaning of survival when ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Mayo Clinic-led group of researchers has discovered three subgroups of a single type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that have markedly different survival rates. These subgroups could not be differentiated by routine pathology but only with the aid of novel genetic tests, which the research team recommends giving to all patients with ALK-negative anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). Findings are published in the journal Blood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biPY4-SkYbk Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Feldman are available in the downloads. Patients whose lymphomas had TP63 rearrangements had only a 17 percent chance of living five years beyond diagnosis, compared to 90 percent of patients whose tumors had DUSP22 rearrangements. A third group of tumors, those with neither rearrangement, was associated with an intermediate survival rate.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A gene known to control brain growth and development is heavily involved in promoting clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer, researchers from Mayo Clinic in Florida are reporting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_8vv97wIA Their study, published in Cancer Research, reveals that the gene NPTX2, plays an essential role in this cancer type, which is resistant to common chemotherapy and has a five-year overall survival rate of less than 10 percent in patients with metastatic disease.

Twitter boasts hundreds of millions of subscribers. So, why wouldn't doctors with important news to share about treatment see if they could get the word ...

Mayo Clinic offers gene panel testing to target cancer treatment This test for patients with solid tumors — such as lung, colon, breast, kidney ...

Potentially disfiguring facial tumor caused by chromosomal chimera ROCHESTER, Minn. — This is the story of two perfectly harmless genes. By themselves, PAX3 and MAML3 don’t cause any problems. However, when they combine during an abnormal but recurring chromosomal mismatch, they can be dangerous. The result is a chimera — a gene that is half of each — and that causes biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma. The tumor usually begins in the nose and may infiltrate the rest of the face, requiring disfiguring surgery to save the individual. Because Mayo Clinic pathology researchers have now described the molecular makeup of the rare tumor, several existing cancer drugs may be targeted against it. The findings appear in the current issue of Nature Genetics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujP6gPfHVUQ

Research conducted by Mayo Clinic investigators has found that two common gene variants that lead to longer telomeres — the caps on chromosome ends thought by many scientists to confer health by protecting cells from aging — also significantly increase the risk of developing gliomas, a deadly form of brain cancer. The genetic variants, in two telomere-related genes known as TERT and TERC, are respectively carried by 51 percent and 72 percent of the general population. Because it is somewhat unusual for such risk-conferring variants to be carried by a majority of people, the researchers propose that, in these carriers, the overall cellular robustness afforded by longer telomeres trumps the increased risk of high-grade gliomas, which are invariably fatal but relatively rare. The research was published online in the journal Nature Genetics.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic Children’s Center has again been ranked as the top performing children’s hospital in Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas on U.S. News & World Report’s 2014-2015 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Overall rankings for the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center significantly increased in nearly all of the pediatric specialties, including cancer (#13), cardiology and heart surgery (#13), gastroenterology and GI surgery (#17), nephrology (#25), neurology and neurosurgery (#19), pulmonology (#31) and urology (#11). “The Mayo Clinic Children’s Center brings Mayo Clinic quality to children and families not only through cutting-edge interventions such as the launch of the proton beam therapy for childhood cancer in 2015 and stem cell treatment for children with heart disease, but also through the integrated, multispecialty team approach that has served as the cornerstone of the Mayo Clinic approach to patients of all ages for more than 150 years,” says hospital director Randall Flick, M.D., M.P.H.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My father, 71, was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer last month. He is worried about the side effects of surgery and radiation, so he has instead decided to wait and see if the cancer progresses. His doctor agrees that he does not need to have treatment anytime soon. Should I have him get a second opinion? ANSWER: Active surveillance is a reasonable approach for men with low-risk prostate cancer. However, prostate cancer has a wide range of possible treatment options. It is important to consider all the options before making a decision. Obtaining a second opinion often can be quite useful when deciding on the best approach. Prostate cancer is common, particularly in older men, and it often grows slowly. Because of that, many men with prostate cancer actually die due to some other cause. About 1 in 6 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, but only about 1 in 30 actually dies from the disease. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between the forms of prostate cancer that may not require treatment right away and those that may be aggressive and need to be addressed more quickly.

Apple Unveils Healthkit and Highlights Mayo Clinic App At the WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2014 keynote address, Apple unveiled HealthKit, a digital repository for various types of health- and fitness-related data. Apple will also collaborate with Mayo Clinic through a new Mayo app under development that would offer users a more personalized experience and make their health data more actionable in supporting healthier lifestyles. Mayo Clinic Explores Google Glass The future of health care at Mayo Clinic welcomes Google's new wearable mobile technology, Google Glass — a miniature electronic device incorporated in glasses — that allows users to interact with the internet without using their hands. Approximately 10,000 people have Glass, early adapters who participate in Google's Explorer program. At Mayo Clinic, several physicians and administrators are testing Google Glass across different specialties and departments. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLz4lUkPs28 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — June 6, 2014 — An optical blood oxygen sensor attached to an endoscope is able to identify pancreatic cancer in patients via a simple endoscopic procedure, according to researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The study, published in GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, shows that the device, which acts like the well-known clothespin-type finger clip used to measure blood oxygen in patients, has a sensitivity of 92 percent and a specificity of 86 percent. That means, of 100 patients with pancreatic cancer, this sensor would detect 92 of them, based on the findings. And of 100 patients who don’t have pancreatic cancer, the test would correctly identify them 86 percent of the time.

The lost art of letter writing can benefit cancer survivors Researchers have found that people felt happier and less depressed after they made letter ...