Category: Cancer

People with advanced breast cancer are forced out of work with a cost to themselves and the economy

Lisbon, Portugal: The majority of people living with advanced breast cancer give up working against their will, according to research presented at the Advanced Breast Cancer Seventh International Consensus Conference (ABC 7). [1] As well as the personal costs of being out of work, the new study shows that there is a significant overall cost […]

Latest results from PHOEBE trial show patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer live longer on pyrotinib

Lisbon, Portugal: Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer that has started to spread to other parts of the body survive for longer if they are treated with a new drug called pyrotinib, according to results from the longest follow-up of the PHOEBE randomised clinical trial in China. Presenting the latest results at the Advanced Breast Cancer […]

Research brings hope for early treatment of brain degeneration in ‘children of the night’

Glasgow, UK: Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a rare and devastating genetic disorder characterised by an inability to repair skin damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light.  As a result, patients with XP develop skin cancers, usually in childhood. Once diagnosed, they can be protected by avoiding sunlight (hence sometimes being called ‘children of the night’), wearing […]

Polygenic risk scores could improve colorectal cancer screening

Glasgow, UK: Rates of colorectal cancer are high despite widespread adoption of screening programmes in many high-income European countries. Such programmes tend to use a one-size-fits-all approach where most people are screened starting from the same age, and no individual factors are considered in organised population screening. Now, based on one of the largest genomics […]

Blood biomarkers plus genomics predict common disease risk more accurately than genomic information alone

Glasgow, UK: Being to identify people at high risk of chronic disease means that they can be targeted with prevention measures before they become sick. Polygenic risk scores, where genomic information alone is used to assess the risk of developing diseases, have been receiving a lot of attention recently, but research presented at the annual […]

Death rates from lung cancer will fall overall in the EU and UK in 2023, but rise among women in France, Italy and Spain

A total of 1,261,990 people will die from cancer in 2023 in the EU (EU-27). A further 172,314 people will die from the disease in the UK, according to new research published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology [1]. Researchers led by Carlo La Vecchia (MD), a professor at the University of Milan […]

Researchers identify how certain immune cells contribute to worse survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer

Barcelona, Spain: Patients with a type of breast cancer called HER2-positive are less likely to survive if their initial treatment fails to eradicate the tumour completely and they have high levels of immune cells called tumour infiltrating lymphocytes in the residual disease. Dr Federica Miglietta told the 13th European Breast Cancer Conference that normally tumour […]

Longest follow-up of patients with early breast cancer shows radiotherapy does not improve overall survival after 30 years

Barcelona, Spain: Radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery in conjunction with chemotherapy or tamoxifen to treat early breast cancer reduces the risk of the disease returning in the same breast in the next ten years but makes little difference to that risk thereafter. Nor does it improve overall survival after 30 years. Ian Kunkler, Honorary Professor […]

Ultrasound-guided surgery is quicker, less painful and more effective for treating early form of breast cancer

Ultrasound-guided surgery is quicker, less painful and more effective for treating early form of breast cancer

Barcelona, Spain: Using ultrasound to guide surgery for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) gives better results than the standard technique of using a wire inserted into the breast, according to research presented at the 13th European Breast Cancer Conference. The technique, known as intraoperative ultrasound, or IOUS, enables surgeons to remove a smaller […]

Women with benign breast disease face higher risk of breast cancer in the long term

Barcelona, Spain: The risk of breast cancer is almost doubled in women diagnosed with benign breast disease through screening, according to research presented at the 13th European Breast Cancer Conference. The study of more than 700,000 Spanish women taking part in breast screening compared women who were diagnosed with any benign breast disease, including fibroadenomas […]