I get so confused on all this progress business

I saw this video and thought 'wow this is great news, more progress in treating late stage breast cancer'. Then I started thinking, did I see a different article on this new drug before or is a new one that I hadn't seen before. I get so confused.

I do think this is progress but I don't know if its 'new to me' so to speak or if I did blog about it previously. Well, either way its a nice story and its nice to see progress. But further testing is needed, its only available in clinical trials, and more trials may be required so it is still months or  years away from being available.

A cure for lymphedema

I  had heard about this a few years ago and was told that it was only in experimental stages and not yet ready for use regularly. However it seems enough time has passed so that it is now becoming a reality.

This is nice progress to see that something was too far off into the future to be a reality to end up being put into use.

A New Tool for Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis

Thyroid cancer has the fastest growing rate of incidence in the US of any cancers. The standard procedure to diagnose thyroid cancer is the doctor presses on the patients throat and asks them to swallow - this is to feel for any nodules or lumps. Other symptoms may appear such as a swallowing problems, a sore throat or speaking problems.

 If a problem is suspected, the next usual step is an ultrasound to see if a determination can be made. 1/3 of all ultrasounds are inconclusive - meaning a determination can't be made to determine malignancy.

The next step is a thyroidectomy where the patient if benign will spend their life on synthetic thyroid hormone - which is not quite the real thing. The problem arises in that for those with inconclusive ultrasounds only 25% of them are diagnosed with cancer at their thryoidectomy. Or 75% have unneeded surgery.

But the new hero comes riding in in the form of a new gene test which has a 90% success rate for determining if thyroid cancer or not.



This means patients no longer have unneeded surgery which puts them into a life with out a thyroid which is  fairly significant issue. And it reduces costs for for the patient and the medical care.

Okay some good progress for cynical me.

Positive progress

While we get mired down in a pinkified world for the month, I would like to take a moment to remind people of the progress against breast cancer so far this year. While the article was written regarding progress for African American women, I think it shows progress for all races:

1. 1. One treatment does not fit all. The study released this summer showing four separate classes of breast cancer, this shows more clearly why some races are affected differently than others.
2. "D" Stands For Decreased Risk - A study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research in April revealed African-American women with the highest levels of vitamin D also had a specific variation in the vitamin D receptor that cut their breast cancer risk in half, compared to women without it. 
3. Even Moderate Exercise Helps -In June, researchers at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill found that women who exercise between 10 and 19 hours each week had a 30 percent lower risk of breast cancer. And there isn't a need to break a serious sweat either.  All levels of exercise intensity were linked with a decreased risk, the study authors said.
4. Regular Screening Are Key To Closing Racial Gaps - According to a study published in Breast Cancer Research in August, mammograms may be the key to closing the breast cancer gap between black and white women. When study participants received regular breast screening, "there was no difference in the rate of how many of them presented in the disease's later stages," researchers found.
5. Affordable Care Is Within Reach
   In a commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness month Monday, President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius credited the Affordable Care Act with bringing on "a new day for women's health and the fight against breast cancer."
   According to Sebelius, the healthcare law "means that women can get the potentially life-saving services they need to detect breast cancer before it spreads, without worrying how a copay would affect their family budget."
6. Existing Treatments Work
   A September study by Washington University researchers suggests basal-like breast tumors, one of the deadliest forms of the disease that has been shown to disproportionately affect younger women and those who are African-American, have a similar genetic makeup to ovarian tumors and could potentially be treated with the same drugs. 
7. Triple-Negative Treatments Are Closer
   The notoriously fatal triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) may have met its match, according to researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who found that a form of the small pox virus can be used against TBNC.
   In the study released this week, researchers found that a certain form of smallpox vaccine was able to kill 90 percent of TBNC cells in four days of treatment. It also inhibited blood flow to the cancer stopping its spread.
   TNBC is found in about 15 out of every 100 cases and is more likely to occur in Hispanics and African Americans. 

Progress is progress. All races should be recognized in breast cancer research. Cancer is color blind so its progress needs to be as well.