Recent Discoveries

A New Generation
Doctors are excited about a new generation of cancer fighters. Clinical trials now show great anti-tumor results.
The tumors “literally dissolved”, and side effects are mild.
These “Smart Bomb Drugs” resulted from the marriage between molecular biology and oncology.
No general term has been coined to describe them, but one such drug is “Herceptin”, used in treating breast cancer.

Hormone Cuts Ovarian Cancer
It is the hormone progestin in oral contraceptive pills that provides a high level of protection against ovarian cancer.
Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers, report a fifty percent (50%) cut in ovarian cancer risk for women taking pills containing estrogen and progestin.
However, the pills that contained very high levels of progestin, caused the risk to fall another fifty percent (50%).
Shirley, Moorman, a Duke University researcher reported her finding in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
She wrote “The Study Should Lead to Progestin as a Chemopreventative Agent.”

Researchers Raise Questions About Mammograms
Though doctors still support the need for women in their forties to have annual mammograms, many researchers are questioning it. Though women have been told for a quarter-century that regular mammograms can cut breast cancer by thirty percent (30%), a recent Danish study raises doubts that the procedure does save lives.
The British medical journal, The Lancet, first published the findings, of the two Danish researchers, who also claim that mammographies have unadvertised limitations and risks. The American Academy of family physicians recently released a pamphlet to help women whether to start screening in their forties. They claim the tests reduce the risk of dying of breast cancer, in this age group, by sixteen percent (16%), a far lower rate than that of older women. They also list downsides of cost, discomfort and a high rate of false positives. Also, there are many false negatives.
It is generally agreed that women over fifty years of age should have mammograms, but only women under age forty to have them are those at high risk. The decision is still out on those in their forties.