Tag: chemotherapy

The use of novel, chemotherapy-free regimens in Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) is poised to become the new standard of care, according to a review assessment by Nicholas Short, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues. Since the introduction of highly potent BCR-ABL–mutation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), Ph+

Tamoxifen has long been used in breast cancer, both in the adjuvant and preventive setting, but uptake and adherence are notoriously low, mainly because of adverse events. Using a much lower dose to reduce the incidence of side effects would be a “way forward,” reasoned Swedish researchers. They report that a substantially lower dose of

New guidelines from the American Society of Hematology “strongly recommend” using no thromboprophylaxis over using parenteral thromboprophylaxis in ambulatory patients receiving cancer chemotherapy who have low venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk, and using no thromboprophylaxis over oral thromboprophylaxis with vitamin K antagonists in those at any VTE risk level. The evidence-based guidelines for the prevention and

Researchers in the United States who tracked the evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in an immunocompromised patient found that convalescent plasma therapy was associated with the emergence of viral variants that were less susceptible to neutralizing antibodies. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is the agent responsible for the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that

Results of a multi-centre, international, clinical trial co-led by Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) cardiologist Dr. Dinesh Thavendiranathan point to the benefit of using a more sensitive test to detect heart function issues early, so cancer patients don’t have to fight heart failure too. Unfortunately, for 1 in 20 high-risk patients, treating cancer with certain

Skip to: Why do Older Women Have a Reduced Libido? Is Reduced Libido a Matter of Concern? How to Regain Sexual Desire? Concept of low libido. Image Credit: Pavlovska Yevheniia / Shutterstock Elderly women generally have a lower sexual desire or libido because of age-related physiological, psychological, and social transition. Although libido reduces gradually with

For people who‘ve undergone treatments for cancer, hair loss is a common but nevertheless stressful side effect. And, contrary to popular belief, the hard part isn’t over when your hair starts to return. Here, survivor Tali Aronoff opens up about how losing her hair changed her perspective — and why she ultimately never grew it

This story is part of Survivor's Guide, a series on navigating the impact of breast cancer through beauty and self-care. Losing your hair is just one side effect of chemotherapy, but it's the most visible. In fact, "hair loss in breast cancer patients and survivors is considered one of the top side effects that affect

Capecitabine is a chemotherapy drug used for breast and colorectal cancer. It can extend survival rate by nearly 10%. However, recent studies revealed that almost 50% of patients develop palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia, a skin reaction also called hand-foot syndrome with mild to serious symptoms. Up to 17% of these patients can have a burning pain in

Colorectal cancer outcomes may improve by genetically altering an immune-regulatory protein in cancer cells, making the cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy. That’s according to new Mayo Clinic research. The findings, published this month in Oncogene, indicate that increasing the expression of the PD-L1 protein in colorectal cancer cells can improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy. “These

The standard of care for women with stage III/IVA endometrial cancer following surgery has been chemotherapy and radiation to prevent recurrence. But in a surprising new finding, radiation combined with chemotherapy did not increase recurrence-free survival in these women, reports a National Cancer Institute-sponsored Gynecology Oncology Group study led by a Northwestern Medicine scientist/physician. This

Chemotherapy often gets a bad reputation – mainly down to the side effects it can cause. This bad reputation can be hard to shake off. And it often stops people hearing the vast improvements that have been made in how chemotherapy is used. I can remember first learning about chemotherapy in my undergraduate pharmacology degree.

Older women are at higher risk for developing breast cancer than younger women are—almost half of all breast cancer cases, and most breast cancer deaths, occur in women who are 65 or older. Despite this, we know very little about how breast cancer and its treatments affect older women. In particular, we don’t fully understand

Tackling unsolved problems is a cornerstone of scientific research, propelled by the power and promise of new technologies. Indeed, one of the shiniest tools in the biomedical toolkit these days is the genome editing system known as CRISPR/Cas9. Whitehead Institute Member David Sabatini and his colleagues pioneered the use of this tool as a foundation

Women with an aggressive form of breast cancer who have faults in their BRCA genes do much better on chemotherapy drug carboplatin than standard treatment, a major clinical trial reports. Researchers found that women with advanced ‘triple-negative’ breast cancer who had inherited a BRCA mutation were twice as likely to benefit from carboplatin as docetaxel,

Less than half the patients diagnosed with cancer respond favorably to chemotherapy, but a new method for testing how patients will respond to various drugs could pave the way for more personalized treatment. Using Doppler light scattering, like a weather radar, researchers can determine how a patient will respond to chemotherapy even before they begin

Difficult to treat and aggressive “triple-negative” breast cancer is chemoresistant even before chemotherapy begins, a new study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports. The findings, which are published in the journal Cell, may lead to better and more personalised treatments for breast cancer. Breast cancer is

Many chemotherapeutics act by damaging the DNA. Since cancer cells divide more often than most normal cells, they are more sensitive to DNA-damaging agents. One exception are oocytes. To prevent birth defects, they initiate a cellular death program if DNA damage is detected. This process, called apoptosis, is triggered in oocytes by the protein p63.