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The Sun
03-06-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Sleep problem that affects 10million people in UK could trigger world's deadliest cancer, first-of-its-kind study warns
HEAVY snorers could be at risk of the world's deadliest cancer, a shock new study has revealed. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has previously been linked to an increased risk of certain cancers. 1 Now, in a world-first trial, a "significant" link has been found between the condition and lung cancer. US researchers, who assessed the health records of more than 2.4 million adults, say they're not exactly sure why it raises the risk. But they believe it could be due to a lack of oxygen people with the condition get during the night - or lifestyle factors such as smoking and obesity. The findings were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago. Scientists present urged policymakers to consider screening those with OSA for the cancer, and to tackle the condition early, soon after diagnosis. Globally, an estimated 936 million adults aged 30-69 years are affected by OSA. The condition occurs when the muscles in the throat relax too much during sleep, causing the airway to narrow or close, interrupting breathing. This can happen due to several factors, including obesity, a large neck or collar size, structural abnormalities like a small lower jaw or a large tongue, and other medical conditions. Common symptoms include breathing stopping and starting, making gasping, snorting or choking noises, waking up a lot, and loud snoring, says the NHS. According to the Sleep Apnoea Trust, as many as 10 million people in the UK suffer from OSA – with up to four million of these suffering either severely or moderately - although it's considered to be underdiagnosed. I'm a doctor and these 5 changes could be a sign of deadly lung cancer It's important to note while snoring is a common symptom of OSA, it's not a guaranteed sign. In the study, researchers at Marshall University in West Virginia tracked lung cancer diagnoses and separated those diagnosed with OSA and those without. After accounting for different influential factors, such as age, people with OSA were found to be 1.21 times more likely to develop lung cancer compared to those without the sleep disorder. Dr Jowan Al-Nusair, study co-author and physician at Marshall University told MailOnline it was "one of the first statistically significant studies" to prove a link between the condition and lung cancer. She added: "While further studies are definitely now needed to investigate just how the significant the link truly is, this suggests OSA may be a preventable risk factor for lung cancer. "We should be more closely monitoring patients with OSA. Patients would definitely benefit from screening and early intervention to combat OSA. "Additional studies are essential to understand exactly why OSA may increase this risk. "We really hope this will pave the way for future research and testing." Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. In the UK, around 35,000 people die from lung cancer each year. The primary cause of lung cancer is tobacco smoke, accounting for the vast majority of cases. But lung cancer cases are now rising among young people who have never smoked, with some experts attributing this to factors like air pollution. Do you have obstructive sleep apnoea? Sleep apnoea is when your breathing stops and starts while you sleep. The most common type is called obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Sleep apnoea needs to be treated because it can lead to more serious problems. Symptoms mainly happen while you're asleep, they include: breathing stopping and starting making gasping, snorting or choking noises waking up a lot loud snoring During the day, you may also: feel very tired find it hard to concentrate have mood swings have a headache when you wake up It can be hard to tell if you have sleep apnoea. It may help to ask someone to stay with you while you sleep so they can check for the symptoms. If a GP thinks you might have sleep apnoea, they may refer you to a specialist sleep clinic for tests. Source: NHS
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
The foods that colon cancer patients should avoid
A study of over 1,600 stage three colon cancer patients revealed that those who consumed proinflammatory foods like white bread, French fries, hot dogs, and soda had an 87 per cent higher risk of death compared to those with the least proinflammatory diet. Experts noted that these findings underscore the importance of diet and physical activity in colorectal cancer patient outcomes. The study, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, indicated that anti-inflammatory drugs did not significantly influence the diet-survival relationship, but higher physical activity levels correlated with better survival outcomes. Prior research also indicated that systemic inflammation can elevate the risk of colon cancer development. Experts recommend focusing on overall eating patterns, emphasising anti-inflammatory foods like dark leafy greens, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and omega-3-rich protein.
Medscape
02-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Brain Tumors Clinical Practice Guidelines (2025)
Editorial Note: These are some of the highlights of the guidelines without analysis or commentary. For more information, go directly to the guidelines by clicking the link in the reference. Updated guidelines on therapy of adult diffuse astrocytic and oligodendroglial tumors were published in April 2025 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Society for Neuro-Oncology in the Journal of Clinical Oncology .[1] In patients with oligodendroglioma that is IDH -mutant, 1p19q co-deleted, central nervous system (CNS) World Health Organization (WHO) grade 2, offer radiation in combination with procarbazine, lomustine (CCNU), and vincristine (PCV). If toxicity is a concern, temozolomide is a reasonable alternative to PCV. Consider offering vorasidenib to patients who have oligodendroglioma that is IDH -mutant, 1p19q codeleted, CNS WHO grade 2; who have undergone one or more surgeries; and in whom further treatment with radiation and chemotherapy has been or can be deferred. In astrocytoma that is IDH -mutant, 1p19q non-codeleted, CNS WHO grade 2, initial radiation therapy and chemotherapy (with temozolomide or PCV) may be deferred until radiographic or symptomatic progression in some patients with favorable prognostic factors (eg, complete resection, younger age) or concerns about short- and long-term toxicity. Consider offering vorasidenib in patients who have astrocytoma that is IDH -mutant, 1p19q non-codeleted, CNS WHO grade 2; who have undergone one or more surgeries; and in whom further treatment with radiation and chemotherapy has been or can be deferred. For more information, please go to Brain Neoplasms.
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Stop denying thousands of women with incurable breast cancer wonder drug that could boost survival almost 50%, NHS urged
A lifeline drug currently denied to thousands of women with incurable breast cancer could boost survival by almost 50 per cent, pivotal new research has suggested. Medics hailed the drug Enhertu after the trial showed it could extend the lives of patients with one of the hardest to treat forms of the disease, buying them an extra year or more of life. Campaigners said the new findings add to the 'betrayal' that they cannot get the life-extending treatment on the NHS in England or Wales when it is already available in Scotland. It follows repeated decisions by NHS spending watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to deny the 'wonder drug' on cost grounds using new criteria which does not class all terminal cancers as 'severe'. Also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, it is a targeted treatment for patients with a an aggressive and fast-growing type of cancer, known as HER2-positive—accounting for roughly one in five cases of the disease. Researchers presenting the findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago said it showed Enhertu was a 'highly effective' drug that should become the first port of call for patients with this form of breast cancer. In the trial, women taking the drug alongside another treatment called pertuzumab, lived without their cancer growing for 40.7 months on average, compared to just 26.9 among those who took standard treatment—the drug trastuzumab and pertuzumab. Enhertu slashed the risk of death or the disease progressing by 44 per cent, they added. After two years, around 70 per cent of patients on the new combination had not seen their cancer grow or spread, compared to around 52 per cent on standard treatment. For those who had received the combination, 85 per cent saw their cancer shrink or disappear compared to 78.6 per cent in the standard treatment group. Dr Sara Tolaney, head of breast oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and study lead author, said: 'This trial has the potential to establish a new first line treatment for advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, a setting which hasn't seen significant innovation in more than a decade. Trastuzumab deruxtecan is a 'highly effective' and 'promising' therapy, she added. Around 1,000 women each year in England could benefit from the drug, which patients described as 'the last roll of the dice'. Last year, after NICE prevented the drug from receiving NHS funding—a decision the charity Breast Cancer Now called 'a dark day for women with incurable breast cancer'—one 46-year-old patient told how Enhertu would give her more time with her seven-year-old daughter Grace. Former marketing professional, Kathryn Hulland, who lives in Devon, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 and underwent chemotherapy and surgery to remove the tumour. She responded well, but at Christmas 2022 she found a lump on her neck and was told her cancer had returned and spread. Checking your breasts should be part of your monthly routine so you notice any unusual changes. Simply rub and feel from top to bottom, in semi-circles and in a circular motion around your breast tissue to identify any abnormalities She said: 'If my chemo stops working, there won't be many treatments left.' She added: 'Six months more with her would mean the world. It's heartbreaking that patients in Scotland can get it, but I can't. It's a lifeline I can't reach.' Following NICE's decision, in an unusual move the watchdog hit out at AstraZeneca, the British firm who manufactures Enhertu, accusing it of being 'unwilling to offer a fair price'. But the pharmaceutical giant said the drug—believed to cost about £120,000 a year per patient—was available in 18 other European countries, including Scotland. Breast cancer specialist and author Dr Liz O'Riordan told MailOnline today: 'This trial yet again shows the huge benefits Enhertu can offer women, giving them vital extra months and years. 'This postcode lottery is so unfair. It's a betrayal to patients in England and Wales that they cannot access Enhertu, when it is already available in Scotland. 'What more will it take for it to be approved.' Dr Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, meanwhile told MailOnline: 'Treatments that target HER2-positive metastatic breast cancers have transformed outcomes for many people but most still see their cancer progress within two years of starting treatment. 'These trial results suggest that adding Enhertu to the standard treatment could prevent or slow the growth of this type of breast cancer beyond three years. 'Importantly, people given this treatment were also more likely to see their tumour shrink or disappear.'
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Liquid biopsies' alert advanced breast cancer patients when new drugs are needed
New research suggests that blood tests known as 'liquid biopsies' can improve the treatment of some people with metastatic breast cancer and help their tumors remain under control for more than a year. For many, it's been a long time coming: More than a decade ago, researchers and investors predicted that liquid biopsies — which are sensitive enough to detect tumor cells and DNA in the blood — would be 'game changers' in the realm of cancer. Although liquid biopsies haven't replaced standard cancer screening methods like mammograms and colonoscopies, the new study and others like it demonstrate that the blood tests can help doctors monitor cancer and help them select treatments most likely to work. Liquid biopsies are so sophisticated that they can detect minuscule bits of DNA that have leaked out of tumor cells and are floating freely in the blood. The most sensitive liquid biopsies, like those used in the new study, go one step further, detecting ominous changes in key proteins in cancer cells. The research — published Sunday in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago — focused on people whose breast cancers are fueled by estrogen. The most effective treatment for this type of advanced disease includes drugs designed to target specific proteins in breast cancer cells. If those proteins mutate, the drugs stop working, and it's only a matter of time before the cancer begins growing again. By detecting these mutations, liquid biopsies serve as an early warning system that people need a different medication, said Dr. Nicholas Turner, study co-author and a professor of molecular oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden hospital in the United Kingdom. In the new study, people who changed their treatment based on liquid biopsy results were twice as likely to have their tumors controlled than study participants who didn't change therapy. Turner said the approach offers a significant improvement compared with current practice. Currently, doctors look for signs that a cancer treatment is no longer working by performing imaging tests, such as CT scans or PET scans, every three months. These scans allow doctors to see if tumors are getting bigger. The study found that liquid biopsies can detect mutations up to nine months before the changes would have become apparent on scans, Turner said. That gives people the opportunity to abandon ineffective treatments as early as possible and switch to ones with a better chance of controlling the cancer. In about 1 in 10 people in the study, liquid biopsies found that their cancer had developed mutations that would make their current treatment less effective. 'We have very effective treatments, but they can wear off,' Turner said. 'And if they wear off and the cancer starts growing again, it can make the person unwell. If they have cancer in the bones, it can start to cause pain.' Researchers randomly assigned half of the 315 people with mutations to change therapy right away and the other half to continue their medications as usual, said Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli, an author of the study and director of breast medical oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. One percent of study participants were men. For the people who changed therapy early, researchers replaced a hormonal drug they had been taking with an experimental cancer drug called camizestrant, which isn't yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Camizestrant interferes with estrogen's ability to stimulate cancer growth. AstraZeneca funded the clinical trial, which was built on early, basic research funded by the National Institutes of Health, Cristofanilli said. In study participants who switched to camizestrant, their cancers remained stable — without significant tumor growth — for 16 months, compared with nine months for people who didn't switch medications, according to the study. After one year, 61% of study participants who switched to camizestrant had stable disease, compared with 33% of those who didn't change treatment, according to the study. After two years, 30% of people who switched still had stable disease, compared with 5% who didn't. Study participants who switched therapies reported good overall health and quality of life for 23 months, compared to others in the study, who reported a deterioration in health and quality of life after 6.4 months. 'If we switch the treatment at just the right time, we can keep the cancer asleep, stop it from progressing and keep the person well,' Turner said. 'Many of my patients get back to work and just keep going with normal lives. They get time with their kids.' Although camizestrant is only available through clinical trials, a similar drug, Faslodex, has been approved by the FDA. Although camizestrant caused more side effects than the hormonal drugs, most people continued taking it. About 1.3% of participants stopped taking camizestrant because of side effects, compared with 1.9% who discontinued therapy with the hormonal drug. Side effects of camizestrant included a reduction in white blood cells and a heart rate that is slower than normal. People taking the drug also were more likely to see flashes or floating spots in their peripheral vision. Dr. Heather Parsons, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who wasn't involved with the research, said: 'This is an important study, but the results are immature.' 'We need to understand if changing therapy early helps patients or if it leads us to use more toxic therapies sooner,' Parsons said. The study didn't answer a major question: whether the new approach helps patients live longer. Turner said he plans to follow the participants to learn whether the new regimen improves survival. Thanks to better treatments, people with metastatic breast cancer now live about five years after their cancer spreads. That means that it can take several years to detect whether one treatment extends life more than another, Turner said. Doctors don't know if all patients would respond as well as those in the study. Most people in the study were white, with very few Black participants. About 317,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the U.S. this year, in addition to 2,800 cases in men, according to the American Cancer Society. About 42,170 people will die from the disease. Dr. Kelly Shanahan, a physician who has lived with estrogen-driven metastatic breast cancer since 2013, called the results 'exciting' and 'compelling.' 'I would certainly want to talk to my oncologist about an early switch if I were in this situation, especially if the side effects of camizestrant were acceptable to me,' said Shanahan, who serves as the director of research and president of the board of METAvivor, an advocacy group for people with metastatic disease. Scientists are developing liquid biopsies to improve the treatment of many types of cancer. In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2022, researchers in Australia used tumor DNA in the blood to predict which people with early colon cancer would need chemotherapy after surgery — and who could skip it without increasing their risk of relapse. Many doctors now use liquid biopsies when treating colon cancer patients, although the tests used in the study aren't available in all countries, said Dr. Jeanne Tie, the first author of that study and a senior research fellow of personalized oncology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Victoria, Australia. Liquid biopsies are also being studied to screen healthy people for cancer. For example, the FDA last year approved the first blood test, called Shield, to screen for colorectal cancer. The blood test is not meant to replace the colonoscopy, however, which is still required as part of a definitive diagnosis, and neither the American Cancer Society nor the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has endorsed Shield as a form of cancer screening. While the Shield test correctly identified 83% of colon cancers, it hasn't been shown to save lives. Doctors might one day use liquid biopsies to provide further answers when mammogram results are unclear, particularly for women with dense breasts, whose tumors are often missed by standard screenings, Cristofanilli said. He hopes that blood tests will reduce the number of painful needle biopsies. This article was originally published on
