Latest news with #Asco
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Cancer experts warn of coffee enemas and juice diets amid rise in misinformation
Cancer patients are snubbing proven treatments in favour of quackery such as coffee enemas and raw juice diets amid an 'alarming' increase in misinformation on the web, doctors have said. Some were dying needlessly or seeing tumours spread as a result, oncologists said. They raised their concerns at the world's largest cancer conference in Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco). Dr Fumiko Chino, a cancer researcher and assistant professor at MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, co-authored a paper presented in Chicago that said cancer misinformation had 'acutely worsened in the past decade'. With more people being diagnosed amid a growing and ageing global population, misleading or false information about cancer had become a significant public health concern, the study said. While most people trusted doctors, the paper found, more than half of those surveyed said experts seemed to contradict one another. One in 20 had no trust in scientists to provide cancer information. 'We're losing the battle for communication. We need to regain that battlefield,' Chino said. Dr Julie Gralow, Asco's chief medical officer, said: 'Several patients of mine wanted an all-natural treatment approach after I had explained my treatment recommendations. They go online and search for something natural and they find a clinic in Mexico which promises an all natural treatment for cancer, which includes caffeine colonics, vitamin C infusions and other things.' Instead of scolding patients for shunning surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, Gralow said she tried to win their trust by still offering support. 'In several cases, they came back after three months and didn't feel any better. And then they stayed in our clinic and eventually we could gently ease them into more evidence-based treatments,' she said. 'A few times, they didn't come back. And then I would learn within nine months they tragically had died.' Liz O'Riordan, a retired breast surgeon who was diagnosed with breast cancer, shares evidence-based information with her thousands of followers on social media. She said: 'There is a huge amount of cancer misinformation online. Every day I get messages from scared women who want to know if they need to stop eating dairy, soy, flaxseeds. Do they need to stop wearing underwired bras, using deodorants? Is it true that juicing can cure cancer? What about miracle supplement cures like mushrooms and CBD?' O'Riordan wants more doctors to engage with patients online. 'But this is hard as it takes a lot of time to script, film, edit and publish content as well as the effort needed to grow a community to get your voice heard above the noise … And when you don't have a million followers, it's impossible to get traction,' she said. 'What we're saying isn't sexy or exciting – we can't promise a cure. The drugs we give have side-effects and some people still die.' Speaking at Asco, Dr Richard Simcock, the chief medical officer of Macmillan Cancer Support, said misinformation was 'very worrying' as it had 'exponentially increased the problem' of misconceptions about cancer. 'I have recently seen two young women who have declined all proven medical treatments for cancer and are instead pursuing unproven and radical diets, promoted on social media,' he said. 'A person is perfectly entitled to decline that therapy but when they do that on the basis of information which is frankly untrue or badly interpreted, it makes me very sad. It's clear that we have work to do to build back trust in evidence-based medicine.' Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, said: 'Social media can provide a supportive community for people faced with a cancer diagnosis but at the same time, we're also seeing an alarmingly high level of misinformation on some of these platforms. 'I would urge people to be sceptical of any 'miracle cures' you may see on social media around cancer and use trusted, credible sources like the NHS website or your care team to verify anything you are unsure of – because these fairytales aren't just misleading, they can be harmful.'
Gulf Today
19 hours ago
- Health
- Gulf Today
New breast cancer therapy can slow advance of disease, prolong survival
A new triple therapy for aggressive, advanced breast cancer slows the progression of the disease, delays the need for further chemotherapy and helps patients live longer, research revealed. The combination treatment is made up of two targeted drugs: inavolisib and palbociclib, and the hormone therapy fulvestrant. It improved overall survival by an average of seven months, compared with the patients in the control group, who were given palbociclib and fulvestrant. It also delayed progression of the disease by 17.2 months, on average, compared with 7.3 months in the control group, and patients taking inavolisib were able to delay subsequent chemotherapy treatment by almost two years longer than the patients in the control group. The results of the study, funded by Roche, were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The international trial involved 325 patients from 28 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, France and Germany. Experts said it demonstrated the potential of the triple therapy for targeting PIK3CA-mutated HR+, HER2- breast cancer - a common form of the disease. About 70 percent of patients have HR+, HER2- breast cancer. PIK3CA mutations are found in 35 to 40 percent of HR+ breast cancers, and are linked to tumour growth, disease progression and treatment resistance. "The INAVO120 trial has identified a targeted treatment regimen that meaningfully improves survival in patients with untreated PIK3CA-mutated hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer - a big step forward for these patients,' said Dr Jane Lowe Meisel, Co-Director of Breast Medical Oncology at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, and an Asco expert in breast cancer. The results also showed a substantial shrinking in cancer growth in about 62.7 percent of patients in the triple therapy group compared with 28 percent in the control group. Dr. Simon Vincent, Director of Research, support and influencing at Breast Cancer Now, said the findings were a "significant breakthrough'. Dr. Nisharnthi Duggan, a research information manager at Cancer Research UK, said, "The trial showed that adding inavolisib to targeted treatment plans improved survival. On top of this, it also delayed the progression of people's cancer and the need for chemotherapy, which could improve quality of life. We hope that more research like this will help to give people kinder cancer treatment options, and more time with their loved ones.' In the trial, more than half of the patients had disease that had already spread to three or more organs. The researchers used circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) liquid biopsy blood tests to determine whether patients had a PIK3CA mutation. Participants were then allocated to receive either the inavolisib-based regimen or a combination of palbociclib, fulvestrant and a dummy pill. The new drug inavolisib works by blocking the activity of the PIK3CA protein. The inavolisib combination was generally well tolerated with only a few patients experiencing side-effects that led them to discontinue the treatment. Nick Turner, Professor of Molecular Oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and consultant medical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, led a UK arm of the trial. "The key findings from this study showed that the inavolisib-based therapy not only helped patients live longer but it more than doubled the time before their cancer progressed or worsened. It also gave them more time before needing subsequent chemotherapy which we know is something that patients really fear and want to delay for as long as possible," he stated. WAM
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Exercise ‘better than drugs' to stop cancer returning after treatment, trial finds
Exercise can reduce the risk of cancer patients dying by a third, stop tumours coming back and is even more effective than drugs, according to the results of a landmark trial that could transform health guidelines worldwide. For decades, doctors have recommended adopting a healthy lifestyle to lower the risk of developing cancer. But until now there has been little evidence of the impact it could have after diagnosis, with little support for incorporating exercise into patients' routines. Now a world-first trial involving patients from the US, UK, Australia, France, Canada and Israel has found that a structured exercise regime after treatment can dramatically reduce the risk of dying, the disease returning or a new cancer developing. The results were presented in Chicago at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting, the world's largest cancer conference, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. For the first time in medical history, there was clear evidence that exercise was even better at preventing cancer recurrence and death than many of the drugs currently prescribed to patients, one of the world's top cancer doctors said. Dr Julie Gralow, the chief medical officer of Asco, who was not involved in the decade-long study, said the quality of its findings was the 'highest level of evidence' and would lead to 'a major shift in understanding the importance of encouraging physical activity during and after treatment'. Patients who began a structured exercise regime with the help of a personal trainer or health coach after they completed treatment had a 37% lower risk of death and a 28% lower risk of recurrent or new cancers developing, compared with patients who received only health advice, the trial found. Asked to put the effect of exercise on cancer patients' outcomes into context, Gralow said: 'We titled [the session it was presented in] As Good as a Drug. I would have retitled it Better than a Drug, because you don't have all the side-effects.' 'It's the same magnitude of benefit of many drugs that get approved for this kind of magnitude of benefit – 28% decreased risk of occurrence, 37% decreased risk of death. Drugs get approved for less than that, and they're expensive and they're toxic.' 'When I started three decades ago it was still the era where we'd be gentle and say, don't overdo yourself when you're on chemo. We've reversed that,' she added. 'I would say [exercise is] better than a drug.' Related: Bowel cancer rising among under-50s worldwide, research finds In the trial, researchers enrolled 889 colon cancer patients between 2009 and 2023. Most (90%) had stage three disease. Patients were randomly assigned to take part in a structured exercise programme (445) or to just receive a healthy lifestyle booklet (444). Those in the exercise group worked with a personal trainer twice a month for coaching sessions and supervised exercise sessions, and later once a month, for a total of three years. The exercise group were coached and supported to help them achieve set exercise goals. Their weekly target was the equivalent of three to four walks of between 45 and 60 minutes, but patients could choose how they got more active. Some went kayaking or skiing, for instance. After five years, patients in the exercise group had a 28% lower risk of recurrent or new cancers than those in the other group. After eight years, the same patients also had a 37% lower risk of dying than those just handed the healthy lifestyle booklet. 'After completing surgery and chemotherapy, about 30% of patients with high-risk stage two and stage three colon cancer will eventually experience recurrence of their disease,' said the study's lead author, Dr Christopher Booth, of Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. 'As oncologists, one of the most common questions we get asked by patients is 'what else can I do to improve my outcome?' 'These results now provide us with a clear answer: an exercise programme that includes a personal trainer will reduce the risk of recurrent or new cancer, make you feel better and help you live longer.' Prof Charles Swanton, the chief clinician of Cancer Research UK, which funded the UK arm of the study, said: 'This fascinating study captures the power of exercise to transform people's health and boost their chances of surviving cancer after treatment. For an intervention that isn't a drug, exercise offers remarkable benefits for patients.' Related: Early morning and evening activity could 'reduce bowel cancer risk by 11%' For some patients, 'physical activity can be a gamechanger that shifts the course of their recovery', Swanton added. 'The findings suggest that oncologists should consider recommending a structured exercise programme after surgery to improve people's chances of survival. 'But it's important to remember that exercise isn't the best option for everyone. My advice to cancer patients is to speak to your doctor before taking on any new physical activity.' The findings are likely to change global practice, with doctors worldwide urged to discuss exercise regimens with their patients following treatment, oncologists in Chicago said. While this study followed only colon cancer patients, Gralow said there was no reason to think the findings would not be applicable across other cancers. Booth said trials for other cancers would be needed, but added that data from this study suggested there were lower breast and prostate cancer occurrences in the exercise group. 'Exercise as an intervention is a no-brainer and should be implemented broadly,' said Dr Pamela Kunz, of Yale School of Medicine. Responding to the findings, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, said it was 'really exciting' that tailored exercise after treatment could be 'life-changing'. 'These landmark findings suggest that focused steps to exercise, from walks to workouts, could help turbocharge the body's ability to prevent cancer returning after treatment and help save more lives. 'Being more active can have significant benefits in helping maintain a healthy weight, strengthen the immune system, reduce inflammation and lift mood – and it's now really encouraging to see that exercise really could have the power to help more people survive cancer.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Exercise ‘better than drugs' after cancer treatment, international trial finds
Exercise can reduce the risk of cancer patients dying by a third, stop tumours coming back and is even more effective than drugs, according to the results of a landmark trial that could transform health guidelines worldwide. For decades, doctors have recommended adopting a healthy lifestyle to lower the risk of developing cancer. But until now there has been little evidence of the impact it could have after diagnosis, with little support for incorporating exercise into patients' routines. Now a world-first trial involving patients from the US, UK, Australia, France, Canada and Israel has found that a structured exercise regime after treatment can dramatically reduce the risk of dying, the disease returning or a new cancer developing. The results were presented in Chicago at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) annual meeting, the world's largest cancer conference, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. For the first time in medical history, there was clear evidence that exercise was even better at preventing cancer recurrence and death than many of the drugs currently prescribed to patients, one of the world's top cancer doctors said. Dr Julie Gralow, the chief medical officer of Asco, who was not involved in the decade-long study, said the quality of its findings was the 'highest level of evidence' and would lead to 'a major shift in understanding the importance of encouraging physical activity during and after treatment'. Patients who began a structured exercise regime with the help of a personal trainer or health coach after they completed treatment had a 37% lower risk of death and a 28% lower risk of recurrent or new cancers developing, compared with patients who received only health advice, the trial found. Asked to put the effect of exercise on cancer patients' outcomes into context, Gralow said: 'We titled [the session it was presented in] As Good as a Drug. I would have retitled it Better than a Drug, because you don't have all the side-effects.' 'It's the same magnitude of benefit of many drugs that get approved for this kind of magnitude of benefit – 28% decreased risk of occurrence, 37% decreased risk of death. Drugs get approved for less than that, and they're expensive and they're toxic.' 'When I started three decades ago it was still the era where we'd be gentle and say, don't overdo yourself when you're on chemo. We've reversed that,' she added. 'I would say [exercise is] better than a drug.' In the trial, researchers enrolled 889 colon cancer patients between 2009 and 2023. Most (90%) had stage three disease. Patients were randomly assigned to take part in a structured exercise programme (445) or to just receive a healthy lifestyle booklet (444). Those in the exercise group worked with a personal trainer twice a month for coaching sessions and supervised exercise sessions, and later once a month, for a total of three years. The exercise group were coached and supported to help them achieve set exercise goals. Their weekly target was the equivalent of three to four walks of between 45 and 60 minutes, but patients could choose how they got more active. Some went kayaking or skiing, for instance. After five years, patients in the exercise group had a 28% lower risk of recurrent or new cancers than those in the other group. After eight years, the same patients also had a 37% lower risk of dying than those just handed the healthy lifestyle booklet. 'After completing surgery and chemotherapy, about 30% of patients with high-risk stage two and stage three colon cancer will eventually experience recurrence of their disease,' said the study's lead author, Dr Christopher Booth, of Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. 'As oncologists, one of the most common questions we get asked by patients is 'what else can I do to improve my outcome?' 'These results now provide us with a clear answer: an exercise programme that includes a personal trainer will reduce the risk of recurrent or new cancer, make you feel better and help you live longer.' Prof Charles Swanton, the chief clinician of Cancer Research UK, which funded the UK arm of the study, said: 'This fascinating study captures the power of exercise to transform people's health and boost their chances of surviving cancer after treatment. For an intervention that isn't a drug, exercise offers remarkable benefits for patients.' For some patients, 'physical activity can be a gamechanger that shifts the course of their recovery', Swanton added. 'The findings suggest that oncologists should consider recommending a structured exercise programme after surgery to improve people's chances of survival. 'But it's important to remember that exercise isn't the best option for everyone. My advice to cancer patients is to speak to your doctor before taking on any new physical activity.' The findings are likely to change global practice, with doctors worldwide urged to discuss exercise regimens with their patients following treatment, oncologists in Chicago said. While this study followed only colon cancer patients, Gralow said there was no reason to think the findings would not be applicable across other cancers. Booth said trials for other cancers would be needed, but added that data from this study suggested there were lower breast and prostate cancer occurrences in the exercise group. 'Exercise as an intervention is a no-brainer and should be implemented broadly,' said Dr Pamela Kunz, of Yale School of Medicine. Responding to the findings, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, said it was 'really exciting' that tailored exercise after treatment could be 'life-changing'. 'These landmark findings suggest that focused steps to exercise, from walks to workouts, could help turbocharge the body's ability to prevent cancer returning after treatment and help save more lives. 'Being more active can have significant benefits in helping maintain a healthy weight, strengthen the immune system, reduce inflammation and lift mood – and it's now really encouraging to see that exercise really could have the power to help more people survive cancer.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cancer patients live 40pc longer after experimental treatment
Cancer patients given experimental treatment that programmes the body to attack rogue cells live 40 per cent longer, major research shows. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a form of immunotherapy where a patient's own T-cells – a type of white blood cell – are altered in a lab to target and kill cancer cells. The engineered cells are then reintroduced into the patient's bloodstream. CAR T-cell therapy works by genetically engineering a patient's T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells. T-cells are a type of white blood cell that can recognise and destroy foreign cells, including cancer cells, but because cancer is very good at evading immune detection, they often miss their mark. CAR T-cells are engineered to make them better at detecting cancer cells. The pioneering therapy had already been hailed by scientists as one of the most significant breakthroughs in treatment for its success in treating blood cancers. Now, new findings suggest it could also revolutionise treatment for solid tumours. Experts at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (Asco) annual meeting in Chicago, the world's largest cancer conference, said the findings heralded 'a new generation of treatment'. Solid tumours represent roughly 90 per cent of all adult human cancers, including breast, lung and pancreatic cancer. Currently, over 650 CAR-Ts are in active development for a solid tumour indication. The new study – the first ever randomised controlled trial of CAR T-cell therapy in solid tumours – involved patients with advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer. Those given the radical treatment lived on average approximately 40 per cent longer than patients who received standard care, a clinical trial found. The results have been simultaneously published in the medical journal The Lancet. Dr Carl June, a leading expert on CAR T-cell therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved with the trial, said the findings were 'groundbreaking'. He said: 'This is an exciting study showing the first positive results from a randomised trial testing CAR T-cells for a solid cancer.' In the trial, over 100 patients in China with advanced gastric or GEJ cancer were randomised to receive either CAR T-cell therapy or one of the standard-of-care medications. Patients who received CAR T-cell therapy lived an average of 7.9 months after randomisation, compared to 5.5 months with standard care. Patients receiving the designer immunotherapy also experienced 3.3 months without the cancer advancing, versus 1.8 months in the standard care group. The researchers, from Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute in Beijing, said CAR-T-cell therapy 'showed a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival'. The results suggest CAR T-cell 'could represent a paradigm shift' in care, addressing a crucial unmet need for some patients, they added. A second study on CAR T-cell led by the University of Pennsylvania and due to be presented at Asco on Sunday, suggested the approach could also be used to treat brain tumours. Results from that trial are expected to show CAR T-cell can shrink tumours in glioblastoma, a notoriously aggressive and fast-growing brain cancer, and help patients live much longer. Oncologists in Chicago said they were increasingly optimistic about the potential of the therapy to revolutionise treatment of solid tumours, after dramatic success with blood cancers. Dr John Haanen, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, who will deliver a presentation on CAR T-cell therapy at the Asco meeting, said the breakthroughs suggest 'a new generation of treatment that wasn't there for medical oncologists before'. Dr Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, said: 'CAR T-cell therapy – a highly personalised treatment that modifies a patient's own immune cells to recognise and destroy their cancer – has already shown success in treating some blood cancers, but it hasn't yet worked well for solid tumours.' She said it was 'encouraging' to see early signs that it might help those with advanced stomach or gastroesophageal junction cancer, who lived an extra two and a half months longer than those given standard care. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
