Note: The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or substitute for professional care. For medical emergencies, dial 911!
According to a new study led by Dr. Gary Stoner, black raspberries may be effective against preventing the development of esophageal tumors.
Stoner and his team found that black raspberry powder, when fed to tumor-induced rats, inhibited cancerous cell production in the esophagus, oral cavity and colon. The powder also had the ability to prevent the conversion of precancerous cells to cancerous ones.
According to Dr. Stoner, preliminary results in humans suggest that black raspberries can prevent pre-cancerous lesions in the mouth, esophagus and colon from turning into cancerous lesions.
However, there has been no benefit seen once a cancerous tumor is already developed.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center report that people with acid reflux disease, particularly those with Barrett's esophagus, have changed cells in their esophagus containing shortened telomeres. Telomeres are the ending sequences in DNA. This report along with other studies suggests that these shortened telomeres might allow cells more prone to cancer to take hold.
With acid reflux, acid splashes from the stomach up into the esophagus. Over time, this acid can cause normal cells in the esophagus, which are like skin, to change into tougher, acid-resistant cells like those found in the stomach and intestine, a condition called Barrett's esophagus. These acid-resistant cells are more prone to cancer.
According to Dr. Stuart Spechler, once the telomeres in the normal esophageal cells get too short, they can't regenerate themselves and then the change to these acid-resistant cells can take place.
Researchers now report that surgery plus either preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma does show a survival benefit.
Preoperative chemoradiotherapy resulted in a 19% reduction in mortality risk, with a greater survival benefit in patients with adenocarcinoma rather than SCC. Preoperative chemotherapy resulted in a 10% reduction in mortality risk, with this benefit seen only in patients with adenocarcinoma. These results come from a large meta-analysis of randomized trials.
Previous studies had shown that preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy did not show a survival benefit. However, many of these studies were small. Most oncologists no longer treat esophageal cancer with only surgery, due to recent trials. This study strengthens that conclusion.
This study was published in Lancet Oncology in March 2007.
We've all probably had acid reflux, otherwise known as "heartburn," from time to time, perhaps after eating too much or eating certain types of food. However, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a serious, chronic disease for some individuals, and overeating is not the only cause.
According to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearing House of the NIH, the causes of GERD remain unclear. Research shows that in individuals with GERD, the lower esophageal sphincter relaxes while the rest of the esophagus is working. In addition, anatomical abnormalities such as a hiatal hernia may also contribute and such hernias can occur at any age.
Other factors that may contribute are obesity, pregnancy, smoking and certain foods.
Chronic GERD that goes without treatment can cause serious complications such as damage, bleeding or ulcers on the lining of the esophagus or narrowing of the esophagus. Some people can develop Barrett's esophagus, in which the cells in the esophageal lining change and can eventually turn into esophageal cancer, which is usually fatal.
You do not need to have classic "heartburn" symptoms to have GERD; other symptoms include a dry cough, asthma symptoms or trouble swallowing. If you have been using antacids for more than two weeks, it's time to see a doctor.
Acid reflux is real and treatable. If you or someone you love experiences chronic heartburn, make sure you see your physician or a gastroenterologist for treatment.
Multimodal neoadjuvant therapy -- where patients are given cycles of drugs and radiation prior to surgery -- is increasingly being used as a way to increase survival rates in patients with esophageal cancer.
So what did Stienmier do now? Did he launch into research and study all of the details of the treatments including the surgery, drugs and radiation?
Nope! He went to Florida for the week with his wife, children and grandchildren. They visited Discovery Cove and he even kissed a dolphin at his grandchildren's insistence!
Stienmier explains:
Did I waste valuable time by not obsessing over investigating every source I could find and then trying to design my own therapy? I don't think so at all. Even as a pathologist, I did not think I could propose and design a better course of therapy than the experts I "hired". I let them take care of my medical treatment, while I took care of equally important issues -- strengthening and enjoying my human bonds with my descendents. If my luck with my disease had not been as good as it has been, I still would feel that I could not have spent my precious time in any better way. I hope this may give you something to think about. Kiss the dolphins!
There are no plan to "re-engineer" the drug for the treatment of SCLC although other programs will go forward including those for non small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer, according to a Roche spokeswoman.
The FDA said there were two confirmed events of TE fistula, one fatal and another death in which TE fistula was suspected. Six other cases of TE fistula have also been reported in other lung and esophageal cancer studies.
Symptoms of TE fistula included chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing or labored breathing, coughing or choking when eating or drinking, coughing up food or liquids, or wheezing sounds following every breath.
"This is the first study to apply PET results from early metabolic response assessment to clinical decision making in the treatment of common solid tumors, said Ken Herrmann of the Technical University in Munich, Germany. "The outcome for metabolic responders turned out to be remarkably favorable compared to metabolic non-responders."
According to Herrmann, the results can help select patients who are benefiting from chemotherapy and "circumvent the adminstration of inefficient chemotherapy to patients with no metabolic response."
In late May, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announced updates to two NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology(TM) -- Esophageal Cancer and Gastric Cancer.
The panel added oral fluoropyrimidine, Capecitabine (Xeloda(R), Roche) as an option for treatment of esophageal and gastric cancer due to favorable Phase III trials. The panel also states that capecitabine may replace 5-FU and oxaliplatin may replace cisplatin in triplet regimens for advanced esophageal and gastric cancer.
Additional updates and the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology(TM) are available at www.nccn.org free of charge.
In The Swallow Tales, the newsletter of the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Association, Roger Tunsley relates an experience he had upon first meeting his surgeon prior to his esophagectomy. The surgeon's first words to Tunsley were, "Do not Google this disease."
Tunsley offers a few tips for reading information on the internet, specifically regarding esophageal cancer. Tunsley writes, "You can't believe everything you read, especially on the web. Read critically. Statistics are heavily influenced by the date that they were published. Everyone's EC experience are very different."
Good advice for anyone doing an internet search on health issues, including cancer.
I would add, know yourself. If you don't think that you are going to be able to handle information after something like a general Google search which is going to pop up anything and everything, find another way to get the information. Of course, your physician should be your primary source of information regarding your specific case.
Don't delay. There's no better time than the present to get your weight in check. Especiallly now that The American Cancer Society is reporting that maintaining a healthy weight is at the top of their cancer prevention list.
"We know that obesity is related to a number of different cancers, breast cancer among post-menopausal women, colon cancer, esophageal, kidney cancer," says Colleen Doyle of American Cancer Society spokeswoman.
This makes the ACS recommendations more urgent than ever.
The ACS urges individuals to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and to exercise at least five days per week.
There are no guarantees, of course, that these practices will hold off cancer. But "the good news is that a lot of people think they don't have any control over their risk of cancer and we're here to tell people that absolutely you do have some control," says Doyle.
It is estimated that poor diet and lack of physical activity cause about one-third of cancer deaths each year, about the same number of cancer cases caused by smoking.
The old saying an aspirin a day keeps the doctor away seems to apply for certain cancers now. Researchers reported that aspirin and other NSAIDs decrease the risk of progression of the most aggressive form of Barrett's esophagus to esophageal cancer. In a study NSAID users took the drug at least once a week for six or more months any time during follow-up, regardless of daily frequency, duration, or type, the researchers reported. Galipeau and colleagues also found that those with three or more of the biomarkers who used aspirin or other NSAIDs had a 30% risk of esophageal cancer after 10 years, while those with the same biomarkers who did not use NSAIDs had a 79% risk of developing cancer within a decade.
The vast majority of patients in this cohort had gastroesophageal reflux disease and were undergoing therapy, mainly with proton-pump inhibitors. It is unclear how the frequency or severity of symptoms may have affected NSAID use by participants, the researchers said. However, to their knowledge, they said, symptoms from reflux are not associated with intermediate endpoints or cancer in Barrett's esophagus, so it is unlikely that symptoms could explain the association of NSAID use with reduced risk of esophageal cancer. The findings may help identify patients who may benefit most from a very cost-effective, noninvasive therapy in the form of aspirin or NSAIDS.
The U.S. government's Institute of Medicine reported that asbestos, which is accepted as a cause of a number of respiratory ailments including lung cancer, may also be a source for laryngeal cancer. The larynx produces the sound of your voice. Each year in the United States, more than 10,000 people learn they have larynx cancer. Men are four times more likely than women to get cancer of the larynx. Occupational related issues are certainly a factor with mechanics, construction, and other jobs that handle asbestos.
A series of studies have found that certain cancers of the throat and lungs are similar, so the U.S. Senate asked the institute to investigate a potential link between asbestos and other upper-body cancers. Asbestos is also linked to mesothelioma which is a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the chest.
Smokers and smokers that drink alcohol are even more at risk to develop cancer of the larynx. Symptoms of larynx cancer are hoarseness or other voice changes,lump in the neck, a sore throat or feeling that something is stuck in your throat, a cough that does not go away, breathing problems, bad breath, earaches, and weight loss.
Katherine Schaefer was investigating methods for treating the inflammation seen in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis when something terrible happened -- she noticed her carefully cultured cells were dead. And then something wonderful happened -- she realized she had stumbled upon a potential new method of attacking cancerous tumors that have become resistant to existing drugs.
Schaefer and her colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York were testing a compound called a PPAR-gamma modulator -- a compound never considered a cancer drug, or a drug of any kind really -- when Schaefer made a calculation error and used a lot more of the compound than she should have. And her cells died.
Upon further study, Schaefer found the compound killed just about every possible epithelial tumor cell. These cells line organs such as the colon and also the skin. The compound, that works like taxane drugs but without eventual tumor resistance, also killed colon tumors in mice without making them sick.
The research team, whose findings are published in the journal International Cancer Research, plans more safety tests in mice. And eventually, if their outcomes are promising, they plan to design something they can patent as a new drug -- because they would love to see this disastrous lab experiment one day lead to treatment for cancers of the colon, esophagus, liver, and skin.
Cancer of the esophagus is one of the fastest rising cancers in the United States -- but the common screening test, both expensive and risky, is not widely used. Thankfully, a newer option, around since the mid-90s, is quicker and easier and is catching on around the country.
Trans-Nasal Esophagoscopy (TNE) is the better option, and it works like this: a doctor numbs the nose, inserts a thin, flexible tube -- no bigger than a pencil -- through the nostril and into the esophagus, removes a bit of tissue for biopsy purposes, takes a few pictures, and pulls the tube back out through the nostril. The patient gets to watch it all on a monitor and gets to depart from the procedure with no ill effects.
Traditional esophagus cancer screening involves a similar tube that is inserted through the mouth. Due to the gag reflex, patients are sedated. While there are often no complications from the procedure itself, the intravenous sedation can cause problems.
"You don't need those risks to see what's going on," says one doctor, who reports that esophageal cancer responds very well when caught early by tools like TNE.
According to a new study led by Dr. Gary Stoner, black raspberries may be effective against preventing the development of esophageal tumors. 
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center 
We've all probably had acid reflux, otherwise known as "heartburn," from time to time, perhaps after eating too much or eating certain types of food. However, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a serious, chronic disease for some individuals, and overeating is not the only cause.
The number of lymph nodes that contain evidence of cancer is the best predictor of the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation prior to surgery for individuals with esophageal cancer
Dick Stienmier, a pathologist, writes about his experience with esophageal cancer in July's issue of The Swallow Tales
At a meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in Washington in early June, German scientists reported that 
In late May, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) announced 
In 
Don't delay. There's no better time than the present to get your weight in check. Especiallly now that 
The old saying an aspirin a day keeps the doctor away seems to apply for certain cancers now. Researchers reported that aspirin and other NSAIDs decrease the risk of progression of the most aggressive form of Barrett's esophagus to esophageal cancer. In a study NSAID users took the drug at least once a week for six or more months any time during follow-up, regardless of daily frequency, duration, or type, the researchers reported. Galipeau and colleagues also found that those with three or more of the biomarkers who used aspirin or other NSAIDs had a 30% risk of esophageal cancer after 10 years, while those with the same biomarkers who did not use NSAIDs had a 79% risk of developing cancer within a decade.
The U.S. government's Institute of Medicine reported that asbestos, which is accepted as a cause of a number of respiratory ailments including lung cancer, may also be a source for laryngeal cancer. The larynx produces the sound of your voice. Each year in the United States, more than 10,000 people learn they have larynx cancer. Men are four times more likely than women to get cancer of the larynx. Occupational related issues are certainly a factor with mechanics, construction, and other jobs that handle asbestos. 
Katherine Schaefer was investigating methods for treating the inflammation seen in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis when something terrible happened -- she noticed her carefully cultured cells were dead. And then something wonderful happened -- she realized she had stumbled upon a potential new method of attacking cancerous tumors that have become resistant to existing drugs.
Cancer of the esophagus is one of the fastest rising cancers in the United States -- but the common screening test, both expensive and risky, is not widely used. Thankfully, a newer option, around since the mid-90s, is quicker and easier and is catching on around the country.
