DRUG MAY PROLONG LIFE OF BREAST CANCER PATIENTS
Two studies suggest the chemotherapy drug Taxotere can prolong life in women with early and advanced breast cancer. The results, reported at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, indicate the drug could help women at all stages of the disease. One study compared the two most commonly used chemotherapy agents, Taxotere and Taxol. Women with advanced breast cancer treated with Taxotere showed improvement in survival and quality of life, researchers said. The studies suggest women need not make a choice between survival and quality of life, the scientists said. Another study found significant improvement in disease-free survival, a 28 percent reduction in risk of relapse and a 30 percent reduction in risk of death.
FOR COLDS AND CHICKEN SOUP, GRANDMA KNOWS BEST
Scientists think they have figured out why grandma's chicken soup appears to work wonders on a cold. Their study indicates chicken soup may contain a number of substances, including an anti-inflammatory mechanism, that could thwart the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections. The suspected benefits of chicken soup were reported by the early Greeks centuries ago but there is little in the literature to explain how it works. University of Nebraska Medical Center physician/researcher Dr. Stephen Rennard's research focused on the movement of neutrophils, the most common white cell in the blood that defends the body against infection. Researchers suspect the reduction in movement of neutrophils may reduce activity in the upper respiratory tract that can cause symptoms associated with a cold. "All vegetables and the soup had activity," Rennard said. In addition to his wife's grandma's recipe, which calls for chicken, onions, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots, celery stems, parsley, salt and pepper, the scientists also tested commercial soups, which also showed the same inhibitory effect.
DRUG SETS BACK LEUKEMIA
The drug Clofarabine can induce remissions in children with acute leukemia, research reveals. The drug, made by ILEX Oncology Inc., had an effect on 29 percent of the children in the study. The data, presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting in San Diego, show young leukemia patients treated with the new drug achieved between a 25 percent and a 34 percent response rate. "We are very excited about these data because despite the poor prognosis heavily pretreated children face, several patients are achieving durable responses that are enabling them to move on to bone marrow transplants," said Dr. Sima Jeha, director of developmental therapeutics at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Additional studies showed adults with first relapsed and primary refractory acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome who were treated with the combination of Clofarabine and ara-C (cytarabine) achieved an overall response rate of 41 percent.
TWO DOCTORS' OPINIONS ARE BETTER THAN ONE
Getting a second opinion may benefit women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, a study suggests. Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center reported at a medical meeting in Chicago a second evaluation often leads to a firmer diagnosis, changes in treatment plans and even the discovery of cancer that had gone undetected by the patient's original doctor. Even if the second opinion doesn't lead to any changes in diagnosis or treatment, it can help a woman feel she is getting the best care available, researchers said. Some women learn they have cancer in more locations than they think, researchers said. After a consultation, 7 percent of the study patients found out they had more cancer in the same breast -- or a previously undiscovered tumor in the other breast.
(Editors: For more information about BREAST, contact Caren Begun at (212) 798-9744 or [email protected]. For SOUP, call (212) 537-8295. For LEUKEMIA, Laura Boscarino at (210) 845-9355 or [email protected]. For SECOND OPINION, call (734) 764-2220)
