LungBlog

If you ask Steve Bowman what makes a community such as Brush a “wonderful place to live”, he will tell you it is the community support.

That support is coming through loud and clear as the 52-year-old Bowman fights Non Small Cell Adenocarcinoma (lung cancer). Unfortunately, the cancer is not only in his lungs, but has spread to his kidneys, bones, lymph nodes and possibly his brain, explained his daughter, Kendra Bowman.

An international team of researchers led by Mayo Clinic have designed a technique that uses the body’s own cells and a virus to destroy cancer cells that spread from primary tumors to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system. In addition, their study shows that this technology could be the basis for a new cancer vaccine to prevent cancer recurrence.

Scientists in Liverpool have pioneered a model which can predict the risk of any person developing lung cancer within a five-year period. About two-thirds of lung cancer cases in the UK could be pre-empted through a new screening programme by experts at the University of Liverpool.

A controversial chemical is being removed from microwave popcorn.

Conagra, the country’s largest popcorn producer, has removed diacetyl from its Orville Redenbacher and Act Two brands after a rare lung disease was diagnosed in factory workers exposed to the chemical.

“Recognition by Time Magazine of the importance of early detect of lung cancer using LC Detect(SM) represents a significant milestone for Panacea, and acknowledgement of the clinical importance of this diagnostic test,” cited Hossein Ghanbari, Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and CSO of Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  “Widespread use of LC Detect(SM) should facilitate detection of lung cancer at an earlier stage when effective treatment has a better chance of saving lives and reducing mortality from the number one cancer worldwide.”

According to Monday’s report “Global Cancer Facts and Figures,” some 5.4 million cancer cases and 2.9 million deaths will occur in industrialized countries.

Here the most common kind of cancers are prostate, lung and colon cancer among men, and breast cancer and lung and colon cancer among women.

Isolated knee monoarthritis is a newly recognized paraneoplastic syndrome that may herald resectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to Italian investigators reporting in the December issue of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

A report published in Cell, December 2007 describes the application of this approach to solid tumors such as lung cancer and demonstrates how the technology can identify new sub-types of lung cancer. The study also points the way to new therapies that will likely save many lives in the future.

THE NHS is to investigate whether a screening programme for lung cancer using CT scans should be introduced in the UK.The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme is commissioning a study on the use of a type of sophisticated X-ray - known as low-dose spiral computerised tomography (CT) - to detect tumours in the lungs.

Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the UK, with one person dying from the disease almost every 15 minutes. By the time symptoms become serious enough to visit a doctor, the disease is often extremely difficult to treat successfully.

Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital says state-of-the-art equipment will help doctors diagnose lung cancer without the use of invasive procedures.