Rich White Women are more prone to developing the deadly melanoma

Current evidence shows that rich white women are more prone to the deadly skin cancer melanoma compared to other women. Researchers looked at thousands of women who were diagnosed with melanomas and found that one common factor was that these were rich, well-educated Caucasian females. The increase in melanomas was most likely because these affluent women had  spent a lot of time tanning and/or enjoying long vacations in sunny areas throughout the year. So if you are rich, Caucasian and love the sun- do not say you have not been warned, Wear a sunscreen and protect your skin. Melanoma is among the worst type of cancer you can get.

Can green tea prevent cancer?

Almost every week, a new disease is supposedly cured or prevented by green tea. Millions of people drink green tea because they believe it has some type of miraculous healing powers. Therefore, the question is, “can green tea prevent cancer?”

A few reputable studies in the English literature have looked at the effects of green tea as an aid in preventing cancer. The conclusion was simple- it does diddlysquat.  Chinese people have been drinking green tea for centuries, and yet millions of Chinese die from a variety of cancers. Green tea is nothing more than a social beverage- it has zero cancer preventive actions.

The only good thing about green tea is that it has no harmful effects even if you drink and shower with it every day. The only people who benefit from green tea are the people who sell this bland beverage at exorbitant prices. If you want to prevent cancer, eat healthy, exercise, do not smoke and leave the rest to fate- stop wasting your hard-earned money listening to charlatans.

My father has just found out that he has colon cancer which has spread to the liver and is not operable. What else can he be offered in terms of therapy?

Unfortunately, the choices for your father are very limited. For colon cancer which has spread to the liver, the prognosis is very poor. 

Perhaps you should speak to your doctor about hospice or palliative care. At this stage, most doctors only treat the pain and try to make life comfortable. 

The reality is that once colon cancer spreads, all treatments are futile. Life expectancy is short. Do not waste your hard earned money on charlatans who make false promises. 

Take each day as it comes and enjoy whatever days you have remaining with him.

I am a 27 year old male and noticed some blood in my stools. I am scared of developing cancer?

Do not worry; colon cancer is a disease of older people. Blood in the stools in young people can be from hemorrhoids, rectal tears or anal fissures. 

Colon cancer under the age of 50 is quite rare. Unless you have a family history, the risk of colon cancer is very small. In your case, the bleeding may be related to something near the rectum. 

If the bleeding does not happen again, I would not worry about it. But if the bleeding persists then a visit to the doctor is recommended

Mammograms have very low risk of radiation

A new study from Canada suggests that the potential cancer risk from radiation during a mammogram is very small compared to the benefits of lives saved from early detection of the breast cancer.

Said  Martin Yafee researcher at Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto, “This risk of radiation-induced breast cancers is mentioned periodically by women and people who are critiquing screening [and how often it should be done and in whom.”

Added Dr Arnold Rotter from the radiology department at City of Hope Cancer center in Duarte, CA, "This study says that the good obtained from having a screening mammogram far exceeds the risk you might have from the radiation received from the low-dose mammogram,"

Dr Yaffe and his team  developed a mathematical model to estimate the risk of radiation-induced breast cancer following exposure to radiation from mammograms, and then estimated the number of breast cancers, fatal breast cancers and years of life lost attributable to the mammography's screening radiation. They applied this model to hypothetical data from women who undergo mammograms.

What they found: If 100,000 women got annual mammograms from ages 40 to 55 and then got mammograms every other year until age 74, 86 breast cancers and 11 deaths would be attributable to the mammography radiation.

Simply put another way, Jaffe said: "Your chances are one in 1,000 of developing a breast cancer from the radiation. Your chances of dying are one in 10,000. But the lifetime risk of breast cancer is estimated at about one in eight or nine.” he added.

"I'm not minimizing the concern of radiation," Rotter said. "Everything is a balance." For example, younger breasts, particularly those of women aged 40 to 49, are more sensitive to radiation than breasts in older women, but the new study shows it's better to get the screening mammography than skip it.

Elderly can undergo aggressive lung cancer treatments

For many years, the trend in North America has been to treat elderly people who have lung cancer with conservative chemotherapy. The reason for this is that it was always felt that the elderly were fragile and would not be able to tolerate the harsh chemotherapeutic drugs. Well, now a major study indicates that this thinking is wrong. A recent study from France reveals that elderly patients lived longer, cancer free and had a decent quality of life after aggressive chemotherapy.

"These results demonstrate that a more intensive regimen given to younger patients can be effective and tolerable in this (elderly) group," said lead researcher Dr. Elisabeth Quoix

Younger patients with lung cancer have always been offered a combination of drugs but elderly have in the past only been offered one drug. This was chiefly because of physicians fear that the elderly may not tolerate the side effects well.

Researchers in France looked at 451 patients between the age of 70- 89 and offered them single or multiple chemotherapeutic drugs for their lung cancer. The study had to be stopped because the researchers observed that the overall survival period for patients given the combination chemotherapy was 10.4 months compared to 6.2 months for those getting only one drug. They also noticed that patients receiving two cancer drugs lived twice as long and the side effects were easily tolerated.

Dr. Mark Kris, chief of thoracic oncology at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York and ASCO representative, said that the impact of this trial is  "huge."

Kris says "the message of this paper is really important" because it encourages oncologists to look beyond their patient's chronological age and if the patient is fit enough, doctors should have the "confidence to give the best treatment available to older adults with the anticipation of getting the same benefits and side effects."

Kris said, "Of all the trials, this one is the one with the most immediate impact" because doctors and patients can take this information and use it next week.

Fecal DNA tests for colon cancer

Colon cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer deaths in North America. So far nothing we have done in terms of prevention has helped decrease the rates of colon cancer. The only way to improve mortality is to make a diagnosis of the cancer early. We do have many screening tests for colon cancer, but tests like colonoscopy and virtual colonoscopy are expensive. The Fecal occult blood test is not very specific.

In the last few years, scientists have developed Fecal DNA tests. The first generation of these tests were not great. For example, the tests would repeatedly show that you have a cancer, when in fact you did not have a cancer (false positives). Further, the tests also sometimes showed that one did not have a cancer, when in fact a cancer was present (false negative). However, the latest generation of DNA tests have been improved but they are not 100 percent sensitive or specific.

The tests involving sampling stool for DNA. A colon cancer if present anywhere in the colon can be identified roughly 88% of the time.

The Fecal DNA kits appear to be slightly better than the fecal occult blood test kits (FOBT) at detecting colon cancer.

For the time being, anyone over the age of 50, should continue with a reliable screening test for colon cancer. The fecal DNA tests will most likely be improved in the future but for the time being, the fecal occult blood test should not be chucked away. Cost is another issue. The Fecal occult blood tests can cost anywhere from $3-$25, while the DNA kits costs anywhere from $500-$1,000. Another big difference is that the FOBT only requires a stool smear; the DNA kits require collecting a whole bucket of stools.

And finally, the majority of insurance carriers do not cover costs of the Fecal DNA test. For the time being and for those who can afford it, Colonoscopy is still the gold standard screening test for colon cancer.