Radiation plus chemo reduces recurrence in some pancreatic cancer

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CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 5, 2016 – Pancreatic cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy and radiation after surgery were less likely to have the cancer recur within the five years following treatment than patients who only received chemotherapy after surgery.

Chemo nearly doubles survival rate for advanced colorectal cancer

CANCER DIGEST – Jan. 14, 2015 – The survival rate of people with advanced colorectal cancer has nearly doubled since newer chemotherapies were introduced in 2001, a new study shows.

Researchers led by Chung-Yuan Hu, M.P.H., Ph.D., of the University of Texas MD Anderson Center, Houston, examined patterns of primary tumor resection (surgery) and survival in stage IV colorectal cancer in the United States. Their study appears today in the journal JAMA Surgery. 

No better survival for women who choose double mastectomies

CANCER DIGEST – Sept. 2, 2014 – A study of breast cancer treatment has shown no survival advantage for women who have surgery to remove both breasts.

The study of nearly 190,000 California women with cancer is the first to directly compare survival rates of the three most common surgical therapies used to treat breast cancer in one breast. The study published in the Sept. 2, Journal of the American Medical Association confirms results of a July study showing only modest increase in survival for women with early stage breast cancer.