Test to predict likelihood of breast cancer relapse could help thousands: Women at high risk would be given drugs for longer after surgery and chemotherapy

• Test predicts how likely it is that breast cancer will return to sufferers 
• Those at high risk would be urged to take preventative drugs for five years 
• Oncotype DX test is not used by many hospitals as it is too expensive

Thousands of women could benefit from a new test for breast cancer which predicts how likely it is that the illness will return.

Those found to be at high risk would be urged to carry on taking preventative drugs for five years and beyond after they have had surgery.

Currently, all women with the most common form of breast cancer – oestrogen positive – are advised to take hormone drugs such as Tamoxifen for up to five years after surgery to remove tumours. But researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London have claimed that a test already available on the NHS could be used in a slightly different way to identify high risk women who would benefit from taking the drugs for longer.

This is the Oncotype DX test, which analyses the genes in a sample of tumour removed after surgery to predict the aggressiveness of the cancer. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3133882/Test-predict-likelihood-breast-cancer-relapse-help-thousands-Women-high-risk-given-drugs-longer-surgery-chemotherapy.html

Breast cancer drug 'boosts survival rates by 40%': Thousands could benefit from two drugs that can eradicate tennis ball-sized tumours in just three months

• Experts hope NHS rationing body will approve drugs soon despite cost
• Medication used for women with particularly aggressive form of cancer 
• HER2-positive is responsible for 13,000 new cases in the UK each year
• In a trial involving 417 women, tumours disappeared in 30% of cases

Thousands of women with breast cancer could benefit from two drugs that stop tumours in their tracks, trials show.

In some cases, treatment was so effective that growths the size of tennis balls were completely eradicated in just three months.

Experts hope NHS rationing body NICE will approve the drugs soon – despite their cost – to enable more women to live longer with the disease and possibly be cured. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3106607/Breast-cancer-drug-boosts-survival-rates-40-Thousands-benefit-two-drugs-eradicate-tennis-ball-sized-tumours-just-three-months.html

New era in the war on cancer: Revolutionary treatment that will save thousands hailed as 'biggest breakthrough since chemotherapy'

• Immunotherapy teaches body to attack cancer cells and destroy tumours
• The treatment will replace chemotherapy within five years, say researchers
• It is particularly effective against skin and lung cancer, experts believe
• Trial patients expected to only survive months went on to live normal lives

A cancer treatment that teaches the body to attack tumours will save the lives of tens of thousands of patients, researchers claim.

Experts believe it could be the biggest step forward since chemotherapy and could replace it within five years.

The treatment is particularly effective against some of the deadliest types of the disease including lung and skin cancer. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3105049/New-era-war-cancer-Revolutionary-treatment-save-thousands-hailed-biggest-breakthrough-chemotherapy.html

How to keep your crown jewels safe: The things you should look out for and why you should check them once a month

• Men 'should get into the habit of checking their testicles once a month'
• Lumps can be cysts. These can be felt separately from the testicle
• A hard lump on front or side of a testicle can be a sign of testicular cancer
• Sudden pain is a sign of testicular torsion, requiring emergency surgery

The shape and consistency of soft-boiled eggs, with one usually larger and lower than the other — a man’s testicles should be familiar territory to him.

‘Get used to checking them once a month, preferably after a shower to relax the skin surrounding them’, says Phil Morris, a former soldier and a testicular cancer survivor who set up the website checkemlads.com

It’s a focus that young men especially find uncomfortable. ‘Cervical screening means women get used to embarrassing examinations — men don’t,’ says Steve Robertson, Professor of Men, Gender & Health at Leeds Beckett University. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3053317/How-crown-jewels-safe-things-look-check-month.html  

Cancer survival rates 10 years behind Europe: British figures still well below other countries despite billions being spent to improve situation over the last 15 years

• Cancer survival rates more than 10 years behind other European countries
• Breast cancer survival rates in UK below those achieved by others in 1990s
• Figures despite Britain spending billions to improve situation last 15 years
• Macmillan said it was ‘shameful’ and proves better rates not unachievable

Cancer survival rates in Britain lag more than ten years behind those in many other European countries, experts warn.

Even for breast cancer – one of the most treatable forms of the disease – the figures are still well below those reached by France, Sweden and Italy in the late 1990s.

For lung cancer, the rates are so far behind that patients in Britain are now half as likely to survive as those living in Austria. 

Macmillan Cancer Support has described the situation as ‘shameful’ and warns too many patients are dying needlessly here when they would survive had they been treated elsewhere in Europe. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3008614/Cancer-survival-rates-10-years-Europe-British-figures-countries-despite-billions-spent-improve-situation-15-years.html