Over 50 million people in Asia are getting the latest updates from #ChurpChurp! Don't miss out on the fun here!

Over 50 million people in Asia are getting the latest updates from #ChurpChurp! Don't miss out on the fun here!

Are you a Samsung Galaxy SII user? Pit ur creativity against other users! #LoveMySII

Are you a Samsung Galaxy SII user? Pit ur creativity against other users! #LoveMySII

#BuddyUp with Great Eastern for their big 103 and walk away with RM55k worth of prizes

#BuddyUp with Great Eastern for their big 103 and walk away with RM55k worth of prizes

Can’t wait to catch Hugh Jackman and him making his own robots in Real Steel together with Tune Talk! #TTRealSteel

Can’t wait to catch Hugh Jackman and him making his own robots in Real Steel together with Tune Talk! #TTRealSteel

DON'T GIVE OUT CANCER DRUGS IF IT'S JUST TO EXTEND LIFE.

Don't give out cancer drugs if it's just to extend life: Treatment costs can't be justified, say experts

• National Health Service spends £5bn annually on cancer treatments up from £3bn in 2002
• Around 310,000 Britons a year are diagnosed with cancer

By SOPHIE BORLAND

Last updated at 2:50 PM on 27th September 2011

Patients with terminal cancer should not be given life-extending drugs, doctors said yesterday.

The treatments give false hope and are too costly for the public purse, they warned.

The group of 37 cancer experts, including British specialist Karol Sikora, claimed a 'culture of excess' had led doctors to 'overtreat, overdiagnose and overpromise'.

Killer: Some 310,000 Britons a year are diagnosed with cancer - by 2030 it could be 400,000

Campaigners dismissed the report, saying it was wrong to write off cancer victims. 

'I would hardly call this type of treatment futile,' said Rose Woodward, of the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer.

Breast cancer cells: A group of cancer experts said doctors over-diagnose and over-promise

'We have kidney cancer patients on a life-prolonging drug called Sutent who have been told they have only two to three weeks to live but who go on to live for a further five years.'

Around 310,000 Britons a year are diagnosed with cancer. But by 2030 this is expected to have risen to 400,000 as an ageing population succumbs to the disease.

The NHS spends well over £5billion annually on cancer treatments, up from £3billion in 2002.

In the journal Lancet Oncology, the expert group warned many of the costly drugs produced by manufacturers brought little value.

They said patients were offered treatment even where there was little evidence it was of use. 

Instead, money should be invested in better scans and tests to determine whether a tumour is beatable, leaving 'difficult decisions' as to who gets treatment.

'We clearly would want to spare the patient the toxicity and false hope associated with such treatment, as well as the expense,' the experts told the European multidisciplinary cancer congress in Stockholm.

The doctors point out that many patients do not want to spend their final days undergoing exhausting chemotherapy in hospital and would rather be at home surrounded by loved ones.

But a spokesman for the Rarer Cancers Foundation said: 'Describing all treatments near the end of life as futile is tantamount to writing patients off.

The life-prolonging drug called Sutent which is given to kidney cancer patients. Right, Karol Sikora who is one of the 37 experts who warn that the cost of cancer treatments cannot be justified

'Just because they cannot be "cured" does not mean that we cannot give them valuable treatment, care and support.'

'Describing all treatments near the end of life as futile is tantamount to writing patients off. Just because they cannot be "cured" does not mean that we cannot give them valuable treatment, care and support'
  RARER CANCERS FOUNDATION

Ian Beaumont of Bowel Cancer UK said money was not the sole issue.

'While cancer care can be expensive, it is unjust to put a cost on the lives of patients, especially when modern treatments can often give them precious time with their loved ones and increase their length and quality of life,' he added.

Only last week a pill for prostate cancer, Abiraterone, was made available in the UK for the first time at a cost of £35,000 a patient.

Although on average it only extends lives by a few weeks, some patients survive for five years.

Similarly, Avastin, which is used to treat advanced bowel cancer and some other tumours, was initially thought to extend survival by an average of only six weeks.

But some patients are still alive five years later and tumours have not returned.

Barbara Moss was given months to live when she was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer that had spread to her liver in November 2006.

She paid for Avastin privately and the drug shrank the tumours so much that they were small enough to be removed by surgery. She lived an extra five years.

Last week Professor Sikora warned that, in future, the best cancer treatments would be the preserve of the rich because they would be too expensive for the Health Service.

HOPE FOR CANCER PATIENTS

Over the past two years, I have received numerous articles on cancer prevention and cures forwarded by friends and blog contributors. Some of these purported cures have turned out to be false while others simply could not be verified.

Finally I've found some really exciting information on the topic that I can share on Seniorsaloud without wondering if it's a work of fiction.

I am referring to Dr William Li's Youtube TED talk on how to starve off tumour cells by eating the right food. Dr Li is a cancer researcher and president of the Angiogenesis Foundation. No medical jargon here - just plain talking about how tumours develop and what we can eat to kill them. Absolutely fascinating. Please share as this might be life-saving information for some people that you know.

Here's Dr Li's list of anti-angiogenic foods:

It is interesting to note that meat and animal products e.g. milk are absent from the list.

Watch the Video of Dr. William Li on Angiogenesis. 

You might also find these links useful:

UNDERSTANDING ANGIOGENESIS

ANTI-ANGIOGENESIS FOODS

THE BEST WAY TO PREVENT CANCER: A GOOD DIET

Symptoms of Six Common Cancers

By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor

Cancer is much more likely to be curable if the symptoms are caught early. In fact, with certain types of cancer, such as ovarian and prostate cancer, early detection can make an enormous difference in prognosis and outcome. It’s worthwhile to be hypervigilant, then, in watching for cancer symptoms and aggressive about asking for screening tests and checkups to make sure you and the people you care about are in good health–and stay that way. Here are symptoms of some of the most common cancers, along with important risk factors.

Prostate cancer symptoms

1. 1.  Difficulty urinating: either trouble getting started or weak or interrupted flow
2. 2.  The need to urinate often, particularly at night
3. 3.  Pain or burning during urination
4. 4.  Blood in urine or semen
5. 5.  Erection problems
6. 6.  Pain during ejaculation or difficulty ejaculating
7. 7.  Stiffness or pain in the lower back, hips, or upper thighs

Note: Many men — more than half of those in their 60s — suffer from benign prostatic hypertrophy, a set of symptoms similar to those for prostate cancer (in which the prostate becomes enlarged). This common condition is annoying, but it’s neither a disease nor a life-threatening condition. Any male who has had prostate problems should have a regular PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test and be monitored for prostate cancer. Additional risk factors include a family history of prostate cancer or being African-American.

Breast Cancer Symptoms

1. 1.  A lump or thickening in the breast or underarm area
2. 2.  Tenderness in the breast or nipple
3. 3.  A change in breast or nipple shape
4. 4.  Nipple discharge
5. 5.  Red, swollen, or scaly skin on the breast or nipple

Note: Other factors that increase risk — men can get breast cancer, too — are family history (particularly breast cancer in the mother or sister), a diet high in saturated fat, obesity, early onset of menses or late menopause, being childless or being older at the birth of a first child, and taking hormones. A genetic mutation known as the BRCA gene (most common in those of Eastern European Jewish descent) greatly increases the risk of breast cancer, particularly when combined with a family history of the disease.

Colorectal cancer symptoms

1. 1.  Constipation
2. 2.  Blood in the stool
3. 3.  Narrow or thin stools
4. 4.  Stomach cramps
5. 5.  Gas and bloating
6. 6.  Sense of fullness after eating small amounts.
7. 7.  Nausea and vomittng

Note: Because many of the signs of colorectal cancer can easily be confused with the symptoms of some digestive disorders, it’s important to monitor them carefully and inform the doctor if digestive problems reappear frequently, don’t clear up quickly, or become chronic. For this reason, regular screening via colonoscopy for colorectal cancer is recommended for everyone over 50.Having polyps removed from your colon or a history of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, puts you at increased risk for colorectal cancer. Family history is also important with colon cancer, as is race. African-Americans and Jews of Eastern European descent are at particular risk for colorectal cancer. Eating a diet high in animal fat and low in fruits and vegetables is also a risk factor.

Lung cancer symptoms

1. 1.  Shortness of breath
2. 2.  Chronic cough
3. 3.  A change in a chronic cough
4. 4.  Pain or aching when coughing or breathing
5. 5.  Coughing up blood
6. 6.  Difficulty swallowing

Note: If you or someone you’re caring for was or is a smoker, you’ll want to bring this to the doctor’s attention, even if it was a long time ago. Smoking for any period greatly increases the risk of lung cancer. Exposure to secondhand smoke and certain chemicals is also a risk factor.

Ovarian cancer symptoms

1. 1.  Pelvic or abdominal pain
2. 2.  Bloating
3. 3.  Urgent need to urinate
4. 4.  Frequent urination
5. 5.  Trouble eating or feeling full quickly

Note: Family history is one of the most important risk factors for ovarian cancer. And those with the BRCA genetic mutation (most common in those of Eastern European Jewish descent) are at risk for ovarian cancer as well as breast cancer.

General cancer symptoms (cancer of unspecified origin)

1. 1.  Loss of appetite
2. 2.  Unexplained weight loss
3. 3.  Fever
4. 4.  Fatigue
5. 5.  Jaundice
6. 6.  Nausea

Note: Sometimes a person shows signs of declining health but doesn’t have pain or other symptoms in a particular area of the body. This can be a sign of cancer that started in one spot but has spread to the liver or other organs and is affecting overall health. Sometimes a tumor is discovered because it has grown big enough to press on other organs.

7 Ways to Slash Cancer Risk

By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor

Would you change your lifestyle if you could slash your risk of getting cancer by a third or even half? That’s the challenge posed by a huge new report just released by The American Institute for Cancer Research that pulls together and analyzes the most comprehensive data on cancer prevention yet.

Okay, I admit it, you’re not going to like some of this advice, and neither are your family members. I know I don’t. Give up salami, one of my favorite lunch options? Yikes. And alcohol? As native Californians who grew up going wine tasting in the Napa Valley whenever possible, my siblings would be really sad if family dinners were no longer accompanied by a bottle of good zinfandel or pinot. And what’s a burrito without a cold beer and lime to go with it?

But this evidence is so compelling that I think all of us in Cancer World are going to have to look twice at some of our lifestyle choices and may feel newly motivated to make changes, or nag at our loved ones to do so. Imagine, by following these guidelines, we could prevent:

• More than 45 percent of colon cancer cases
  (Translation: 49,000 people would not get colon cancer)
• 38 percent of breast cancer cases
  (Translation: 70,000 people would not get breast cancer)
• One third of all the most common cancers

This report is a big deal because the experts who compiled it looked at every major study and based their recommendations on hard evidence of what really works to reduce cancer risk. “This is the practical application of five years of work sorting through what the science really says,” said panel member Steve Zeisel, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1. Be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day. As well as helping prevent weight gain, research shows that activity itself helps prevent cancer by keeping hormone levels healthy, which is important because having high levels of some hormones can increase cancer risk.

2. Lower your weight to the lower end of the body-mass index for your height. Even more important, banish belly fat, which acts like a ‘hormone pump’ releasing estrogen into the bloodstream as well as raising levels of other hormones. This is strongly linked to colon cancer and probably to cancers of the pancreas and endometrium (lining of the uterus), as well as breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal women.

3. Avoid sugary drinks and high-calorie foods. Cutting out foods made from white flour and sugar, such as candy, pastries, and other baked goods that aren’t whole grain, is one of the fastest ways to lose weight, and is also healthier for blood sugar balance.

4. Eat more fruits and vegetables. This one’s been pretty thoroughly covered in a previous post on anti-cancer foods.

5. Eat less red meat and little or no processed meat. Experts say there’s no longer any doubt that eating beef, pork, and other red meats raises the risk of colorectal cancer. Red meat contains heme iron and other substances that damage the colon lining, making way for tumor growth. Processed meat is even worse. When meat is preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or by the addition of preservatives, cancer-causing substances (carcinogens) are formed that damage cells in the body, leading to cancer. While studies show we can eat up to 18 ounces a week of red meat without raising cancer risk, research shows that cancer risk starts to increase with any portion of processed meat.

6. Limit alcohol to two drinks a day for men, one for women–but none is best of all. Unfortunately for all those of us who like a drink now and then, there’s convincing evidence that alcohol increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, and colon. This one got hit with a double-whammy of evidence this week; the National Cancer Institute also reported the results of a huge study detailing the risks of alcohol for women. Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, cancer blogger for the American Cancer Society, spelled it out in black and white: “there is no level of alcohol consumption that could be called safe.” Scientists are still researching how alcohol causes cancer. One theory is that alcohol can directly damage DNA, increasing our risk of cancer. Research shows that alcohol is particularly harmful when combined with smoking.

7. Limit salt intake. Salt and salt-preserved foods are linked to stomach and other digestive cancers; limit salt to 2400 milligrams to be safe.

One last thing; this report did not even address smoking, because experts consider that such a no-brainer at this point. Smokers increase their chances of getting almost all kinds of cancer every time they light up. So the only recommendation is, don’t.