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Oncology
FDA approves new drug for lung cancer
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medication from biotech company AbbVie that treats adults with a type of lung cancer who...
Activists to oppose Gauteng Health's appeal on oncology ruling
SECTION27 and other health activists were disappointed that Gauteng Health had been granted leave to appeal a judgment in favour of the Cancer Alliance...
Late first birth and weight increases breast cancer risk – UK study
A British study has suggested a link between weight gain and having children later in life with a heightened risk of breast cancer, finding...
Wits study IDs breast cancer genes in black SA women
Genetic factors contribute to some 30% of breast cancer cases in SA, say leading scientists, necessitating investment in genomic research in African contexts.
Their seminal...
Weight-loss jabs could halve obesity-linked cancer risks – Israeli study
Weight-loss jabs could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers, a landmark study has suggested, with experts calling the findings “transformational”, and saying they...
Eating chicken may raise cancer risks – Italian study
Regularly eating chicken could double the risk of dying from gastrointestinal cancers, suggest scientists who followed the diets of nearly 5 000 people over...
More exercise advised for cancer patients – Chinese meta-analysis
Doctors should prescribe exercise to more patients who are being treated for cancer, suggest researchers who recently looked at the links between physical activity and treatments –...
Immunotherapy a safe alternative to surgery for early cancers – US trial
American researchers say their recent phase 2 trial has shown that PD-1 blockade (neoadjuvant programmed cell death 1) can safely replace surgery for many...
Gut E coli may have role in under-50s bowel cancer – global study
Researchers have suggested that childhood exposure to a toxin produced by bacteria in the bowel could be contributing to the worrying rise of colorectal...
UK radiological group calls for male nurses to do mammograms
Male health workers should be allowed to perform breast screening examinations to help relieve staff shortages, says Britain’s Society of Radiographers (SoR), which has...
Controversial Cape Town oncologist may continue to practise, rules judge
A group of cancer patients who took legal action when a private hospital terminated a 15-year relationship with a controversial oncologist has triumphed in...
CT scan cancer risk warning – US study
A group of American physicians has warned that CT scans commonly taken to help detect injury and disease may be accompanied by an alarming...
At-home prostate cancer spit test effective – UK study
British researchers have found that a new at-home spit test for prostate cancer is more accurate than current screening methods, and so effective it...
Five US nurses on same hospital floor all have brain tumours
A US nursing union is calling for further investigation after an internal probe found no environmental risks within a Boston hospital where five nurses,...
Gauteng Health appeals 'cancer backlog' court order
The Gauteng Department of Health has applied for leave to appeal an order – issued by the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) recently – compelling it...
Court orders urgent action to address Gauteng cancer treatment backlog
The unacceptable, unlawful delay in providing treatment to Gauteng cancer patients, which has resulted in some of them dying, has been slammed by the...
Pioneering project to build first cancer database in Africa
Less than 2% of human genomes analysed so far have been those of Africans, but Yemaachi Biotech’s Africa Cancer Atlas aims to fill the...
Technique helps with erectile function after prostate surgery – UK trial
A nerve-sparing technique to guide robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for prostate cancer eased the surgery’s negative effects on erectile function, a phase 3 study...
Ovarian cancer screening test less effective for black women, review finds
A common test for ovarian cancer may be less effective on black and Native American patients, a review of more than 200 000 patients...
Male breast cancer predicted to rise in Africa – large Chinese analysis
Cases of male breast cancer (MBC) are likely to rise over the next quarter century in certain regions – including southern sub-Saharan Africa –...
Child cancer risk tied to multiple pesticide exposure – US study
In a first-of-its-kind study – undertaken in the agricultural heartland of the United States – researchers found that being exposed to multiple common pesticides...
Hope for blood test to ID 50 cancers
The makers of a blood screening test that is able to detect 50 types of cancers say it could be rolled out by the...
US university loses patent fight with SA generics company
The University of California’s (UC) governing board has suffered a legal setback in South Africa after a High Court revoked its patent over a...
Breast cancer deaths to rise 68% by 2050 – WHO study
Global cancer researchers have warned that breast cancer diagnoses and deaths are expected to surge worldwide in the coming decades, rising to more than...
WHO launches free cancer meds for children in low-income countries
The World Health Organisation has launched a new platform providing cost-free cancer medicines for thousands of children living in low- and middle-income countries, whose...
mRNA vaccine shows promise in pancreatic cancer trial
When a routine scan led to American Barbara Brigham’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2020, all she could think about was how she wanted more...
Neuroblastoma patient in remission 18 years after CAR-T infusion
A woman diagnosed with neuroblastoma in childhood has remained in remission for more than 18 years after being treated with an engineered CAR-T cell...
Yoghurt may help ward off colon cancer risks – US study
Eating at least two servings of yoghurt a week may help protect you from cancer in a particular part of the colon, suggest scientists – as...
Getting to the bottom of cancer rise among young people
The sharp increase in cancer diagnoses among young adults is alarming the medical profession, with scientists intensifying their efforts to determine what’s driving the...
Major study of 100 000 black women to probe cancer risks
When the VOICES of Black Women pilot study launched in 2023, its co-principal investigator Lauren McCullough, PhD, MSPH, was the first participant to sign...
Gauteng cancer patients still awaiting lifesaving treatment
Thousands of cancer patients – and advocacy groups – in Gauteng are still waiting in vain for news about treatment, despite the provincial Health...
Chemotherapy link to chronic nerve pain in 40% of patients – US study
A pooled analysis of all available evidence has suggested that worldwide, cancer chemotherapy is linked to persistent severe peripheral nerve pain (neuropathy) for around...
Lung cancer increasing among non-smokers, WHO warns
Being a non- or never-smoker appears to provide little protection against the ravages of cancer nowadays, with an increasing proportion of people being diagnosed...
Green light from FDA for breast cancer treatment
The Food & Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for American patients with a common form of breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the...
Time to rename some cancers?
Cancer terminology hasn't changed much over recent decades, but some experts say it's time for that to change, notes MedicalBrief.
In 2012, the US National...
Global quest to find out how some survivors beat cancer
Doctors from more than 40 countries have begun the first global study of why some people with cancer beat the odds and survive so...
Hormone therapy not tied to higher glioma risk in women – Chinese analysis
Experts said postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) did not significantly increase the risk of glioma, leaving unresolved the reason for the sex disparity incidence, according...
US bans Red No 3 dye, flags cancer links
The US has banned the use of a synthetic red food dye that gives some sweets, cakes and certain oral medications a cherry-red colour,...
Hormonal contraceptives and cancer risk – Australian study
Many women worry that hormonal contraceptives have dangerous side-effects, including increased cancer risk. But this perception is often out of proportion with the actual...
Daily glass of milk could slash bowel cancer risk – UK study
Recent British research involving more than half a million women suggests that upping your daily milk intake by as little as one glass could...