Back Issues

Feature Article: There were approximately three million cancer survivors in the US in 1971. Today, that figure has grown to nearly 12 million. While most cancer survivors will lead healthy, active lives, some may develop problems related to their cancer and its treatment. To help address these issues in the pediatric population, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has had a pediatric long-term follow-up clinic for nearly two decades. In 2005, a new care model for survivors of adult-onset cancers was developed in which specially trained nurse practitioners provide follow-up care with a focus on both the medical and psychosocial issues related to an individual's cancer and its treatment.

Feature Article: Many people are surprised to learn that about 10 percent of all individuals with lung cancer have never smoked cigarettes. Of these "never smokers" -- defined as individuals who have smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime -- the majority are women who have a particular type of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) called adenocarcinoma. Experts have theorized that these individuals may be genetically more susceptible to lung cancer. To help understand and identify cancer-associated genes in this group, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has created a blood sample registry for patients with lung cancer who have never smoked.

Feature Article: In days past, doctors would often counsel cancer patients to avoid strenuous activity, both during and immediately after treatment. Recent research, however, has demonstrated that moderate exercise can help many individuals with breast cancer to combat treatment-related fatigue and, in some cases, to speed recovery. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Bendheim Integrative Medicine Center has been at the forefront of this change in perspective, offering fitness classes for cancer patients and survivors.

Feature Article: Recent research revealed that the drug finasteride, commonly used to treat enlarged prostates, decreases the risk of prostate cancer by nearly 25 percent. When the original results of the study, known as the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, were initially released in 2003, the good news was tempered by the fact that the study also revealed a small but statistically significant increase in the number of aggressive, high-grade prostate tumors in the men from the study who were taking finasteride. But two new analyses of the study's data show that finasteride decreases the risk of all types of prostate cancer, even for those men with high-grade tumors.

Feature Article: Recent years have brought significant treatment advances for patients with advanced kidney cancer. However, even with a new class of targeted drugs known as signal transduction inhibitors, most patients' cancer will eventually continue to grow following either a preliminary period of disease stabilization or an initial positive response to treatment. A recent study led by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators has found that a new experimental targeted therapy known as everolimus can significantly delay cancer progression, giving this group of patients new hope.

Feature Article: When the Human Genome Project successfully mapped the complete set of genetic information contained in human DNA in 2003, it promised a revolution in healthcare by offering new genetically informed diagnostic tests and treatments for diseases such as cancer. Since then, a number of companies have developed and released "at home" genetic tests. Clinical genetics investigators, including those at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, caution that while some of these results are promising as research findings, many have not been validated by rigorous clinical study.

Feature Article: A diagnosis of cancer can be overwhelming. Ordinary concerns are often put on hold while important decisions are made and treatments begun -- treatments that can have a debilitating effect on an individual's mental and emotional health. What too frequently is overlooked during this chaotic time, both by patients and their doctors, is that quality cancer care must treat the cancer and address the patient's general well-being. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine proposes a new standard of care that integrates psychological and social support into routine care for people with cancer.

Feature Article: There are seven million computed tomography (CT) scans performed in children each year in the US. While CT is a very useful imaging tool that produces quality diagnostic images of underlying conditions, CT scans expose patients to significantly more radiation than standard x-rays. This is an issue of particular importance for children, whose tissues are more sensitive to the larger relative radiation doses they receive. To provide guidance, the Society for Pediatric Radiology, including physicians from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has launched a project known as Image Gently, which seeks to decrease unnecessary imaging and radiation levels in children.

Feature Article: A diagnosis of cancer brings with it many emotions, fear and anxiety being chief among them. One of the factors that often fuels the anxiety is the confusing array of treatment choices offered. Seeking to provide some statistically-based guidance, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators have created computerized prediction tools, known as nomograms, which are designed to help patients and their physicians decide among the major treatment choices for a number of cancers, including recently revised and expanded nomograms for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers.

Feature Article: A form of radiation therapy in which radioactive seeds are implanted into or near a tumor, known as brachytherapy, has been shown to be as effective as surgery in treating early-stage prostate cancer. Two Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center studies examining the use of brachytherapy for prostate cancer have found that determining optimal seed placement in the operating room using sophisticated on-site computer programs combined with real-time ultrasound imaging allows accurate doses of radiation to be delivered to prostate tumors while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding tissues. Optimizing the technique in this way produced nominal side effects and favorable survival rates.

Feature Article: Reaping the benefits of an extraordinary medical breakthrough as a toddler, Daniel Erd had to suffer through months of misdiagnosis and life-threatening complications before triumphing over a rare cancer of the sympathetic nervous system known as neuroblastoma.

Feature Article: Screening for breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is significantly more effective at identifying suspicious breast lesions than other existing screening methods such as mammography and ultrasound. The limitation is that MRI screening is not always accurate in distinguishing between cancerous and noncancerous breast lesions -- a fact that leads to a number of unnecessary and invasive biopsies. However, a recent study conducted at Memorial Sloan-Kettering found that combining MRI screening with a scanning tool known as magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy can help radiologists in diagnosing breast cancer by producing fewer false-positive results and reducing the number of avoidable biopsies.

Feature Article: For patients with invasive bladder cancer, surgical removal of the bladder provides the best chance for a long-term cure. In the past, following bladder removal all patients were required to wear a bag on the outside of their body to collect urine, a permanent condition that necessitated significant lifestyle adjustments. Today, many of these patients qualify for what is known as a neobladder -- an internal urine-storing pouch that is attached to the urethra, which allows patients to regain control of urination and to void much as they would with their natural bladders.

Feature Article: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's newly released ovarian cancer screening guidelines provide some much needed guidance for women trying to determine if and when they should be screened for ovarian cancer.

Feature Article: About 95 percent of children with a pediatric cancer of the eye known as retinoblastoma survive. However, the most common treatment for children with this disease remains surgical removal of the affected eye.

Feature Article: Dealing with a diagnosis of prostate cancer is difficult enough, but having to select from a host of treatment choices, each with its own relative advantages and disadvantages, can be bewildering. To help men with this dilemma, physicians and statisticians from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, along with colleagues from the Cleveland Clinic, have created a newly revised and expanded prediction tool to help patients with prostate cancer decide which treatment approach will provide them with the greatest benefit.

Feature Article: Recent reports touting the benefits of MRI screening for breast cancer have caused some understandable confusion. For most healthy women who have only an average risk of developing breast cancer, the screening recommendations developed by the American Cancer Society (ACS) remain unchanged: annual clinical breast examination and mammography beginning at age 40. Yet for some women at high risk for breast cancer and for women who have newly diagnosed cancer in one breast, the new ACS guidelines and a recent study suggest that MRI should be added to their screening plan.

Feature Article: Investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering have found that using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging in conjunction with a substance known as a radio-labeled antibody can identify the most common and aggressive type of kidney tumor -- helping doctors to determine whether surgery is necessary.

Feature Article: The American Cancer Society recently reported that the number of Americans who died from cancer has declined for a second year in a row. Hidden within this good news is the troubling fact that African Americans are still 21 percent more likely to die from cancer than white Americans -- the highest cancer death rate of any racial or ethnic group. Memorial Sloan-Kettering is working to help address this and other racial and ethnic disparities in cancer outcomes through its Office of Diversity Programs in Clinical Care, Research, and Training.

Feature Article: As more American men live longer, more cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed. For older men diagnosed with the disease in its early stages, the question becomes whether to treat the cancer aggressively or whether to wait and see if it progresses, a process known as watchful waiting. Conventional wisdom has held that treatment is not required because early stage prostate cancer grows so slowly that these men will most likely die from other causes. A new study challenges this accepted belief -- its results suggesting that older men who receive treatment for their prostate cancer live longer than those who do not.

Feature Article: By 2011, the first wave of baby boomers -- those Americans born between 1946 and 1965 -- will turn 65. Thanks to advances in medicine and an increased focus on nutrition and exercise, these individuals are expected to live longer lives than their predecessors. This good news is tempered by the fact that the incidence of cancer rises exponentially as the population ages. Memorial Sloan-Kettering is working at the forefront of the effort to prepare for this new reality.