Cancer, Cancer Treatment

Bowel cancer screening is predicted to save over two and a half thousand lives every year in the UK by 2025, according to new research published in the Journal of Medical Screening*.

The Cancer Research UK funded study, which looked at the impact home testing kits could have on mortality rates, showed that deaths from bowel cancer are set to drop by around 16 per cent.

By 2025, the numbers of lives that are expected to be saved in the UK each year is between 2200 and 2700.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men at higher-than-average risk of prostate cancer are more likely to seek regular screening if they are married or live with a significant other, a new study finds.

Researchers found that among more than 2,400 men ages 40 to 79, those with a family history of prostate cancer were more likely to be regularly screened for the disease over a decade. However, a closer look at the data showed that this was only true of men who lived with a wife or partner.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — The majority of older Americans are not getting cancer screenings done, according to a new study. The research also finds doctors are not recommending the tests to patients for colorectal, breast and cervical cancer.

When detected early, these three types of cancers are potentially curable. The goal of the government’s Health People 2010 plan is to improve the number of screenings. One way to track this is through Medicaid patients who are some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. Study authors from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill looked at data on close to 2,000 North Carolina Medicaid recipients age 50 and older.

Read the rest of this entry »