June 5, 2006, 7:08 AM CT

Post-operative Combination Therapy For Pancreatic Cancer

Adding the cancer-fighting drug gemcitabine to standard treatment after surgery significantly improves survival for patients with the most common form of pancreas cancer, as per a new multicenter study led by a University of Maryland radiation oncologist. The results of the four-year Phase III clinical trial were presented June 4 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Atlanta.

More than 500 patients at 128 institutions across the country, including the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, were enrolled in the federally funded study from 1998 to 2002.

Thirty-two percent of study participants with "pancreatic head adenocarcinoma" (cancer of the head, or wider part, of the pancreas) were still alive three years after diagnosis after having surgery and being treated with gemcitabine, another chemotherapy drug called 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and radiation treatment. That compares to a 21 percent three-year survival rate for patients who received 5-FU and radiation therapys alone following their surgery.

"The addition of gemcitabine to the standard postoperative therapy increased patients' survival by 50 percent, which is a significant improvement. We believe these findings will provide a new standard for treating patients with this devastating disease," says the principal investigator, William F. Regine, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and chief of radiation oncology at the University of Maryland Medical Center.........

Posted by: Sue      Permalink


January 16, 2006, 11:33 PM CT

Pancreatic Cancer and Insulin Resistance

A new study led by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows for the first time that male smokers with the highest insulin levels are twice as likely to develop pancreas cancer as men with the lowest levels. Similarly, men with glucose levels in the range of clinical diabetes were twice as likely to develop the cancer as men with normal glucose levels. This study examined data from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study* of 29,000 male smokers in Finland and appears in the December 14, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association**.

Study researchers drew blood from enrollees when they joined the ATBC Study in the mid-1980s. This allowed the scientists to determine participants' overnight fasting insulin and glucose levels a number of years ahead of when they might be diagnosed with cancer. Over the course of 17 years, 169 men in the study developed pancreas cancer.

Study results show a two-fold increase in risk of pancreas cancer in the quartile of men with the highest fasting serum insulin levels (greater than 6.1 microinternational units per milliliter) compared to those in the lowest quartile (less than 2.75 microinternational units per milliliter). Increasing concentrations of glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance were also associated with pancreas cancer. Moreover, the risk for pancreas cancer increased with longer follow-up time.........

Posted by: Sue      Permalink


December 25, 2005, 10:32 AM CT

Merry Christmas To All Our Readers

Medicineworld wishes all our readers merry Christmas.

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh

Jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Oh, what fun it is to ride

In a one horse open sleigh........

Daniel      Permalink

Therapeutic Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Show Promise (December 1, 2005)

Capecitabine Gemzar Combination Improves Survival For Pancreatic Cancer (November 21, 2005)

Gene Therapy For Pancreatic Cancer (November 16, 2005)

FDA Approves New Drug Combination For Pancreatic Cancer (November 8, 2005)

New screening method for pancreas cancer (September 21, 2005)

Early detection of pancreatic cancer using new MRI Techniques (September 7, 2005)

Tarceva significantly improves survival in advanced pancreatic cancer (March 24, 2005)