GETTING A BREAST CANCER DIAGNOSIS biopsies under scrutiny The skill of the pathologist studying the specimen is a crucial element A diagnosis of breast cancer is devastating news, and each year it is conveyed to more than 200,000 women – and about 3,000 men – in the United States.But while life’s priorities change in the face of unfavorable health news, some experts say it is a time when patients should be at their most vigilant, understanding what their options are, whether to seek a second opinion, and having a firm handle on what is meant by the phrase:

Gene therapy cancer tests in humans seen in 2003 Cancer treatments that work in animals often fail in people. Still, the researchers at Northwestern University and several other centers say they’re encouraged by how the therapy boosted the immune systems in the mice, helping to kill cancer cells. The treatment cured 70 percent of the mice with melanoma cancer and 80 percent of those with prostate cancer. There was zero survival among mice that had the same cancers but did not get the treatment.

Cancer a deadly foe since the Stone Age, Humanity waged a futile battle against a barely understood disease until scientists began to confront the enemy We tend to think of cancer as a modern scourge fought with high-tech machinery but it has taken lives virtually since people lived in caves.Malignant tumours have been found in neolithic bones, in Egyptian mummies and in the skeletons of pre-Columbian aboriginals in ancient Peru.Written records ranging from Egyptian papyri to ancient East Indian manuscripts have descriptions of malignant tumours. Paleopathologists have identified bone tumours in a prehistoric skeleton in Japan

FIGHTING CANCER TAKES A TEAM FAMILY, FRIENDS PLAY KEY ROLE, DR. JOYCE BROTHERS SAYS Cancer survivors and their families gathered yesterday to celebrate life. About 400 people met at Lehigh University’s Iacocca Hall for the eighth annual Cancer Survivors Day.Dr. Joyce Brothers, psychologist and NBC Radio personality, was the featured speaker. Brothers stressed the role of personal education in fighting cancer.”Never stop learning about your disease and ways of handling your disease. Patients owe that to themselves,”