Unnecessary radiotherapy given near end of life in metastatic cancer

For patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, higher doses of gabapentin are well tolerated and associated with delayed time to first opioid use for additional pain control during radiotherapy (RT), according to a research letter published online May 18 in JAMA Network Open.

Infusions of the local anesthetic lidocaine may provide some pain relief to people with chronic migraine that does not respond to other treatments, reports a study in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. Intravenous infusions of a local anesthetic such as lidocaine has been suggested as a possible treatment...

A new study has found that a simple, one-off treatment was able to prevent long term side effects of cancer radiotherapies. There are about 2 million cancer survivors in the UK, and many of them face premature memory loss and faster occurrence of various diseases resembling premature aging, to which sadly, there is no cure. This is thought to be caused by side effects of toxic cancer chemotherapies and radiotherapies, which aim to treat cancer cells but can also damage normal cells.

A breast cancer patient's perspective on their physical well-being can provide a better indication of their response to cancer treatment than clinician-based tools, a new study has found, highlighting the importance of shared decision-making in the treatment process. The research also identified differences between clinician-based data and the patient-reported data,...

A new adaptive radiotherapy technique for head and neck cancer can deliver a more robust treatment plan in a shorter timeframe on MR-Linac, compared with the current method used by most radiotherapy centers. The new approach, known as ATS-Lite, achieved 99.9% accurate radiotherapy delivery in a tolerable timeframe, making it...

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has voluntary recalled a blood pressure medication for the second time in a month. Pfizer is recalling five lots of blood pressure medicine Accupril because of elevated levels of a nitrosamine, Nnitroso-quinapril, the company said in a news release posted Friday on the FDA website. Nitrosamines...

MILLIONS of Brits have been urged to take up a rapid test to see if they have bowel cancer. The Health Secretary has called on men over 60 to make sure they have the life-saving checkups. It couldn't be easier - with a home testing kit on offer, or use...

Unfortunately, the 27-year-old mother and the 31-year-old father say their baby daughter has months to live. The 1-year-old child is suffering from a rare condition which was caused by a gene defect both parents carry. The parents knew something was wrong with their child when the baby started to go off her food at six weeks. The baby also started to lose weight, the couple said. The condition was confirmed with genetic testing and the doctors said it affects her ability to absorb the nutrients she needs from food. The condition is so rare it is thought to only occur in one in 79,000,000 people, the doctors said.

Christine Bronstein took at home colon cancer test after seeing blood in her stool. It was positive, but her doctor texted: "You don't have cancer :)"

Walking at a brisk pace for just 75 minutes every week could cut your risk of depression, a new study finds. The World Health Organization recommends everyone should exercise for at least two-and-a-half hours every seven days. But researchers at Cambridge University, England, found adults who got half as much...

GENERAL Hospital revealed a major character change is coming to the show this week as one of its stars battles health issues. There are often comings and goings happenings on soaps, and the latest cast switch-up involves longtime cast member Nancy Lee Grahn. Nancy, who turns 66 on Thursday, has...

A MUM has issued an urgent warning after her son collapsed and started having a fit after having just two puffs on an e-cigarette. Spencer Smith, from Honeywell, was 16 at the time and ended up being rushed to A&E and fighting for his life after inhaling from a vape.

Breakthrough COVID-19 cases resulting in infections, hospitalizations and deaths are significantly more likely in cancer and Alzheimer's patients, according to two new studies from researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. People within these diseases are often more susceptible to infection in general, the researchers explained, and...

Unmarried heart failure patients appear less confident in managing their condition and more socially limited compared to their married counterparts, according to research presented May 21 at Heart Failure 2022, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). These differences may have contributed to the worse long-term survival observed in unmarried patients.

Tragic events like wars, famines, earthquakes, and accidents create fearful memories in our brain. These memories continue to haunt us even after the actual event has passed. Luckily, researchers from Tokyo University of Science (TUS) have recently been able to understand the hidden biochemical mechanisms involved in the selective suppression of fearful memories, which is called fear extinction. The researchers, who had previously demonstrated fear extinction in mice using the chemically synthesized compound "KNT-127," have now identified the underlying mechanism of this compound's action. Their findings have been published recently in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

The drug gabapentin, currently prescribed to control seizures and reduce nerve pain, may enhance recovery of movement after a stroke by helping neurons on the undamaged side of the brain take up the signaling work of lost cells, new research in mice suggests. The experiments mimicked ischemic stroke in humans,...

One in eight people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 between May 2020 and March 2021 were later diagnosed with myocarditis, or heart inflammation, according to major new research into the clinical long-term effects of COVID-19. The largest study of its kind to date was led by the University of Glasgow...

New analysis finds more than half of U.S. adolescents and young adults with sarcoma, a type of cancer in the bones or soft tissues, are often prescribed opioids to treat their pain. Nearly one-quarter of these patients continue to use opioids after treatment is completed according to findings published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

A voice analysis app used by heart failure patients at home recognizes fluid in the lungs three weeks before an unplanned hospitalization or escalation in outpatient drug treatment. The late breaking research was presented on May 21 at Heart Failure 2022, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

A study co-led by the Universities of Oxford, Birmingham and Southampton and the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA), published in Lancet Oncology today by the U.K. Coronavirus Cancer Evaluation Project, has found that while COVID-19 vaccination is effective in most cancer patients, the level of protection against COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death offered by the vaccine is less than in the general population and vaccine effectiveness wanes more quickly.