Herbert Klein MD, a nuclear medicine specialist, writes:

As the following item indicates, there is a shortage of technetium-99m, the basic radioisotope for bone scans, as well as heart scans,
kidney scans, etc: Isotope Crisis Threatens Medical Care

So far, in the nuclear medicine department where I practice, there have been no problems, but there might be in the days to come.

Ought doctors to take drug costs into account when they advice advanced cancer patients? Peter Bach at Memorial Sloan Kettering reacts in this phone interview to a cost-conscious commentary “How Much is Life Worth?” in JNCI (Journal of the National Institute).

Scientists have made a discovery about antibiotics that may advance cancer therapy. By studying the mechanisms at work in protein production, a Princeton-led team has discovered why certain kinds of antibiotics are so effective.

The new discovery exposes how a specific protein protects against cell death. This may also shed light on the cancer-fighting process, because cancer involves inability of defective cells to die off.

In particular, the new discovery is relevant to study of a human protein known as Bax Inhibitor-1 (BI-1) that has been found to affect metastatic spread of prostate and other cancers.

If you are a cancer patient, whatever your race — whether you are African American, Hispanic or white — in the USA you would be well advised to seek treatment at a hospital that treats mostly white patients.

So finds a newly published study by researchers at University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. At hospitals that treat more black patients than white, all cancer patients are liable to receive less than optimum care.

Hospitals that treat more black cancer patients, these researchers found, have worse survival rates on average for patients with breast and colon cancer, regardless of race,

The research helps explain, the authors say, why African-Americans with breast or colon cancer are less likely than white patients to survive the disease. The study appears in the Aug. 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In people with cancer angiogenesis involves the growth of tiny new blood vessels to generate a blood supply for tumors. This process has been shown to play an important role in the growth, proliferation and spread of prostate cancer tumors.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a chemical signal produced by cells that stimulates the growth of new blood vessels. VEGF Inhibitors are a class of therapies that target the VEGF chemical pathway, aiming to prevent angiogenisis and tumor vascularization.

An article in Curr Mol Pharmacol. discusses this “major angiogenic signaling pathway involving VEGF in prostate cancer progression and the role of various promising agents that target this pathway.”

For a glimpse into what your oncologist can learn about prostate cancer this fall check out the agenda for this October 31, 2009 conference. Unfortunately, for prostate cancer this learning session reflects no rapid advancements in standard of care. But if your oncologist falls beneath this standard, find someone better:

Androgen-deprivation therapy is well-established for treating prostate cancer but is associated with bone loss and an increased risk of fracture. Matthew R. Smith and an international team investigated the effects of denosumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against receptor activator of nuclear factor-{kappa}B ligand, on bone mineral density and fractures in men receiving androgen-deprivation therapy for nonmetastatic prostate cancer. In today’s New England Journal of Medicine, August 20, they report positive results:

Hispanics who move to the USA increase their risk of several types of cancer within the first generation. Increased risk of prostate, colorectal and endometrial cancer affect people who move to the USA from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and other Latin American nations, according to a study published August 1, 2009 in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.

Some cancers such as stomach cancer that are common in the countries of origin become less of a threat; but first generation Hispanic/Latino immigrants may find themselves at risk for types of cancer which never affected their families in the old country.

James Watson, the scientist who was one of the discoverers of the double-helical structure of DNA, says in an op-ed today that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is “a largely rudderless ship in dire need of a bold captain.” Aside from that, Watson is optimistic:

Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, age 65, announced on Friday that he had prostate cancer, in an early, treatable form. His PSA blood test, taken during an annual physical exam, plus follow up biopsy and treatment are covered by his Congressional health care plan, he said.