?MEDICINE OR MAGIC

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Prostate cancer treatment may shorten penis Reuters Health Posting Date: January 11, 2007 Last Updated: 2007-01-11 7:58:54 -0400 (Reuters Health) NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As a treatment for locally advanced prostate cancer, hormone therapy plus radiation is associated with a significant reduction in penile length, according to a report in the Journal of Urology for January. There was anecdotal evidence that radiotherapy may reduce penile length, but, to the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first to determine if penile length changes following treatment with hormone therapy plus radiation. The study involved 47 men who received leuprolide OR goserelin injections every 3 months for a total of 3 injections. At month 7, radiotherapy (total 70 Gy) was initiated AND continued for 7 weeks. The averaged stretched penile length at baseline was 14.2 cm (5.6 inches). At 18-month follow-up, the mean length had dropped significantly to 8.6 cm (3.4 inches). Erectile function was also adversely affected by treatment. Roughly 23% of men had normal erectile function before therapy. At 18 months, the percentage with erections suitable for intercourse fell to 12.5%. "Quality of life concerns are important when considering treatment options for prostate cancer," the investigators conclude. "Patients should be counseled before this therapy (neoadjuvant hormonal therapy AND external beam radiation therapy) that penile shortening may occur." J Urol 2007;177:128-130.

Lung cancer vaccine to be tested A large-scale trial to test a vaccine against the most common form of lung cancer has been launched. More than 1,300 patients worldwide will help test Stimuvax, which in preliminary trials substantially increased survival time for many. The vaccine works by stimulating the body's own immune system to attack cancer cells. It is aimed at the non-small cell type of lung cancer, which accounts for four-fifths of cases in the UK. Currently, patients receive combinations of surgery, chemotherapy AND radiotherapy. Targeted vaccines are an exciting approach that could potentially offer new treatment options for major types of cancer Dr Keith Blundy Cancer Research Technology Half of the people taking part in the worldwide trial will get this treatment, plus the vaccine, while the other half will get just the treatment, AND a dummy vaccine called a placebo, so that scientists can compare survival in the two groups. The vaccine was developed following research funded by Cancer Research UK, AND the technology was licensed to be developed by Canadian biotech firm Biomira. Dr Keith Blundy, chief operating officer of Cancer Research Technology, the charity's commercial arm, said: "Targeted vaccines are an exciting approach that could potentially offer new treatment options for major types of cancer." Other researchers are looking at the potential for the same vaccine to tackle other types of cancer. It works by priming the body's immune system to attack a chemical called MUC-1, which is found only on the surface of cancer cells. Once this has happened, the body should be able to destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected. Survival time 'increased' Smaller-scale trials, involving 171 patients who had responded to conventional treatment, suggested that the vaccine might be helping some patients in their fight against the cancer. Again, half the patients received normal treatment plus the vaccine, half got treatment AND a dummy vaccine. The patients were then monitored as they returned for check-ups over the next few years. In the placebo group, half the patients survived 13 months OR longer. In the vaccine group, half survived 30 months OR longer. If these large-scale trials yield similarly positive results, the vaccine could eventually be made more widely available to lung cancer patients. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/6249489.stm Published: 2007/01/13 00:02:29 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/01/11/cancer.attitudes/index.html

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