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Childhood Obesity May Raise Odds of Adult Liver Cancer
Posted 20 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, April 20 – Adults who were obese as children are at increased risk for liver cancer, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at the birth weight and body-mass index (a measurement of body fat based on height and weight commonly called BMI) of more than 165,000 men and 160,000 women in Denmark born between 1930 and 1989. Of those participants, 252 developed hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer in adulthood. The study authors calculated that at age 7, the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma increased by 12 percent for every one-point increase in BMI. By age 13, that risk increased to 25 percent. Therefore, as units of BMI increased into adulthood, so did the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. This was consistently similar across both genders and all ages. Other factors associated with liver cancer include alcoholism, infection by ... Read more
Related support groups: Obesity, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Hepatic Tumor
Researchers Identify Liver Cancer Risk Factors
Posted 7 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Jan. 6 – Two new studies from the Mayo Clinic find that hepatitis C infection and obesity could be to blame for a surge in liver cancer cases, which have tripled over the last 30 years. Late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, has only a 10 percent to 12 percent five-year survival rate, according to figures in a Mayo news release. The researchers say their findings could help doctors diagnose the disease earlier and save lives. Both studies appear in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings "The studies illuminate the importance of identifying people with risk factors in certain populations to help catch the disease in its early, treatable stages," said Dr. W. Ray Kim, a gastroenterology and hepatology specialist and principal investigator of one study, in the release. The researchers examined several decades of medical information from the Rochester ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Hepatic Tumor
Tiny Chemo Beads Boost Liver Cancer Outcomes
Posted 20 Jan 2009 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Jan. 20 – A minimally invasive therapy that uses beads soaked with anti-cancer agents has been successful at halting liver tumors, according to new studies. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) attacks liver tumors on two fronts. Microspheres, or beads, combined with cancer-killing chemotherapeutic agents are delivered to the blood vessel feeding the tumor. While the chemo attacks the cancer, the microspheres get stuck in the vessels and choke off the blood supply to the tumor – a process called embolization. While surgically removing a tumor is the most effective way to treat one, this is not an option for most liver cancer patients. In two out of three instances, the size or location of the liver cancer prevents surgery, or the tumor has grown into the blood vessels. Typically, only a quarter of people with liver cancer survive two years after diagnosis. TACE holds ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatic Tumor
Researchers Zero In on GI Cancers
Posted 14 Jan 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 14 – New research may one day help physicians identify those patients with gastrointestinal cancers who are most likely to benefit from certain treatments. The discoveries, paving the way toward an era of personalized medicine, could save the U.S. health-care system millions while sparing patients the agony of receiving treatments that aren't going to help them. "These are a diverse group of tumors," said Dr. Jennifer C. Obel, an attending physician at NorthShore University Health System in Illinois, who moderated a Tuesday teleconference on the findings. "More than 270,000 people are diagnosed with GI [gastrointestinal] malignancies in the U.S. every year, and about 135,000 succumb to these illnesses on a yearly basis. How do we distinguish those patients most likely to benefit from treatment and screening than those who are not?" The findings come from four studies ... Read more
Related support groups: Colorectal Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor, Stomach Cancer, Hepatic Tumor, Esophageal Carcinoma, Biliary Tract and Hepatic Tumor
Targeted Drug Boosts Survival Among Liver Cancer Patients
Posted 23 Jul 2008 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, July 23 – The drug Nexavar can prolong the lives of people with liver cancer by an average of three months, new research shows. "The results unequivocally showed that sorafenib (Nexavar) increased the survival of patients with a more than 30 percent reduction in the likelihood to die at any time point during follow-up," said study senior author Dr. Jordi Bruix, a senior consultant in the liver unit of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. "These results identify sorafenib as the first agent that is effective in improving survival in patients with this devastating disease," said Bruix. His report is in the July 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Up to now, the patients diagnosed with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma had no effective treatment that could improve their survival. Now, we have an option that is based on oral treatment that is effective if liver ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatic Tumor
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Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Liver and Pancreatic Disease