FDA approves New Device for Chemo-resistant Brain Cancer

The FDA has approved a new treatment for gliogblastoma brain cancer utilizing electrical energy fields. 

The treatment is approved for more aggressive brain tumors that are resistant to chemotherapy and other treatments.

Brain cancer has been shown to be more prevalent among Gulf War veterans than their non-deployed Gulf War era veteran counterparts, particularly among those who were exposed to low-level sarin, cyclosarin, and likely also mustard gas following a U.S. demolition of chemical warfare agent-containing munitions at an Iraqi bunker complex at Khamisiyah, Iraq in March 1991.

According to a USA Today article, the NovoTTF device, “is a six-pound (2.75-kilogram) device that patients carry with them in a small bag. The electrical current is sent from the device to four electrodes attached to the patient's shaved head.”

Read more:  http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/cancer/story/2011/04/FDA-clears-first-of-a-kind-device-for-brain-cancer/46174922/1?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

Photos and more info on the device:  http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2011/04/device_for_treatment_of_brain_tumors_wins_fda_clearance.htmla

AIR FORCE TIMES: Troops have higher rates of some cancers, says study

 

Written by Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer, military Times group

(Air Force Times) -  After looking at 10 years’ worth of cancer data, researchers at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center found that service members tend to have higher rates of melanoma, brain, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, breast, prostate and testicular cancers than civilians.

They also found interesting differences across the services. Airmen are more likely to suffer skin cancer than other service members, for example, while sailors are the most likely to have lung cancer. Coast Guardsmen have the highest rates of testicular cancer, while Marines tend to the have the lowest cancer rates overall.

Military researchers say the rates have remained stable — though the incidence rate of these particular kinds of cancer has increased from 51 per 100,000 troops in 2000, to 57.5 per 100,000 in 2006, and then back down to 54.5 per 100,000 in 2009.

“There were no clear trends of increasing or decreasing incidence of specific [cancer] sites or overall” cancer rates, the report states. “In general, the strongest demographic correlate of increased risk of a cancer was older age.”

That held true for all cancers except for cervical and testicular, the report states.

To conduct the study, researchers looked at how many times a service member had been seen for a diagnosis, whether a member had been treated with radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or whether a member’s medical code showed he had been diagnosed with a cancer. They found the lowest number of diagnoses from cancer over the past decade was in 2000, with 710. The highest rate came in 2006 with 802. There were 7,579 total diagnoses over the 10 years.

During those years, 904 service members died of cancer. The fewest deaths came in 2000 with 44; the most deaths came in 2005 with 125. Of those who died, 106 died of lung cancer, 101 died from brain or other nervous system cancers, and 92 died of colon cancer.

Researchers expected to see more cases related to tobacco smoking because 31 percent of service members smoke, compared to 20 percent of civilians. However, “lung cancer cases related to current tobacco smoking may not be clinically apparent until affected members leave active service,” researchers said.

The highest rates were for breast cancer. Service women ages 20 to 24 were diagnosed with breast cancer at a rate of 2.5 per 100,000, compared to civilians who were diagnosed at a rate of 1.5 per 100,000. Those numbers greatly increased for service women as they aged. Military women ages 35 to 39 were diagnosed at a rate of 77.3 per 100,000, compared to civilians who were diagnosed at a rate of 59.3 per 100,000.

Researchers explained that military personnel are younger and healthier than civilians, so one might think that the rates overall would be lower. However, the researchers reasoned, service members have unlimited access to health care, as well as required annual exams, so they may be diagnosed more frequently and at younger ages than civilians.

But that doesn’t completely explain disparities among the services, such as why Marines — who have access to the same health care as members of other branches — have significantly lower rates of these cancers than either their military peers or civilians.

For example, the Air Force rate for malignant melanoma was 14.8 per 100,000, while the rate for Marines was 6.5 per 100,000. And sailors had almost double the rate of lung cancer as people from other services.

This was the first report to look cancer rates in all services. Another recent study conducted by K. Zhu at the U.S. Military Cancer Institute at Walter Reed Army Medical Center compared data from the Defense Department’s Automated Central Tumor Registry and from the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 2005.

Zhu found that colorectal cancer in white troops, lung cancer in white and black male troops and white female troops, and cervical cancer in black female troops were significantly lower than similar civilian populations.

However, breast cancer and prostate cancer rates were significantly higher in both black and white troops than in civilians. Prostate cancer rates were also higher in military patients.

“Overall, these results suggest that cancer patterns may differ between military and nonmilitary populations,” Zhu wrote.

A second study of Air Force personnel, by G. Yamane, found that invasive cancers had “decreased significantly” from 1989 to 2002. Cancer rates for female airmen were about the same as civilian populations, and Air Force men had lower cancer rates. However, cervical, prostate and vulvar cancers were “significantly higher.”

And a third study, published in the Medical Surveillance Monthly Report in 2008, found that service members had lower rates of colorectal, lung and cervical cancers, and higher rates of prostate and breast cancers.

New study shows lung cancer at elevated rates in Gulf War veterans

A new scientific study reviewing cancers among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War during the first 15 years after the war, as compared to non-Gulf War veterans, showed elevated rates of lung cancer.

No other cancers were found to be elevated, though it should be noted that the incubation period for many cancers is thought to be later than the 15 year period covered by the study, whose authors note that more follow-up is needed.

The study was conducted using State cancer registry data.

According to the study:

Files obtained from the Defense Manpower Data Center included data for 621,902 veterans who were deployed to the Persian Gulf during the 1990 to 1991 Gulf War (August 2, 1990, to March 1, 1991) and 746,248 non-Gulf War veteran controls.

Identification of veterans who received a cancer diagnosis between 1991 and 2006 was accomplished through record linkage of the Defense Manpower Data Center dataset with files from 28 state cancer registries and the Department of Veterans Affairs Central Cancer Registry.

The study, Investigating the Risk of Cancer in 1990-1991 US Gulf War Veterans With the Use of State Cancer Registry Data, was published in the medical journal Annals of Epidemiology.

The study’s primary author, Dr. Heather Young, is dually appointed at the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and the Environmental Epidemiology Service of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs. Both are in Washington, DC.

The study abstract is available online.

Study Attributes Tripled Cancer Rates Among All Veterans to DU

Written by Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer, Army Times publications
Posted : Wednesday Jul 22, 2009 14:14:01 EDT

A new study shows that while active-duty service members have lower rates of cancer overall than civilians, they have higher rates of breast cancer and double the rates of prostate cancer.

And though that could be attributed in part to early screening efforts, the authors suggested prostate cancer rates have gone up as a result of troop exposure to depleted uranium, while breast cancer rates may have risen because military women are more inclined to use birth control pills and be exposed to industrial chemicals at levels most civilian women avoid.

In the June edition of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, lead writer Kangmin Zhu, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and colleagues stated that they wanted to find out if regular exercise and good health care, combined with a population that had been screened for major health issues, would yield lower rates of cancer.

They also wondered whether service members, who smoke at higher rates than civilians do, would have a higher rate of lung cancer. And the researchers also wanted to see whether sun exposure, as well as other deployment exposures such as immunizations and depleted uranium, would influence results.

But looking at the years 1990 to 2004, they found that colorectal cancer rates were “significantly lower” in the military population for white men; lung cancer rates were lower for white and black men, as well as white women; and cervical cancer rates were lower in black women.

However, breast and prostate cancers for military personnel were “significantly higher” among whites and blacks. Prostate cancer increased over that time for both the civilian and military populations, but the civilian rate doubled, while the rates for white male troops tripled.

Researchers again reasoned that this may be because of early screening — the cancer is being identified early.

“Several studies have now confirmed that cancer screening is associated with increases in breast and prostate cancer incidence rates,” Zhu wrote.

But there may be other reasons: A recent study shows 34 percent of female service members use oral birth control pills, compared to 29 percent of the general population. The pills have been linked to breast cancer.

“Military women are also more likely to be engaged in industrial jobs than females in the general population and hence potentially more likely to be exposed to chemicals that may be related to breast cancer,” Zhu wrote.

A study of military women 34 and younger find higher breast cancer rates than civilians, and the rate was even higher for those military women exposed to volatile organic chemicals as part of their work.

Zhu also linked prostate cancer to exposure.

“Although the results have been inconsistent, depleted uranium has been suggested to increase the risk of prostate cancer,” Zhu wrote. “Because military personnel are more likely to be exposed to depleted uranium, these factors may have contributed to the increased risk for prostate cancer in military members, although most of the elevated rates and more dramatic increase over time in rates in military personnel may be attributed to screening in the population.”

Testicular cancer rates were about the same for both populations.

Zhu reasoned that some cancer rates might be lower because service members are more likely to go in for cancer screening because they have free health care. Precancerous lesions and polyps might be treated early. Colorectal cancer rates may be lower for troops because they are less likely to be overweight and are more physically active.

Researchers were surprised to find, however, that lung cancer rates were lower in the military in all groups except black women. Troops smoke more than civilians do, but the researchers said service members are more likely to begin smoking as adults — rather than in their teens, as civilians tend to do.

“Cigarette smoking is the single most important risk factor for lung cancer,” Zhu wrote. “Therefore, the lower rate of lung cancer in military personnel is an unanticipated finding.”

The researchers used data from the military’s Automated Central Tumor Registry, as well as the civilian Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program for the National Cancer Institute. They adjusted the civilian data to include only those age groups one might expect to find in the military.

The full report is available online.