Every two years, doctors specialising in breast cancer gather in St Gallen to discuss developments and update guidelines on adjuvant therapies. It is always an important conference, but its conclusions tend to be measured rather [more]
As a young epidemiologist, Peter Boyle once had to give a talk on trends in smoking-related cancer, having lost his father to the disease that same morning. Now head of the IARC, his great strength [more]
The European Union aims to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. Why then does it put so many obstacles in the way of research? And why is a world-beating breast [more]
A discovery made simultaneously by two groups of US researchers may help lung cancer patients who relapse after an initial response to novel targeted therapies. Download full article
Two years ago, the European Parliament passed a landmark resolution which set goals and standards for breast cancer services. It all started when a surgeon saved Karin Jöns MEP from an unnecessary mastectomy, and introduced [more]
German virologist Harald zur Hausen was convinced by the early 1970s that the skin wart virus, human papilloma, was implicated in cervical cancer. Thirty years later we stand on the threshold of a vaccine to [more]
The latest study on use of the sentinel node biopsy has prompted calls for the procedure to be universally adopted. But can inexperienced teams be trusted to get it right? Download full article
Surprise results of a temozolomide trial, and a new marker predicting who will benefit, offer hope for progress in the treatment of a highly aggressive brain tumour. Download full article
A study showing that follicular lymphoma patients benefit from adding interferon to standard chemotherapy has opened up new avenues for research. Download full article
Young cancer patients should feel lucky to survive, and stop fussing about their prospects of having children. This attitude, though still widespread, is now being challenged by many patients and doctors, who argue that it [more]
When cancer patients lose their appetite, serving food they like eating, at the time they want to eat it, is more effective than prescribing healthy meals that end up left on the plate. Download [more]
Two new oncological publications offer equal value in terms of their scientific and medical content. Where they differ is in their approach to patients and in their human vision. Download full article
Playwright, dissident, and first President of post-communist Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel lost his first wife to cancer in 1996, and was himself diagnosed with lung cancer later that same year. He’d survived years of suppression and [more]