Making rights a reality
That all cancer patients should have the right to quality care is something we can all agree on. But there have been few attempts to define exactly what this means. After a lengthy consultation exercise, [more]
September 2006
Jacques Bernier: keeping the faith
As a young medical school graduate in the ’70s, Jacques Bernier ignored warnings that drugs were about to replace radiotherapy. He believed that new technology would make it safer and more effective. Today, he has [more]
Targeted drug development by trial or error?
Bringing the new wave of targeted cancer drugs to the market poses new challenges for researchers and clinicians. It is not enough to design a smart drug to hit a molecular target. Researchers need to [more]
New drugs and survival: does the Karolinska report make sense?
Is it possible to demonstrate that access to new drugs impacts on a country’s survival rates? Last September, the Karolinska report claimed to have done just that. Here, Michel Coleman argues that its conclusions were [more]
The man behind the margins
Roland Holland started investigating mammograms and their relation to pathological findings as part of the first European pilot of breast screening. His findings were later used by Umberto Veronesi as key evidence in support of [more]
Quality cancer care
If equal access to quality cancer care is to be more than an aspiration, we need to define minimum standards. ASCO and ESMO have now taken a lead with a consensus statement. Download full article
Does trastuzumab increase the risk of isolated CNS metastases in patients with breast cancer?
Research shows that brain metastasis of breast cancer may occur more often in women with HER2 overexpression. These patients require more aggressive surveillance to identify disease earlier, and new therapies are needed that can overcome [more]
Radiation dose for prostate cancer: is more better?
In prostate cancer, a trial comparing conventional- versus high-dose conformal radiotherapy has shown that increasing the dose can improve outcome, with only slight increases in toxicity. Download full article
N E W S R O U N D
Selected press reports compiled by the ESO Cancer Media Centre Download full article
Guardian journalist named Best Cancer Reporter
The Best Cancer Reporter Award 2006, sponsored by the European School of Oncology, has gone to Sarah Boseley, health reporter for the UK’s Guardian newspaper. She was commended for her thorough, balanced, informed and articulate’ [more]
Take one at bedtime and you’ll soon feel worse
Many cancer patients, intentionally or by mistake, fail to take their medication as prescribed. Understanding why can help doctors encourage their patients to stick with the treatment. Download full article
Reefer madness
Marijuana is medically useful, whether politicians like it or not. Download full article