Season's Greetings & Happy Holidays - blog posts will resume in January 2019

To all our readers,


Blog postings will resume in January 2019, so that our library staff can celebrate the festive season with family.  Happy Holidays!

New chemotherapy regimen can considerably extend lifespan of pancreatic cancer patients

A new clinical trial consisting of a 4-drug chemotherapy combination has resulted in considerable extensions in lifespan for early-stage pancreatic cancer patients.  According to trial results, median survival rate of patients who were administered the new drug regimen was 4.5 years.  While authors of the trial mentioned that 75% of patients experienced more serious side-effects after taking the new experimental drug combination (compared to 53% of those on standard chemotherapy treatment), they remain cautiously optimistic that this new drug discovery is "an important step forward." 


To read more about this trial, click here.

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis may be linked to prostate cancer

A new study conducted at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago has uncovered a link between men with inflammatory bowel disease and a subsequent higher risk of developing prostate cancer.  According to lead author Dr. Shilajit Kundu, the study, conducted on over 1,000 men with inflammatory bowel disease, showed higher prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels over long-term follow-up, levels representative of a 4-5 times more likely change of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.


To read more about this study, click here.

New Canadian breast cancer screening guideline for women aged 40-74

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has released a new guideline for breast cancer screening among women aged 40-74.  The fundamental difference in this latest guidelines release from the 2011 previous edition is with regards to the 40-49 age group.  The 2011 guidelines recommended against routine mammograms for women between 40-49 years old.  According to task force vice-chair Dr. Ainsley Moore, physician at McMaster University, the 2018 guidelines "are intended for an empowered position, [putting] the decision-making into the hands of the individual woman in terms of what she prioritizes." 


The complete guideline is available here.

Test helps identify thyroid nodules that don’t require surgery

Researchers in JAMA Oncology, found that a test measuring genomic changes in tissue samples taken from the thyroid can help identify which patients likely need diagnostic surgery for thyroid cancer and which do not. When a suspicious small growth or lump (called a nodule) is found in the thyroid, doctors perform a fine-needle biopsy so that the cells can be examined by a pathologist.

To read more about this study, click here.

System is broken: medical journals do not reveal doctor's ties

A recent article in the New York Times has revealed that several prominent physicians who publishing in prestigious academic medical journals, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, "have failed in recent years to report their financial relationships with pharmaceutical and health care companies when their studies are published..."  As a result, journal editors have or are in the process of implementing changes that will clarify submission process and reduce errors. 


To read more about this review, click here.