New trial alert: Mobile app postoperative home monitoring after enganced recovery oncologis surgery

A new trial sponsored by the Alberta Cancer Foundation and Alberta Health Services is recruiting participants in a new study seeking to determine whether the combined use of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols and post-surgery following up via a mobile app improves patient satisfaction  as well as reducing the number of postoperative emergency room visits, thus decreasing healthcare costs.  Study participants requests are "women having mastectomy, breast reconstruction, and gynecological oncology procedures."


To learn more about this trial, click here.

National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s comparative oncology studies: helping dogs and humans with cancer

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is currently recruiting dogs with a cancer diagnosis in trials aimed at finding "new treatments that preserve dogs' quality of life and maximize their time with their families."  According to Dr. Roby Hecht, deputy director of NCI's Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, these trials shoe how a variety of treatments that are affective in dogs, will often show positive results in humans as well.  Dr. Hecht further explains this is because "the biology of humans and dogs, as well as the tumors that grow in each species are similar in many ways."


To read more about this NCI program, click here.

Night shift work classified as probably carcinogenic to humans

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently unveiled results from an evaluation of cancer risk among night shift workers.  The IARC working group discovered that approximately 20% of the global population regularly work during the night, and concluded that "a number of occupational, individual, lifestyle, and environmental factors might mediate, confound, or moderate potential cancer risk."  While the Working Group cautioned that there is limited evidence suggesting night shift work is directly linked to an increase in breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer, the study does support previous findings by the IARC from 2007, where night shift work "involving circadian disruption" was seen as an issue of concern and a probable cause of increased cancer risk among this employee group.


To read more about this evaluation, click here.


Source mentioned: International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Carcinogenicity of night shift work. Lancet Oncol. 2019 Jul 4. pii: S1470-2045(19)30455-3. [Epub ahead of print]

Urine test may indicate whether prostate cancer needs treatment

New research from the United Kingdom has unveiled a new urine test that purports being able to predict progression of prostate cancer sooner than standard methods of detection, namely the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test.    While the study results on the urine samples of the 500 men tested are promising, considering it is the "first multigene panel assessment of prostate cancer through a urine-based test", practitioners caution that further tests on larger population groups is necessary before the findings can be validated.


To read more about this study, click here.