Recently in General information Category

A study by Don G. Morris, MD, PhD of the Tom Baker Cancer Center showed that reovirus did in fact have a substantial effect on prostate cancer cells.  Although Dr. Morris said there are downsides, as a whole the study was quite successful.  Reovirus can potentially be combined with chemotherapy or other therapies to mitigate these issues.  Not only can reovirus destroy cancer cells but can also cause an immune system response in the area of the tumor.

A full article can be found here:
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20100309/tumor-melting-virus-vs-prostate-cancer

The Chicago Tribune posted an article about the risks of CT scans which is quite informative.  CT scans while a powerful tools for diagnosing a wide range of diseases has the potential to cause problems as well.
Although the AMAS test is not by itself diagnostic of the presence or absence of disease, it can be used as an aid to diagnosis, detection or monitoring of disease.  Since the AMAS test is non-invasive, in some cases it can be used for screening rather that CT scans which can lessen the exposure to potentially harmful radiation.

The full article can be found here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-radiation-exposure-20100307,0,619847.story

March is colorectal cancer awareness month.  Information about the risks, when to start screening and the types of screening can be found at the links below. 

http://www.cdc.gov/features/colorectalawareness/

http://www.bcm.edu/news/item.cfm?newsID=1841

An interesting article was recently posted on CancerConsultants.com about ovarian cancer and how the symptoms are not particularly helpful in its early detection.  In 2000 an article was published in Cancer Detection and Prevention about the link between Anti-Malignin Antibody and ovarian cancer and more importantly how it can be used for early detection.  The AMAS test looks for this antibody in the blood and has been shown to be more sensitive than the CA125 test.

Both articles can be found at the links below:
http://www.cancerconsultants.com/symptoms-improve-early-detection-ovarian-cancer/
http://www.oncolabinc.com/paper.php?id=CancerDet_Prev.Antibody.2000.pdf

February 4th marks the fifth year of the World Cancer Day which is lead by The International Union Against Cancer (UICC)  Each year focuses on a different initiative, this year's being  "Cancer can be prevented too". 

More information can be found here:
http://www.worldcancercampaign.org/

Dr. Kandace Klein of the Medical College of Georgia has linked the breast cancer mortality rate to the availability of mammograms.  While Mammograms are typically seen as the best cancer screening tests there are downsides.  Mammograms are quite intrusive and painful.  By no means do we suggest that the AMAS test is a replacement for mammograms but the AMAS test can be used along side standard cancer screening tools to increase the possibility of spotting a malignancy in the early stages.

The full article can be found here:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/mcog-mal011110.php

CancerConsultants.com (an informational cancer website) posted an article citing an American College of Radiology Imaging Network study that found approximately 58% of women with a high risk of breast cancer agreed to a MRI screen while the remainder refused for a variety of reasons. 

Margaret Rank, M.D.

"The AMAS test is a powerful diagnostic and prognostic tool when used properly. Measuring the levels of antibodies to Malignin, it can be used to diagnose sub-clinical cancer. That is, it can detect very small tumors before they become evident by usual diagnostic tests and physical exam. Small cancers can often be treated for cure with either conventional means or natural means. This is truly one of the weapons against cancer that is grossly underutilized.

By William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

With the barrage of media hype surrounding breast cancer (and you're hearing more lately because this is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month), it's no wonder women often cite it as their primary health concern.

All this worry (and "awareness") has made breast cancer screening an enormous business. Women have been terrorized into having repeated mammograms, manual breast examinations, light exams, and anything else that can be dreamed up to get an early diagnosis.

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By Dr. Adiel Tel-Oren 

While the medical community appears to be struggling ferociously with the specter of malignant disease, statistics show that in the last few decades cancer rates have been steadily increasing. Alarmingly, it is now estimated that one of three Americans will have had cancer during his or her lifetime. Should this trend continue, within several years it is likely that one of every two Americans will have the disease. Therefore, as an informed individual, you should be concerned about the high risk of developing cancer even in the absence of family history, significant exposure to carcinogens, or known presence of cancer genes in your body.

Naturally, a discussion of the many causes for the victory and spread of cancer in our population will be appropriate and interesting, but it should be reserved for a lengthy presentation elsewhere (come to our free Tuesday lectures, for example...). The main focus of this article is to provide the reader with valuable diagnostic information of which most patients and health care practitioners are unaware. Specifically, I would like to briefly summarize the benefits of using a laboratory blood test called AMAS (Anti-Malignin Antibody in Serum).

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