Diacor News and Opinion

In a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have found that quitting smoking before the age of forty can return life expectancy to near normal levels, compared to one who has never smoked at all. Former smokers still have a greater risk of dying sooner than people who have never smoked, but the risk is smaller in comparison to those who continue to smoke. Researchers found that smokers lose about ten years of life expectancy compared to those who do not smoke. For more information, please visit the New England Journal of Medicine's website for the full article.

Researchers, who have published their investigation in the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer, have found a correlation between people who have bitewing exams (an exam that holds a piece of x-ray film held by a tab in between the teeth) on a yearly or more frequent basis are 1.4 to 1.9 times as likely to develop meningioma, the most commonly diagnosed brain tumor in the US. There is also an increased risk with panorex exams (an exam taken outside of the mouth that show all of the teeth on one film). Those who received those exams when they were younger than ten years old had a 4.9 times increased risk of developing cancer, and those who received them on a yearly or more basis had a three times as likely chance of developing meningioma. To view the full article, please click here.

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology assessed whether or not all ages of women are benefiting from breast cancer treatment. The report classified women into four age groups: 20-49, 50-64, 65-74, and 75 and older. The results showed that the death rates were stable for women 20-49, but increased for women 65 and older. The results also showed that African American women are not seeing improvement in outcomes, evidenced by a death rate 38% higher than Caucasians. To view the abstract and purchase the full article, please click here.

New research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center projects that between 2010 and 2020, the demand for radiation therapy will exceed the number of radiation oncologists practicing in the U.S. tenfold.  Over the next decade, the study estimates that the number of cancer patients requiring radiation therapy will increase by 22%, while the number of full-time equivalent radiation oncologists entering the workforce will increase by just 2%.

The study was published in the October 18, 2010 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology.  Benjamin Smith, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson and lead author of the study, shared that radiation therapy is critical in the cancer care continuum, making the need for solutions that will resolve the gap a priority to continue providing the best cancer care possible.

According to a report from the American Cancer Society (ACS) published online July 7 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, cancer mortality rates continued a 20 year decline.  The overall death rate from cancer in the US in 2007 was 178.4 per 100,000, a relative decrease of 1.3% from 2006, when the rate was 180.7 per 100,000.  Another interesting highlight from the report was that lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women in 1987 and is expected to account for 26% of all female cancer deaths in 2010.

"This report is yet more proof we are creating a world with more birthdays," said John R. Seffrin, PhD., chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN).