Diacor News and Opinion

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.

As reported on the American Cancer Society's web site, two recent studies show that regular screening mammograms help reduce deaths from breast cancer.  Differing in their methodologies and specific findings, both studies ultimately support the American Cancer Society's recommendation that women receive regular mammograms as an important part of a breast cancer screening plan.  For more information, please see the American Cancer Society's news and features page.

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).

In a recent article published online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Stephan Gripp, MD, of the University Hospital Duesseldorf in Germany and colleagues evaluated the treatment of patients who were referred for palliative radiotherapy.  Their analysis found that a considerable proportion of patients with end-stage or terminal cancer do not benefit from palliative radiation therapy despite spending most of their remaining life undergoing treatments. 

To view the full press release from the American Cancer Society, please click here.