Laser therapy can worsen skin cancer

November 20th, 2009 more images more imagesWASHINGTON - High irradiances of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) can worsen skin cancer, and thus should not be used over melanomas, say researchers. Researchers from Bergen University College, Norway, studied the pain relieving, anti-inflammatory 'cold laser', finding that it caused increased tumour growth in a mouse model of skin cancer.

November 6th, 2009 SYDNEY - High-risk melanoma patients who are treated with radiation after surgery have a significantly lower risk of their cancer returning to the lymph nodes, compared to those patients who do not have radiation therapy, according to new research. "Results of this trial now confirm the place of radiation therapy in the management of patients who have high risk features following surgery for melanoma involving the lymph nodes," said Bryan Burmeister, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia.

November 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A collaborative study is being conducted to determine if an imaging technique used by NASA to inspect the space shuttle can be used to predict tissue damage often experienced by breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center and Argonne National Laboratory are examining the utility of three-dimensional thermal tomography in radiation oncology.

October 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a recent study of possible triggers of cancer, scientists identified an increased risk to the bladders of patients taking drugs that suppress the immune system. The findings came from a population-based, case-control study in New Hampshire.

October 21st, 2009 HHS secretary has minor skin cancer removedWASHINGTON — The office of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (seh-BEEL'-yuhs) says she had a slow-growing form of skin cancer removed from her forehead Tuesday. The spot was a basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer and a highly curable type since it typically is easily cut away.

October 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Just inexpensively culturing a few skin cells can predict a person's cancer risk, revealed a cell biologist from the University of California, Berkeley. Harry Rubin, professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology at UC Berkeley, has acknowledged that cancer cells have mutations in hundreds of genes, making it hard to determine which are the key triggers and making prognosis and treatment equally difficult.

October 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Cancer is such a complex genetic disease that one has to sequence a person's complete genome in order to predict his or her risk. But a recent study reveals that the risk may be more simply determined by inexpensively culturing a few skin cells.

October 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Women who develop tenderness in their breasts after using hormone replacement therapy are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, say researchers. However, it is still unknown why breast tenderness indicates increased cancer risk among women on estrogen plus progestin hormone replacement therapy.

October 13th, 2009 LONDON - A revolutionary cancer treatment, called the Photodynamic therapy (PDT), could destroy cells in a patient's tumour without any side effects of surgery or chemotherapy. PDT uses a laser to activate an otherwise harmless drug inside the patient's tumour, destroying cancer cells without damaging the surrounding healthy tissue.

October 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study suggests that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may worsen incontinence in postmenopausal women. "Our main finding, which comes in particular from one huge trial, is that one type of HRT - systemic conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) - may make urinary incontinence worse," said June Cody, a methodologist at the Cochrane Incontinence Review Group at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

October 5th, 2009 FDA panel backs Schering-Plough cancer drugGAITHERSBURG, Md. — Federal health advisers voted 6-4 on Monday that the potential benefits of a Schering-Plough drug outweigh its toxic risks as a treatment for late-stage skin cancer.

September 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Port wine stain, a vascular birthmark characterised by reddish to purplish discolouration of the skin, is now easy to wipe off through laser therapy. Three of every 1,000 children born have a port wine stain, which is made up of numerous dilated vessels in a localized part of the skin, and for most the skin discolouration has caused discomfort, embarrassment, and even pain.

September 18th, 2009 Syneron advances following upgrade to 'Outperform'NEW YORK — Shares of Syneron Medical Ltd. rose Friday after an Oppenheimer analyst upgraded the stock, saying he believes the market for laser cosmetic surgery procedures has hit a low point and will start to recover.

September 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) have developed a new way to deliver drugs into cancer cells by exposing them briefly to nanoparticles and lasers. Norbert Reich, senior author and a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSB, conducted the study using cancer cells in mice.

August 31st, 2009 LONDON - A team of American scientists have created the world's smallest laser by squeezing light into a space smaller than a protein molecule. Project leader Xiang Zhang, a professor at the University of California (UC) at Berkeley, says that the breakthrough heralds a revolution in optical technology.