Cancer Center Risk Guidelines Published

MD Anderson releases new guidelines for identifying people at high risk of cancer.
The Dallas Morning News (4/5, Churnin) reported that physicians are increasingly focusing on cancer prevention, "a fresh approach to" the disease as "in many cases, by the time cancer is detected, it is too late to save the patient." But, "the odds improve greatly if doctors can stop cells or tumors from developing into cancer or remove cancer-prone tissue before problems start." For its part, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston "released new guidelines for identifying people with a high risk of developing cancer so that they can receive more sophisticated tests, such as genetic testing, which could indicate early intervention."
Breast cancer risk may increase after chest radiation for childhood malignancies. Bloomberg News (4/6, Ostrow) reports, "Women's risk of developing breast cancer may increase as much as 20-fold if they were treated with chest radiation for malignancies as children or young adults," according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In a study of 7,000 women, researchers found that "by the time they are in their 40s," a woman's "incidence of breast malignancy may be 13 to 20 percent, compared with about one percent for females generally." Meanwhile, a second study in the journal showed that "both male and female survivors of childhood cancers die about a decade sooner."
Notably, the "reduction in life expectancy varied according to the type of cancer," with "survivors of kidney cancer" dying "about four years earlier than the general population," and "bone and brain cancer survivors" dying "about 18 years earlier," HealthDay (4/5, Preidt) reported. The researchers speculated that the "shortened life expectancy could be the result of cancer treatments with long-term toxicity that were used in previous decades." Reuters (4/6) also covers the story.