Herceptin (trastuzumab) is a targeted therapy used for treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer. Results of a Phase II clinical trial showed that Herceptin might have a roll in treating patients with HER2 positive advanced bladder cancer.

The researchers conducted the clinical trial to examine the effectiveness of Herceptin along with chemotherapy in a little under fifty patients with advanced bladder cancer. The chemotherapy given with the Herceptin was paclitaxel, carboplatin, and gemcitabine.

This was a small study and research will have to continue to see if this treatment is something that will be put into mainstream use. The study concluded that:

• 11 percent of patients experienced a complete disappearance of detectable cancer.
• 59 percent of patients experienced a partial disappearance of detectable cancer.

Bladder cancer is diagnosed in 55,000 - 60,000 individuals annually in the United States. Patients whose cancer has spread to deeper tissues in the bladder and/or nearby lymph nodes may be treated with a radical cystectomy, the surgical removal of the bladder and nearby lymph nodes.

This approach may be able to cure the patient, however recurrences do occur. Researchers want to find out which patients may be more susceptible to a recurrence so that they can either monitor them more closely or treat them more aggressively to reduce the risk of recurrence.

An article was published in Lancet Oncology saying that markers may help predict the risk of cancer recurrences in patients who are treated with a radical cystectomy. Researchers from Texas and Canada conducted a clinical study to evaluate markers found in the the tissue samples taken after surgery. The markers tested included the expression of Bcl-2, caspase-3, P53, and survivin.

The study found that those patients that had an altered expression of Bcl-2, caspase-3, P533 and survivin were associated with over four times the risk of cancer recurrence. Also, the altered expression of all of these bio-markers was associated with nearly seven times the risk of death from cancer.

The researchers conclude that these findings support other studies that show these bio-markers can help predict who will remain cancer free. They look at this as moving forward towards more individualized treatments for the patients.

It did not say in the article whether using this test after the surgery would help them to determine if chemotherapy or radiation would be something that could reduce the risk of recurrence if the markers would show a high risk category of recurrence. I think this these studies are great but we need to be moving forward to get the patients to benefit from this vital information.

A new study shows that if you drink, bathe or swim in chlorinated water it may increase the risk of bladder cancer. The chemicals, mostly chlorine, used to disinfect water can be harmful when they are inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

The chemical by-product produced, called trihalomethanes (THM), can be a powerful carcinogenic because it does not get detoxified by the liver.

The researchers analyzed the average water THM levels in the 123 municipalities in the study. People living in households with an average household water THM of more than 49 micrograms per liter had double the bladder cancer risk of those living in households where water THM concentration was below 8 micrograms per liter. They noted that levels of about 50 micrograms per liter are common in industrialized societies.

Those who drank chlorinate water were at a 35 percent greater risk of bladder cancer than those who didn't and the use of swimming pools boosted bladder cancer risk by 57 percent.

Something else we need to worry about--great! I am not losing sleep over this one. I cannot take back all those years swimming in the backyard pool!

At home screening may reduce deaths from bladder cancer in men over fifty years of age. Bladder cancer is diagnosed in as many as 60,000 individuals annually in the United States and is much more common in the elderly.

Cancer of the bladder has a high cure rate if detected early enough, however, the cure rate gets much lower if the cancer spreads and metastasizes to other parts of the body. One way to diagnose the disease is to detect microscopic amounts of blood in the urine.

A trial was conducted including 1,575 men who did not have bladder cancer and were over fifty. The men underwent home screening with the use of small strips of a paper-like substance, called reagent strips. A little over 8 percent of patients who underwent screening were diagnosed with bladder cancer. At fourteen years follow-up, there were no deaths from bladder cancer among the men who underwent home screening compared with 20 percent among men who had not undergone screening.

The researchers conclude that at-home screening could indeed save lives because of early detection of bladder cancer.

A recent study has shown that extracapsular extension (ECE) of the lymph nodes in patients with bladder cancer is no longer a bad prognostic finding. ECE is caused when cancer cells break through the capsule of the lymph node and can spread to nearby tissues.

The study suggests that, with the new adoption of combined therapies instead of single treatment modalities, extracapsular extension is not considered a poor prognostic factor. At this time in the treatment for bladder cancer ECE does not carry as much weight as was previously believed. The researchers evaluated 108 patients with bladder cancer who underwent radical cystectomy. ECE involved lymph nodes was present in 41 percent of patients but the findings concluded that it was not significantly associated with overall survival or relapse free survival.

• Barrett says, "know your body." And don't ignore or dismiss any changes that occur.
• Don't let embarrassment stop you from seeking help. Some symptoms can be difficult to discuss -- such as change in size and frequency of bowel movements, bloody stool, cramping, and bloating -- but still ask your doctor about them. Early detection is critical, she says.
• If diagnosed with colon cancer, learn as much as you can about the disease -- a well-informed patient has a better chance at a better outcome.

I have read all kinds of material on increasing your odds for survival and how to keep cancer from returning. Odds of returning. Odds of surviving. To me that all sounds like taking bets at a horse track. At one time in the medical profession, the five year mark for being cancer free was the milestone to claim you beat the disease and that you are a true survivor. Five years to me didn't seem too long. I could do that. Five years later seemed like an eternity to me after my bladder cancer returned 22 months after my first diagnoses. Even more so after the third recurrence of bladder cancer and two lumps having to be removed from my breast 16 months later after finishing up my second round of treatments. Coming up on my 36 month anniversary in 10 days for being clean, can I not consider myself a survivor?

I have a friend that went through a double mastectomy for breast cancer while she was in her twenties and she is now in her forties. She is definitely a survivor. I have a friend who just finished treatments a month ago and to me she is just as much a survivor as the first. I also have two dear friends that passed with cancer after a 6 and 8 month battle. But for a duration of time, they were surviving.

Being a victim to this disease is very clear. It is when we are diagnosed and our lives change instantly on our vulnerability, our strength, and our mind set. And sometimes it means death. So when can we claim ourselves to be survivors?

Well in my humble opinion we are all survivors from when we are first diagnosed to whatever stage or time period we are in right now. We are living so we are surviving. We are facing the beast head on and going day to day in the activities of our lives.  Keeping a positive mind set is one of the best ways to deal with everything that gets thrown at you from the first time you hear "You have cancer."

So this is my mind set. I was a survivor one day after being diagnosed in 1998, and I have continued being a survivor although the cancer returned twice. I fight it. I am alive. I am a survivor. And so are you no matter what stage you are in facing this disease. You are alive so you are a survivor. You have the ability to create your own mind set. Whether your attitude is positive or negative, is up to you. So tell yourself that you are a survivor and keep that in your mind so you can over come all the hurdles that life puts in front of you every day you face the sunrise off in the horizon.

Teach your children the importance of eating healthy and staying away from preserved meats. Yes it is quick and easy to prepare hotdogs or to order pepperoni pizzas when in a pinch for time or you are just too tired and don't feel like cooking a full meal. Parents should be the mentors to their children and set a healthy lifestyle starting with eating habits.

Most preserved meats contain nitrates which are converted into a carcinogen, cancer causing agent, in the body. This includes foods that are typically pink in color like bologna, salami, pepperoni, hotdogs, corned beef, pastrami, bacon, and cured ham.

Historically, nitrates served two purposes: to help prevent the growth of certain bacteria that can cause an outbreak of botulism, a deadly food-borne illness, and to give cured meat a pink color. These nitrates, once added to the meat, would break down over a period of time, forming nitrites. Eventually, nitrites themselves were added directly to the meat to speed up the curing process.

In cooked meats, the time and temperature of the cooking are the critical factors in preventing bacterial growth. In recent years, better production and food storage methods have decreased the potential for food-borne illness. However, nitrites continue to be used in cooked meats to maintain the traditional pink color and cured flavor. Nitrites can contribute to the formation of potentially dangerous carcinogens in the body, which in turn can result in malignant tumor growth over time.

Children are especially susceptible to nitrite poisoning. These carcinogenic compounds have been associated with cancer of the oral cavity, urinary bladder, esophagus, stomach and brain and child leukemia. One study found that children eating more than 12 hot dogs per month have nine times the normal risk of developing childhood leukemia. So take the time to help your children eat right and set good eating habits from the beginning. If you just have that uncontrollable craving for a hot dog, be sure to buy a brand of hot dogs that do not contain nitrates. Or when the pizza craving hits, order a veggie pizza and learn to leave off the pepperoni and ham and other processed meats with nitrates. Learning a healthy diet starting out will decrease the chances of childhood obesity, diabetes, and heart disease also.

This is a follow up from a previous post I wrote about bladder cancer and also a post that Dalene Entenmann wrote on the same subject. Here are some more statistics on bladder cancer. This report is a continued effort to bring awareness to the cancer that is steadily increasing in numbers in both men and women each year and to give information on two online support groups for this disease.

GMC-Augusta Community College students adopt bladder cancer awareness and advocacy as their community service project. The student committee has fundraising goals of $5000 dollars by November and has put out over 2500 information brochures in their community since February. To reach their fundraising goals they are selling pins, books and other items and also are having bake sales and yard sales. They hope to participate in area health fairs and are organizing other events to add to the fundraising efforts. A joint effort between GMC-Augusta Student Advocates and Indie Music For Life non-profit is in its organizing stages to hold a benefit concert in late summer.

The Bladder Cancer Sisterhood founded by poet and bladder cancer survivor Sylvia Ramsey is selling their merchandise on the BC Sisterhood online store. Sylvia Ramsey was diagnosed with stage III invasive bladder cancer and had her bladder removed and also had a radical hysterectomy. She considers herself very lucky to be alive almost 10 years later.