Melanoma that has spread to other areas of the body is a very difficult cancer to treat successfully. It usually does not respond well to chemotherapy. Sadly, those diagnosed with metastatic melanoma survive only about a year after diagnosis.

The combination of Taxol (paclitaxel) with carboplatin, added to an agent that prevents the growth of blood vessels called bevacizumab has been shown to significantly delay the spread of tumors in patients with advanced melanoma. A Phase II clinical trial showed that tumor growth was delayed by almost six months; typically these cancers begin to start spreading again in about eight weeks.

Dr. Domingo Perez, M.D., the lead author of the study says "The clinical benefit may seem small, but in the world of melanoma where there is very little progress, this is certainly a strong indication that the combination of chemotherapy with an antiangiogenic agent may be a valid treatment strategy for these patients."

I love to write about new studies combining drugs to improve survival of any kind of cancer. When I read these articles I immediately want to write about them. The reason is because having had breast cancer, I'm always afraid of a recurrence. Knowing that new treatment combinations are working, keeps my anxiety at bay.

An article recently published in the Annals of Oncology says that treatment consisting of Doxil and carboplatin may improve survival in patients with relapsed ovarian cancer.

Researchers in France conducted a clinical trial to evaluate Doxil plus carboplatin in the treatment of patients with advanced ovarian cancer that had relapsed following prior platinum and taxane based regimens.

Anticancer responses occurred in 63 percent of patients. Complete disappearances of cancer occurred in 38 percent of patients. The researchers conclude that the combination of Doxil/carboplatin appears highly effective for women with advanced ovarian cancer.

Researchers in Spain conducted a Phase III clinical trial called GEICAM. They wanted to compare different chemotherapy regimes in women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. The trial included 252 women who had already been treated with anthracyclines and taxanes and experienced a recurrence.

One group of women was treated with Gemzar (gemcitabine) and Navelbine (vinorelbine), the other group was treated with Navelbine alone. The results were published in Lancet Oncology that states the combination of the two drugs improves progression free survival. It was also mentioned that this combination however did not improve overall survival.

When cancer recurs following treatment with anthracyclines and taxanes, some of the strongest chemotherapies for breast cancer, patients have limited treatment options. Researchers continue to search for different chemotherapy combinations that are effective against recurrent breast cancer.

The researchers concluded that anticancer responses were 36 percent for patients treated with Gemzar/Navelbine and 26 percent for patients treated with Navelbine alone.

Myocet is in its last clinical trial phase prior to FDA review. The trial is enrolling patients to evaluate the investigative chemotherapy agent Myocet (liposomal encapsulated doxorubicin) in addition to standard therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.

Myocet is a chemotherapy agent that contains the active form of doxorubicin, you might better know it as Adriamycin. This chemotherapy drug is formulated to reduce the side effects associated with Adriamycin. Myocet allows for more of the active drug to be delivered directly to cancer cells, sparing healthy cells from being damaged.

This trial will directly compare the standard option of Herceptin and Taxol to the combination of Myocet, Herceptin and Taxol. Researchers are now enrolling patients with metastatic, HER2-positive breast cancer with a goal in mind to determine if the addition of Myocet to standard therapy can increase response to therapy or regression of cancer.

Results published at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, said that Abraxane in combination with Xeloda may be an effective treatment option for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Abraxane is a newer form of Taxol that uses albumin, a natural protein found in the body, to deliver high concentrations of the active ingredient into the cancer cells and has fewer side effect than Taxol. Abraxane treatments last around 30 minutes compared with 3 hours for Taxol.

Researchers conducted a small clinical trial that included 38 patients with metastatic breast cancer. Complete disappearance of cancer was achieved in nearly 9 percent of patients. Partial responses were achieved in about 44 percent of patients. Disease stabilization was seen in almost 33 percent of study participants.

Even though the study was a small one, researchers conclude that it appears that treatment with Abraxane and Xeloda may be effective for patients with metastatic breast cancer.

The two drugs Velcade (bortezomib) and Revlimid (lenalidomide) are designed to treat the bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. A Phase I clinical trial has shown that the drugs may be more effective together than when used individually.

The trial was led by researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. It included 38 patients who had their cancer recur despite other therapies. The patients were divided into groups that received successively higher doses of Velcade and Revlimid. Some patients also received the drug dexamethasone which can add to the anticancer effects of these two drugs.

Fifty-eight percent has responded to the combined treatment, six percent achieved complete remission. Researcher Dr. Paul Richardson said in a prepared statement "We are hopeful that this combination will prove to be a key therapeutic backbone in improving outcomes for our patients, both early and later in the course".

The results of a Phase III clinical trial, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, concluded that Taxotere (docetaxel) plus Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) resulted in better cancer free survival than the treatment combination of Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide).

Adriamycin and Cytoxan, referred to as the AC chemotherapy regime, has been the gold standard for adjuvant therapy for those patients diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. This study was conducted on more than 1000 women who had Stage I to Stage III disease. Half of the women were given the AC regime and the other half given the Taxotere/Cytoxan (TC) regime.

The results of the study showed that cancer free survival was 86 percent for those treated with TC an 80 percent among women treated with AC. Overall survival was 90 percent among women treated with TC and 87 percent among women treated with AC. Nausea and vomiting were more common among women treated with AC. Muscle and joint pain, edema, and low white blood cell counts accompanied by fever were more common among patients treated with TC.

The treatment combination of Revlimid (lenalidomide), Oncovin (vincristine), Doxil (pegylated doxorubicin) and dexamethasone appears to be highly effective in multiple myeloma that has recurred or progressed following prior therapies.

According to an article published in the Annals of Oncology, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic conducted a clinical trial to evaluate this combination of drugs. The trial included 62 patients, 75 percent of the patients achieved an anticancer response and 29 percent of patients achieved a complete or near complete disappearance of detectable cancer.

The researchers note that determining treatment choices for those patients who recur after initial therapy is more challenging than treating patients that have not received prior therapy. Multiple myeloma is usually treated with chemotherapy -- however -- new treatments are evolving that are better tolerated, especially in older patients who cannot handle aggressive chemotherapy. The researchers continue to evaluate strategies in order to offer patients individualized treatment options.

Technology has come a long way over the years -- and now the technology behind digital mammography is allowing life-saving screenings for the toughest patients to diagnose with breast cancer.

This is no small technological breakthough. It is a critical component for lowering the breast cancer death rate the American Cancer Society reports has declined 2.3 percent each year between 1990 and 2002. Since breast cancer is a treatable disease if caught early, digital mammography will up the odds of survival for women with this disease.

Digital mammography operates according to a computer-based technique that allows for digital manipulation of a breast X-ray. It exceeds the capability of film mammography -- and is much like the comparison between digital photography versus film photography. Both work. But one works better.

Studies show digital mammograms have a lot to offer. They detect tumors better in young women with dense breast tissue, for example. They allow for ease of storage and retrieval of images. And they can easily become part of a woman's electronic medical record.

There are still benefits of traditional mammography and women are still urged to use this less expensive option. They are also urged to conduct self-breast exams and to report for clinical exams with physicians. It's the whole package that contributes to comprehensive breast health, not just one isolated test. When used in combination with all other screening methods, digital mammography makes for a more accurate overall picture.

Postmenopausal women with HER2 positive breast cancer that also have hormone receptor positive disease can benefit significantly when treatment involves adding Herceptin to the drug Arimidex. Combining these two drugs can lengthen the time women with advanced breast cancer live without their disease progressing.

The full findings were released on Monday at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Istanbul. Roche Pharmaceuticals had announced back in May that Herceptin plus Arimidex combination had produced good results.

"The results are very positive" said Dr. Bella Kaufman of Israel's Chaim Sheba Medical Center who led the research. "In breast cancer, there are not many trials that show double progression-free survival."

A clinical trial was conducted to see if the addition of Gemzar (gemcitabine) to Paraplatin (carboplatin) would improve progression free survival in women with ovarian cancer who had been treated and have since had a recurrence of their disease.

The trial included 356 patients who have received prior chemotherapy. The women in study had a cancer recurrence at least six months following initial chemotherapy. They separated the women into two groups. One group was treated with Gemzar and carbolplatin, the other group of patients only received carboplatin.

A complete disappearance of detectable cancer occurred in over 14 percent of the patients who were treated with Gemzar and carboplatin, compared with only a little over 6 percent for those treated with just carboplatin.

The researches from Europe, Canada, and the United States agree that the results indicate the superiority of the addition of Gemzar to carboplatin for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer that has recurred.