Here's an opportunity for you to share your personal breast cancer experiences, and help further research too.

Molly, a college student at BYU, has launched a national research project aimed at examining the relationship between couple leisure satisfaction and marital satisfaction of couples in which one spouse has breast cancer. Molly and her study partner Dr. Ramon Zabriskie hope to identify new avenues for cost effective intervention targeted at improving the quality of life for adult cancer patients and their spouses.

Both the cancer patient and spouse/partner will be asked to complete a short online questionnaire. No identifying information is required, and all responses will be kept confidential.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is launching a three-year pilot phase of a new program that will help bring state of the art care to patients in community hospitals across the country.

The NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) is designed to encourage the collaboration of private practice medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists. Building on this expanded network, the NCCCP will explore ways of sharing information, via electronic medical records, to further enhance patient care. Evidence from a wide range of studies suggests that cancer patients diagnosed and treated in a setting of coordinated multi-specialty care and clinical research may live longer and have a better quality of life.

The pilot program will research new and enhanced ways to assist, educate, and better treat the needs of under served populations -- including elderly, rural, inner-city, and low-income patients. As well as racial and ethnic groups with unusually high cancer rates.

Join Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) for a free educational teleconference titled Medical and Quality-of-Life Updates from the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

The teleconference will be held on Monday, June 11, 2007 at 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (EDT). You can participate by using any telephone or by computer using Real Network Player or Windows Media Player. Register online at www.lbbc.com or call 610-645-4567.

This teleconference brings to you groundbreaking research presented at the largest annual conference of cancer professionals in the United States. Some topics discussed will be:

• Advances in surgical, hormonal and chemotherapy treatments
• Using diet and nutrition to improve quality of life
• Clinical trials measuring the long-term impact of treatment on health and well-being
• New information on how to treat and manage metastatic breast cancer

Following the speaker presentation there will be an interactive question and answer session.

Surgeons will normally remove the lymph nodes during surgery when a patient has Stage II or Stage III colon cancer. These stages refer to colon cancer that has penetrated the colon and entered the abdominal cavity. There may be spread of the cancer to local lymph nodes that need to be removed and biopsied.

An article published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute says that patients have improved survival when a greater number of lymph nodes are removed during surgery. Patients have anywhere from six to forty lymph nodes removed and evaluated. The question is -- What is the optimal number of lymph nodes to remove and evaluate?

A clinical study was conducted that involved nearly 62,000 patients. The researchers concluded that patients with Stage II or III colon cancer had significantly improved survival when more lymph nodes were removed.

The author of the study stated "These results support consideration of the number of lymph nodes evaluated as a measure of quality of colon care."

Research indicates that young breast cancer survivors have a harder time recovering emotionally from cancer than women who develop the disease later in life.

In Australia, a quality of life survey including 300 women found most survivors adjusted normally within 18 months after diagnosis. But women under the age of 50 reported more of a struggle with their emotional health.

Perhaps it's the direct threat to her life, or her fertility, or her sexuality, or her body image that brings on the added challenge for a young woman. Regardless, there are no easy solutions or quick remedies for lightening the load that weighs heavily on young minds.

Breast cancer changes everything, and bouncing back from the disease takes time. And this research validates the need for programs targeted at younger women, as well as further research to more clearly identify how to better help breast cancer's youngest victims.

Doctors prescribing anemia drugs for patients with kidney disease and cancer were urged by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday to carefully dispense of these drugs due to an increased risk of death and other serious problems, such as blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks in patients with chronic kidney failure and rapid tumor growth in patients with head and neck cancer who receive doses higher than recommended.

The potentially harmful drugs, sold under than brand names Procrit, Epogen, and Aranesp, are genetically engineered versions of a natural protein -- called erythropoietin -- that increases the number of red blood cells. The drugs, with combined 2006 U.S. sales of $10 billion, are commonly used for patients with certain forms of kidney disease and for those receiving chemotherapy for cancer.

The FDA is adding warnings to the drugs' labels that will strongly instruct doctors to use the lowest possible dose needed to help patients avoid blood transfusions.

The FDA will also take a close look at how the drugs are marketed, including claims the drugs can improve the quality of life.

A meeting of FDA officials to further discuss this issue, believed to stem from drug overuse by dialysis centers and oncologists who make more money by using more of the drugs. is scheduled for May 10. Recommendations could lead to additional revisions of the drugs' labels.

A new study sheds new hopeful light on pancreatic cancer survival -- for patients 65 and older.

The study, conducted at Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, found patients in this age group who survive pancreatic cancer for at least five years have a better chance than patients not yet 65 at surviving another five years.

Researchers studied the records of 890 patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent the standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, or Whipple procedure. And lead researcher Charles Yeo reports that surgery can in fact extend and improve the quality of life for this population.

"Not too long ago, few lived for five years after diagnosis," he said. "Today, that not true. There's been a paradigm shift in the way we treat and think about this disease."

Additional details on this promising study can be found in the journal Surgery.

Kidney transplants can save lives. They can also increase the risk of developing a variety of cancers, according to Australian researchers who report a risk 300 percent higher than in the general population.

Most cancers developed in kidney transplant patients have a known or suspected viral origin, suggesting the weakened immune systems in these patients limit protection against cancer.

"The immunosuppressive drugs transplant patients take lower their ability to fight off infections that can trigger malignancy", the lead researcher said. "We believe the increased incidence of infection leads to the infection that results in cancer." She also notes there is probably an even greater risk of cancer among heart and lung transplant patients because these patients receive more powerful immunosuppressive drugs.

Researchers gathered their findings by comparing the incidence of cancer in 29,000 patients with end-stage kidney disease who received kidney transplants. Data was collected beginning five years prior to transplantation, during dialysis, and after transplantation. Researchers then consulted an Australian registry to identify cancers occurring between the years of 1982-2003. They compared the statistics with the number of cancers seen among transplant patients.

These cancers included melanoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, leukemia and cancers of the lip, tongue, mouth, salivary gland, esophagus, stomach, colon, anus, liver, gallbladder, lung, connective and other soft tissue, vulva, cervix, penis, eye and thyroid. There was also an increase in nasal cavity and vaginal cancers.

This study has important implications for future immosuppression. Patients should give considerable thought to quality-of-life transplants -- such as face transplants and hand transplants -- and should carefully weigh the risks of weakened immunity. On a brighter note, this study might help prompt research on medication that can selectively target the part of the body responsible for rejecting a transplant. Because right now, medications affect the entire immune system -- and this is what makes patients more prone to developing cancer.

Its never too late to quit smoking, says a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Its even beneficial if you have already been diagnosed with lung cancer.

The research showed that those who quit smoking after being diagnosed became less severely impaired by the disease than those that continued to smoke. The ability for the person to care for themselves and handle daily routines was increased when they gave up the habit.

Even though the study did not show an increased survival benefit for those that quit, they noted that continued smoking may deteriorate a lung cancer patient's quality of life by starving their tissues of oxygen, which worsens outcomes from chemotherapy and radiation.

Don't ever think its pointless to quit!

The evidence is stacking up. And it seems almost everyone will soon agree that exercising can help prevent a return of cancer for those who have already done battle with the disease.

The American Cancer Society just issued a report updating nutrition and physical activity recommendations for cancer survivors. Exercise tops the list of recommendations.

For some types of cancers, exercising for just one to three hours per week can lower the risk of cancer recurrence and death, as well as death from all causes. Exercise has also been shown to improve fitness, diminish fatigue, and boost quality of life for survivors.

The report also states that while a vegetarian diet may be healthful in some ways, there is no direct proof that the diet can prevent cancer recurrence. Survivors who do choose a vegetarian lifestyle should ensure they are receiving an adequate intake of nutrients.

A standard multivitamin and mineral supplement equivalent to 100 percent of the Daily Value can help survivors meet their nutrient needs when it's difficult to eat a healthy diet. Some supplements -- such as those high in folic acid or antioxidants -- may be harmful during cancer treatment.

According to the American Cancer Society, food safety is especially important for cancer survivors, especially during treatment that causes immunosuppression.

And then there's alcohol. Alcohol can affect the risk for new primary cancers and should be used sparingly -- or not at all.

Bicalutamide (Casodex) is an antiandrogen or hormonal therapy. Daily treatment with bicalutamide is shown to cut the risk of progression of prostate cancer by 44 percent. It can also reduce the overall risk of death by 35 percent.

The study was done on 1370 patients who were randomized to receive either radiation and a placebo or radiation and 150mg once a day tablet bicalutamide.

The findings showed that patients with locally advanced prostate cancer receiving the bicalutamide faired better than those with the placebo. This may be a more suitable treatment instead of castration therapies which can adversely affect the patients quality of life.

The authors say that bicalutamide "has additional quality of life benefits relative to castration in terms of maintaining sexual interest, physical ability, and bone mineral density".

Goody Products Inc. is holding a national celebrity auction to benefit Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC). The auction will be from August 15th until the end of October. Goody Products Inc. is one of the largest manufactures of brushes, combs and hair accessories.

Over 50 limited edition brushes signed by celebrities will be available. Some celebrities that will be signing the brushes include Jennifer Lopez, Hilary Duff, Nick Lachey and Nicole Richie.

The auction is part of "Comfort Meets Cause", a nationwide campaign to raise awareness and funding for women affected by breast cancer.

LBBC's mission is To empower all women affected by breast cancer to live as long as possible with the best quality of life.

Summer surf and sand. Planning a day trip or weekend vacation at the beach? You could be putting yourself and your family at short-term and long-term health risk. From bacterial pollution to toxic chemicals, some of our beaches are dirty enough to cause serious concern.

In an effort to combat beach pollution, the Milford Environmental Concerns Coalition in Milford Connecticut, hosts a beachwater quality initiative called the Freedom Lawn Contest, recognizing local residents who show their commitment to protecting water quality by growing beautiful lawns and gardens without the use of chemicals, pesticides or fertilizers.

According to Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), every coastal state has a beach pollution problem. In 2000, the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) was passed by Congress, requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise the current health standards by October 2005. The FDA missed the deadline, and indicates it will not be able to finish updating the standards until 2011. The NRDC announced it is suing the EPA for failing to modernize the standards as ordered by Congress six years ago.

The NRDC has published a 349-page report, Testing the Waters 2006: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches, available as a PDF document.

For chronic pain sufferers, this might be the earliest beginning of the ultimate end for unrelenting pain. Columbia University researchers have been studying how pain works at the molecular and cellular level and discovered a key enzyme that cause nerve cells to send pain messages through the central nervous system even when there is no physical pain being experienced. So although you might not actually be in physical pain any longer, if your brain is being told there is still pain, you will experience the reality of pain.

Because of this find, researchers are hoping a drug can be developed that will shut down the messengers and the message.

Researcher Richard Ambron is quoted as saying that pain is not necessary. I could not agree more and have been an advocate for quality of life issues for long-term cancer survivors who must endure chronic pain without effective relief.

Just like Ambron, I do not think it is necessary that people put up with or suffer silently in pain either, and because the current methods of treatment can lead to additional health problems, this type of research is most welcome -- and long past due.

There is much debate about follow-up testing after breast cancer treatment. Some oncologists check the blood for tumor markers routinely while other oncologists choose not to use them. One popular marker that is used to detect early breast cancer recurrence is called CA 27.29.

Tumor markers caused me severe anxiety. I guess that would come with the territory of cancer. Get diagnosed with breast cancer, go through months and months of treatment and then have to get tests to see if the cancer has returned. It never ends.

I put a stop to it myself. For me this came down to a quality of life issue. For a year after my treatment was over for breast cancer I would get the tumor markers done every three months. I was living my life focused on these numbers. Am I in normal range?! What agony waiting for the results!