Tomorrow I report for one of my six-month radiation follow-ups. My radiation oncologist will review how I've fared for the past two years since my left breast was zapped, day after day, week after week, in an aggressive attempt to keep cancer from returning to the same local area where it first reared its ugly head. How horrified I would be if I learned the machines used to treat my cancer were faulty, that they did not in fact do anything aggressive, that they were essentially ineffective.

Hundreds of brain cancer patients may be hearing this horrific news, now that malfunctioning machines have been ordered shut down following a manufacturer's warning.

Brainlab of Munich, Germany claims a small targeting error occurred with their machines but that it is unlikely to cause problems for patients. If I were one of these patients, I would still be worried. Targeting the tumor bed area is crucial in any cancer treatment. I don't like the sound of "targeting error," regardless of how minor it may be.

In an international study involving 500,000 women, researchers concluded for every 2,000 women who had a mammogram, one will have her life prolonged, but ten will undergo unnecessary chemotherapy, radiotherapy and mastectomies. According to Nordic Cochrane Centre researchers, while mammograms do prevent breast cancer death in detecting early-stage breast cancer, it also leads to breast cancer diagnosis in women who would have survived without treatment.

Professor John Toy, medical director of Cancer Research UK, is quoted as saying, "Researchers in the field all agree that breast screening saves lives although they differ in their views about the balance of the pros and cons. Benefits need to be balanced against any disadvantages, as is the case with all medical treatments. Certainly women invited for screening should be made aware of both potential benefits and downsides."

This leaves women in a difficult position. As more women are encouraged to go in for breast cancer screening, more early-stage breast cancer is being discovered. The earlier a cancer is discovered, the better the chances of surviving cancer. That's a given.

However, if they cannot predict how the cancer will behave when found in its earliest stage, or if it will ultimately be life-threatening -- and if, as this study suggests, one woman will be helped while ten women will undergo unnecessary chemotherapy, radiotherapy and mastectomies -- how does a woman decide which treatment or non-treatment path to go down? Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and mastectomies are not simple innocuous treatments.

At this point, I am not certain what we should do with the findings of this study other than be confused, worried and uncertain. What do you think?

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".

According to Clemson University bioengineer Dr. Ted Bateman, astronauts who were on the International Space Station and cancer patients receiving radiation therapy back here on Earth suffer in common the same bone loss. As a result, both groups are more likely to develop fractures compared to the general population. It is an easy connection to make when considering cancer patients receiving radiation as part of cancer treatments experience a decrease in bone density and bone loss that can lead to easy fractures as a result of exposure to radiation, but how did the astronauts come to suffer the same type of bone loss? While in space, the astronauts experienced microgravity and were exposed to radiation from cosmic and solar sources.

"Recent exams of astronauts who were on the International Space Station showed signs of bone loss in the neck and vertebrae. Even five years after returning to Earth, they have not completely recovered from this loss," stated Dr. Bateman.

Conducting studies at Clemson University and the Kennedy Space Center, Osteoporosis Biomechanics Lab researchers exposed mice to replicated solar flares and clinical radiation exposure, to measure bone loss in mice, in the hopes that they can develop effective therapies for astronauts scheduled to spent time in space and for cancer patients receiving radiation therapy to fight cancer.

The National Cancer Institute provides a Radiation Therapy for Cancer: Questions and Answers fact sheet that explains radiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, x-ray therapy, or irradiation as using a type of energy called ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. They also offer Radiation Therapy and You: A Guide to Self-Help During Cancer Treatment as an educational publication for cancer patients who will be receiving radiation therapy.

To read more about Osteoporosis Biomechanics Lab and Dr. Bateman, go here.

According to a new Institute of Cancer Research study, researchers have determined that men in their late 50's might be undergoing unnecessary prostate cancer surgery and radiotherapy. Based on the research, the surgery and radiation treatment currently advised for men in this age group is not likely to extend survival. The conclusion of the study is that men who are in their late 50's can expect to live 15 or more years without surgical intervention or radiation treatment. Two recent procedures are being used more and more -- implant of radioactive seeds and a process of deep freezing a tumor to destroy it.

This is good news for men with low-grade prostate cancer as both surgery and radiation can have adverse and unwanted side effects that can diminish the quality of life. If you are a man who has been diagnosed with low-grade prostate cancer, and your doctor recommends surgery or the traditional radiation treatment, you might want to seek a second opinion about the other treatment options available before consenting to treatment. At least you will know if less invasive procedures are possible for your specific cancer case.