Researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have found that survivors of childhood cancers are at higher risk for obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes than their siblings who did not have cancer. The risk exists because the survivors tend to be more sedentary than the siblings.
The study, done across medical centers in the United States and Canada, looked at over 20,000 childhood cancer survivors. From those 20,000 people, over 9000 survey responses were received and analyzed, and these were compared to almost 3000 responses from siblings. The researchers were looking for the type of lifestyle the survivors led …read more

The thought of surgery is frightening enough; the thought of brain surgery can be terrifying. But, what if your surgeon could do a practice run on your brain surgery on a simulator, much like the ones pilots use to learn how to fly. We don’t have to wonder any longer because it’s now been done, by Canadian doctors.
The complexity of brain surgery lies in the very tiny and precise work areas the surgeons have. Distinct parts of the brain are responsible for various tasks, such as speech, smell and coordination. One wrong move and the patient may be severely affected …read more

A brain tumor vaccine known as vitespen (trademarked as Oncophage®) has been found effective in stimulating the patient’s immune system to attack the tumor cells (tumor-specific immune response) in glioma.
The clinical trial being conducted at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Brain Tumor Research Center tested patients that all had recurrent, high-grade glioma who all demonstrated the immune response.
Glioma is always fatal.
According to Andrew T. Parsa, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at UCSF and recipient of the 2007 Young Investigator Award at AANS:
“In this trial, we have observed a correlation between immune response as …read more

Administering less radiation than usual is just as effective against a benign but potential devastating brain tumor called an acoustic schwannoma and might save more of the patient’s hearing.
Such were the recent findings of radiation oncologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Acoustic schwannoma is a slow-growing tumor that develops in the vestibular nerve that lies very close to the auditory or hearing nerve.
Acoustic schwannoma’s most common symptom is hearing loss so that when left untreated could lead to severe hearing loss. The only way to remove this tumor is by …read more