Dr. Len's Cancer Blog

Since 1998, the American Cancer Society along with the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries have provided an “Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer.”  This year’s report has just been released in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

For the first time in the history of these reports, the researchers have found that both the incidence rates and deaths from cancer in both men and women are declining.

But before you become too excited, you need to remember that we still have a long way to go in our efforts to reduce the burden and suffering from the diseases we commonly call “cancer.”

No sooner had I completed posting my blog this morning about the Great American Smokeout than two new tobacco-related reports appeared in my email from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The articles detailed the latest information from the CDC on cigarette smoking in the United States, including the economic impact as well as years-of-life-lost in this country due to tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke.

Some success, to be certain,  but also sad and substantial failures.  The price that tobacco makes us pay--both in lives and money--defies our ability to comprehend much less accept.

It’s never too late to stop smoking.  And it isn’t too early—if you or a loved one or good friend is a smoker—to start thinking about next week’s Great American Smokeout.

The Great American Smokeout—or GASO, for short—is a signature American Cancer Society event that occurs every year on the Thursday before Thanksgiving.  This year’s GASO celebrates the 32nd anniversary of this successful program which began in 1976. 

Since GASO started, millions of men and women in this country have stopped smoking, and millions more haven’t started.  In fact, today there are more former smokers in the United States than current smokers.  But we still have about 20% of adults in this country still smoking cigarettes.  Unfortunately, that number is not falling as much as it did when GASO was first introduced over 30 years ago.

Finally, we have the results of a large scale randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to tell us whether or not vitamin D can reduce the risk of breast cancer.

The study, reported in today’s issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, concludes that there is no evidence that vitamin D decreases breast cancer incidence in post-menopausal women.

But I will bet you dollars-to-doughnuts (well, maybe not doughnuts—they are fattening) that this study isn’t going to provide closure to the hotly-debated question of whether or not vitamin D reduces breast cancer risk.

Sometimes I don’t think we acknowledge and celebrate our successes.  An example would be the decrease in the number of smokers in New York City, especially among young people.  Too few of us are aware of this remarkable success.

Another example would be something that I have noted previously: there has been a significant decline in smoking related cancer deaths among African American men in the United States.

A paper in the current issue of Cancer, Epidemiology and Biomarkers now sets the record straight with respect to that second observation.

Unfortunately, the news is not all good.  In cancers where screening for early detection is available, the impact of disparate care has led to an increase in the mortality gap between whites and blacks in this country for these cancers.

Ron Davis, MD, a friend and trusted colleague, passed away yesterday from pancreatic cancer.  Ron was 52 years old.

The House of Medicine, the tobacco control community, his family and his many friends have lost someone who was not only committed to his profession but also served as an exemplar of what it meant to be a physician, a husband, a father, and a friend.

Have you ever wondered what gives a researcher the idea for a particular project? 

If so, then try this one on for size:  Is breast cancer less frequent in women who have migraine headaches?

At first glance, that seems to me to be an odd question.  But someone did ask the question, and the answer was a bit surprising: Yes, migraines are associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. And, yes, there actually is a scientific rationale for having asked the question in the first place.

Are we looking for cancer prevention clues in all the wrong places?  That is the question I am asking myself as another vitamin theory bites the dust.

A report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association (and supported in part by research funding from the American Cancer Society) examined the relationship between folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 and breast cancer.

The bad news? A combination vitamin pill did not reduce the risk of breast cancer. 

The good news? A combination vitamin pill did not increase the risk of breast cancer, or any other cancer.