Dr. Len's Cancer Blog
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J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD, MACP - Dr. Lichtenfeld is Deputy
Chief Medical Officer for the national office of the American Cancer Society.
He directs the Society’s Cancer Control Science Department, which produces the
Society’s widely recognized guidelines for the prevention and early detection
of cancer and guidelines for nutrition and physical activity for cancer
survivors. Additionally, Dr. Lichtenfeld is a frequent spokesperson on a
variety of cancer-related subjects and serves as a liaison for the Society with
many professional and public organizations. More >>
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A comment in today’s Wall Street Journal (accompanied by a large picture of a very angry Congresswoman) should not go unnoticed and cannot be left unchallenged, especially given the confusion caused by the mammography guidelines released earlier this week.
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I hosted a chat Thursday, November 19th about the new mammography guidelines issued this week by the USPSTF. You can see an archived version of the chat here...
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The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today released a series of reports updating their guideline recommendations for screening mammography for the early detection of breast cancer. Their conclusions are bound to raise another round of intense discussion about the benefits, risks and harms of screening for breast cancer.
There is certainly nothing wrong with that, with the exception that if we make the wrong decisions or offer women the wrong guidance about the early detection of breast cancer, we could reverse the considerable progress that has been make in reducing deaths from this disease over the past twenty years.
Unlike the Task Force, the American Cancer Society is not changing its current recommendations that women at average risk of getting breast cancer should get a mammogram every year starting at age 40.
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I find myself early on Sunday morning after the House of Representatives passed landmark health care reform legislation last night asking how I really feel about this momentous event.
The answer is that I actually feel pretty good. And I must admit that surprised me.
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I think it is time for one of my irregular updates on a favorite subject, and one of my personal failings: being overweight or obese.
The information yesterday from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) that excess body fat (who doesn’t have excess body fat???) causes an extra 100,500 cases of cancer every year in this country didn’t help matters.
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An article in today’s New England Journal of Medicine reports some interesting and intriguing research that may help some women with a not uncommon pre-cancerous lesion of the vulva called vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia, or VIN.
By using proteins found in the cancer-causing human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV-16), the researchers were able to make a vaccine that actually led to an effective treatment for a small group of women with VIN, resulting in complete disappearance of the lesion in almost half of the women they treated.
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