Word: tumorous
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This is one abiding irony of progress. The most wondrous technology exists that can pinpoint the exact location of a tumor, thread a tiny catheter up into the brain to open a clogged artery, pulverize a kidney stone without breaking the skin. But the simple stuff--like getting an MRI on time, being given the right drugs at the right time, making sure everyone knows which side of your brain to operate on--can cause the biggest problems. "A patient with anything but the simplest needs is traversing a very complicated system across many handoffs and locations and players," says...
...that cell that is suddenly sparking the interest of cancer researchers and molecular biologists around the world. Known as a cancer stem cell, it could be the culprit behind a malignant tumor's nasty habit of recurring year after year and popping up in distant parts of the body long after the primary growth is gone. Studies of that cell are helping scientists unravel some of cancer's deepest secrets and leading doctors closer to the ultimate goal of any cancer therapy--a cure. Think of the stem cell as a tumor's master print; as long as the original...
...more sophisticated forms of chemotherapy and radiation, as well as clever new drugs like Gleevec and Herceptin that take better aim at cancerous cells. But those therapies treat all cancer cells as equals. The next generation of treatments, doctors say, needs to recognize and target the root cause of tumors. "It requires a reorientation in people's thinking," says Weinberg. "We need to focus on wiping out the stem cells rather than eradicating the bulk of the tumor...
...cancerous cells. So far, leukemia experts have the edge, working from the knowledge of blood stem cells they have been building since the 1940s. Dick's group in Toronto was the first to identify a protein, CD34, as a potential screen for leukemia stem cells. He showed that tumor cells with plenty of CD34, when injected into mice, flowered into cancerous growths. Leukemia cells without the protein, by contrast, did nothing...
...annual pap smears and mammograms were all in order, she wanted the rest of her to be checked out. Her doctor acquiesced and ordered a chest x-ray, screening blood work (both of which were fine) and a colonoscopy. During the colonoscopy, the gastroenterologist located a golf ball-sized tumor which required surgery. Subsequent pathology identified the cancer as malignant. Now in the midst of chemotherapy, Margaret and her oncologist are confident that this will take care of the cancer and that she is extremely lucky to have been diagnosed when she did. Margaret says she gets teary every time...