Ask your cancer related diet and nutrition questions for answers from MD Anderson Cancer Center experts

NOTE: You must ask during this week to be included in this weeks forum.

Ask the Expert

A cancer diagnosis always comes with questions. How is it treated? What can I expect? Questions like these are best answered by physicians and other health care professionals who deal with cancer every day. Anderson Network’s Ask the Expert message board allows patients and caregivers to get accurate, credible answers from MD Anderson cancer experts for issues that may arise during or after treatment.

Ask the Expert will focus on different cancer-related topics. Questions submitted by you will be answered by MD Anderson faculty and staff members chosen to address topics in their fields of expertise.

Next Forum:

December 6-10, 2010

Diet Makes a Difference

Linda Pataki, L.D.

Supervisor

Clinical Nutrition

Please note that the message board will be active only during the posted dates for each topic. However, previous topics will be archived so that you may access the information. If you have questions regarding the board or topic, e-mail andersonnetwork@mdanderson.org. Please read the message board standards below, then click the “I Accept” button to submit your question.

Disappointing news on popular supplements and cancer

I got my copy of the University of Texas, M D Anderson Cancer Center publication ‘Conquest’ today, and saw two interesting articles on common dietary supplements that have been touted by the health food and supplement industry - hardly objective sources - to be effective against certain types of cancer.

This has long been a source of frustration for serious cancer researchers, advocates and patients. The inclination to take supplements with hopeful anti-cancer properties, when faced with a life threatening diagnosis, is very compelling. But at some point we have to leave the wishful thinking behind and address our disease honestly with what is known to work best.

-maven

Selenium Not Useful Against Lung Cancer

Selenium is a supplement taken daily by millions in hopes of protection against cancer and a host of other diseases. However, it has proven to be of no benefit in reducing a patient’s risk of developing lung cancer, either a recurrence or second primary malignancy, according to results of a decade-long, international Phase III clinical trial.

“Several epidemiological and animal studies have long suggested a link between deficiency of selenium and cancer development,” says Daniel Karp, M.D., professor in the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

From 2000 to 2009, the international NCI-sponsored Phase III study enrolled 1,522 stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients, all of whom had their tumors surgically removed and were cancer-free for at least six months post-surgery.

The study was halted early after an interim analysis revealed that the progression-free survival was superior in the placebo arm. The researchers did find that in a small group of lung cancer patients who had never smoked, selenium provided a small benefit. However, the size of the group of patients, 94, was too small to be statistically significant.

“Our results demonstrate that selenium is not an effective chemoprevention agent in an unselected group of lung cancer patients, and it’s not something we can recommend to our patients to prevent a second cancer from developing or recurring,” Karp says. “These findings also remind us that people who never smoked may represent a unique disease and should be an area for special consideration for research focus.”

Reported in June at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Shark Cartilage Extract Shows No Benefit 

Conquest - Fall 2010

In the first scientific study of its kind, shark cartilage extract, AE-941 or Neovastat, showed no benefit as a therapeutic agent when combined with chemotherapy and radiation for patients with advanced non-small lung cancer.

The absence of blood vessels in cartilage, as well as preclinical studies analyzing cartilage extracts, have supported the hypothesis that cartilage contains inhibitors of blood vessel formation. Also, shark cartilage has long intrigued the public because the incidence of cancer in this cartilaginous fish is very rare.

“This is the first large Phase III randomized trial of shark cartilage as a cancer agent. A unique and important aspect about this shark cartilage study was that this product, Neovastat, was never sold over the counter, unlike other shark cartilage compounds previously studied,” says Charles Lu, M.D., associate professor in MD Anderson’s Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology.

“Unfortunately, the study produced no data showing improvements in survival, tumor shrinkage and/or clinical benefits to patients,” Lu says. “Now when patients ask their oncologists about shark cartilage, physicians can point to this large NCI-sponsored Phase III trial and tell patients that, at this point, the only studies that have been done with cartilage-derived products have been negatives.”

Reported in the May issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Inst itute and first presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Books recommended by cancer patients for cancer patients

This article was written from information provided by cancer patient volunteers in MD Anderson’s ‘Anderson Network’ - a wonderful resource available to cancer patients nationwide (you don’t have to be a patient at MD Anderson Cancer Center). The Anderson Network - which I volunteer for - matches up patient to patient dialogues at no-cost to the inquiring patient, with cancer survivors who’ve had similar or same type and stage of cancer.

Working with your MD Anderson Network volunteer can be a single phone call or email or an on-going relationship before, during and after treatment. In fact, I finally just ‘met’ one of my patients for the first time; she and her husband were vacationing nearby.

Anyway, here are some great recommendations for books that might be inspiring and helpful through the cancer process. When I was diagnosed, I read both of Lance Armstrong’s book and they were an enormous source of strength.

Read on:

A recent survey of cancer survivors from the Anderson Network, MD Anderson’s patient support program, asked what inspirational, comforting, or helpful books they would recommend for someone facing a serious illness.

Click to read more ...

A personal breast cancer journey

I never saw it coming.

Mammograms had been difficult to read, due to very fibrocystic breast tissue, but always ‘normal’. There were no ‘lumps’. But the technician came back in and said that they’d gone out to the waiting room to get my husband. That’s when my stomach lurched and I think all the blood drained out of the bottom of my feet, going down into the center of the earth. I didn’t feel dizzy, just completely numb.

This was the beginning salvo of a almost two year journey through advanced, Stage IIIa, lobular carcinoma - from chemo to surgery to radiation to more surgery and on toward survivorship.

June 27, 2008 marked my fifth anniversary out of treatment, and my sixth since diagnosis. I’m healthy and cancer-free.

If I’d stayed in Reno and done what I was told to do, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here writing this now. That’s why I am a cancer advocate for change in the way cancer, and breast cancer specifically is treated in hometowns across the country.

If you or somebody you love has breast cancer, I want to help arm you with information that you can use to fight your best battle.

If you don’t have breast cancer, I want to leave some thoughts with you that you can use to help others or yourself should the unthinkable happen.

Throughout the month of October, I will post bits and pieces here - of my own story, educational materials, differing opinions, stories about others who have made the journey and some of those who didn’t make it.

As an advocate and mentor, I’ve seen the look that must of been on my face on many other faces over the past several years. I’ve heard the fear in voices, and a lot of tears. I’ve raised money to get women to where they needed to be to get the best treatment, been a shoulder to cry on, a nurse, a fighter, a critic - but most of all I’ve been angry. Angry at a broken health care ‘system’ that through it’s very brokeness witholds not only treatment but the Standard of Care ‘right’ treatment in towns, cities and communities all across this country.  You can live in a medium size city and still not receive the current Standard of Care. You can live in a state, that unbelievably, has no accredited surgical oncologist in practice in the entire state.

I’ve seen the lousy care and I’ve seen the very best care. I know the difference. The best should be available to all, because you really don’t want to see what the lousy care looks like when it’s one of you or yours. I’m not talking about the results of the reconstructive ‘boob job’ - I’m talking about lives.

Since I was diagnosed, I have lost five woman that I cared about. I had to quit going to my breast cancer support group, because I could no longer deal with getting close to women only to see them die a few years later.

You’ll see a lot of informative material in here from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. That’s where I was fortunate enough to be able to go for my second opinion and all of my treatment. They literally saved my life, as you’ll hear. That’s where all of my cancer research dollars go, since they are the best of the best of the best.

I hope that you will join me, and become better informed about breast cancer, understanding that it is not a death sentence, especially if treated in a timely manner and with due diligence at a comprehensive cancer center.

-maven

What is pancreatic cancer anyway?

From the University of Texas, M. D. Anderson ‘Oncolog’, October 2009 issue:

You might not know much about pancreatic cancer, but chances are you’ve heard of it. Public awareness of the disease has increased in recent years as well-known people including Steve Jobs, Luciano Pavoratti, Patrick Swayze, and Gene Upshaw were diagnosed with various forms of pancreatic cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 35,000 Americans are expected to die from pancreatic cancer during 2009.

Risk factors

Click to read more ...

Myth #4: When breast cancer shows up, it may have been in your body for 6-10 years

Oh, how true. I can attest to this.

My well meaning, but wildly off the mark surgeon in Reno, when he first saw my mammogram, told me that all was just ducky, since it had been caught really early. The real news came during my workup at The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. They told me that the cancer had been in my body “at least two to three years”. And at Stage IIIa, it had most certainly not be caught early.

Here’s my takeaway message on this: Yes, at your date of diagnosis, you’ve been living with cancer much longer than you may want to think. But this very fact should help you understand why you don’t need to be rushed into a ‘tomorrow’ or ‘next week’ or even ‘next month’ decision on a course of treatment. Don’t let your emotions run the show.

For crying out loud, you’ve had it this long. Take the time to understand all the ramifications, get an accurate diagnosis and the right course of treatment. You get one chance to get it right. There are no ‘do-overs’ in cancer.

Click to read more ...

A note of hope from a seven year breast cancer survivor

Stage III. Invasive breast cancer where the tumor is 5 cm or smaller and has definitely spread to nearby lymph nodes, or where the tumor is any size and has spread to the chest wall or the skin. The five-year survival rate is between 54 and 67 percent.

My breast cancer was worse.

At the time of surgery, the tumor was larger, much larger than any 5 cm and had spread to at least 3 lymph nodes.

I just got my check up and I’m still here … seven years later.

Here’s what I did that may have made the difference

Click to read more ...

University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Video: What is cancer?

This six minute video, ‘What is Cancer?’ is one that everybody should watch - understanding the many types of cancer in addition to the mechanisms which promote cancer is the first step to understanding how to prevent, diagnosis and treat the dissease.

Click to read more ...

Please! Get a second opinion in a breast cancer diagnosis.

The news of having cancer, any type of cancer is so horrible that it seems to be simple human instinct that takes over, saying ‘get out and get it out now’.  It’ perhaps our pre-historic survival instincts at work, but in light of modern medical science that could be the very worst course of action. You simply must get a second, or even third opinion.

Click to read more ...

Join the Army of Women today

Join the Movement to go Beyond a Cure!

The Love/Avon Army of Women offers a revolutionary new opportunity for YOU to partner with research scientists to move us beyond a cure.

Breast cancer has been around for decades, but it does not have to be our future. We can be the generation that eliminates breast cancer by identifying what causes this disease and stopping it before it starts. This is your chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer. Sign up for your sister, mother, daughter, granddaughter, best friend, and the woman you met last week.

Help us eradicate breast cancer once and for all. Join the Army of Women today!

This is an amazing and critical step forward to stop the tragedy of breast cancer, and it’s something that every healthy woman out there can make a difference in - beyond wearing pink, beyond walking and running, beyond just writing a check!

Each and every one of you should sign up for this easy and simple task: get your name on a list, so that when a study comes up and you fit the criteria, you’ll be notified to provide a simple blood or urine sample. This sample will be sent to the researchers and, with enough of them, we can and consign breast cancer to the dust bin of history.

Please, this will take just a couple minutes of your time today,  go to the following website and sign up right now:

http://www.armyofwomen.org/

One note from maven: As wonderful as a cure and even the eventual prevention of breast cancer will be, there’s still one stumbling block. It’s called access.

You can have all the great cures and preventative medicine in the world, but until each and every woman in American has equal access to quality medical care, without the roadblocks of no health insurance, under-insured status, obstructionist health insurance that limits her care choices to the local town or a single provider - then it’s all just a dream.

This year approximately 40,000 women will die from breast cancer - that’s about 110 women each day. I’ve lost enough friends to this disease, and I wake up each and every morning grateful that the other shoe hasn’t dropped and my cancer hasn’t come back.

I’m one of the very lucky ones. At my time of diagnosis, I HAD great health insurance and go anywhere - in my case to the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ( one of the first Comprehensive Cancer Centers). My insurance, due to market forces with my husbands’ company that he retired from, has become less in coverage and higher in price.

Just this year, I got to know a woman with a highly suspicious mammogram that was in between insurance coverage due to a job change. She had to wait months to be able to get the needed followup, and each day of waiting must have been hell.  Let’s get the health insurance monkey off the back of business, and put it where it belongs - in the hands of government and the people. Socialism? Maybe - just like the Veterans’ Administration, Medicare, Medicaid, Tri-Star ( for retired military and their families) and what members of Congress get.

If that’s Socialism, then let’s embrace it and make it the best on earth!

maven