“Former KISS drummer: men get breast cancer too - Yahoo News” plus 4 more |
- Former KISS drummer: men get breast cancer too - Yahoo News
- Doctors worry patients will drop screenings - Omaha World-Herald
- Bus Driver's Pink Tie Suspension Lifted - MyStateline.com
- American Cancer Society To Change Screening Guidelines - WBUR
- Peregrine Pharmaceuticals says bavituximab prompts response in breast ... - Daily Press
| Former KISS drummer: men get breast cancer too - Yahoo News Posted: 22 Oct 2009 06:53 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) – Peter Criss, founding member of rock band KISS, knows that many of his male fans are macho, so he is making the rounds to tell them even tough rocker guys like him can suffer from a disease usually associated with women -- breast cancer. Criss, who was the New York rock band's drummer on and off from its founding in 1972 until 2004 and the voice on some of their most beloved classics, including the 1976 Top Ten hit "Beth" and "Hard Luck Woman", said too many men don't seek treatment and think breast discomfort will go away on its own. But Criss, who discovered a lump in his left nipple in December 2007, said men need to get over their perception that breast cancer is a woman's disease. "It can happen to you, and when it does, if you don't deal with it right away, with your 'dude' and your metal and your tattoos, you'll go in the box and we'll see you," Criss told Reuters during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Criss, 63, underwent a lumpectomy in February 2008 and a mastectomy the following month under the care of Dr. Alex Swistel, director of the Weill Cornell Breast Center in New York, and he often felt odd as the only man in the waiting room. While breast cancer among men is one hundred times less common than among women, it can be deadly. The American Cancer Society estimated there will be 1,910 new cases of male breast cancer in 2009, and about 440 U.S. men will die this year from the disease. Criss, who is now cancer free, acknowledged that the treatment was unpleasant. "Whoever invented (mammogram machines) had to do it in the medieval days," he said, adding that it was nearly impossible to fit a small male breast into the machine. He called the pain "excruciating" but a worthwhile price to pay to be healthy. Criss, who is currently working on an autobiography as well as a new rock album, said his bout with cancer had affected his songwriting. "My lyrics are not so deep and dismal," he said. One of the tracks on the album, expected next spring, is called "Hard Rock Knockers." Criss said he is sanguine about the fact that his old KISS bandmates, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, are currently on a North American tour of arenas with two new band members, one in the make-up of Criss' "Catman" character and the other as ex-guitarist Ace Frehley's "Spaceman." In its 1970s heyday with Criss and Frehley, KISS cranked out hit albums such as "Alive!," and its live performances that were filled with pyrotechnics rocked audiences. "You want to put two clones up there in our makeup, that's great," he said. "Must I keep putting spandex and makeup on at 70 -- I don't think I really want to do that." Still, Criss said he hopes his heavy metal credentials will help mitigate the stigma around breast cancer for men. "You are no more manly a guy than me -- I grew up in Brooklyn," Criss said. (Reporting by Phil Wahba, Editing by Christine Kearney and Bob Tourtellotte) This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Doctors worry patients will drop screenings - Omaha World-Herald Posted: 22 Oct 2009 11:39 AM PDT Many women wouldn't think of skipping their annual mammogram, and men are often persuaded to get screened for prostate cancer. But the American Cancer Society, which has long been a defender of most cancer screenings, now says the benefits of detecting many cancers, especially breast and prostate, have been overstated. The cancer society will soon start emphasizing that screening for breast, prostate and certain other cancers can come with a real risk of overtreating many small cancers while missing cancers that are deadly. Local cancer experts and physicians say they understand the organization's point: Screenings aren't perfect. But they say people shouldn't get the wrong idea. "I don't think anybody is saying, 'Don't get screened,'" said Dr. Charles Enke, chairman of the radiation oncology department at the Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He said the cancer society must be careful how it words its new message about screenings. "The danger you have is that people who are reluctant to even consider screening in the first place will use that as justification to avoid it altogether,'' he said. Enke said the cancer society's new message could be confusing because doctors generally advocate for screenings. Dr. Stephen Lemon of the Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center said that women should not give up their annual mammograms and that men should still talk with their doctors about getting screened for prostate cancer. Patients should talk with their doctors about the need for screenings and at what age they should have them done, said Dr. Brian Loggie of Creighton University School of Medicine. Dr. Devin Nickol of the NU Medical Center also said patients must understand the potential risks of getting treated for a cancer that might never have harmed them. Surgery for prostate cancer, for example, can lead to incontinence and impotence, he said. Chemotherapy can cause hair loss, nausea and increased risk of infections. Enke said what's needed is more research on better ways for doctors to determine which cancers must be treated aggressively and which can be treated minimally or left alone and observed. It can be hard for people to accept the idea that some cancers are not dangerous and that some might go away on their own, researchers say. Lemon said there has been some progress on research to help doctors know how aggressively to treat certain cancers. A test that became available two years ago can help doctors determine whether a woman should be treated with chemotherapy or with a pill that has less-severe side effects, he said. The cancer society announced Wednesday it was changing its message about screenings. "We don't want people to panic," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the cancer society. But "the advantages to screening have been exaggerated." The change was spurred in part by a new analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers determined that prostate cancer screening and breast cancer screening are finding cancers that don't need to be found because they would never spread and kill or even be noticed if left alone. That has led to a huge increase in cancer diagnoses because, without screening, those innocuous cancers would go undetected. At the same time, both screening tests are not making much of a dent in the number of cancers that are deadly. That might be because the deadly prostate cancers have already spread at the time of screening. And many lethal breast cancers grow so fast they spring up between mammograms. This report includes material from the New York Times. Contact the writer: 444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com
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| Bus Driver's Pink Tie Suspension Lifted - MyStateline.com Posted: 21 Oct 2009 07:01 AM PDT (Springfield) -- A Springfield bus driver won't lose a day of pay for wearing a pink tie in support of breast cancer research. The Springfield Mass Transit District has reversed the suspension for driver Bill Jones, who had been facing punishment for wearing the pink tie. The SMTD uniform has a blue tie, and drivers aren't allowed to change their uniform without permissions. Jones says he wore the tie to support October's Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. The SMTD's Linda Tisdale said Tuesday that she now realizes the significance of Jones' story and his punishment, and has rescinded his suspension. Tisdale says she fully supports Breast Cancer Awareness and the local "Real Men Wear Pink" program. The SMTD has now cleared all drivers to wear pink on Fridays in October to support the cause. But there's no word if Jones will wear a pink tie this Friday.
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| American Cancer Society To Change Screening Guidelines - WBUR Posted: 22 Oct 2009 03:39 AM PDT A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that breast and prostate cancer screenings are turning up more innocuous cancers, but the screenings are not significantly reducing the number of deadly cancers. The American Cancer Society is clarifying its guidelines on screenings. Steve Inskeep talks to Dr. Otis Brawley, an oncologist and chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, about the organization's advice. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Peregrine Pharmaceuticals says bavituximab prompts response in breast ... - Daily Press Posted: 21 Oct 2009 11:50 PM PDT TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) — Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday its drug candidate bavituximab prompted an improvement in response rates in advanced breast cancer patients during a midstage clinical trial. The company said its experimental drug bavituximab, in combination with Sanofi-Aventis' chemotherapy drug Taxotere, prompted a 61 percent objective response rate in 46-patient midstage study. Peregrine said the data compares favorably with separate and prior published study showing Taxotere alone prompted a 41 percent response rate in advanced breast cancer patients. Since the two studies are separate and have different variables, they can't actually be scientifically compared, though companies often use incomparable studies as a tool in assessing the benefit of a developing drug. Peregrine is testing bavituximab as an antivirus and cancer treatment. It is designed to stick to a piece of a cell structure that is normally only found inside cells, but is exposed on the surface if the cell is infected with certain viruses or becomes cancerous. The company said the combination of bavituximab and Taxotere, which is also called docetaxel, warrants further study. Shares of Peregrine fell 11 cents, or 3 percent, to $3.51 in afternoon trading. The stock has traded between $1.10 and $5.65 over the last 52 weeks. Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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