Articles
Preventing alcohol-related cancers in Europe: lessons from three countries
Alcohol can be bad for your health. Most people know that. But what many people have yet to grasp is that ‒ like smoking tobacco ‒ drinking alcohol can significantly raise their risk of developing and dying from a wide…
How race to track mystery gene with links to three cancers saved millions
Ten years ago, Tony Herbert developed a lump on the right side of his chest. The clump of tissue grew and became painful and he was tested for breast cancer. The result was positive. “I had surgery and chemotherapy and…
Decolonising cancer research: why it matters, what can be done
When cancer epidemiologist and medical doctor Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy returned to Malaysia in 2011 after completing her PhD in cancer epidemiology in the Netherlands, she hadn’t expected the move to negatively affect her research prospects. As it turns out, she was…
Tailored exercise: a key element in personalised treatments and prevention
The expression ‘couch potato’ conjures up images of a worldly-wise, self-mocking type who leaves the rat-race to others, while happily cuddling up in front of the TV with snacks and drinks. Yet the consequences of such a lifestyle are dire.…
Lung cancer screening: time to act on the evidence
“It’s extraordinary that screening for the biggest cancer killer is not available in most of Europe," says Anne Marie Baird, President of Lung Cancer Europe (LuCE). “Lung cancer causes more deaths in Europe than breast, colorectal and cervical cancers combined,…
Innovations in supportive care: cancer treatment side effects
The association between cancer treatments and dramatic side effects such as uncontrolled nausea and vomiting retains a powerful hold over public perceptions and parts of the media. Recent decades have seen a big improvement in many of these, partly due…
Trust me: I’m a surgical oncologist!
Surgery has been the mainstay for treating solid tumours since the dawn of cancer treatment, and recent decades have seen a huge increase in the complexity and multidisciplinary demands of carrying out cancer operations. So it can come as a…
Pain relief is a right: building confidence in opioid use in oncology
Opioid analgesics are essential for pain relief and pain treatment in patients with active malignant disease. Yet, in 2011, the World Health Organization estimated that, worldwide, 5.5 million people living with terminal cancer suffered from moderate to severe pain, because…
Prostate cancer: new leads for deterring progression
Future prospects for tackling aggressive prostate cancer emerged from two presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual meeting, held virtually in mid-April. One identified how the risk of prostate cancer progressing to lethal disease might be mitigated by…
PSA population screening is back in favour: here’s why
Five years ago, the idea of national screening programmes for prostate cancer had gone cold. The benefits of PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood testing, introduced as a screening tool in the 1980s, had long been fiercely debated. But by 2015…