Prostate cancer screening still unproven: report

July 3, 2009 — NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - PSA blood tests are often used to screen men for prostate cancer, but there is still no good evidence that they cut death rates from the disease, a new review finds.

Birth weight appears associated with leukemia

July 2, 2009 — NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - There may be an association between high birth weight and an increased risk of overall leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) appears to be associated with the high and low extremes of birth weight.

Kennedy, Dodd health plan cost drops to $611 bln

July 2, 2009 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key Senate Democrats said on Thursday the cost of their plan to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system has dropped to $611 billion over a decade, a figure they hope will help draw wider bipartisan support in Congress.

Preoperative PET-CT Reduces Number of Thoracotomies but Does Not Improve Survival of Patients with NSCLC

July 2, 2009 — Researchers from Denmark have reported that “The use of PET-CT for preoperative staging of NSCLC [non–small cell lung cancer] reduced both the total number of thoracotomies and the number of futile thoracotomies but did not affect overall mortality.” The details of this study appeared in the July 2, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

CIN Associated with Long-term Risk of Recurrence and Invasive Cervical Cancer

July 2, 2009 — Researchers from Canada have reported that women who have undergone treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) have a long-term increased risk of developing invasive carcinoma or a recurrence of CIN and, as such, need long-term surveillance. The details of this study appeared in the May 20, 2009 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.