Archivo etiqueta «Cáncer»
By Barron H. Lerner, a professor of medicine and public health at Columbia and the author of The Breast Cancer Wars: Hope, Fear and the Pursuit of a Cure in Twentieth-Century America and the forthcoming One for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900 (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30/08/11):
More and more doctors are now using an extremely aggressive procedure to treat certain colorectal and ovarian cancers called Hipec, in which patients first undergo surgery to remove any visible cancer, then have heated chemotherapy pumped into the abdominal cavity for 90 minutes to kill any remaining cells.
Although it has … Seguir leyendo
By Daniel Menaker, a former editor in chief of Random House and the author, most recently, of A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 28/08/11):
Everey day in obituaries, you will find combat metaphors about people who have died of cancer. “After a heroic battle against cancer,” “valiant fight against melanoma.” And so on. News stories routinely refer to “weapons” against the illness, the “arsenal” of drugs, “victories.”
Following on Susan Sontag’s crusade against the metaphorization of illness in general and Barbara Ehrenreich’s denunciation of some aspects of the militant (and also cutesy) … Seguir leyendo
By Siddhartha Mukherjee, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and the author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 17/07/11):
Three recent events highlight the extraordinary task that lies ahead for cancer prevention.
First: in late May, a World Health Organization panel added cellphones to a list of things that are “possibly carcinogenic” — a category that also includes pickles and coffee.
Second: in mid-June, the National Toxicology Program, countering years of lobbying by certain industries, finally classified formaldehyde (used in plywood manufacturing and embalming) as a carcinogen.
And third: … Seguir leyendo
Por Manel Esteller, médico. Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (EL PERIÓDICO, 25/06/11):
Todas las familias de nuestro país se ven afectadas por la enfermedad que llamamos cáncer. En realidad, se trata de un conjunto de enfermedades, puesto que un tumor de hígado es muy diferente de una leucemia, y esta muy distinta de un glioma (el tumor de la sustancia blanca de nuestro cerebro). Un tumor pequeño acostumbra a ser un tumor curable; la extirpación quirúrgica elimina el problema. De ahí el gran éxito del cribaje del cáncer de cuello de útero: los papanicolaus y las revisiones ginecológicas anuales … Seguir leyendo
By Helen Caldicott, a founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the author of Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 01/05/11):
Six weeks ago, when I first heard about the reactor damage at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, I knew the prognosis: If any of the containment vessels or fuel pools exploded, it would mean millions of new cases of cancer in the Northern Hemisphere.
Many advocates of nuclear power would deny this. During the 25th anniversary last week of the Chernobyl disaster, some commentators asserted that few people died in the aftermath, and … Seguir leyendo
Por Salvador Macip, médico e investigador de la Universidad de Leicester (EL PERIÓDICO, 26/03/11):
Una célula que se divide sin ningún tipo de control. Esta podría ser la forma más simple de responder a la pregunta del título. Pero si algo tenemos claro es que el cáncer lo es todo menos una enfermedad simple. Ni siquiera de definir. Al contrario: es probablemente el problema sanitario más complejo que nunca tendremos que resolver. Y a pesar de todo, en su origen hay una sola célula que abandona la estricta disciplina de su tejido y empieza a generar copias anárquicas de … Seguir leyendo
By Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (THE NEW YORK TIMES,18/03/11):
Concern about radiation exposure has been rising in Japan as nuclear experts struggle to contain the cores of at least three nuclear reactors and a spent nuclear fuel facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Details of the Fukushima accidents remain sketchy, and it will likely be months before the true scope of radiation release will be known, both in terms of which isotopes have escaped containment and at what levels. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, radiation levels … Seguir leyendo
By Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, and Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Project Syndicate, 21/02/11):
Cancer is an enormous – and growing – global public-health problem. And, of the 7.6 million cancer deaths every year, 4.8 million occur in the developing world. A disease formerly considered more pervasive in affluent countries now places its heaviest burden on poor and disadvantaged populations.
In some African countries, fewer than 15% of cancer patients survive for five years following diagnosis of cervical and breast cancer, diseases that are highly curable elsewhere in the … Seguir leyendo
Por Manel Esteller, médico. Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (EL PERIÓDICO, 05/02/11):
Escribí mi primer artículo científico a los 17 años. Salió publicado en la revista Ciència que hacíamos en mi instituto, el Llor de Sant Boi de Llobregat, inspirados por un inquieto profesor de Química, Jordi Carvajal. La publicación fue premiada dos años seguidos por la Comissió Interdepartamental per la Recerca i la Innovació Tecnològica (CIRIT) por fomentar el espíritu científico entre la juventud, una excelente iniciativa de la Generalitat que se mantiene casi 25 años después. El artículo se titulaba El càncer. Lo he reencontrado en una … Seguir leyendo
Por Ann F. Chambers, directora de Oncología y profesora de Oncología en la Universidad de Western Ontario, London, Ontario (Project Syndicate, 26/01/11):
Se están haciendo progresos contra muchos tipos de cáncer y hay más pacientes que sobreviven más tiempo, gracias a la investigación en dos frentes: mejores métodos para una detección temprana y el desarrollo de terapias que son más efectivas y menos tóxicas. De hecho, se calcula que hoy hay más de 10 millones de sobrevivientes de cáncer sólo en Estados Unidos, y esta cifra ha venido creciendo de manera estable. En otros países desarrollados se … Seguir leyendo
Par David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Chargé de cours, faculté de médecine de Lyon-I (LE MONDE, 05/11/09):
“L’ancienne façon de penser était que le cancer était un processus linéaire… Une cellule mutée finissait par acquérir de plus en plus de mutations. Et ces mutations ne sont pas supposées disparaître spontanément…” C’est le Dr. Barnett Kramer, directeur associé pour la prévention à l’Institut national de la santé américain, qui parle à la suite de la publication des médecins chercheurs de l’université de Californie à San Francisco le 21 octobre dans la plus grande revue … Seguir leyendo
By Ann V. Bell, a graduate student in sociology at the University of Michigan, Mark Pearlman, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and the director of the Breast Fellowship Program at the University of Michigan Medical School and Raymond De Vries, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and bioethics there (THE WASHINGTON POST, 09/10/09):
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but what is it we need to be aware of? We know that for women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and, after lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death. This month, pink ribbons and … Seguir leyendo
Por Santiago Dexeus, director Fundación Santiago Dexeus Font (LA VANGUARDIA, 08/09/08):
Es una obviedad que la enfermedad cancerosa tiene, en líneas generales, connotaciones de gravedad. Pero el progreso de la medicina y la prevención han dado lugar a que aquella patología vaya perdiendo el pronóstico sombrío, que tenía hace años. A comienzos del siglo pasado, la mortalidad por cáncer era del 100%; en la actualidad se puede afirmar que el 60-65% de los enfermos sobrevive. Estas cifras son globales y poco válidas pues en ellas se incluyen tumores que tienen una supervivencia muy baja, con otros cuya curación está … Seguir leyendo
By Robert D. Novak (THE WASHINGTON POST, 06/09/08):
Many people have asked me how I first realized I was suffering from a brain tumor and what I have done about it.
The first sign that I was in trouble came July 23, when my 2004 black Corvette struck a pedestrian on 18th Street while I was on my way to my office downtown.
I did not realize I had hit anyone until a young man on a bicycle, who I thought was a bicycle messenger, jumped in front of my car to block the way. In fact, he was David … Seguir leyendo
By William J. Catalona, medical director of the Clinical Prostate Cancer Program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He receives research support and honorariums for speaking from Beckman Coulter Inc., a manufacturer of PSA tests (THE WASHINGTON POST, 26/08/08):
Numerous media reports followed a federal task force’s announcement this month that there is insufficient medical evidence to assess the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening in men younger than 75 and that doctors should stop testing men over age 75 [” U.S. Panel Questions Prostate Screening; ‘Dramatic’ Risks … Seguir leyendo