Fox Chase Cancer Center | SilverScorpio.Com

Why prostate cancer returns in some patients

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 28 (ANI): A new study has shed new light on why prostate cancer returns in some men despite receiving surgery or radiation therapy.

While most men have an excellent outcome with such standard treatments for localized prostate cancer, there are some for whom the treatment isn’t really effective.

The study is a collaborative effort between researchers at the Josephine Ford Cancer Center at Henry Ford Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center.

And it found that men with a low oxygen supply to their tumour are at a higher risk of prostate cancer return, if the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were increased after treatment.

“After several years of research, we were able to show that low levels of oxygen to the tumour are highly related to a patient’s outcome. Those with lower oxygen levels to the prostate cancer did not respond as well to radiation therapy, and the cancer returned more often,” said Dr. Benjamin Movsas, senior study author.

Recent studies have shown that the same applies to patients treated with surgery.

Movsas said that oxygen delivery to a tumour is critical to the treatment for many cancers- for example, radiation therapy creates free radicals that damage DNA in tumours, and oxygen acts as the mediator that perpetuates the free radicals.

Thus, Movsas began his work nearly a decade ago to investigate low oxygen levels – also known as tumour hypoxia – in prostate cancer tumours while working at Fox Chase.

To measure the amount of oxygen being delivered to the tumours and surrounding areas, researchers used custom-made oxygen probes to test 57 patients with low or immediate risk of cancer prior to radiation therapy.

The probe was used prior to “radioactive seeds” which were implanted in the prostate.

The initial study found that it is possible for prostate cancer tumours to have low oxygen levels.

And now, they have revealed that a tumour’s oxygen supply can significantly predict a patient’s outcome following treatment, independent from tumour stage or Gleason score-a classification of the grade of prostate cancer.

Of the 57 patients, the study found that eight experienced an increase in their PSA levels about eight years following treatment.

The results from the study will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Orlando. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: American, amount, ANI, antigen, ASCO, author, cancer, cancer tumours, cancers, center, chase, Chase Cancer Center, classification, clinical, damage, damage dna, decade, delivery, dna, Dr Benjamin, Dr. Benjamin Movsas, effort, example, Ford, fox, Fox Chase Cancer, Fox Chase Cancer Center, free radicals, Gleason, grade, henry, henry ford, henry ford hospital, hospital, hypoxia, increase, Initial Study, josephine, Josephine Ford, light, May, mediator, meeting, oncology, orlando, outcome, oxygen, oxygen delivery, oxygen levels, Oxygen Probes, Oxygen Supply, patient, probe, prostate, Prostate Cancer, prostate specific antigen, psa, psa levels, radiation, radiation therapy, Radioactive Seeds, Research, return, risk, society, stage, study, supply, surgery, therapy, treatment, tumour, Washington, work

Low oxygen levels in prostate tumours can help predict odds of cancer recurrence

May 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 16 (ANI): Low-oxygen regions in prostate tumours can be used to predict the recurrence of cancer in a patient, say scientists.

Researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center came to this conclusion after analysing the observations made during a long-term study, whose results will be presented at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Aruna Turaka, a radiation oncology fellow and the lead author of the study, says that low oxygen is a well-known risk factor for radiation resistance in solid tumours.

She says that the current study reinforces the preliminary findings of the six research papers published between 2000 and 2002, which detailed the link between low oxygen in tumours and the risk of increased prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels.

During the study, her team used a custom-built probe to monitor the amount of oxygen that prostate tumours and non-cancerous muscle tissue were receiving.

The researchers used this probe on 57 patients with low or intermediate risk of cancer just before the patients received a form of localized radiation therapy.

They then tracked the patients over time, looking for a correlation between the amount of oxygen levels in the prostate tumour relative to the muscle tissue at the time of therapy and later looked at the increase in PSA levels.

The study showed that eight of the 57 patients experienced an increase in PSA levels following prostate cancer treatment, defined as an increase of 2 ng/mL above the lowest PSA reading following brachytherapy. Overall, average muscle oxygenation was 12.5-times higher than that of the tumour.

The researchers used a statistical model that accounted for such risk factors as tumour grade, PSA level and tumour size and determined that low oxygen was a significant independent predictor of an increase in PSA levels.

Even after accounting for PSA value, Gleason score, tumour size, age, and other prostate cancer risk factors, the researchers said that low oxygen in tumour alone could predict the likelihood of increased PSA levels, and potentially cancer recurrence.

“Now, the goal is to apply the results to the clinic,” Turaka said.

“We already knew that there are hypoxic (low oxygen) regions within cancers. The future goal is to interpolate that to relate to the expression of molecular markers (such as hypoxia-inducible factor-1-alpha) and attack those tumours with dose escalation radiation oncology strategies and targeted agents,” she said. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: aruna, Cancer Recurrence, Chase Cancer Center, Fox Chase Cancer, Fox Chase Cancer Center, gleason score, Independent Predictor, muscle tissue, oxygen levels, oxygenation, Prostate Cancer, prostate cancer treatment, prostate specific antigen, psa level, psa levels, psa value, radiation oncology, radiation resistance, radiation therapy, risk factor, statistical model, tumours

World’s first successful VIKY robot assisted surgery to treat pancreatic tumours performed

March 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 25 (ANI): A surgeon at Fox Chase Cancer Center has successfully performed the world’s first minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy using the ViKY system’s revolutionary robotic, compact laparoscope holder.

Developed in France, the technology made its debut in a cancer setting in the United States at Fox Chase.

“Fox Chase is among only a handful of institutions worldwide using robotics or laparoscopy to treat patients with nearly all types of cancer. The use of technology, like the ViKY system, reinforces our Center’s commitment to excellence in minimally invasive surgical techniques for the care of patients with both benign and cancerous conditions,” said Robert G. Uzzo, MD, FACS, chairman of the department of surgery at Fox Chase.

Fox Chase surgeon Andrew A. Gumbs, MD, who specializes in minimally invasive hepato-pancreatic and biliary (HPB) surgery, said: “This system is so versatile that surgeons like me are able to use it for many different laparoscopic procedures, including those in the gastrointestinal, urologic, thoracic and gynecologic regions.”

Usually, in minimally invasive procedures, like a laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy, surgeons use both hands to manipulate the surgical tools and need an assistant to manipulate the endoscope-a thin, lighted tube equipped with a camera that allows the surgeon to view the surgical field.

Gumbs performed the first ever ViKY assisted minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy on a 65-year-old man who was diagnosed with two pancreatic cysts, one of which is potentially cancerous.

Currently, pathologists are evaluating the cyst.

Gumbs added: “The new ViKY robotic laparoscope holder acts as an extra hand during surgery, giving me stability and steadiness. The view of the surgical field is critical, so ViKY’s pinpoint accuracy helps me perform more complex procedures laparoscopically.”

Unlike typical laparoscope holders, the ViKY system’s holder is lightweight, easy to set up and use, and takes no floor space.

“The new ViKY robotic laparoscope holder acts as an extra hand during surgery, giving me stability and steadiness,” said Gumbs.

With the ViKY system, Gumbs got precise control of the laparoscope while he performed the distal pancreatectomy.

The endoscope moves according to the surgeon’s orders, either through voice recognition or footswitch control.

Minimally invasive surgical techniques, like the one performed by Gumbs, benefit patients in many ways, including a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, quicker return to daily activity, less risk of infection and less scarring and bleeding. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: biliary, cancerous conditions, Chase Cancer Center, commitment to excellence, distal pancreatectomy, endoscope, Fox Chase Cancer, Fox Chase Cancer Center, gumbs, hpb surgery, invasive procedures, invasive surgical techniques, laparoscopic procedures, laparoscopy, md facs, Pancreatic Cysts, steadiness, surgical tools, types of cancer, uzzo

Proteins that could yield predictive markers for pancreatic cancer identified

March 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 11 (ANI): Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have identified a handful of proteins in incredibly tiny amounts that may one day help doctors distinguish between a harmless lesion in the pancreas and a potentially deadly one.

According to the researchers, these protein biomarkers, if confirmed in subsequent studies, could represent reliable indicators of pancreatic cancer or precancerous pancreatic lesions, which would allow for earlier, perhaps more successful, treatment.

“New technologies have become very good at identifying pancreatic cysts when they appear, but we know very little about how to categorize these cysts. We can detect, in as little as 40 microliters of cyst fluids a group of proteins that might collectively be used as indicators of a potentially cancerous cyst,” said the study’s senior author Anthony Yeung, Ph.D., molecular biologist and member of Fox Chase’s faculty.

Using an endoscopic ultrasound-guided technique, the researchers collected fluid from the cysts of 20 research participants with a small needle.

Yeung and his laboratory team then assayed the fluid to determine the number and type of proteins it contained. Identifying the proteins took more than eight months of continuous time with a mass spectrometer, an instrument that can determine the makeup of – and thereby identify – individual molecules.

Among the proteins they found were members of three families of proteins previously proposed to be biomarkers for pancreatic cancer, called mucins, CEACAMs, and S100s.

“From these samples we’ve identified a panel of these proteins that could all be considered harbingers of cancer in some way. Now that we know what we are looking for, we can use even more powerful spectrometry techniques to find this pattern of proteins fast enough that it could be used as part of a clinical service,” Yeung said.

Their findings appear in the March issue of the journal Pancreas. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: ANI, Anthony Yeung, author, biologist, cancer, Cancerous Cyst, categorize, CEACAMs, center, chase, Chase Cancer Center, Continuous Time, cyst, day, eight months, endoscopic ultrasound, Faculty, fluid, fox, Fox Chase Cancer, Fox Chase Cancer Center, group, handful, Identifying, instrument, issue, journal, Laboratory, Laboratory Team, lesion, lesions, makeup, mar, March, mass, Mass Spectrometer, member, Microliters, molecular biologist, needle, New, number, pancreas, Pancreatic Cysts, panel, part, pattern, protein, Protein Biomarkers, proteins, Research, Research Participants, service, spectrometer, spectrometry, Spectrometry Techniques, study, team, technique, time, Tiny Amounts, treatment, type, Washington, way

Why prostate cancer returns in some patients

Low oxygen levels in prostate tumours can help predict odds of cancer recurrence

World’s first successful VIKY robot assisted surgery to treat pancreatic tumours performed

Search More News

Technology News

Ads