Pain control, breast initiatives at cancer conference

Wednesday October 7th, 2009

Cancer patients can benefit significantly from extra information on coping with pain and managing their medicine, a UK cancer conference is to be told today.

The findings are among a welter of research projects to be reported to the conference of the National Cancer Research Institute in Birmingham, UK.

This new research suggests that the extra knowledge can result in a 20 per cent improvement in pain control.

Lead researcher, Professor Michael Bennett of Lancaster University, UK, said: "This is good news for cancer patients."

His team are calling for educational programmes on managing cancer pain and strong pain-killers to be given routinely alongside treatment drugs for cancer.

The conference also heard:

* Black and Asian women in Britain are significantly more likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread, so targeted symptom awareness campaigns are urgently needed.

* Scientists from Manchester University, UK, are testing a pioneering radiotherapy treatment called radioimmunotherapy, which works by tagging an antibody to a molecule to deliver radiotherapy straight to the tumour. This improves accuracy, avoids damaging healthy cells, and reduces side-effects.

* A new class of cancer drugs, called PARP inhibitors, is being tested in mice for their action against breast and ovarian cancer. Cancer cells with low oxygen levels are particularly sensitive to the drugs.

* Almost forty per cent of British people would postpone a GP visit "because they don't want to bother the doctor", according to a recent survey. Professor Jane Wardle of Cancer Research UK said this can be dangerous. "A lot of work now needs to be done to help people feel like they can go to their doctor as soon as they find something that could be a symptom of cancer."

* Some 4,000 British women are to take part in research to see if hormone replacement therapy can help with breast cancer treatment. HRT will be given for just two weeks to see if it can help doctors decide how to tailor treatments as part of the POETIC project.

The National Cancer Research Institute conference is taking place in Birmingham, UK, from October 4 to 7.

Tags: Cancer | Pain Relief | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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