Tag Archive for: childhood cancer

December 2022 Notable News

Research is a valuable tool in every aspect of cancer; prevention education, treatment advances, and effectiveness of new treatments. New research has shown that survivors of childhood cancer have a significant increase in risk for cardiovascular issues. Oral chemotherapy is a new modality for cancer treatment and research shows the pros and cons of this treatment. This month, research confirms that there is a direct link between alcohol consumption and increased risk in getting certain cancers. All these studies will help to educate cancer patients, causing better outcomes for people.

Survivors of Childhood Cancer Face a Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

The researchers said the risk of cardiovascular disease was significantly higher in cancer survivors in virtually all categories, including sex, race/ethnicity, income, education, smoking status, and physical activities reports healthline.com . The increased risk of cardiovascular disease for survivors of childhood cancer comes from the use of chemotherapy and radiation to treat the cancer at an early age. The class of chemotherapy commonly used is anthracyclines and it is known to place patients at risk for damaging the heart muscle. Radiation therapy directly to the chest causes damage to the heart muscle and the heart valves. The research did show an increase in risk to children that were treated for cancer in households making under $50,000. To reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease for these patients, they should follow a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, and do not smoke. Oncologists need to refer childhood cancer patients to cardiologists for screening to find cardiovascular disease in its early stages. Catching the disease in its early stages allows for prompt treatment and better outcomes. Click to read the full story.

Oral Chemotherapy: What are the Advantages?

Chemotherapy kills or slows the growth of cancer cells. In some cases, it can eliminate cancer. In others, it prolongs life by slowing down the progression of the disease reports MedicalNewsToday.com . Oral chemotherapy can come in the form of a pill or liquid that can be swallowed or placed under the tongue. This treatment can be given at home which is less expensive and less inconvenient for cancer patients. The dosing of oral chemotherapy is especially important and requires clear instructions from the doctor. The medication requires special handling such as wearing gloves and storing it at a specific temperature. It needs to be kept secure and dry in an airtight container away from food, children, and pets. The side effects of oral chemotherapy are the same as IV chemotherapy; hair loss, fatigue, nausea, and bruising. It is important to log side effects and notify the doctor of vomiting. There are several disadvantages to taking chemotherapy orally. If a patient has an adverse reaction to the medication, they are at home instead of with a medical professional and will take longer to get help. This medication given orally is very dose dependent and patients can make errors at home that affect the treatment outcome. There is also a high out of pocket expense in using oral chemotherapy versus IV, some insurance companies will not cover the cost of oral chemotherapy. Oral chemotherapy is not available to treat all forms of cancer but in some cases, it has been proven to be more effective than IV chemotherapy. Click to read the full story.

Alcohol and Cancer Risk: Most Americans Aren’t Aware

The new study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, notes that there are seven cancer types that have been linked to alcohol consumption reports Healthline.com . The types of cancers linked to alcohol consumption are mouth and throat, larynx, esophagus, colon and rectum, liver, and breast cancer. Alcohol consumption is one of the leading modifiable risk factors for people to prevent cancer. Since the pandemic, consumption of alcohol is on the rise. There needs to be interventions made to help educate people on the direct link to cancer such as media ads, warning labels, and doctor’s educating their patients. Older Americans are less aware of the increased risk of cancer form drinking alcohol. There is no safe level of drinking of any kind of alcohol and this needs to be emphasized to help prevent cancer. Click here to read the full story.

November 2021 Notable News

Cancer research has come a long way in the last half century. Each month there is an amazing amount of new knowledge. There’s new information this month about childhood cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, and a couple of vaccines. The research and advances we learn about each month are due in large part to the programs and systems that resulted from the National Cancer Act of 1971.

National Cancer Act of 1971

Fifty years ago, a few days before Christmas, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is commemorating the anniversary at cancer.gov. The act established networks of cancer centers, clinical trials, data collection systems, and advanced research. As an amendment to the Public Health Service Act of 1944, by signing the act, Nixon declared a war on cancer. The bill expanded the authority of the director of the NCI and made possible many of the present-day advances in cancer research. Learn more about the National Cancer Act of 1971 and the impact it has had over the past 50 years here.

HPV Vaccine

One of the accomplishments noted by the NCI is the HPV vaccine. The vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV) is reducing the number of cervical cancer cases by almost 90 percent, says bbc.com. Almost all cervical cancer cases are caused by HPV, and cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. More than 100 countries are using the vaccine to help in the World Health Organization’s goal to eliminate cervical cancer. With such positive results in the United Kingdom, the hope is that the vaccine will have an even bigger impact in lower income countries. Read more here.

Covid-19 Vaccines

Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective for most cancer patients, reports usnews.com. In a study that included more than 1,000 vaccinated cancer patients, researchers found that the vaccines were effective in protecting cancer patients from severe Covid-19. Patients who had been treated with chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, or corticosteroids had a weaker immune response, but still benefited from the vaccine’s protection. Cancer patients had similar side effects as healthy vaccine recipients. Get more information here.

Pancreatic Cancer Detection

Researchers have identified two additional symptoms of pancreatic cancer that could help with earlier detection of the disease, reports webmd.com. The newly identified symptoms are feeling thirsty and having dark urine, and they are associated with the most common type of pancreatic cancer. Other symptoms include problems swallowing, diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, abdominal swelling, tiredness, constipation, back pain, itching, loss of appetite, change in bowel habits, indigestion, abdominal pain, abdominal mass, nausea, flatulence, heartburn, and fever. Patients can have symptoms for up to a year before diagnosis. Get more information here.

Gut Microbiome and Prostate Cancer

A new study shows that there might be a link between the gut microbiome and deadly prostate cancer, reports medicalnewstoday.com. Researchers analyzed different metabolites in the blood serum of study participants and found a connection between aggressive prostate cancer and three of the metabolites. The metabolites, phenylacetylglutamine, choline, and betaine, are either produced by the gut or found in some foods. The metabolites are mostly found in meat and animal products, but also in beans, nuts, and diet sodas with aspartame. Men with high levels of choline or betaine were two times more likely to die of prostate cancer, and men with high levels of phenylacetylglutamine were 2.5 times more likely to die of prostate cancer. Learn more about the study here.

Childhood Cancer Survivors

Childhood cancer survivors tend to have higher risk of lifelong health problems, reports medicalxpress.com. A new study shows that the type of cancer and how the cancer was treated can affect the type of health issues survivors will have later in life. Researchers found that people who were treated with chemotherapy and radiation were most likely to experience later health problems. The lowest risk was for people who were treated only with surgery. Researchers say the long-term health effects should be considered when discussing treatment options for young people with cancer. Learn more about the study and watch an animated video that explains the study in an easy-to-understand manner here.

Here’s hoping that we will have more preventive vaccines and life-saving measures before the passing of the next 50 years.

Patient Profile: Jack Bell

Jack Bell

Hepatoblastoma

Today, Jack Bell is a 13-year-old 8th grader. He’s the second of four siblings, and he’s a generally happy kid. While he doesn’t remember much about it, he is also a childhood cancer survivor. Along with Jack, there are more than 400,000 childhood cancer survivors in the United States, and that number is growing. Over the past 40 years, cancer death rates in children have declined 70 percent. However, with cancer still the leading cause of death from disease among people under age 19, a childhood cancer diagnosis is difficult for the entire family.

“It was not a good time. It really wasn’t,” says Rachel Bell, Jack’s mom, remembering his diagnosis. It was late December 2007. She was expecting her third child in a couple of months and preparing for New Year’s Eve guests, but when Jack, an active two and a half year old, took a four hour nap while she was putting away the Christmas decorations, she took notice. There were other things, too. He fell asleep during a shopping trip to Costco, and Rachel’s husband Ed, who was in charge of bath time, had noticed a protrusion in Jack’s abdomen. With a doctor’s visit coming up, they planned to have it all checked out, but they didn’t have a chance. Jack woke up screaming the morning of New Year’s Eve, and he just wouldn’t calm down. They called the doctor’s office, but were advised to go to the emergency room, where Jack was checked for mono, appendicitis and cystic fibrosis. “They kept ruling things out,” Rachel says, adding that the list of possible illnesses kept getting worse. Unable to determine the cause, Jack was admitted for more testing.It was the next day, New Year’s Day, that Jack’s pediatrician told Rachel and Ed that Jack had cancer.

Jack Bell during chemotherapy, age 2

“It went fast from that point,” says Rachel. “You’re in a completely new world.” Jack had stage four hepatoblastoma that originated in his liver and had spread to both lungs. Hepatoblastoma is a very rare type of malignant tumor, and the exact cause is unknown. Rachel says that in Jack’s case, doctor’s believed it was a fetal mutation in which his liver didn’t stop growing when it should have. Jack had surgery that day. He had multiple masses in both lungs and one in his liver the size of a watermelon. That’s what was pushing his ribs out causing the protrusion in his abdomen.

Jack’s chemotherapy started January 9, and they were making weekly trips to the hospital. They were in and out of the hospital a lot during that time. Anytime Jack had a fever they had to go to the hospital. Just as they were adjusting to their new world, they got another surprise. Though she was not due until February 28th, Rachel went into labor February 5th, and their third son, Sam, was born. Within five hours of coming home with the new baby, they were back in the hospital with Jack who had a fever.

“It was chaos,” says Rachel. She had a new born, a two year old with cancer, and Charlie, her oldest, was five and in kindergarten. In addition, Jack was sick from the chemo and losing his hair. After the second round of chemo they learned that the tumors in Jack’s lungs were gone and the one in his liver had shrunk 50 percent, but it was wrapped around a main artery, and Jack needed a liver transplant. “I just wanted someone to tell me that he was going to be okay,” says Rachel, but no one could do that. Rachel and Ed learned that without the transplant surgery, Jack had only a ten percent chance of survival. With the surgery his survival rate went up to 85 or 90 percent.

Jack got on the transplant list on April 1, but there were indications that the cancer was spreading. Jack’s Alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP) numbers were going up. The AFP numbers serve as a marker for liver health. Normal levels are below ten; Jack’s had been 365,000. Doctors were unable to determine if and where the cancer was spreading, but if it was, it could jeopardize the transplant surgery. So, Jack was moved to emergency transplant status May 1. Rachel, Jack, Ed and Baby Sam had to be ready to leave for the transplant hospital at a moment’s notice. They had to have air transportation available, and arrangements for someone to care for Charlie. “We had to wear a beeper and be ready to leave at any time,” says Rachel, who adds that they were willing to jump through whatever hoops they had to or try just about anything to help Jack. “If they tell you to stand in the street and throw glitter in the air and sing a song, you’re going to do it four times a day,” she says.

On Mother’s Day that year Rachel remembers praying for a liver for Jack, but also being acutely aware that his liver would come from another child, and she grieved for the mother that would be losing her child. It was three days later, May 14, at 3 a.m. while she was nursing Sam, that they got the beep. They had a liver and had to leave immediately. Jack was prepped for surgery which went through the night and ended May 15. The doctors discovered that Jack’s AFP numbers had been correct; the tumor was growing, but it was contained to his liver so it did not affect the transplant. The surgery went very well. Jack was a perfect match to his donor, and they were home by June.

Jack Bell after his liver transplant, age 3

Jack, who turned three during his liver transplant recovery, recently celebrated being ten years cancer free. “Thankfully, he doesn’t remember much,” says Rachel adding that Jack does seem to be very in tune with his health for his age.“He does know a lot about his liver,” she says. Like other childhood cancer survivors, Jack will spend the rest of his life being monitored. Every two months he returns to the hospital for blood work. “I am constantly watching the AFP number,” says Rachel, who adds that after transplant surgery, Jack’s AFP went down to 12, and then to two, and that it has held at two ever since. He also takes immune suppressant medications to prevent his immune system from attacking and rejecting his liver, which has happened twice in the past decade. Jack also has a yearly cancer check that looks for late effects of the chemotherapy which are common among childhood cancer patients due to the effects of treatment on growing bodies. Rachel says that so far, any sign of late effects in Jack, which include some hearing loss, are minimal compared to what could have happened. Late effects can be physical, emotional, and/or cognitive and vary in degrees of severity. “It changes your whole attitude about what is important,” says Rachel.

In 2009, the Bell family welcomed their fourth child, Anna Kate. She is nine now. Sam is 10, and Charlie is 15. Even though Jack doesn’t remember much about his diagnosis and treatment, Rachel says it has definitely shaped who he is. Over the years Jack has become very close with his doctors and nurses and considers them part of his family. He even says that one day he’d like to be a doctor who specializes in the liver. “It’s important for these kids that survive to know how lucky they are,” says Rachel. “There will be a day he understands how serious it was and maybe he’s starting to realize that now.”

Coincidentally, while Jack was recovering from his transplant in May 2008, the United States Senate declared September 13 National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. Later in 2012, September was made National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The proclamation states, “This month, we remember the young lives taken too soon, stand with the families facing childhood cancer today, and rededicate ourselves to combating this terrible illness.”

From left transplant surgeon, Dr. Frederick Ryckman, Survivor Jack Bell, Rachel Bell, and oncologist, Dr. Emad Salman. Rachel says, “I love any chance we get to be with these two docs!”


Sources:

https://www.cancer.gov/types/childhood-cancers

https://www.acco.org/childhood-cancer-awareness-month/