What Cancers Are Most Successfully Treated When Caught Early? Oncologist Explains

Treatment for several tumours is frequently more successful, less aggressive, and offers a significantly better chance of survival when detected early. 

Although cancer is still one of the most difficult diseases to treat globally, it is evident that early detection can save lives. Treatment for several tumours is frequently more successful, less aggressive, and offers a significantly better chance of survival when detected early. Breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers are among the several cancer types where screening and prevention have had the biggest impact.

1. Breast Cancer

One of the most prevalent cancers in the world, breast cancer is one of the most effectively and successfully treated when detected early. Mammography screening enables medical professionals to identify tiny tumours before they spread. Surgery and targeted therapy are often effective in treating early-stage breast cancer, which lessens the need for more aggressive treatments. Additionally, early discovery lets patients avoid prolonged chemotherapy or radiation, which not only increases survival but also preserves quality of life. Early detection of warning symptoms also depends on regular self-examinations and knowledge of any abnormal changes in the breast.

2. Cervical Cancer

The distinctive feature of cervical cancer is its great possibility of prevention and early detection. Precancerous mutations can be detected by screening techniques like HPV and Pap tests long before they become cancer. Cervical cancer is frequently completely preventable when these changes are recognised and addressed quickly. Early detection greatly increases the success of treatment for women who do get cervical cancer, sometimes requiring simple procedures instead of radiation or invasive surgery. Regular screening is still essential to reduce cervical cancer fatalities, but public health initiatives like the HPV vaccine also improve prevention.

3. Colorectal Cancer

Another cancer where screening has improved results is colorectal cancer. Polyps, which are tiny growths in the colon that may eventually develop into cancer, can be found by colonoscopy and other screening procedures. Cancer can be avoided by removing these polyps. Treatment for colorectal cancer is very successful if it is discovered early, before it spreads outside of the colon. It often involves surgery in addition to targeted medicines. Additionally, early discovery speeds up healing and lessens the need for complicated therapies. Proactive screening is crucial since indications like changes in bowel movements or blood in the stool could show up later.

4. Lung Cancer

The fact that lung cancer is frequently discovered at an advanced stage makes it one of the most deadly malignancies. On the other hand, survival rates greatly increase when caught early. Low-dose CT screening can detect lung cancer before symptoms appear, especially in high-risk individuals like chronic smokers. Since stopping smoking is still the most effective strategy to lower the number of lung cancer deaths, prevention is also very important in this case. Surgery along with personalised therapy can be quite successful for people with early diagnoses, providing a chance at long-term survival that is rarely achievable in later stages.

Why Early Detection Matters

The message is the same for all of these cancers: screening and prevention save more lives than treatment on its own. Early detection of cancer usually results in less aggressive treatments, fewer complications, and improved quality of life for patients. While prevention techniques, like giving up smoking, eating a nutritious diet, and exercising, lower overall risk, screening gives people the power to take control of their health.

Lung, colorectal, breast, and cervical cancers serve as examples of the effectiveness of early detection. Screening programs are still the most effective means of lowering the number of cancer deaths, and they have already saved millions of lives when paired with awareness and lifestyle modifications. Prevention and early diagnosis continue to be the cornerstones of effective cancer care, even though advancements in therapy are significant. We can guarantee that more people take advantage of the life-saving potential of early detection by making screening accessible and promoting healthy behaviours.

 

 

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Two-drug combo halts the growth of cancer cells

UT Southwestern Simmons Cancer Center researchers have discovered a two-drug combo that halts the growth of cancer cells that carry HER2 mutations.

The findings, published today in the journal Cancer Cell, were prompted by the observation that, after an initial response, patients with cancers harboring HER2 mutations eventually develop resistance to a promising new cancer drug currently in clinical trials.

The scientists found that another drug, already on the market, counters that resistance and blocks the cancer, thereby providing the basis for a novel drug combination against cancers with mutations in the HER2 gene.

Dhivya Sudhan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, and collaborators evaluated data from a molecularly guided trial where patients with tumors with HER2 mutations were treated with the HER2 inhibitor neratinib. In this study, patients' cancers were sequenced as the disease progressed during treatment. Based on this analysis, Sudhan discovered in the laboratory that an effective way to offset eventual resistance to neratinib is with everolimus, a TORC1 inhibitor commonly used to treat other types of breast cancer.

"This finding may give clinicians an effective response to neratinib resistance. That could make a real difference for patients with breast, ovarian, lung, and other cancers harboring HER2 mutations," says Carlos L. Arteaga, M.D., Director of the Simmons Cancer Center at UT Southwestern and corresponding author of the study.

HER2 mutations have long been identified as a key driver in breast and other cancers. The authors of this study zeroed in on a signaling network driven by TORC1, which they showed is the pathway through which HER2-mutant cancers become neratinib-resistant.

"We consistently noted activation of TORC1 signaling as a mechanism of resistance to neratinib across different types of HER2-mutant cancers. Different cancer types used different strategies to escape neratinib, but they all converged on TORC1 signaling," Sudhan says.

In addition to studying tumor sequencing data from HER2-mutant cancer patients across the country who are in clinical trials for neratinib, Sudhan also studied neratinib-resistant cells and tumors that continue to live and grow in the laboratory.

The sequencing of the patients' cancer before and during the clinical trial showed that some patients already had a mutation that could activate the TORC1 pathway. Others would develop it eventually, but they could benefit from everolimus which is currently used as a TORC1 inhibitor to address the other roles TORC1 plays in cancer. Everolimus would allow the patient to continue benefiting from neratinib's inhibition of HER2.

Sudhan says the combination of neratinib and everolimus worked in cell lines, organoids established from patient-derived tumors, and in mice harboring HER2 mutant tumors. The next step will be testing this two-drug combo in humans.

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Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery less invasive, makes recovery faster

A research has shown that thoracoscopic lobectomy- video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) - together with pulmonary artery sealing using an ultrasonic energy device decreased the risk of post-operative bleeding, complications and pain.

"I truly hope that the results of our clinical trial will reassure surgeons about the technical feasibility and safety of this operation and will encourage them to adopt it. A large number of patients could benefit from it and would be on their feet faster, with less pain," said one of the researchers.

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Unlike surgery with thoracotomy, which involves making a 25 cm incision in the patient's chest and cutting the ribs, a VATS procedure requires small incision.

A miniature video camera is inserted through one of the incisions. In both types of surgical interventions, there is a risk of bleeding because the branches of the pulmonary artery are very thin, fragile and are attached directly to the heart.

"Thanks to this clinical trial conducted in Canadian, American and British hospitals, we have shown that it is possible to safely seal pulmonary blood vessels through ultrasonic sealing and effectively control possible bleeding during a VATS procedure," explained the Dr.

Currently, only 15 per cent of lobectomies around the world are performed by VATS, mainly because of the actual risks of major bleeding or surgeons' perception of these risks.

This team has recently completed its large international clinical trial launched in 2016.

The study was able to evaluate the effectiveness of this new technique on 150 patients in eight hospitals across Canada, the U.S.A. and the U.K. 139 of them underwent a lobectomy, while the remaining 11 underwent a segmentectomy (removal of a small part of the lung).

A total of 424 pulmonary artery branches were sealed during the study: 181 using surgical staplers, four with endoscopic clips and 239 using the HARMONIC ACE(r) +7 Shears, designed by the company. With a 3-millimetre jaw at its tip, this high-tech "pistol" allows a surgeon to seal blood vessels by delivering ultrasonic energy. According to the WHO, lung cancer kills nearly 1.69 million people around the world every year.

New microfluidics device can detect cancer cells in blood

Researchers have now developed a device that can isolate individual cancer cells from patient blood samples.

The microfluidics device works by separating the various cell types found in blood by their size. The device may one day enable rapid, cheap liquid biopsies to help detect cancer and develop targeted treatment plans.

Speaking about it, corresponding author of the study, said, “This new microfluidics chip lets us separate cancer cells from whole blood or minimally-diluted blood,” adding, “While devices for detecting cancer cells circulating in the blood are becoming available, most are relatively expensive and are out of reach of many research labs or hospitals. Our device is cheap, and doesn’t require much specimen preparation or dilution, making it fast and easy to use.”

The ability to successfully isolate cancer cells is a crucial step in enabling liquid biopsy where cancer could be detected through a simple blood draw. This would eliminate the discomfort and cost of tissue biopsies which use needles or surgical procedures as part of cancer diagnosis.

According to researchers, liquid biopsy could also be useful in tracking the efficacy of chemotherapy over the course of time, and for detecting cancer in organs difficult to access through traditional biopsy techniques, including the brain and lungs.

However, isolating circulating tumour cells from the blood is no easy task, since they are present in extremely small quantities.

For many cancers, circulating cells are present at levels close to one per 1 billion blood cells. “A 7.5-milliliter tube of blood, which is a typical volume for a blood draw, might have ten cancer cells and 35-40 billion blood cells,” said the researcher. “So we are really looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Microfluidic technologies present an alternative to traditional methods of cell detection in fluids. 

These devices either use markers to capture targeted cells as they float by, or they take advantage of the physical properties of targeted cells — mainly size — to separate them from other cells present in fluids.

Researchers developed a device that uses size to separate tumour cells from blood. “Using size differences to separate cell types within a fluid is much easier than affinity separation which uses ‘sticky’ tags that capture the right cell type as it goes by,” he said.

“Affinity separation also requires a lot of advanced purification work which size separation techniques don’t need,” he added.

The device the researchers developed capitalises on the phenomena of inertial migration and shear-induced diffusion to separate cancer cells from blood as it passes through ‘microchannels’ formed in plastic. ”

Researchers ‘spiked’ 5-milliliter samples of healthy blood with 10 small-cell-lung cancer cells and then ran the blood through their device. They were able to recover 93 per cent of the cancer cells using the microfluidic device. Previously-developed microfluidics devices designed to separate circulating tumor cells from blood had recovery rates between 50 per cent and 80 per cent.

When they ran eight samples of blood taken from patients diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer, they were able to separate cancer cells from six of the samples using the microfluidic device.

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Reasons for Shoulder Pain

When it comes to shoulder pain, there could be a number of reasons. It may range from a pulled muscle to a rotator -cuff tear, to a heart attack, and even lung cancer. Here is what you need to be on the lookout for: 

 

Fractured collarbone
Fractures of the collarbone are relatively common and painful. You may also find it difficult to move your arm after a break, and your shoulder will hurt and sag forward and downward. But how does this type of fracture arise? Usually, the cause is a fall on, or a direct impact to the shoulder.  An associate professor of orthopedic surgery says if your collarbone is broken you'll likely know it. “It is very commonly localized, and most people can feel the ‘break’ in their collarbone because it is just under their skin.” Treatment usually entails an arm sling, stabilizing the area and physical therapy. If the bones have greatly shifted out of place, you might need surgery utilizing plates, screws or pins. 

Pulmonary embolism
If you think that you have pulled a muscle in your shoulder but the pain is so severe that you have difficulty sleeping or lying down, get to the ER immediately. According to doctors, this type of shoulder pain could be a sign of a blood clot in your lungs. For treatment, you will be given anticoagulants or thrombolytic drugs to dissolve the clot and possible surgery. Without proper treatment, a pulmonary embolism can cause damage to your lungs and other organs, and may even be fatal. 

Subarachnoid hemorrhage

Wherever it may occur, a hemorrhaging is terrible - however, it is particularly bad when it happens in the space between the brain and its protective tissues. One possible symptom is shoulder pain, as well as neck pain, vision problems, numbness, confusion, sensitivity to light, nausea, and seizures. This telltale sign of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a sudden and debilitating headache, which may be caused by a brain aneurysm, trauma, or blood thinners. You'll need to seek immediate medical intervention to prevent brain damage and save your life.

Cancer
Shoulder pain may also be a symptom of cancer, most often, lung cancer. In a 2015 study, 14% of people with mesothelioma, (a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium) usually the lungs and chest wall)reported shoulder pain, and this was most often the first symptom. Other types of lung cancer may also cause shoulder pain, including Pancoast tumors, which are located in the upper lungs, and metastatic lung cancer. What's tricky about lung cancer, related shoulder pain is that it is often called 'referred pain' because it starts elsewhere in the body and is often mistaken for arthritis. Other telltale signs that cancer is the cause is that it can be a chronic cough that sometimes produces blood, labored breathing, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, and recurrent respiratory infections. 

Heart problems

Chest pressure or chest pain is the most common sign of heart issues, however, shoulder pain can be one too. According to the doctors, people with angina can experience shoulder pain. In addition, their arms, neck, jaw or back may also ache. Shoulder pain is also one of the many signs of a heart attack. Women especially need to pay attention to this unusual symptom, especially when it is accompanied by sudden and inexplicable fatigue, light-headedness, shortness of breath and indigestion. For women, symptoms tend to be very different than in men. Women often don't experience traditional chest pain. So if you're feeling off, see a doctor right away. 

Bursitis
It is possible that you have never heard of a bursa before - a fluid-filled sac that cushions and protects your joints. If it becomes inflamed, however, it can be extremely painful. A common cause of shoulder pain, bursitis, typically occurs in people over 50 who have diabetes, or a weakened immune system. Athletes are also at risk, particularly those who do a lot of repetitive overhead stretching, such as basketball players and swimmers. A chiropractor says: “I tell patients it’s like a ziplock bag with some water in it, so it protects you,” he explains. “If you triple the amount of water in the bag, it gets swollen and hurts.” That pain, he adds, is “typically constant, present even during rest, and usually gets worse with activity.” Treatment includes NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory), ice, range of motion, and strength exercises as well as ultrasound therapy. 

Thoracic outlet syndrome
When blood vessels or nerves between your collarbone and uppermost rib (the thoracic outlet) are compressed, it may result in Thoracic outlet syndrome, characterized by shoulder and neck pain, as well as finger numbness. This could occur as a result of a car accident, repetitive activity (from things like typing, or pitching a baseball, as well as carrying heavy bags, obesity, or pregnancy. It is also possible that you are born with a predisposition to it if you have an extra rib or tight connective tissue between your spine and ribs. Physical therapy is the first line of defense, but in advanced cases, if nothing seems to work, surgery may be suggested. 

Gallbladder problems

Pain in the right shoulder may indicate that you have a gallstone causing a blockage. Other likely areas for sudden and intensifying pain include the upper-right abdomen, the center of your abdomen, below the breastbone, and between the shoulder blades.  “A gallbladder issue is typically diagnosed by a primary-care physician,” says a Dr., “and it would be apparent to them because the shoulder joint itself won’t hurt with movement.” Other factors that can put you at risk for this condition include high-fat, high-cholesterol, and low-fiber diets, as well as having diabetes, or a family history of gallstones, which can put you at increased risk for this condition. For treatment, medications to dissolve gallstones are usually prescribed, but this could take months or years to work fully. Surgery to remove your gallbladder is also possible. 

Pinched nerve
If you suffer from pain, numbness and pins and needles in your shoulder, arm, and hand, it's possible that you've got a pinched nerve. This happens when a bone, bulging disc, or swollen tissue compresses the nerves, extending from the upper spine to the neck and shoulder. Dr. says, “The nerves come out of the spine in little channels. If the muscles around the spine pull too tight, as when we sleep awkwardly, the channel can get closed off, causing a pinch of the nerve. It’s like someone stepping on a garden hose; water can’t flow freely. In the spine, that will lead to pain wherever the nerve goes.” Sometimes, the problem will go away on its own. If not, typical options include chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy, icing the area, ibuprofen, and corticosteroid injections. 

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