News for Patients from the Journal of Clinical Oncology

Analysis of data collected in a large, population-based study in Shanghai, China, showed women who consumed higher amounts of soy food in the years leading up to their diagnosis of lung cancer lived longer. These results offer the first scientific evidence that consuming soy food before cancer diagnosis may be associated with significantly improved survival in patients with lung cancer.

A population- and health systems-based prospective study revealed that timing of end-of-life (EOL) care discussions strongly affects the intensity of care patients with advanced cancer receive near the end of life. Specifically, patients who had EOL care conversations with their doctors before the last 30 days of life were much more likely to receive hospice care and less likely to undergo “aggressive” medical care compared to those that had EOL conversations later. According to previous research, many patients who do not receive aggressive therapy at the end of life have a better quality of life in their final weeks.

A new, long-term study shows that survival rates for children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common type of pediatric cancer, climbed steadily between 1990 and 2005. This analysis is the largest study to date of ALL survival, exploring important survival gains based on patient age, race, ethnicity, and subtype of ALL. The findings were published March 12 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Lynch syndrome is an inherited condition of cancer predisposition caused by mutations in certain genes involved in repairing DNA damage, called “mismatch repair” genes. A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology provides a new, clearer picture of the cancer risks that carriers of these mutations face, which could ultimately help guide future screening efforts to detect these cancers at an early stage.

An analysis of more than 3,000 families including women with breast cancer has found that close relatives of women who carry mutations in a BRCA gene - but who themselves do not have such genetic mutations - do not have an increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to relatives of women with breast cancer who do not have such mutations.

A new study has shown that for patients with advanced rectal cancer, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess their tumor's response to pre-surgery chemotherapy or radiation treatment may predict survival. The findings suggest that by using MRI to gauge whether a tumor has responded to such treatments, physicians can use the results to determine whether to proceed with surgery or to consider other treatment options for a given patient. 

A new study has shown that a surgical technique can effectively locate and extract viable sperm in more than one-third of adult survivors of childhood cancer, who were previously considered sterile due to prior chemotherapy. Many of these men were subsequently able to have children with the help of in vitro fertilization, and the results offer a proven option for many male cancer survivors who want to be fathers but were thought infertile.

A study of more than 1,600 adults in Australia found that regular use of sunscreen reduced the risk of developing melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer - by half, including nearly three-quarters fewer cases of the more dangerous invasive type of melanoma. It is thought to be the first such randomized trial to examine the use of sunscreen in preventing melanoma.

A large Dutch study of women at increased risk for hereditary breast cancer has found that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was superior to mammography in early detection of tumors in women with mutations in the BRCA genes or at high risk for cancer because of family history. The study did not look at MRI as a standard screening technique for all women, but rather only those considered at risk.