| The Third-Most Odds-Defying Discovery in Targ's "Prayer and Healing ...
Targ originally chose to study AIDS because it was a "gnarly disease," medical science's greatest riddle.
During the AIDS pilot study, one of the patients developed brain cancer. Amazingly, this patient did not die and eventually made a full recovery. As it turned out, he had been in the treatment group - he had been prayed for. Fred Sicher, Targ's coauthor, reminded her of this patient after a confirmation study was completed. Although AIDS was no longer a death sentence, brain cancer still was. Could a healer 1,500 miles away really shrink a brain tumor? Targ learned all she could about a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. In 2000, she applied to the National Institutes of Health's Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine for $1.5 million to cover two 150-patient trials - one on brain cancer, and another confirmation study on AIDS.
QLT's move to auction block lifts shares
Shares in QLT Inc. shot up almost 25 per cent Wednesday after the company put itself on the auction block with the announcement it is exploring strategic alternatives that could include the sale of some or all of its assets. The move pushed QLT shares up to $4.80 on the Toronto Stock Exchange by Wednesday's close, bolstering a flagging performance that saw them down at $3.88 on Tuesday, close to the 52-week low of $3.44 and far below highs in February of $11.67. The Vancouver biotechnology pioneer and University of B.C. spinoff, which rocketed to success with its anti-blindness treatment Visudyne, has been struggling as competition for the drug eroded revenues and new initiatives in its pipeline have failed to fill the gap. It has also faced costly court challenges related to Visudyne and to its prostate cancer drug Eligard.
Radiofrequency Ablation Growing In Popularity As A Treatment For ...
Millennium Research Group forecasts that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedures for cancer treatment will grow at almost 12% over the next five years in the US. According to Millennium Research Group's US Markets for Nonvascular Interventional Radiology Devices 2008 report, over 21,000 RFA procedures will be performed in 2007 on patients with liver, kidney, breast, lung, and metastatic bone cancers; by 2012, RFA procedures will reach over 36,000.
Physicians are opting for this surgery due to its minimally invasive nature and its ability to safely and precisely ablate small tumors. If the continued release of clinical evidence supports RFA treatment as a viable alternative to surgical resection, physician confidence in and the subsequent adoption of RFA devices take place.
"RFA can be used in cases where surgical resection poses too great of a risk to the patient," says Stephanie LaBelle, Analyst at MRG.
Celebrating life: Newburyport man shares cancer survival story to help ...
Being a Newburyport firefighter for 32 years may seem like a risky lifestyle. But Leo Rocco's toughest battles weren't fighting fires, but surviving mantle cell lymphoma - not once, but twice.
Rocco, 66, was first diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma - a cancer that affects the lymph nodes - in 2001. It was a lingering sore throat that provided the early clue that something was wrong. But after six months of chemotherapy, he was considered in remission.
When his cancer returned in 2003, his family sought alternative treatment. In 2004, Rocco participated in an experimental trial and became the fourth umbilical cord blood cell transplant recipient at a Boston hospital.
Cord blood cell transplant involves matching donated umbilical cord blood, which is rich in blood-forming cells, and implanting them in patients with diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Farrah Fawcett: Recovery is 'Ongoing'
Farrah Fawcett is finally opening up about her cancer battle, giving only “Extra" a candid and emotional interview about her recovery. “I'm doing well," Farrah told “Extra" as she left a hospital in Santa Monica last night. “Never can say for sure. It's ongoing." The “Charlie's Angels" star received devastated news in May, when she learned her intestinal cancer had returned. Vowing to fight, Farrah flew to Germany for alternative treatment. Now Farrah is proving she's still got her sense of humor intact! “You know, it's filled with Germans," Farrah quipped when asked about her time there. In a rare and raw confession, Farrah then revealed the toll her treatments have taken on her. “Tiring, yes. I felt much better when I was sick!" she said.
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