| Cognitive tests to be covered for children fighting cancer | | Posted Monday, September 25, 2006 2:59:50 AM by Blog57 Team | | (Wilton-AP, Sept. 23, 2006 6:00 PM) _ Starting next week, Connecticut will become the first state to require insurance companies to pay for cognitive tests when children are diagnosed with cancer. The new law goes into effect October First. Experts say that most of a child's brain growth occurs up to age five. But the same chemotherapy or radiation that can knock out cancer cells also can impair brain development. That means children being treated for cancer often have long-term problems with concentration, learning and other cognitive skills. The tests are given as soon as cancer is diagnosed, setting a base line. Then they're given during treatment, and during remission to pinpoint whether the child needs tutoring or other help to catch up.... | |
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| | | Scorpions Lead the Way to New Brain Cancer Treatment | | Posted Monday, August 14, 2006 1:07:02 PM by Blog57 Team | | (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A synthetic version of a protein found in the venom of the Giant Yellow Israeli scorpion may one day offer real hope to patients suffering from a deadly form of brain cancer. Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles tested the ability of the protein, known as TM-601, to cross the blood-brain barrier, carrying with it radioactive iodine to kill the cells involved in glioma brain cancers. The synthetic scorpion protein was selected because of its exceptional ability to bind to the glioma cells. The investigation was carried out in 18 patients who had already undergone surgery to have their brain tumors removed. Unfortunately, some cancer cells are always left behind, and they generally re-grow quickly and aggressively, making it difficult to effectively treat the disease.... | |
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| | | Zemanek has cancer | | Posted Sunday, July 16, 2006 10:57:48 AM by Blog57 Team | | HIS full head of hair is gone, but radio host Stan Zemanek has lost none of his infamous bite, vowing to vigorously fight a malignant brain tumour. When the tumour was diagnosed in May, Zemanek was told he had just weeks to live.Having survived delicate brain surgery, he says he will fight on with a six-month course of chemotherapy beginning next month."Once they saw the size of the tumour, they gave me a limited time. They said I only had a few weeks," Zemanek told The Sunday Telegraph."The neurosurgeon, Dr Charles Teo, said: 'There's no mucking around - you have to have the operation straight away. You can't wait another day or week.'"He said: 'We've got to keep you alive as long as we possibly can.' I'm just taking every day, every week, every month as it happens."Rather than taking time out to rest, the talkback host has thrown himself into the task of beating cancer, with the same strength he is famous for on air."I'm here for the battle; I'm here for the fight," he says.Zemanek, 59, has finished a six-week course of radiation treatment.... | |
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