Dec 24, 2005

Pancreatic Cancer: Looking Forward To Skin Rash!

Probably you all know that a new drug combination Tarceva and Gemzar has been FDA approved recently for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Did you know that, if you are developing a bad skin rash while on this treatment it is a good sign! I am not kidding, the study that led to the approval of this combination was presented in the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in 2005. This study has shown that the combination of Tarceva and Gemzar works best in patients who had a bad skin rash!

Skin rash is a very common side effect of Tarceva. Past studies have shown a co-relational between skin rash and the activity of the drug. In this Tarceva Gemzar study patients were divided into three groups based on the severity of skin rash. The first group comprised of patients who had no skin rash and the second group comprised of patients who had mild skin rash and the third group comprised of patients who had significant or severe skin rash.

When the investigators analyzed the data, they found that patients who developed significant or severe skin rash performed much better compared to the other two groups. The median survival in patients who had no skin rash or mild skin rash was 5 months while those who developed significant or sever skin rash lived a median period of more than 10 month. Only 16 percent of patients who had no skin rash and 11 percent of patients who had only mild skin rash were alive at one year after starting treatment. Compared to this poor performance, 43 percent of patients who had significant or severe skin rash were alive at one year after starting treatment

So if you are on Tarceva and Gemazar for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, look forward to your bad skin rash. That may be your lifeline.

Janet      

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

Breast cancer blog: Breast cancer blog is run by Emily and other bloggers and they bring you the latest stories, news and events that are related to breast cancer. Increasing awareness about breast cancer among women and in the general population is the main goal of this breast cancer blog.

Lung cancer blog: Lung cancer blog is managed by Scott with the help of other bloggers. Through this blog Scott and his friends constantly remind the readers about the dangers of smoking. It's a never-ending struggle against this miserable disease with which a social stigma of smoking is associated.

Colon cancer blog: Colon cancer blog is run by Sue and other bloggers. Sue brings a personal touch to the colon cancer blog since her mother died of colon cancer few years ago. She writes about stories, research news and advances in treatment related to colon cancer.

Prostate cancer blog: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. American Cancer Society estimates that over 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur in the United state every year. This important blog about prostate cancer is run by Mark and other bloggers. This blog brings news, stories, and other personal observations related to prostate cancer.

Medicineworld.org publishes a diabetes watch blog and this blog is run by JoAnn other bloggers. This diabetes watch blog brings you the latest in the field of diabetes. This includes personal stories, advances in diagnosis and treatment, and other observations about diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes is an important mission of this group.

Janet      

Cancer
Cancer is a very common disease, approximately one out of every two American men and one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point during the course of their life. Cancer is more common in the elderly and 77 percent of cancers occur in people above age 55 or older. Cancer is also common in children. Cancer incidence is said to have two peaks once during early childhood and then during late years in life. No age period is completely exempted from development of cancers. Some cancers occur predominantly in the elderly, other types occur in children, Cancer occurs in all ethnic races, however the cancer rates and rates of specific cancer types may vary from group to group. Late stages of cancer may be incurable in most cases, but with the advancement of medicine, more and more cancers are becoming curable.