A portable, computerized pump small enough to fit in a fanny pack is changing the way cancer patients receive their chemotherapy. This technology allows cancer patients to receive their chemotherapy at a time when it will be most effective and least toxic.

According to pioneering chronobiologist Dr. William Hrushesky, a senior clinical investigator at the Dorn VA Medical Center in South Carolina, “this technology allows for larger doses to be delivered more frequently, with higher efficacy and lower toxicity. It’s kinder, gentler and at the same time, more aggressive and effective.”

With this pump, the timing of the infusion is administered based on several factors, including the biological uniqueness of the particular drug being given and the time when the specific type of cancer cells divide.

“This creates a better kill rate for the cancer and less toxicity to the healthy cells, because the healthy cells of the patient are generally at rest when the cancer cells are most active, or dividing,” explained Keith Block, MD, of the Block Center for Integrated Cancer Care. “The infusion of the chemotherapy drug using this pump starts slowly and ratchets up, hour by hour. It slowly increases to the middle point of the cycle, peaks, infuses most of the drug and then slowly ratchets back down, to no drug, where the cycle is completed. We have often found that patients receiving their chemotherapy this way reduce what would have been recurring side effects of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue.”

Studies published in medical journals, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and Chronobiology International, demonstrate that this ground-breaking technology decreases toxicity and improves survival. This is important because the debilitation caused by chemo can cause patients to reduce or even stop treatments that could otherwise help them win their battle with cancer. Current research shows that up to one third of chemotherapy patients abandon treatments prematurely due to the side effects.

Because this pump is portable, cancer patients no longer have to go to chemo wards and instead participate in normal daily activities such as walking, jogging, cooking, sleeping and even playing with their children, while their treatments are administered.

Betty Hoeffner has been writing articles for various media outlets for the past 30 years. She is executive producer of the patient safety film, “Things You Should Know Before Entering the Hospital” and president of Hey U.G.L.Y., Inc. NFP, a 501 (C) 3 nonprofit organization that empowers teens with self-esteem building tools, to help them counter challenges such as eating disorders, bullying, violence, substance abuse and suicide. U.G.L.Y. is an acronym meaning Unique Gifted Lovable You.

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Tags: cancer patient, chemotherapy

In the American society, cancer is the disease most feared by the majority of people within the U.S. Cancer has been known and described throughout history.

In the early 1990s nearly 6 million cancer cases and more than 4 million deaths have been reported worldwide, every year. The most fatal cancer in the world is lung cancer, which has grown drastically since the spread of cigarette smoking in growing countries. Stomach cancer is the second leading form of cancer in men, after lung cancer. Another on the increase, for women, is breast cancer, particularly in China and Japan. The fourth on the list is colon and rectum cancer, which occurs mostly in older people.

In the United States more than one-fifth of the deaths in the early ’90s was caused by cancer, only the cardiovascular diseases accounted at a higher percentage. In 1993 the American Cancer Society predicted that about 33% of Americans will eventually get cancer. In the United States skin cancer is the most dominating in both men and women, followed by prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Yet lung cancer causes the most deaths in men and women. Leukemia, or cancer of the blood, is the most common type in children. An increasing incidence has been clearly observable over the past few decades, due in part to improved cancer screening programs, and also to the increasing number of older persons in the population, and also to the large number of tabacco smokers–particularly in women. Some researchers have estimated that if Americans stopped smoking, lung cancer deaths could virtually be eliminated within 20 years.

The U.S. government and private organizations spent about $1.2 billion annual for cancer research. With the development of new drugs and treatments, the number of deaths among cancer patients under 30 years of age is decreasing, even though the number of deaths from cancer is growing overall.

Types of Cancer

Cancer is the common term used to designate the most aggressive and usually fatal forms of a larger class of the diseases known as neoplasms. A neoplasm is described as being relatively autonomous because it does not fully obey the biological mechanisms that govern the growth and the metabolism of individual cells and the overall cell interactions of the living organism. Some neoplasms grow more rapidly than the tissues from which they arise, others grow at a normal pace but because of the other factors eventually become recognizable as an abnormal growth and not normal tissue. The changes seen in neoplasm are heritable in that these characteristics are passed on from each cell to its offspring, or daughter cells. Neoplasm occurs only in muticellular organisms.

The main classification of the neoplasms as either benign or malignant relates to their behavior. Several relative differences classify these two classes. A benign neoplasm, for instance, is harmless, but malignant is not. Malignancies grow more rapidly than do benign forms and invade adjacent normal tissues. Tissue of a benign tumor is structured in a manner similar to that of the tissue from which it is derived, malignant tissue, however, has an abnormal and unstructured appearance. Most malignant tumors, in fact, exhibit abnormalities in chromosome structure, that is, the structure of the DNA molecules that constitute the genetic materials duplicated and passed on to later generations of cells. Most important, however, benign neoplasm’s do not begin to grow at sites other than the point of origin, whereas malignant tumors do. The term TUMOR is used to indicate a readily defined mass of tissue that is recognizable from normal living tissue. Thus a scar, an abscess, and a healing bone callus are all designated as tumors, but they are not neoplasm’s.

Besides being classified according to their behavior, neoplasms can also be classified according to the tissue from which they arose, and they are usually designated by a tissue-type prefix. A general system of tnonmenclature has also arisen to distinguish benign and malignant neoplasms. The designation of the benign neoplasm usually is signified by the suffix-oma added to the appropriate tissue type prefix. Malignant neoplasms are separated into two general classes. Cancers arising from such supportive tissues as muscle, bone and fat are termed sarcomas. Cancers arising from such epithelial tissues as the skin and lining the mouth, stomach, bowel, or bladder are classified as carcinomas. Examples of benign neoplasms are a lipoma (from fat tissue) and an osteoma (from bone). Malignant counterparts of these neoplasms are a liposrcoma and an osteosarcoma. The term adenoma is used to indicate a benign neoplasm of glandular tissue, and corresponding malignancies are termed adenocarcinomas.

Exceptions to this form of nomenclature include thymomas, which are either malignant or bengnneoplasms of the thymus gland, and such descriptive terms os dermoid, a benign tumor of the ovary. The suffix-blatoma denotes a primitive, usually malignant, neoplasm. Leukemia, literally meaning “white blood,” is the term used to designate malignant neoplasms having a major portion of their cells circulating in the blood stream. Most leukemia’s arise in the blood-forming tissues, such as the bone and in the lymphatic tissues of the body.

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Colon cancer is known by many other names including bowel cancer and colorectal cancer, but whatever name it is called, the result is the same. A person who has this disease will suffer constipation, diarrheic, abdominal pain and anemia among other symptoms. But there are actually many ways to prevent having colon cancer. A basic lifestyle change that involves your diet and physical activities is one of the most effective ways to avoid having this disease. You should note that eating foods that are low in fiber but are high in fat every day increases your risks of having colon cancer. Likewise, eating a lot of fruits and vegetables can prevent colon cancer because these foods are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that can fight cancer.

Smoking and drinking should also be avoided if you want to prevent colon cancer. Note that stopping these habits will also prevent other kinds of diseases such as cancer of the lungs and heart problems. Lessening your alcohol intake may do wonders for your health and reduce the risks of complications. On the other hand, smoking increases the risk of dying by thirty to forty percent for people who already have colon cancer so quitting this habit can actually save your life.

Aside from being conscious of your daily intake of food and avoiding bad habits that can be detrimental to your heath, having a pro-active lifestyle can also prevent all forms of cancer including colon cancer. It is believed that just doing thirty minute of physical activity everyday can significantly reduce the risks of acquiring colon cancer. The reason for this is because exercise will help keep your weight under control and keep your metabolism at a normal rate to keep your bowel movement regular. Some researchers also observed that around fifteen percent of colon cancer cases could easily have been prevented if those affected had taken the time to exercise everyday.

As in any other cancer cases, colon cancer should also be detected early to prevent it from becoming worse. Because of this, it is essential that you undertake screening tests regularly because colon cancer has no symptoms at its early stages. Note that screening tests are especially important for people who are in middle but younger people are not exempted particularly if they have a family history of having colon cancer. It is also recommended that people who are between the ages of forty to fifty undertake the faecal occult blood test every two years to be on the sage side.

To conduct a faecal occult blood test, you need to collect samples of your faeces so that it can be tested in a laboratory for some traces of blood. The reason why this test is important is because small bowel tumors can turn into cancer if it is left untreated. These tumors actually bleed in your bowel but it does not bleed enough for you to notice so laboratory tests are required.

Another way to detect if you have colon cancer is through colonoscopy. This is also the most effective way to determine whether you have colon cancer or not because it allows your doctors to examine your whole bowel for signs of tumors. This procedure is normally conducted in hospitals and you need to clean out your bowels before you can take this test.

Michael Russell

Your independent guide to

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Tags: colon cancer, colorectal cancer

Believe it or not, the very foundation of good health is having regular bowel movements. When your body has a bowel movement it is removing the build-up of toxins, toxins that are the pre-cursors to many diseases and health conditions, especially cancer.

Our bodies have not changed much over time, yet our diet has changed drastically. A thousand years ago humans lived off of the land. Now, however, we are eating food that is covered in pesticides and processed until there is no nutritional value left in them. These foods increase the risk for disease.

The second leading cause of cancer death in the United States is colon cancer. In order to reduce our risk of this terrible disease, we must regularly remove the toxins that build up in our system from the unhealthy foods that we eat. However, one of the unpleasant results of our over-processed diets is constipation.

Constipation slows the movement of the toxic waste and harbors the foul matter in our intestines. The longer it takes for the toxic materials to move through our system, the longer the waste matter sits in our bowel and putrefies and sometimes is re-absorbed.

The longer our bodies are exposed to this putrefied matter, the greater the risk for developing diseases such as colon cancer. Even if you have one bowel movement every day, you still have at least several meals worth of waste materials putrefying in your colon. Over time this can be very hazardous to your health.

Since the colon is basically the body’s sewer system, keeping it cleaned out is the best option for reducing disease risk. Switching your diet to one that is rich in raw fruits and vegetables and very few processed foods will keep your digestive system free of toxins.

This will result in easy and frequent elimination, preventing toxins from building up in the first place. Depending on how toxic your bowels are, in can take several weeks for your body to detoxify and restore itself to good health.

TIPS FOR A FIBER-RICH DIET

*AVOID SUGAR. There is no fiber in sugar or sugar-laden foods.

*EAT WHOLE GRAINS. Avoid white bread and white rice as they have had the fiber processed out of them. Use only food made with whole grains such as whole grain breads, cereals, wheat germ, barley and brown rice. Always check food labels.

*EAT WHOLE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Avoid fruit juices (except fresh fruit juices made in a juicer), as they can be high in sugar content. The skins are the richest source of fiber.

*EAT BEANS. Most varieties of beans are a rich source of fiber, especially kidney beans and garbanzo beans.

*REDUCE MEAT AND DAIRY. If you eat too much meat and dairy products you will not get enough fiber in your diet. You either need to reduce the amounts you eat or increase the amount of fiber you eat.

*DRINK LOTS OF WATER. You must drink plenty of water throughout the day to help push the fiber through your body. Water also eliminates toxins and speeds up the metabolism. Drink at least 8 glasses a day.

BEST FIBER SOURCES

*All-Bran cereal and other high fiber cereals

*Psyllium husks

*Flax meal

*Kidney, garbanzo, and navy beans

*Apple with skin

*Dried figs

*Prunes

*Barley

*Corn

*Whole grain spaghetti

*Banana

*Blueberries

*Sweet potato

*Broccoli

Eating a fiber-rich diet and drinking lots of water will keep your bowels running smoothly and greatly reduce the build-up of toxins. Reducing the toxins will, in turn, reduce the risk of many diseases, especially some types of cancer including colon cancer.

Chris Chenoweth, author of the

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Tags: colon cancer