Fox Chase Cancer Center News

MIAMI BEACH, FL (October 5, 2011)––Approximately 10-20 percent of prostate cancer patients have a family history of the disease. There are three major factors that are used to evaluate the extent and aggressiveness of prostate cancer, help make treatment decisions, and estimate prognosis: the Prostate Specific Antigen Level (PSA), Gleason score (GS) from the biopsy, and the digital rectal exam findings (DRE).

MIAMI BEACH, FL (October 5, 2011) — Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States, as well as the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in this population. Many of these patients undergo surgical removal of their prostate, followed by radiation therapy applied to their prostate bed — the space where the prostate was once situated.

MIAMI BEACH, FL (October 4, 2011)––After a prostate cancer patient receives radiation treatment, his doctor carefully monitors the amount of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, in his blood. An increase in PSA, called biochemical failure, is the first detectable sign of the cancer's return to the prostate. Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have found that the time between the last radiation treatment and biochemical failure can accurately predict a patient's risk of death of prostate cancer.

MIAMI BEACH, FL (October 4, 2011) –– In a new study led by Fox Chase Cancer Center radiation oncologist Natasha Townsend, MD, researchers have found that Gleason scores determined by pathologists at Fox Chase Cancer Center more accurately predict the risk of recurrence than Gleason scores from referring institutions. She presented the new research at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology on Monday, October 3.

MIAMI BEACH, FL (October 3, 2011) – Patients with Merkel Cell Carcinoma who underwent a procedure called sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNLB) had a lower risk of cancer recurrence after two years, according to a study by researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center. When the biopsy's results were used to guide subsequent tests and treatment, these patients had longer survival rates than patients who had not undergone the procedure.

MIAMI BEACH, FL (October 2, 2011) – Radiosurgery is a non-invasive medical procedure in which focused beams of high-energy X-rays target tumors and other abnormalities in the body. A single large dose of radiation is capable of ablating a lesion that might not be amenable to surgical removal. However, some radiosurgery systems, such as the CyberKnife (CK), can be relatively time-consuming because the treatment planning requires the delivery of up to several hundred cone-shaped beams to adequately cover an irregularly shaped tumor.

Philadelphia (August 28, 2011) – Scientists have found that individuals who carry a mutation in a gene called BAP1 are susceptible to developing two forms of cancer – mesothelioma, and melanoma of the eye.  Additionally, when these individuals are exposed to asbestos or similar mineral fibers, their risk of developing mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen, may be markedly increased.

Philadelphia (August 16, 2011) – G. Morris Dorrance Jr., who led CoreStates Financial Corporation into one of the nation's top banking organizations, died at Bryn Mawr Hospital on August 11 following a stroke. He was 88.