Articles Tagged ‘survivorship’

Keeping Tabs on Cancer Rates

Three women huddled around a computer screen, surrounded by SEER publications

The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer that was released today shows continued declines in both the rate of new cancer cases and the rate of cancer deaths in the United States over the past several years. The incidence data used in the report were gathered from population-based cancer registries that participate in the NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, and/or the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR). Information on mortality rates comes from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). This article explores the role of population-based cancer registries.

Passport for Care: An Internet-Based Survivorship Care Plan

A cropped image of a bar graph showing increasing numbers of cancer survivors in the U.S.

The large increase in the numbers of children surviving cancer has been hailed as one of the great successes of this nation’s investment in biomedical research. Many children who otherwise would have died within weeks or months of a cancer diagnosis are now living longer, with life expectancies sometimes extending into adulthood. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that extending lifespan and preserving quality of life for survivors will depend on screening for, and the managing of, the potential long-term effects of therapy.

Because childhood cancer survivors often lack information about the treatments they received and the long-term health implications of those treatments, researchers at Texas Children’s Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Collaborative and Interactive Technologies in Houston, Texas, in conjunction with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), are developing an interactive internet resource, called Passport For Care (PFC).

Second Cancers Complicate Long-Term Survival

A cropped image of a bar graph showing increasing numbers of cancer survivors in the U.S.

The long-awaited day has arrived: you have finished chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and your cancer is in remission. For millions of patients with cancer each year, ths day has become a reality. The number of cancer survivors has been increasing every year for decades.

Although the acute side effects of cancer therapy — nausea, anemia and hair loss — are well known, possible late or chronic complications resulting from cancer are not clearly defined. As cancer survivors live longer, the effects of cancer treatments and additional health risks become apparent. The most serious side effect is development of a second cancer.