Half of the patients with advanced lung cancer, America's deadliest, reject treatment, study says

Fifty-two percent of metastatic lung cancer patients fail to get life-extending treatments, a new study finds.

According to a recent story by Simar Bajaj in The New York Times, the reason they skip such treatments as chemotherapy, immunotherapy. and targeted therapy is, experts suggest, because of "access issues, fatalism, and shame."

The Times article reports that the study, published in JAMA Oncology, "analyzed more than 250,000 people on Medicare between 2006 and 2021, with an average age of 73, and found that the proportion of patients who received these treatments increased only slightly over time, to 48 percent from 45 percent."

More than 110,000 Americans are annually diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, the deadliest cancer in the United States.

Dr. Carolyn J. Presley

But over the past 15 years, Dr. Carolyn J. Presley, chief of thoracic medical oncology at Ohio State University (who wasn't involved in the study ), is quoted, dozens of promising new drugs have come to market. For some patients, a pill can hold the disease in check for years, "so the fact that so many older adults are not getting treatment is really, really sobering."

Some patients who smoked "might feel like they brought this disease upon themselves," Bajaj's story says,  and — according to Dr. Adam Fox, pulmonologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, who led the study — the stigma not only contributes to diagnostic delays but also to patients feeling unworthy of care.

Fatalism, the lingering belief that metastatic lung cancer is hopeless and treatment is unlikely to help, might be adopted by some primary care and emergency medicine doctors, the article suggests.

As for access issues, "one of the biggest barriers to treatment is not being diagnosed in time. Screening can catch tumors early, but it remains widely underutilized, largely because most people don't know it's available and complicated eligibility criteria make it difficult for docs to figure out who qualifies," Bajaj's piece notes.

More information on Stage 4, metastasized disease can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, aVitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten aimed at male caregivers. My other books are MysteryDates — How to keep the sizzle in your relationship; The Roving I, a compilation of 70 of my newspaper columns; and Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a whimsical fantasy intended for 6- to 10-year-olds that I co-authored with my then 8-year-old granddaughter. Check out my other website at https://woodyweingarten.com for details.

Thousands of rectal cancer patients might be spared the brutal effects of radiation, study says

Tens of thousands of patients annually might be able to rely not on radiation but only surgery and chemotherapy to treat their rectal cancer. 

According to a recent story by Gina Kolata in The New York Times that cites a large clinical trial initially reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, more than 10,000 people each year may therefore avoid potentially serious side effects.

Dr. Eric Winer

Dr. Eric Winer, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the organization to which the results of the test were revealed, was quoted as indicating that the study is part of a new direction for cancer researchers.

"Now that cancer treatments have  improved," Kolata reports him saying, "researchers are starting to ask different questions. Instead of asking how cancer therapy can be intensified, they are asking if there are elements of successful treatments that can be eliminated to provide patients with a better quality of life." 

Winer, who wasn't directly involved in the study, was asked to comment because of his expertise.

Rectal cancer annual affects 47,500 U.S. residents.

The study determined that radiation treatment didn't improve outcomes, despite the fact that, the Times piece indicates, for decades "it was typical to use pelvic radiation, [which] puts women into immediate menopause and damages sexual function in men and women. It also can  injure the bowel, causing issues like chronic diarrhea. Patients risk pelvic fractures, and the radiation can cause additional cancers." 

More information about less being better can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Saving sperm can overcome infertility in men who get testicular cancer, Mayo Clinic doc says

Should men diagnosed with testicular cancer worry about having children in the future? Yes, says a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Bradley C. Leibovich

Bradley C. Leibovich, MD, a urologic oncologist there and the medical director of the Center for Digital Health, notes that "the first thing we do with men that are interested in preserving fertility is talk about sperm banking."

One side effect of chemotherapy, radiation and other cancer treatments can definitely be infertility, Leibovich told Jason Howland of the Mayo Clinic News Network online a while back, so saving the sperm should be a priority before starting treatment.

Another concern is "lower levels of testosterone, a hormone produced primarily in the testicles," the News Network story says.

The article also quotes Leibovich as saying, "Most men have normal testosterone levels with just one testicle. For men that do wind up with a lower level of testosterone, it's really easy to replace." 

The piece then says that under the "guidance of a healthcare professional, testosterone replacement therapy, in the form of injections, pills, patches or gels, can restore normal testosterone levels in men."

In an earlier story in the News Network also written by Howland, it's noted that "the disease is not common. Just 1 in 250 men will develop testicular cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the American Caner Society. Most of those cases are in young and middle-aged men."

Leibovich explains that "we like men to do monthly testicular self-examinations. Because if you find that testicular cancer early, the amount of treatment people need to get that cure is significantly less." 

More information about dealing with side effects of treatments can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Small study finds some patients can de-escalate, skip cancer surgery, do only chemo and radiation

Not doing surgery and relying only on chemo is possible for some women, a new study says.

Dr. Henry Kuerer

According to a story by Roni Caryn Rabin in The New York Times some time ago, the research, an early-stage clinical trial, found that "a carefully selected group of patients who responded remarkably well to chemotherapy could skip surgery altogether."

About 60% of the test patients fit that category and went on to receive radiation treatment. They were still in remission, the article says, "after a median follow-up period of two years and two months," quoting Dr. Henry Kuerer, principal investigator of the study, which was published in Lancet Oncology.

"The elimination of surgery for invasive breast cancer is 'the ultimate form of breast-conserving therapy,'" the Times quotes him as saying.

Why skip an operation? It can lead to complications such as infections or lasting nerve pain.

Under any conditions, "there are always going to be people who would rather not have surgery," Rabin quotes Kuerer, professor of breast surgical oncology at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The work, the story continues, "is part of an approach to cancer treatment called de-escalation — an effort to individualize treatment to a specific subtype of the disease, achieving the same results with less treatment and fewer interventions."

According to Karen Knudsen, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, "asking whether we can scale back surgery is a reasonable next consideration for the future of cancer care."

In a separate clinical trial, Kuerer is testing whether radiation is always necessary.

More information about choices when facing a life-threatening disease can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partners breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Actor Sam Neil must take chemotherapy rest of life to ward off recurrence of lymphoma

After fighting it for months, actor Sam Neill, star of Jurassic Park movie franchise, has finally revealed that he has been diagnosed with blood cancer.

Sam Neill

According to a recent story by Lee Moran on the HuffPost website, Neill says he's being treated but is in remission. There's now "no cancer in my body," he's quoted as saying. 

He will, however, need chemotherapy treatment each month for the rest of his life, he admitted to the Guardian in an interview.

Moran's piece says the 75-year-old was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma "after experiencing swollen glands while promoting Jurassic World Dominion last year."

His revelations most likely came because his memoir — Did I Ever Tell You This? — was just released.. Writing it, the HuffPost story quotes him, "was a lifesaver" that gave him "a reason to live."'

Neill is back to work, with his next television appearance scheduled for Apples Never Fail, a limited upcoming Peacock series co-starring Annette Bening.

More information about treatments and disease can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Women with cancer diagnoses — and docs — face tough choices because top court discarded Roe

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's eliminating abortion rights validated half a century ago in the Roe v Wade decision, pregnant women with cancer diagnoses may face wrenching choices.

Doctors as well are now facing difficult decisions.

That's the conclusion of a recent story by Gina Kolata in The New York Times, which headlines the piece with: "Urgent questions arise about how care of pregnant women with cancer will change in states where women are unable to terminate pregnancies."

Kolata's piece notes that "if the life of a fetus is paramount, a pregnancy can mean a woman cannot get effective treatment of her cancer. One in a thousand women who get pregnant each year is diagnosed with cancer, meaning thousands of women are facing a serious and possibly fatal disease while they are expecting a baby."

Dr. Clifford Hudis

The article quotes Dr. Clifford Hudis, chief executive officer at the American Society of Clinical Oncology, to the effect that "if a doctor can't give a drug without fear of damaging a fetus, is that going to compromise outcomes? It's a whole new world."

The Times story explains that cancer drugs are dangerous for fetuses in the first trimester, and while older chemotherapy drugs are safe in the second and third trimesters, "the safety of the newer and more effective drugs is unknown and doctors are reluctant to give them to pregnant women."

Some 40 percent of women who are pregnant and have cancer have breast cancer, but many other cancers occur in pregnant women: blood cancers, cervical and ovarian cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, melanoma, brain cancer, thyroid cancer and pancreatic cancer.

Moreover, the story says, "women with some types of cancer, like acute leukemia, often can't continue with a pregnancy if the cancer is diagnosed in the first trimester. They need to be treated immediately, within days, and the necessary drugs are toxic to a fetus."

Dr. Eric Winer, director of the Yale Cancer Center, is also quoted: "In my view, the only medically accepted option is termination of the pregnancy so that lifesaving treatment can be administered to the mother."

Some oncologists, Kolata's story continues, "say they are not sure what is allowed if a women lives in a state like Michigan, which has a law that criminalized most abortions but permits them to save the life of a mother."

Dr. N. Lynn Henry

In that regard, still another physician, N. Lynn Henry, an oncologist at the University of Michigan, says that "we can't prove that the drugs caused a problem for the baby, and we can't prove that withholding the drugs would have a negative outcome."

In other words, the story goes on to attribute to unnamed doctors, "complications from pregnancy — a miscarriage, a premature birth, birth defects or death — can occur whether or not a woman with cancer takes the drugs. If she is not treated and her cancer gallops into a malignancy that kills her, that too might have happened even if she had been given he cancer drugs."

A law professor and bioethicist at Harvard, I. Glenn Cohen, projects — according to the story— that "we are putting physicians in a terrible position. I don't think signing up to be a physician should mean signing up to do jail time."

Additional information about chemotherapy can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Many physicians now favoring multiple options other than chemotherapy to treat cancers

A growing number of cancer patients, especially those with breast and lung malignancies, are being spared chemo in favor of other options.

At least that's the conclusion of The New York Times.

According to a recent story by the paper's most prolific cancer specialist, Gina Kolata, because "there is a growing willingness among oncologists to scale back unhelpful treatments" and because genetic tests "can now reveal whether chemotherapy would be beneficial," there are many better options for patients than chemo.

Among them, the article notes, are "an ever-expanding array of drugs, including estrogen blockers and drugs that destroy cancers by attacking specific proteins on the surface of tumors."

These alternative treatments, the piece notes, are increasingly being used for breast and lung cancers, and many others as well, sparing "thousands each year from the dread chemotherapy treatment, with its accompanying hair loss, nausea, fatigue, and potential to cause permanent damage to the heart and to nerves in the hands and feet."

And even when chemo is indicated, Kolata's story says, "doctors often give fewer drugs for less time."

Dr. Lisa Carey

"It's a totally different world," the article quotes Dr. Lisa Carey, breast cancer specialist at the University of North Carolina.

That view is supported by Dr. Robert Vonderheide, lung cancer specialist who heads the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center, who says that docs used to discuss whether to give patients two different types of chemo or three but now "are walking in to see even patients with advanced lung cancer and telling them, 'No chemo.'"

Kolata's piece calls the change "a quiet revolution" that has stemmed from "a slow chipping away" at the number of people for whom chemo — which for decades was considered "the rule, the dogma" — is recommended.

More information on new therapies can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Lumpectomy and radiation treatments fix Minnesota senator's early-detected breast cancer

Sen. Amy Klobuchar admits she underwent treatment for early-stage breast cancer in January.

According to a story by Felicia Sonmez in The Washington Post today, the former 2020 Democrat presidential candidate said in a post on Medium, a platform for professionals, that she'd had a lumpectomy and radiation.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar

The 61-year-old Minnesota politician said she was told by her doctors last month that the treatments had gone well and that her "chances of developing cancer again are no greater than the average person."

Sonmez's article says Klobuchar "urged Americans not to put off routine health screenings, noting that 'doctors are seeing patients who are being treated for more serious conditions that could have been caught earlier.'" 

She also noted that it is "easy to put off health screenings, just like I did. But I hope my experience is a reminder for everyone of the value of routine health checkups, exams, and follow-through. I am so fortunate to have caught the cancer at an early enough stage and to not need chemotherapy or other extensive treatments, which unfortunately is not the case for so many others."

The senator thanked her physicians, family and friends for their support during her surgery and radiation treatment, which she observed had coincided with the illness and death of her father, a Minneapolis journalist.

"Their support allowed me to continue my work with my colleagues on major pandemic and economic legislation," the story quotes her as saying, "as well as chairing the joint Senate Jan. 6 investigation and the For the People hearings while undergoing cancer treatment."

According to a story by Quint Forgey on today's Politico website, the three-term senior senator also admitted that "this has been scary at times, since cancer is the word all of us fear." Each day, she said, "is a gift."

Further information on early detection can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Actor Stanley Tucci says he overcame tongue cancer, after long treatments, 3 years ago

Screen and television star Stanley Tucci has disclosed —- three years after the fact —— that he beat cancer following long, difficult treatments. 

The tumor was at the base of his tongue and originally "too big to operate" on.

Stanley Tucci

An online story by Cole Delbyck in yesterday's Huffpost maintains that the 60-year-old Tucci had undergone intensive treatments for approximately half a year — including chemotherapy and high-dose radiation that apparently killed the malignancy and made it unlikely that it could return.

Delbyck's story indicates that Tucci feels "much older than I did before I was sick. But you still want to get ahead and get things done.”

The actor's disclosure, which appeared in Vera magazine last week, indicates that cancer "makes you more afraid and less afraid at the same time.”

Tucci's now the star of his eponymous CNN food-and-travel series, "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy," after having honed his culinary skills and developed a following. The show, which earned multiple Emmy Award nominations, has been renewed for a second season.

Tucci's first wife, Kate Spath-Tucci, died of breast cancer in 2009 at age 47. Afterwards, he vowed that he'd never go through chemo and radiation because watching "her go through those treatments for years was horrible," he told Delbyck.

Clearly, he changed his mind.

The Huffpost article points out that he had also been "particularly concerned with how his diagnosis would affect his five children.” The actor has three children from his first marriage and shares a son and daughter with his current wife, Felicity Blunt, sister of his 'Devil Wears Prada' co-star Emily Blunt.

Delbyck's piece quotes the actor as saying that the "kids were great, but it was hard for them. I had a feeding tube for six months. I could barely make it to the twins' high school graduation."

Earlier this year, the article notes, Tucci spoke in an "CBS Sunday Morning" interview about his late wife and noted that "you never stop grieving. It's still hard. And it will always be hard [but she] would never want any of us to ever wallow intuit grief and let it take over our lives. She would never want that. She wasn't like that."

Tucci in recent years has appeared in three films, including the gay romance, "Supernova," in which he co-starred with Colin Firth as a man battling early onset dementia.

Additional information about diseases and their treatments can be found in “Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer,” a book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Doctors cite value of immunotherapy

Lung cancer patients are heavily benefitting from new treatments, Parade magazine reports

A lot of good news has been developing in the past several years about finding and treating lung cancer, according to Parade magazine.

A recent article by Marygrace Taylor suggests that, despite the disease growing for both never-smokers and women, "there's reason to be optimistic."

How so?

"There's been a huge jump in how long people are living with lung cancer," the piece quotes Dr. Nathan Pennell, Cleveland Clinic oncologist, as saying. "It's an extraordinary change."

Dr. Nathan Pennell

The Parade story then goes on to cite the value of such treatments as immunotherapy, which "helps the immune system better recognize and remove cancer cells without necessarily impacting normal cells," according to Dr. Jacob Sands, an American Lung Association spokesman. 

More than 1,000 clinical trials are currently studying how patients "can benefit from checkpoint inhibitors, immunotherapy drugs that block proteins that cancer cells use to stave off attacks from the immune system," Taylor writes.

Pennell adds that "we now know that if you add a checkpoint inhibitor to chemo, people live substantially longer" — and most likely with fewer side effects.

Dr. Jacob Sands

Sands also points to the efficacy of an advanced screening tool like low-dose CT scans, which "catch cancers at earlier stages when they're more likely to be cured."

Another new weapon in the war against lung cancer is stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), a specialized form of highly targeted radiation "often used to treat patients with early-stage lung cancer when surgery isn't an option."

One recent trial, the article reports, found the treatment "could double survival time without progression of [the] disease."

Finally, advanced bronchoscopy, which uses a lighted tube to examine abnormal parts of the lung just as traditional bronchoscopy does but also utilizes "smaller, more powerful tools" to create 3D maps of patients' lungs and helps doctors access areas that the traditional method can't reach.

More information about innovations in cancer treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at caregivers.

FDA approves 31 new therapies in one year

New screenings and treatments are helping to boost the number of cancer survivors in the U.S.

By 2026, some 20.3 million cancer survivors will be living in the United States — up from 15.5 million a decade earlier.

That, according to a recent article in Parade magazine by Sheryl Kraft, is because innovations in screening and treatment are helping patients beat the odds.

"In just one year," the piece reports, "31 new therapies to treat more than 16 types of cancers were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, believes that screening can save lives. "Some estimates say that we can decrease the number of colorectal deaths by 12,000 to 20,000 if screening guidelines were followed."

Dr. Jame Abraham

And Dr. Jame Abraham, director of Cleveland Clinic's Breast Oncology Program, notes that hormone therapy might be all that's necessary to treat 70 percent of women with the most common form of breast cancer. 

"That means a large number of patients can safely avoid chemotherapy," the Parade story quotes her as saying. "We can individualize treatment and make sure we are prescribing the right treatment for the right purpose."

It was tough previously to identify which women with early-stage breast cancer were at risk for recurrence, so many had received unnecessary chemo, radiation and hormonal therapy. But a groundbreaking study known as the TAILORx trial found that many women could be saved from "unnecessary side effects like fatigue, hair loss, nausea, vomiting and anemia," the quote continues.

Another new treatment, immunotherapy, which "works by reprogramming a patient's own immune cells to find and attack those cancer cells through the body," also is being held out as innovative — and the American Society of Clinical Oncology's "advance of the year."

Immunotherapy now is being heralded as "extremely promising for treating triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most difficult-to-treat breast cancers," after having already been shown to have "significant results in young patients with a form of leukemia and adults with multiple myeloma (a type of blood cancer) and lymphoma (a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system)."

Yet another new testing method, CancerSEEK — according to the Parade piece, "a simple blood test, which in its research phase was performed on people already diagnosed with cancer," can identify markers for for tumors containing mutated DNA in the bloodstream. 

These markers are associated with eight common cancer types: breast, lung, colorectal, ovarian, liver, stomach, pancreatic and esophageal.

Lastly, the story cites a less invasive and faster lung-cancer technique called microcoil localization, "which can pinpoint and remove small bits of affected tissue using a needle inserted through the chest wall to remove the cancer at its earliest stage."

Minimally invasive surgery — instead of the currently popular "lobectomy, which removes a portion of the lung by opening up the chest, followed by radiation and chemotherapy."

More details on new techniques and treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Are toxic treatments a thing of the past?

Many early-stage breast cancer patients may now skip chemo, new study's docs indicate

Lots of women with early-stage forms of breast cancer don't need chemotherapy.

At least that's the bottom line of a major international study, according to a recent report by Denise Grady in The New York Times.

Dr. Ingrid A. Mayer

Grady quotes Dr. Ingrid A. Mayer of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, an author of the study, as saying, "We can spare thousands and thousands of women from getting toxic treatment that really wouldn't benefit them. This is very powerful. It really changes the standard of care."

Instead of chemo, the study found, some women could "take only a drug that blocks the hormone estrogen or stops the body from making it."

That drug, tamoxifen, and related medicines "have become an essential part of treatment for most women," Grady's article says, "because they lower the risks of recurrence, new breast tumors and death from the disease."

The findings, which refer to that alternative endocrine therapy, apparently apply to about 60,000 women a year in the United States, according to Dr. Joseph A. Sparano of Montefiore Medical Center in New York, the study's leader.

The Times quotes Sparano as saying that "now we can spare chemotherapy in about 70 percent of patients who would be potential candidates for it based on clinical features."

But, the story adds, both Mayer and Sparano say women 50 and younger "might benefit from chemo even if gene-test results suggest otherwise. It is not clear why. But these women require especially careful consultation, they said."

The study, called TAILORx, was published in The New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a Chicago meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. It was started in 2006 and was paid for by the U.S. and Canadian governments and philanthropic groups.

After 2016, Genomic Health, the company that makes the gene test Oncotype DX Breast Cancer Assy, the one most used in the United States, helped pay for it.

The test, available since 2004, costs about $3,000, and insurance usually covers it.

Some 260,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected in women in the United States this year, and 41,000 deaths. Globally, according to the Times, "the most recent figures are from 2012, when there were 1.7 million new cases and more than half-a-million deaths."

Chemo, long feared because of nausea and hair loss, puts patients at risk for infection and leukemia later in life. But endocrine therapy also has side effects. According to Grady, they include "hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, weight gain and pain in joints and muscles."

Tamoxifen can increase the risk of cancer of the uterus, the story notes.

Despite the discomforts and risks, women with breast cancer have been getting chemo since 2000, when the National Cancer Institute recommended it even for those whose disease had not spread to lymph nodes "based on studies showing it could prevent the cancer from recurring elsewhere in the body and becoming incurable."

Sparano contends, however, that although "recurrences were being prevented, and lives prolonged…we were probably overtreating a lot of these women."

Mayer admitted that "we couldn't figure out who we really needed to treat."

More details on studies about the disease, treatments and risks can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Problems can pop up years after treatments

Warning: Breast cancer therapy such as chemo, radiation can hike risk of heart disease

Can lifesaving breast-cancer treatments raise your chances of dying from a heart disease?

Possibly.

A recent story in The Washington Post by Laurie McKinley cites an American Heart Association warning to women with breast cancer that "lifesaving therapies like chemotherapy and radiation can cause heart failure and other serious cardiac problems, sometimes years after treatment."

The AHA suggests, however, that rather than avoid the treatments patients should "take steps to prevent or minimize the cardiac risks" by exercising regularly and sticking to a healthy diet.

According to McKinley's dispatch, the caution, published in the journal Circulation, includes the conclusion that "breast cancer survivors who are 65 and older and were treated for their cancer are more likely to die of cardiovascular problems than breast cancer."

Nearly "48 million women in the United States have some kind of heart disease, compared to 3.3 million women with breast cancer," the Post piece asserts, adding that the AHA "said an unprecedented number of women are surviving the disease yet face a risk of developing heart problems, in part because of their cancer treatments."

Dr. Laxmi Mehta

Dr. Laxmi Mehta, who led the writing of the report and is a cardiologist at Ohio State University, is quoted as saying that "it's important for people to know that the heart needs to be taken care of before, during and after treatment."

And Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, is paraphrased as noting "it isn't unusual for a breast-cancer patient who underwent chemo years earlier to wake up one day with swollen ankles and shortness of breath, symptoms of congestive heart failure," but when such a patient ends up hospitalized, "doctors tend to look for signs of a heart attack or pulmonary embolism while overlooking breast cancer treatment as a possible culprit."

That's a problem, he indicates, "because heart failure caused by a chemo drug like doxorubicin [which once was called adriamycin] is treated differently than heart failure from a heart attack."

The report says some studies have shown that "dexrazoxane can reduce the risk of heart damage in patients getting high doses of doxorubicin for advanced breast cancer" and that some heart damage, including the kind cased by Herceptin, can sometimes be reversed.

The Post article also reveals that some doctors worry that the AHA report might discourage women with high-risk cancer — especially those with HER2-positve and triple negative breast cancer — from getting aggressive treatment.   

More details about the risks of radiation and chemotherapy can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at caregivers.

New chemotherapy plan echoes AIDS deal

2 major drug manufacturers slash prices to help fight cancer in six poor African countries

In a deal similar to the one that turned the tide against AIDS, manufacturers and charities will make chemotherapy drugs available at steep discounts, according to a recent story by Donald G. McNeil Jr. in The New York Times.

Two major pharmaceutical companies —  Pfizer and Cipla, based respectively in New York and Mumbai— are working with the American Cancer Society to make it happen, the story indicates. 

They've apparently agreed to charge "rock-bottom prices for 16 common chemotherapy drugs," McNeil's piece says — "just above…manufacturing costs."

As an add-on, top American oncologists plan to "simplify complex cancer-treatment guidelines for under-equipped African hospitals, and a corps of IBM programmers will build those guidelines into an online tool available to any oncologist with an internet connection," the story continues.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci

The piece also quotes Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, that "this gave me goose bumps. I think this is a phenomenal idea, and I think it has a good chance of working."

Fauci said it reminded him "of his work in 2002 helping design the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief" — a plan that's been successful (24 million Africans are currently on HIV drugs).

Cancer, the story says, "now kills about 450,000 Africans a year. By 2030, it will kill almost 1 million annually, the World Health Organization predicts." 

Most common African cancers, it continues, "are the most treatable, including breast, cervical and prostate tumors."

But in contrast to the United States, where 90 percent of women with breast cancer survive at least five years, in Uganda, "only 46 percent do; in Gambia, a mere 12 percent,"  McNeil's story asserts.

One major African problem is that there are few cancer specialists. 

For example, in Ethiopia, one of the six countries that will be covered by the new agreement, there are "only four oncologists for its 100 million citizens," according to the Times piece. "Nigeria has about 40 for its population for 186 million."

Uganda has only 16 oncologists "and its only radiotherapy machine…has been broken for over a year. Before its 21-year-old gears gave out, the machine's cobalt source had become so week that irradiation sessions meant to last minutes took an hour."

Caution about how well the program will work is being urged.

According to McNeil's story, "even with cheaper drugs, progress against cancer in Africa will be slower than it was against AIDS, all parties to the deal warned" — partially because cancer "comprises an entire family of diseases," unlike AIDS, which "is caused by a single pathogen that can be suppressed, albeit not cured, with a daily three-drug pill."

More information on cancer drugs and treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

'Veep' star finishes 2nd round of chemotherapy

Julia Louis-Dreyfus utilizes Instagram to update followers about breast cancer treatments

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Emmy-winning star of "Veep" and "Seinfeld," has borrowed pop sensation Katy Perry's lyrics from the 2013 hit "Roar" to update fans about her breast cancer treatments.

Louis-Dreyfus, who'd announced in September that she'd been diagnosed with the disease, had used her condition to call for universal health care in the United States. 

Now, giving credit to Perry and "Veep" co-stars Timothy Simons and Tony Hale "for their hilarious and loving inspiration," she used Instagram to spread the news — comically — that she'd finished her second round of chemotherapy and is ready to continue her battle.

Her posting included a photo of her wearing a black hoodie, sunglasses and a hand-drawn mustache, and she wrote, "'I've got the eye of the tiger. The Fighter dancing through the fire cuz I am a champion and you're going to hear me ROAR."

Her initial announcement had asserted that "1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today, I'm the one," then cited a support system led by her family and friends and noted that she had "fantastic insurance through my union."

The 56-year-old star's declaration came a day after this year's Emmy award ceremony in which she won her sixth consecutive statue, setting the record for the most victories for a performance by the same actress in the same series.

The five-year survival rate for breast cancer is now 90 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.

More information about cancer treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

TV star has 'no idea how to react' to good news

Remission! Two-year battle with breast cancer being won by actress Shannen Doherty

Actress Shannen Doherty's breast cancer apparently has gone into remission.

After a two-year public battle with the disease.

According to an article by Umberto Gonzales in The Wrap over the weekend, Doherty wrote on Instagram that she has "no idea how to react," and added that "for now, I'm going to just breathe."

Shannen Doherty

But the "Beverly Hills, 90210" television star is realistic.

She noted that "as every single one of my fellow cancer family knows, the next five years is crucial. Recurrences happen all the time."

Meanwhile, she said, "Decisions. Reconstruction, which is several surgeries. Decision on taking a pill for the next five years comes with its own set of problems and side effects."

Her over-all feeling, however, was that "I am blessed."

Her battle became public when, according to Gonzales, "she sued her former management firm after her health insurances lapsed," which led to a delay in having her breast cancer diagnosed.

The star has undergone chemotherapy and a mastectomy.

Details about the disease, reconstruction, side effects and follow-up treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Shannen Doherty's breast cancer metastasizes

TV actress' post-mastectomy treatments: chemotherapy, radiation, strong marriage

Shannen Doherty

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Shannen Doherty's breast cancer has metastasized.

To her lymph notes and perhaps elsewhere.

Exactly what that means regarding treatments is still unclear, however.

US magazine this week reported that Doherty gave an interview to "Entertainment Tonight" in which she finally admitted having had a mastectomy in May, and that she's using an expander.

The 45-year-old actress, who's already undergoing chemotherapy (eight sessions have been planned), has now added radiation to her regimen.

Doherty, who during a four-year stint on "Beverly Hills 90210" gained fame as someone difficult to work with, told "ET" that "living without a breast is manageable. It's the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love."

She also said that "the unknown is always the scariest part. Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work? You know, am I going to have to go through this again, or am I going to get secondary cancer?"

Last month she posted six black-and-white photos on Instagram showing her lopping off her hair, preceded by another picture with this caption: #cancersucks.

She said at the time that she'd probably be unable to have children because of the cancer treatments.

During this week's interview, she reported that "it was traumatic and horrible" being fitted for a new bra. "I broke down crying in the dressing room and ran out, and then sat in the car crying."

Her breast cancer diagnosis originally was made in February 2015.

On Tuesday, her photographer husband, Kurt Iswarienko, shared an Instagram shot of the couple flipping the bird to cancer. Doherty was wearing a bright pink wig.

She commented that he's been with her through all the chemo treatments so far, and that her cancer has "made my marriage a thousand times stronger."

Insights into mastectomies and other treatments can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Caregiving for cancer patients: parallel feelings?

Tom Hanks, 'Rollercoaster' author share need to give care to breast cancer patient wives

Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks has become an instant male caregiver.

Why?

Because his 58-year-old actress wife, Rita Wilson, recently choose to undergo a double mastectomy.

And reconstructive breast surgery.

She'd been diagnosed with breast cancer after a first test, a biopsy, had mistakenly come back negative.

Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks

The disease and operations — according to the Daily Dish site of the San Francisco Chronicle — caused her to temporarily absent herself from "Fish in the Dark," a Broadway play she'd been appearing in.

She was quoted as telling People magazine she's "getting better every day" and expects "to make a full recovery."

Hanks now must deal with feelings similar to those I experienced when my wife underwent "slash, poison and burn" treatments for breast cancer 20 years ago — feelings detailed in my new VitalityPress book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer."

My book — aimed at husbands, boyfriends, fathers, sons and brothers of breast cancer patients — is a memoir-chronicle, a love story, and an up-to-the-minute guide to research, meds and where to get help.

It illustrates that, despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, there can be light at the end of the tunnel. 

According to the American Cancer Society, 13 percent of American women (one in every eight) will get breast cancer at some point, with three-quarters of them having no risk factors except that they’re female.

Wilson — who married Hanks in 1988 and subsequently appeared with him in "Sleepless in Seattle," "That Thing You Do!" and Larry Crowne" — took action after getting a second medical opinion, something she recommends to others as being "critical to your health."

Trust your instincts, she advised, adding that "early diagnosis is key."

Softening the impact of breast cancer chemo

Humorous photos don't appear in 'Rollercoaster' but helped couple deal with hair loss

Rhoda Draws in her studio.

Humor can help patients and caregivers cope.

So can artistic flights of fancy.

At a time when her breast cancer and chemo-induced loss of hair turned my wife, Nancy Fox, into a portrait of cheerlessness, Rhoda Draws, a painter-caricaturist-friend based in Mill Valley, California, superimposed some playfulness on half a dozen photographs.

Nancy couldn't help but smile.

Nor could I.

Nancy, digitally enhanced.

Rhoda, who's also an author and teacher, presented the re-imagined photos (aka digitally enhanced, or cyber-imaged) to Nancy as a gift.

Immediately, my wife for a while stopped mourning the loss of her shoulder length, red hair — what she describes in my new book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," as "the one part of my body that I have loved unconditionally."

None of the distinctive photos accompany my narrative. Not because Nancy doesn't appreciate them 20 years after her diagnosis and treatment, but simply because I, Woody Weingarten, didn't use any illustrations at all in the book.

Nancy used the six re-imagined, often whimsical photos on a one-page flyer she sent to friends and family members who aided her. She added this text: "Thanks for your helping hands…and your loving heart…during all my changes."

The front of our refrigerator is decorated with two of the images — on magnets. They still make us smile, every day.

And cope.

And remember the ups and downs of the past triggered by passages in "Rollercoaster."

Such as:

• "Her dread of going bald had careened off the charts. Just before turning out the lights she recalled that as a girl with braids down to her waist, she'd panicked when her mother demanded she cut them off."

• "I do wish she could consistently see herself as I do, as a beautiful creature with or without hair."

• Sadness about her missing hair — even though that loss was temporary — remained the biggie for Nancy. A year after her final treatment, she wrote in her journal that it 'was clearly the psychologically devastating part of the cancer."

• It had taken more than two years before she could look at images of her baldness…She agreed at last to put the photos of her hairless stage into two albums…[She] triggered my caregiver button: 'You and I will never see it the same way,' I replied sincerely. 'Your high cheekbones and eyes showed off better when there was no hair to look at. The fact is, you're lovely both ways.'"

Two decades after her breast cancer diagnosis, Nancy's loveliness still makes me tremble.

Even though her hair is draped around her shoulders again.