Cancer Treatment

BAYTOWN, Texas -- The scrapbook that documents Camelia Cruz's days as a teen-age cancer patient is yellowing now, its photos and newspaper clippings fading with the passage of time.On this sunny Monday morning, Cruz cracked it open, as she does every now and then, unleashing a flood of memories from what seems like a former life. Cruz, now 22, is a survivor of osteosarcoma, a highly malignant bone tumor.The cancer was diagnosed when she was 13. At an age when most girls are worried about pimples and boyfriends, Cruz, the former Camelia Trevino, lost her left leg; doctors had no choice but to amputate above the knee.

LOS ANGELES -- For doctors who treat cancer there are some moments that cause great pain: When you first break the news to patients that they have cancer that cannot be cured and, as during the past several days, telling patients that reports of exciting laboratory research in cancer treatment will not help them.Right now, millions of families are struggling through the emotional roller coaster that follows the cancer diagnosis of a loved one. They have jumped at the recent news of an innovative experimental drug therapy for cancer.

Baltimore County's newest park has an unusual but inspiring message: "Cancer -- There is hope."The 1-acre parcel at Goucher Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue in Towson will be dedicated today, with life-size bronze sculptures, a cascading waterfall, a computerized registry of cancer survivors and a "Positive Mental Attitude Walk."The 10 a.m. ceremony for the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Park will feature its largest benefactor, Richard A. Bloch, co-founder of H&R Block and a cancer survivor.

The director of the National Institutes of Health has refused to "march in" and give CellPro Inc. license to patents owned by the Johns Hopkins University for a cancer treatment system.CellPro had invoked an obscure legal provision to get around a federal judge's ruling that CellPro infringed on Hopkins' patents by building and marketing a blood-filtering device for cancer patients.Under the "march-in" clause of the Bayh-Dole Act, the government can grant a compulsory license if the public is being deprived of access to a vital product.

Last November, just days after his wife died of breast cancer, Dr. William B. Mayer was asked for permission to use her name for a new cancer center at Howard County General Hospital.Thinking it would be a cancer treatment center, the obstetrician-gynecologist immediately agreed.A week later when he learned that the new facility -- now called the Claudia R. Mayer Cancer Resource and Image Center -- would help patients and their families handle the emotional aspects of cancer, he became thoroughly convinced that it should bear his wife's name.

Looking toward the opening of its nine-story Homer Gudelsky Tower, the University of Maryland Medical Center has agreed to purchase $10 million in radiation equipment that will upgrade the speed and precision of treatments given to cancer patients.One new system will provide a three-dimensional view of a tumor, allowing doctors to tailor the delivery of radiation beams to the unique shape and size of each tumor they seek to kill.Another new system permits doctors to view the tumor and surrounding tissue as the radiation is delivered.

Men in their 70s and 80s who are diagnosed with prostate cancer may find that benefits from aggressive treatment aren't worth the side effects, a news study says.The new study, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, confirms an earlier report published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association that suggested widespread enthusiasm for prostate cancer treatment among American physicians may be misplaced.The University of Chicago report found that older men whose overall life expectancy is 10 years or less when prostate cancer is detected are far more likely to die of some other cause than of untreated prostate cancer.

Older men with early-stage prostate cancer may be better off waiting and having regular checkups and tests to monitor their cancer than having surgery or radiation therapy, says a new report.The study in yesterday's Journal of the American Medical Association is likely to stir controversy among doctors and the public about the effectiveness of surgery and radiation to treat prostate cancer, the most common kind of cancer among American men.Surgery and radiation for men older than 60 with early stages of prostate cancer may not help them live longer and may put them at risk for complications, particularly impotence and incontinence, which may "severely degrade quality of life," the study said.

Former Sen. Paul E. Tsongas of Massachusetts was admitted to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston yesterday for further treatment of lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, officials of the hospital said.Mr. Tsongas, a Democratic Party presidential candidate last year, was reported in good condition. He entered the hospital for monitoring of the chemotherapy he is receiving in his latest battle against lymphoma.Mr. Tsongas, 51, said in a statement that he had asked Dana-Farber officials not to issue further statements about his condition until the treatment is completed.

Maryland, the state that suffers more cancer deaths than any other, has good reason to welcome the construction of a Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. The center, to be built on the original site of the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, will bring together all the departments involved in treating patients with cancer, including surgical specialties as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.That in itself would bring care for cancer patients to a new level.

The children of a 62-year-old Indiana woman are trying to pressure a Maryland biotech company into treating their mother's pancreatic cancer with an experimental drug not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The three daughters of Connie Loughman held a news conference at their parents' Indianapolis home yesterday, pleading for access to the drug. They have launched a video on YouTube devoted to their mother's plight and set up a Web site asking people to e-mail executives at Gaithersburg's GenVec Inc., which is testing the promising cancer treatment.

Hoping to strengthen their stressed-out immune systems, many people with cancer join support groups, attend yoga classes or take other steps to lift their moods. Do these mind-body interventions help prolong life? A recent study of 1,093 patients with advanced head and neck cancer suggests they do not. The report, published in October in the journal Cancer, found no difference in life expectancy of patients with a strong sense of emotional well-being compared with those with high levels of emotional distress.

Relatives of a man killed in a drunken-driving crash asked an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge yesterday for compassion for the driver, the victim's friend, who is seriously ill with cancer. The request was made as Richard Vernon Green, 42, of Columbia Beach, who was charged with manslaughter, entered an Alford plea in the death of Joseph Edward Klotz, 41, of Wayson's Corner, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said. Green did not admit guilt in the June 2, 2002, crash but acknowledged that there was enough evidence to convict him. Judge Paul A. Hackner scheduled sentencing for July 12, with the understanding that Green might not live until then or might be too ill to be imprisoned.

Prostate cancer program to be held July 9 The American Cancer Society and Carroll County General Hospital will offer a "Man to Man" prostate cancer education and support program at 6 p.m. July 9 in the hospital cafeteria. Lou Yeager from Catastrophic Health Planners will discuss "Facing a Cancer Diagnosis." The program is a forum for men to learn about diagnosis and treatment options for prostate cancer. Refreshments will be served. Registration is recommended. Information: 888-ACS-NEED or 410-848-2244.

It started on a fall day, when Judy D'Avanzo forgot someone's name. Then she couldn't keep track of her place in a novel, or whether she'd given her baby girl a bath. Soon, the journals she'd been given as gifts, the ones meant to record her feelings during breast cancer treatment, were instead inscribed with lists. Without writing down basic tasks and later crossing them off, the Timonium woman couldn't even remember if she'd taken her medicine. Cancer patients have a name for this: chemo brain or chemo curse.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. said yesterday that its first-quarter loss narrowed as sales of its Gliadel treatment for brain cancer grew. The Baltimore-based company also told investors in a conference call that it was discontinuing development of its Lidomer treatment for post-surgical pain and narrowing the focus of its efforts to develop the cancer treatment Paclimer as part of cost-cutting moves. Guilford reported a net loss of $13.5 million, or 45 cents a share, on revenue of $6.2 million.

Doctors had hoped to operate on the cancer in Rhio Weir's lungs that January morning almost two years ago. But when Weir, a 63-year-old underwriter for a title company, awoke, he was told the tumors were in the lining of his lungs and couldn't be removed. "The doctor told me the news was very bad, that the only thing I could do was radiation and chemotherapy," the Los Angeles man recalls. But there was something else Weir could do - and did. He stepped outside the circle of conventional cancer therapy for aspects of his treatment.

Health officials launched a program yesterday to offer free cancer screenings to up to 20,000 Baltimore residents a year, using money from the state's settlement of a lawsuit against the tobacco industry. During an opening ceremony at a health clinic in Park Heights, Dr. Janet Yellowitz gave an oral-cancer screening to state Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden, shining a flashlight into the crevices between his cheeks and gums and probing his neck with the tips of her fingers. "Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the state, and among African-American men over 30, it is the leading cause of death," said Dr. Georges Benjamin, the state health secretary.

Spencer J. Volk has retired as president and chief executive officer of Celsion Corp. and resigned from its board of directors, the company announced yesterday. Volk, 67, was replaced as CEO by Augustine Y. Cheung, 53, founder of the Columbia developer of heat treatments for prostate disease and cancer. Cheung relinquished his position as chairman of the company. Max Link, 60, a Celsion director since 1997 and the former CEO of Sandoz Pharma and Corange Ltd., has taken over as chairman.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a court order to stop a Baltimore businessman from continuing to sell aloe vera treatments to critically ill customers, pending his retrial in a major alternative-medicine case. Among the reasons listed in court papers, investigators said that a California woman died Sept. 3 after receiving intravenous aloe vera injections for her cancer and that other patients also have continued receiving the untested and possibly dangerous treatment. The woman paid Allen J. Hoffman $15,000 for the treatment, which he administered to her in the Bahamas, court papers say. Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to issue an injunction blocking Hoffman and his business, Astec Biologics Inc., from selling or shipping the aloe products.