Lymphoma

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Favorite Book of the Month: Side Effects

Winner of the blog Book of the Month award goes to Amy Koss' new book Side Effects . A fictional, realistic account about fourteen year old Izzy in LA and her diagnosis & treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I found the book very enjoyable as it related the emotions of Izzy and the reactions of those around her in a way that first-hand recollections just haven't seem to capture.

The Blog Gap

There has been a 2-3 month gap in postings on The Lymphoma Blog - my apologies to all. I moved in August and I am still trying to get high speed Internet access (where is that Cat 5 cable in all of this?). I remain well and will ramp up my posts and web site updates.
Best regards, Mike

Survivors of Childhood Cancer Risk Premature Menopause

A woman who survives cancer as a child has a greatly increased risk of experiencing menopause before she reaches age 40. If this occurs, her risk for osteoporosis, cardiac disease, and psychosexual dysfunction increases.

Canine Cancer Research

If you know of a dog with cancer like lymphoma or others, this research study could help doctors better understand what causes cancer in dogs.

Breeds: Akita, American Cocker Spaniel, Boxer, Bullmastiff, Chinese Shar-Pei, Chow Chow, English Cocker Spaniel, English Springer Spaniel, Flat-Coated Retriever, German Shepherd, Giant Schnauzer, Golden Retriever,
Greyhound, Labrador Retriever, Leonberger, Mastiff, Miniature Poodle, Miniature Schnauzer, Pointer, Pug, Rottweiler, Scottish Terrier, Standard Poodle, Standard Schnauzer, Toy Poodle

Children and Cancer Film to Air in the US

Back on January 28th, I wrote about filmaker Julia Reichert who had, with husband Steven Bognar, made a film about children and cancer. Especially poignant after Reichert's own lymphoma battle.

In the US, PBS will air their film A Lion in the House on the series Independent Lens on June 21st and 22nd. This four hour film was presented at the Sundance Film Festival - definitely something you should catch, or at least record.

Alyssa’s Story

Alyssa Currence just graduated high school, like many people this time of year. But few teens have gone through the senior year Alyssa has. The doctor had last Fall reluctantly told Alyssa and her mom Carolyn that he thought Alyssa might have Hodgkin’s disease, otherwise known as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system. "I was brokenhearted to have to tell her … ‘I know what you expect your senior year to be, but it’s not going to be that way. Let’s replace your senior year with cancer treatment,’" the doctor recalled.

B-Cell NHL Gene Discovered!

Researchers will report on the discovery of genetic defects that cause particular types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), making these genes rational targets for new anti-lymphoma treatments, in the next issue of of the journal Blood.

It's ASCO Time Again

The 2006 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 2-6, 2006. This year is entitled Advocating Survivorship, Clinical Science, & Oncology Quality Care. The meeting is one of the largest gatherings for cancer research findings of the year.

For example, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals announced today it will present interim pivotal clinical trial data on Depsipeptide for Cutaneous T-Cell lymphoma (CTCL) I wrote about that the other day. Did anyone check out that trial?

Thomas Hodgkin

I found something interesting while I was on ebay the other day. Someone in the United States is selling an original printing of Thomas Hodgkin's doctoral thesis. Entitled Dissertatio Physiologica Inauguralis De ABSORBENDI FUNCTIONE (in Latin), it was printed in Edinburgh in 1823. This should not be confused with his famous paper "On Some Morbid Appearances of the Absorbent Glands and Spleen" published in Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, the journal of the Medical and Chirurgical Society in London 9 years later.

Lymphoma Research Results

3 new pieces of information from the International Journal of Cancer

- Norwegian researchers report finding no support for the proposed link between a polio vaccine possibly contaminated with simian virus 40 (SV40) and lymphoproliferative diseases, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and excluding Hodgkin's lymphoma. The vaccine was administered between 1955 and 1963 around the world.

- A group used cancer associated carbohydrate identification to see if it could be used to diagnose and possibly treat Hodgkin's Disease.