AI Helps Spot Brain Tumor Tissue Surgeons Miss

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• November 13, 2024
• Full Page

A newly developed AI program can help doctors detect and potentially remove brain cancer that might otherwise be missed during surgery, a new study demonstrates.

The AI, called FastGlioma, calculated how much residual brain cancer remained following surgery with approxim...

New Hope Against Breast Cancers That Spread to the Brain

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• October 8, 2024
• Full Page

A recently approved targeted chemotherapy drug can significantly extend the lives of advanced breast cancer patients who have developed tumors ...

No Link Between Cellphone Use, Brain Cancer, Major Report Finds

• Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
• September 4, 2024
• Full Page

In news that should reassure folks glued to their cellphones all day, a new international review finds no link between cellphone use and brain cancer.

Commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), the review included 11 experts from 10 countries who sifted through...

Childhood Brain Tumor Survivors Can Lag in School -- Interventions Can Help

• Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
• September 3, 2024
• Full Page

Brain tumors in young children are rare, but those who survive them can lag in school for years afterwards, new research shows.

For those families that can afford it, intervening when kids are still in the preschool years might help them perform better academically later...

Early Trial Shows New Treatment Hits Tough-to-Treat Glioblastomas Harder

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• July 11, 2024
• Full Page

Radioactive substances injected into the body could provide a better way of treating glioblastoma, the most malignant form of brain cancer, a new review says.

The cancer treatment, called targeted alpha therapy (TAT), involves injection of radioactive alpha particles att...

Why Are Brain Tumors More Deadly for Kids in Poorer Neighborhoods?

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• June 24, 2024
• Full Page

U.S. children with inoperable brain tumors appear to die sooner and find it harder to get care if they live in poorer neighborhoods, a new study finds.

Children from higher-income areas had more than double the average survival time than kids from poorer neighborhoods --...

Your Head Aches: What Could It Mean, and What Can Be Done About It?

• Carole Tanzer Miller HealthDay Reporter
• June 9, 2024
• Full Page

When there's pain, pressure and pounding in your head, you might think the worst: Is it a brain tumor?

Probably not, a Penn State physician assures. 

Headache in and of itself is not a common sign of a tumor, because the brain itself doesn't feel pain, said

Ultrasound Device Delivers Meds to Better Fight Brain Tumors

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• June 6, 2024
• Full Page

One of the biggest obstacles to treating brain cancer is getting tumor-killing drugs past the blood-brain barrier that normally protects the brain from foreign invaders.

Now, new research shows that ultrasound waves emitted from a device implanted in a cancer patient's s...

Doctors May Have Tried to Treat Cancer in Ancient Egypt

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• May 29, 2024
• Full Page

A 4,000-year-old skull provides evidence that ancient Egyptians might have tried to treat cancer, a new study claims.

Microscopic observation of the s...

MRNA Vaccine Fights Deadly Brain Tumor in Small Trial

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• May 2, 2024
• Full Page

An experimental cancer vaccine can quickly reprogram a person's immune system to attack glioblastoma, the most aggressive and lethal form of brain cancer, a small, preliminary study has found.

The cancer vaccine is based on mRNA technology similar to that used in COVID v...

Hormonal Meds for Birth Control, Menopause Linked to Brain Tumors

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• March 28, 2024
• Full Page

The contraceptive injection Depo-Provera and two drugs used for menopause relief could be linked to a heightened risk for brain tumors in some women, a new study warns.

Depo-Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate) increased the risk of intracranial meningioma 5.6-fold if u...

New Immune-Focused Therapy Shrinks Aggressive Brain Tumors

• Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
• March 14, 2024
• Full Page

Delivering dual-targeted, immune-focused CAR T cancer therapy via a patient's spinal fluid quickly shrank deadly brain tumors, researchers report.

CAR T therapy harnesses the power of the patient's immune system T-cells, which are reprogrammed to seek and destroy a speci...

Brain Cancer Risk Rises in Vets After Serious Head Injury

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• February 16, 2024
• Full Page

People who've suffered a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury have a greatly increased risk of brain cancer, a new study of military service members finds.

Brain cancer is relatively uncommon, occurring in fewer than 1% of people in the United States, researchers sa...

Rock On: He Played Guitar While Getting His Brain Tumor Removed

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• January 10, 2024
• Full Page

Professional guitarist Christian Nolen took his stage show to an operating room last month, strumming out Deftones tunes for surgeons as they worked to remove a tumor from his brain.

Nolen's performance wasn't just for entertainment -- his guitar playing helped guide the...

Cancer Is More Lethal For Black and Hispanic Children: Report

• Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter
• November 16, 2023
• Full Page

THURSDAY, Nov. 16, 2023 (Healthday News) -- While childhood cancer is no longer terminal for many, death rates remain higher in Black and Hispanic children, a new government report reveals.

Treatments for these rare cancers have improved drastically in recent decades, an...

Targeted Treatment Shrinks Rare Brain Tumors in Small Study

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• July 13, 2023
• Full Page

A targeted treatment has had unprecedented success in shrinking a rare brain tumor, according to clinical trial results.

These tumors are papillary craniopharyngiomas (PCPs), and the drug combo is called vemurafenib/cobimetinib.

Each of 15 patients who receiv...

AI Tool 'Reads' Brain Tumors During Surgery to Help Guide Decisions

• Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
• July 11, 2023
• Full Page

Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of deciphering a brain tumor's genetic code in real time, during surgery -- an advance they say could speed diagnosis and personalize patients' treatment.

The researchers trained the AI tool to recogn...

New Drug Could Be Advance Against Glioma Brain Tumors

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• June 5, 2023
• Full Page

An experimental targeted therapy can dramatically slow the progress of common slow-growing brain cancers, a new clinical trial finds.

The oral drug vorasidenib nearly tripled progression-free survival in patients with grade 2 gliomas compared to placebo, nearly 28 months...

Ultrasound Breaches Blood-Brain Barrier, Helping Drugs Fight Tumors

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• May 3, 2023
• Full Page

Brain cancers are notoriously difficult to treat because most chemotherapy drugs can't breach the blood-brain barrier, a microscopic layer of cells that protect the brain from toxins.

But researchers now say they can temporarily open that barrier and get more chemo to br...

In Mouse Study, New Gel Therapy Stops Dangerous Brain Tumors

• Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
• April 25, 2023
• Full Page

A gel applied directly into the brain could offer new hope for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in adults.

The gel cured 100% of lab mice with glioblastoma when it was applied to the tumor cavity following surgery to remove the ...

How Many CT Scans Are Safe for Kids?

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• April 24, 2023
• Full Page

Getting a single CT scan during childhood doesn't appear to increase a child's risk of a future brain tumor, leukemia or lymphoma, new research finds, but getting four or more scans more than doubles the chances.

CT scans use low-dose radiation, which can damage cells. P...

CAR-T Therapy Helps Kids Battling Deadly Nervous System Tumors

• Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
• April 6, 2023
• Full Page

A therapy that arms the immune system to find and destroy tumor cells has shown early promise against a rare and aggressive childhood cancer.

Experts called the findings "promising." But they cautioned that much larger studies are needed to see whether and how the treatm...

Be Aggressive With Initial Brain Tumor Surgery to Boost Survival: Study

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• January 5, 2023
• Full Page

Researchers studying patients with low-grade, slow-growing brain tumors have found that more aggressive surgery may extend survival.

The trick to treating low-grade gliomas is to remove as much of th...

Race Could Affect Outcomes in Head-and-Neck Cancers

• Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
• December 19, 2022
• Full Page

Black patients with head-and-neck cancers have twice the death rates of white patients, and a new study suggests race itself underlies those differences.

"What is unique about our study is it strongly supports the conclusion that Black patients seem to respond to therapy...

Black Patients With Brain Tumors Less Likely to Get Surgery Than Whites

• Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
• December 9, 2022
• Full Page

Black patients with brain tumors may be less likely to have surgery recommended to them than white patients are, according to a large U.S. study.

The research, which looked at two national databases, found that on average, Black patients were less likely to have surgery ...

Implant Delivers Chemo Directly to Brain in Patients Battling Brain Tumors

• Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
• November 22, 2022
• Full Page

Researchers have found a way to safely deliver a steady supply of chemotherapy directly to brain tumors -- in what they hope will be an important advance for patients with currently incurable cancers.

The treatment involves an implantable pump system that supplies a stea...

Harnessing a Virus to Fight a Killer Brain Tumor in Kids

• Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter
• June 30, 2022
• Full Page

A therapy that uses a virus to kill tumor cells can be safely given to children with a rare, incurable form of brain cancer, an early study has found.

The study -- published June 30 in the N...