Introduction

 

Welcome to the Nurses' Corner. Here you will find questions and answers related to managing the side effects of treatment and other matters related to your physical and emotional wellbeing, relationships, sexuality, and more. The questions are answered by oncology nurses Bernice Crook, RN, OCN, and Kathy Newman, RN, BSN, who serve on Caring4Cancer’s Nurse Advisory Board. Both Newman and Crook work full time in two of the nation’s leading oncology practices. To learn more about them, see their brief biographies.

Before submitting a question, please be sure to check the questions and answers that have been posted previously by clicking on the links at the right. We regret that we cannot answer all questions submitted.

ask

Answers to Questions about Treatment Side Effects 

Answers to Your Questions about Emotional and Physical Matters 

Latest Cancer News
ACS Guidelines for Breast Screening with MRI May Be Excluding Some High-risk Women

January 6, 2009 — The American Cancer Society (ACS) has developed a set of guidelines to recommend which high-risk women need to undergo screening with breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); however, these guidelines may unwittingly exclude some women who are at a high risk of carrying the BRCA mutation yet still don’t meet the limitations set by the ACS. The results of this study were published in the journal Cancer.

Colonoscopy Fails to Identify Many Colorectal Cancers

January 6, 2009 — Colonoscopy, a standard screening method for colorectal cancer, misses the majority of cancers on the right side of the colon and about one-third of cancers on the left side of the colon, according to the results of a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers estimated that the screening method may reduce colorectal cancer mortality by 60-70%, rather than 90% as previously estimated.

High-dose Faslodex® Improves Time to Progression Compared with Arimidex® as Initial Therapy in Advanced Breast Cancer

January 6, 2009 — Researchers affiliated with an international trial have reported that high-dose Faslodex® (fulvestrant) significantly improves time to cancer progression compared with Arimidex® (anastrozole) as initial therapy for hormone-positive, advanced breast cancer. These results were recently presented at the 2008 annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium December 10-14, 2008.

Select news items provided by Reuters Health