Traditional academic methods of communicating research findings often fail to reach key audiences including patients, or professionals from different disciplines. BRIGHTLIGHT is a national research project looking at whether specialist cancer services for teenagers and young people add value. The researchers wanted young people to know about their results, along with audiences often not reached ...

Children with an aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system may benefit from a new treatment regime. New findings from an international trial show that adding a drug called rituximab to standard doses of chemotherapy significantly improves young people’s survival. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, a network of vessels and ...

People with thyroid cancer who were asked to adjust their diet ahead of treatment, were confused about what they needed to do. The first UK study of these patients’ experiences found that many restricted their diet more and for longer than is advised. Some reported conflict or distress associated with the diet and were anxious ...

Women treated for cancer of the stomach or oesophagus (the muscular tube which moves food from mouth to stomach) may survive longer than men. An analysis of over 3000 patients with these cancers also found that women experienced more nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea during therapy. Cancer-related survival was the same for older (70 or over) ...

Women with a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer receiving weekly chemotherapy may have reduced quality of life compared to those receiving treatment every three weeks because the more frequent treatment may cause long-lasting nerve damage. Ovarian cancer is usually treated every three weeks with chemotherapy containing the medicines carboplatin and paclitaxel. A study in Japan ...

A simple, low-cost blood test offers great potential as a tool for diagnosing womb cancer, and for screening high-risk women. The test gives almost instant results and in a new study, it picked up changes in the womb that could lead to cancer (pre-cancerous growths). In the UK, womb cancer is the fourth most common ...

All women undergoing treatment for womb cancer are to be offered tests for an inherited genetic condition. New guidance from NICE was published on 28 October. It follows research that showed that almost all women invited to have the test took up the offer. Around three to four in 100 women with womb (endometrial) cancer ...

Surgeons in the UK vary significantly in their willingness to perform surgery on older women with breast cancer. Many assume that surgery on these patients is not safe. Now a study of over 3,000 women in the UK has shown that breast cancer surgery is a safe option for women over 70. However, the more ...

Detecting cancer at the earliest opportunity can improve the chances of successful treatment.  New research suggests that a routine blood test could help find cancers early. Researchers have previously shown that high levels of platelets – cells in the blood that help stop bleeding – can be a sign of cancer. But now they have ...

New research suggests that limited surgery is preferable to radical surgery for a rare and aggressive type of cancer called anorectal melanoma. This cancer starts in the anus or rectum (back passage). In limited surgery (wide local excision or WLE), the cancer and a small area around it is removed. In more radical surgery (abdominoperineal ...