AguiLeon Health Tech

Being told that you have prostate cancer can be a frightening experience. When you are told of your condition, it's common to be so overwhelmed that you neglect to ask important questions, only to think of them once you've gotten home. Understanding your illness is often the first step on the road to recovery. Here's what you need to know about your diagnosis and how the cancer is staged: 1.Diagnosing Stages Once a man has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his physician will perform one or more additional tests to determine the stage of cancer. These tests may include a digital rectal examination, a blood test, an MRI of the prostate or skeleton, a CT of the pelvis and abdomen, or a surgical procedure to examine lymph nodes. While not all men will need each test, most men will undergo at least one of these tests in order for their physician to better stage the cancer. 2.Stage I If you are diagnosed with stage I prostate cancer, this means that your cancer is mi...

At an earlier age than folks who avoid those habits, a new study suggests. It's long been known that smoking is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer - a disease that is rarely caught early and has a grim prognosis. Only about five of every 100 people diagnosed with the cancer are still alive five years later. The evidence on heavy drinking has been more mixed, but some studies have suggested it's also a risk factor. Now, the new results show the disease may strike smokers and drinkers earlier in life. "If you do have these habits, and you're going to develop pancreatic cancer, the age of presentation may be younger," said lead researcher Dr. Michelle A. Anderson, of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. Her team also found that the effect disappeared for former smokers or drinkers if they had quit 10 years or more before being diagnosed. On average, the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in your lifetime is about one...

Nosing past heart disease in 2009, researchers at the American Cancer Society reported Monday. For most demographic groups and for the country as a whole heart disease is the top killer, claiming a total of 599,413 American lives in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 567,628 Americans died of cancer. Among Latinos that year, the rankings were reversed: 29,935 died of cancer and 29,611 of heart disease, according to a study in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The change may be due to demographics, said Rebecca Siegel, an epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta and lead author of the study. The average age of Latinos in the United States is 27 and of non-Hispanic whites is 42. In the overall population, cancer is the leading cause of death in people under 85 years of age. "This is primarily driven by the young age distribution," Siegel sai...

Sunday Sept 16, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in Cancer Causes and Control suggests that being type 2 diabetic potentially increases risk of death from breast cancer. Because having type 2 diabetes also means to have diabetes treatment, diabetes treatment can potentially be linked to higher risk for breast cancer death. M. T. Redaniel of University of Bristol in Bristol, UK and colleagues conducted the case-control study and found women with breast cancer who also suffered type 2 diabetes mellitus were 40 percent more likely to die from all causes, compared with those with breast cancer only. The association, which was derived already after adjustment for age, period, region, smoking status, body mass index, alcohol drinking and deprivation, was based on data from 52,657 women with type 2 diabetes diagnosed between 1987 and 2007 and 30,210 randomly selected women without type 2 diabetes. This association can be easily understood. Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients h...

Tests commonly recommended to screen healthy women for ovarian cancer do more harm than good and should not be performed, a panel of medical experts said Monday. The screenings -- blood tests for a substance linked to cancer, and ultrasound scans to examine the ovaries -- do not lower the death rate from the disease, and they yield many false-positive results that lead to unnecessary operations with high complication rates, the panel said. "There is no existing method of screening for ovarian cancer that is effective in reducing deaths," said Dr. Virginia Moyer , chairwoman of the expert panel, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. "In fact, a high percentage of women who undergo screening experience false-positive test results and consequently may be subjected to unnecessary harms, such as major surgery." The advice against testing applies only to healthy women with an average risk of ovarian cancer, not to those with suspicious symptoms or those at h...

1. Artificial Tears Best for: Everyday burning or stinging brought on by too much computer use, say, or a late night. How they work: Made of ingredients such as glycerin and natural oils, these over-the-counter drops can temporarily restore moisture to the eyes, says ophthalmologist Robert Latkany, the director of the Dry Eye Clinic at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, in New York City. How to use them: Put a drop or two in each eye when you feel discomfort. However, if you need to use them more often than four times a day, see your eye doctor. He may suggest that you switch to preservative-free drops, which are better for more frequent use. If you're a contact-lens wearer, look for drops labeled "re-wetting drops." That means they're safe for contacts. 2. Omega-3s Best for: People who don't like drops. How they work: Omega-3 fatty acids may help reduce inflammation that can contribute to dry-eye syndrome (DES), a common condition that's easily dia...