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Lymphedema causes chronic discomfort for millions of American cancer survivors. Based on a recent review of published literature on lymphedema treatments, a University of Missouri researcher asserts that emphasizing patients’ quality of life rather than focusing only on reducing swelling is key to effectively managing the condition.

Because breast cancer gene status plays a large role in treatment and risk management, breast cancer patients with certain risk factors may benefit from pretest genetic counseling and genetic testing at or near the time of initial diagnosis, suggest Moffitt Cancer Center researchers.

New findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine further increase the treatment options for men with advanced prostate cancer. Study results show the drug enzalutamide can significantly extend life and improve quality of life in men with the disease.

Radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery may help prevent a future mastectomy for the majority of older, early-stage breast cancer patients, according to a study conducted by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and published in the journal Cancer.

The findings are contrary to current national treatment guidelines, which forgo radiation therapy postsurgery and instead recommend that older women with early-stage, estrogen-positive breast cancer be treated with lumpectomy followed by estrogen blocker therapy alone.

A large study published in the British Journal of Cancer showed that for women who smoked about 20 cigarettes a day the risks of Hodgkin lymphoma and some bone marrow cancers were doubled. The risks of other types of blood cancer also increased among smokers, but to a lesser degree.

The study included 1.3 million middle-aged women from the Million Women study. Leukemia developed in 9000 women during a 10-year study period. For every 1000 women who never smoked, 6 developed 1 of these cancers. Yet, almost 8 in every 1000 women smokers developed leukemia.

Many foods can have an effect on the uptake and elimination of drugs used for cancer treatment. In a study performed by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine and published in August in Clinical Cancer Research, data show that 8 ounces a day of grapefruit juice can slow the body’s metabolism of sirolimus, a drug that may help patients with cancer.

A new prostate cancer screening method combines drug therapy and changes in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels over time to identify men with a high PSA who are more likely to have aggressive prostate cancer despite negative biopsies.

In a study published in the Journal of Urology, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center show that PSA can be a much more effective marker for prostate cancer when an additional drug therapy is added than when PSA is used as a single test.