Although breast cancer has not traditionally been considered one of the cancers associated with Lynch syndrome, evidence is building that there might be a link.

Breast cancer may actually be with in the spectrum of Lynch cancers.

An Australian team reviewing the pathology of breast cancers in women who carried a mutation for Lynch syndrome ( hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer) found that half of the breast tumors were mismatch repair deficient — a hallmark of Lynch cancers. Read the rest of this entry »

The South Dakota colorectal cancer screening program has gone statewide!

GetScreenedSD has expanded from six pilot clinics to more than 200 clinics across the state of South Dakota.

People age 50 and over are encouraged to be screened for this preventable cancer, either with a take-home test or a colonoscopy. Financial help is available for those who cannot afford it.

Go to the South Dakota Department of Health to find a testing site near you. Read the rest of this entry »

Genetic tests marketed directly to consumers provide conflicting and misleading information that is “of no practical use” according to a new report from the General  Accounting Office.

In their investigation, the GAO purchased the tests, costing from $299 to $999 each, from four different companies.  The same donors submitted two DNA samples to all four companies — one with real and one with fictitious medical information.

Information received from testing was contradictory and didn’t jibe with donors’ real medical conditions.

One man was told that he had below-average, average, and above average risk for hypertension and prostate cancer.  One donor who already had colon cancer was told he was at “average risk” for the disease.

Another donor, who had a heart pacemaker, got a result that said he had a decreased risk for the condition that was being treated with the pacemaker.

The GAO found that advertising for the tests was deceptive and that testing was often used as a basis to sell expensive nutritional supplements. Read the rest of this entry »

Insurance makes a difference for people with rectal cancer.

Rectal cancer patients without insurance or covered by Medicaid are almost twice as likely to die within five years as those privately insured.

Not only are they diagnosed at a later stage, but fewer receive recommended treatments at every stage.

More than half of the difference between patients with private insurance and those without was due to differences in how early they were diagnosed and whether or not they got standard treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

The House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved its fiscal year 2011 funding bill on Thursday, July 15 by a vote of 11-5.

The bill would provide $76.7 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services.  This is $3.8 billion more than last year’s funding level and about $270 million more than the President requested.

Read the rest of this entry »