Neoplasms

Cancer Risks from Uterine Morcellation Examined
The potential risk for cancer dissemination associated with uterine morcellation has again come under scrutiny, this time in two articles in JAMA.

A news perspective piece describes the issue: When fibroids or uterine tissue is cut into small pieces during morcellation, there's a risk that undetected malignant cells could spread into the abdominal cavity. In one study, two of seven patients with undiagnosed stage I uterine leiomyosarcoma and one of four with undiagnosed stage I smooth muscle tumors had disseminated intraperitoneal disease after morcellation. Journal Watch

Oral anti-fungal drug can treat skin cancer in patients
Decades of research and millions of dollars go into developing new cancer drugs from scratch. But what if the next cure is a pill that's already tucked away in a bottle at the local pharmacy?

One such drug, a common anti-fungal treatment called itraconazole, may be useful in treating basal cell carcinoma—the most common form of skin cancer, according to a study that was published online Feb. 3 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. MedicalXpress

Review: Coffee in pregnancy tied to childhood leukemia risk
Maternal coffee consumption during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of childhood acute leukemia (AL), according to a meta-analysis published in the February issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. MedicalXpress

Power lines don't raise risk of leukaemia in children
Children who live near overhead power lines in early life do not have a greater risk of developing childhood leukaemia, researchers from the Childhood Cancer Research Group at the University of Oxford have found. Their study in the British Journal of Cancer found no increased risk of leukaemia in children born since the 1990s whose mother lived within a kilometre of overhead power lines. MedicalXpress

Daily aspirin may guard against ovarian cancer
Taking aspirin every day might lower a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer by one-fifth, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute analyzed data from 12 studies that involved nearly 8,000 women with ovarian cancer and close to 12,000 women without the disease to determine how the use of aspirin, other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) affected the risk of ovarian cancer. MedicalXpress