Articles

When cancer strikes, life can turn into a seemingly endless cycle of hospitalizations, surgery, drugs and radiation.  Especially for children, it is easy to lose sight of living in the midst of surviving.  Jaclyn Murphy, a pediatric brain cancer survivor, knows this better than anyone.

At the age of nine, Jaclyn was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a malignant brain cancer.  Jaclyn had always loved sports, and lacrosse was her game at the time of her diagnosis in 2004.  A hospital photo of a college-level lacrosse player became Jaclyn's motivation to keep going.  Every time she passed it in the hospital hallway, her father would point to the photograph and tell Jaclyn that someday she would be the woman in the picture.

As it turned out, the college lacrosse connection happened far sooner than even her father could have hoped for.  The coach of the Northwestern University women's lacrosse team learned about the little girl who loved the game but was sidelined with brain cancer.  The team's arms opened as the coach invited Jaclyn in, welcoming her at practices and games.  With

For most people, toys and trinkets come to mind when thinking about 3D printing.  For the medical world, however, the technology ushers in the possibility of new therapies and treatments.  Cancer patients requiring reconstructive surgery are likely to benefit from some recent landmark operations that have used this technology.

Printing a Pelvis

Dr. Craig Gerrand, a British orthopedic surgeon at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, replaced a cancerous pelvis with one that was constructed by 3D printing.  The patient was a 60-year-old man suffering from chondrosarcoma, a relatively rare form of bone cancer.  The entire right side of the patient's pelvis needed to be removed.  If the pelvis could not replaced, Dr. Gerrand would be unable to reattach the patient's leg.  The leg would be unusable.

With 3D printing technology, a custom replacement pelvis was generated.  Using information from both MRI and CT scans, the surgical team calculated the exact dimensions needed for the pelvis implant.  Armed with these measurements, Stanmore Implants was able to print

After a cancer diagnosis, it is important that you receive the right care that makes you feel a part of your treatment. But finding the place to deliver the "right" care can sometimes seem a challenge. For this reason, cancer hospitals can apply for accreditation from major organizations, such as the American College of Surgeons, Association of American Cancer Institutes or National Cancer Institute. Hospitals must complete extensive accreditation procedures reporting outcomes, patient surveys and more to receive these accreditations. The following are a few examples of organizations that offer accreditation in the United States.
 
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Commission on Cancer
The Commission on Cancer (CoC) has accredited an estimated 1,500 hospitals, treatment centers and cancer facilities in the United States. To be eligible for accreditation, hospitals must meet certain requirements as well as participate in a survey or a site visit to the hospital to speak with medical providers and view the services.
 
Examples of requirements include a cancer

Every day, thousands of researchers across the world work on developments for new cancer protocols, medications, tools and treatments that help detect cancer faster and help cancer patients live longer. These innovations have to start somewhere. That "somewhere" for new medications is a clinical trial, which typically has four distinct phases where researchers develop and test a drug and treatment. If you are considering enrolling in a clinical trial, understanding the phases can help determine at what phase you are engaging in the research.
 
Phase I
 
Phase I trials are typically the smallest of the phases. The process involves enrolling about 20 or more people whose cancer is so advanced that a standard treatment does not exist or would be ineffective. Instead of studying for effectiveness, Phase I trials are examining for safety. Researchers are trying to determine if the drug or combination of medications are safe for the body, and at what dosages they are safe. While the purpose of this clinical trials phase is not to test a medication's effectiveness, the