Vast majority of people survive common thyroid cancer even without treatment

(NaturalNews) Mainstream medicine has reported in recent years that the incidence of papillary thyroid cancer -- the most common form of thyroid malignancy -- is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, the number of people diagnosed with this form of cancer, which typically arises as an irregular mass in an otherwise normal thyroid gland, has tripled over the past three decades. But a new study by Dartmouth Medical School researchers has come up with good news about this so-called "epidemic".

First of all, the cases of papillary thyroid cancer have most likely only appeared to increase -- simply because of the huge surge in the use of ultrasound tests and biopsies. And it turns out the vast majority of people with this cancer survive it just fine, even if they receive no treatment at all.

Background information included in the study, which was just published in the May issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery explains that papillary thyroid cancer is commonly found on autopsy among people who died of other causes. "Studies published as early as 1947 demonstrated it, and more recently, a report has shown that nearly every thyroid gland might be found to have a cancer if examined closely enough," the study authors wrote. "The advent of ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration biopsy has allowed many previously undetected cancers to be identified, changing the epidemiology of the disease. Over the past 30 years, the detected incidence of thyroid cancer has increased three-fold, the entire increase attributable to papillary thyroid cancer and 87% of the increase attributable to tumors measuring less than 2 centimeters."

Louise Davies, M.D., of Dartmouth Medical School and Gilbert Welch, M.D., of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, investigated thyroid cancer cases and gathered data about the patients' treatment from National Cancer Institute (NCI) registries. Then they looked for causes of death through the National Vital Statistics System.

The researchers found that out of 35,663 people with papillary thyroid cancer which had not spread to the lymph nodes or other areas at diagnosis, 440 (1.2 percent) did not undergo immediate, definitive treatment (i.e. surgery). Six years later, follow-up research showed that only six of these patients had died of their cancer. This was virtually the same rate of cancer deaths among the 35,223 individuals who did undergo treatment, which involved having part or all of their thyroids removed.

Specifically, the 20-year survival rate from cancer was 97 percent for those who did not receive treatment and 99 percent for those who did -- a slight difference the Dartmouth scientists noted was not statistically significant. Bottom line: almost everyone diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer of any size confined to the thyroid survived whether they had treatment or not.

"Thus, clinicians and patients should feel comfortable considering the option to observe for a year or longer cancers that fall into this category," the researchers concluded.

For more information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...

Cancer researchers announce breakthroughs in natural prostate cancer prevention and treatment

(NaturalNews) Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. So when its members (comprised of cancer researchers, oncologists and other health care professionals) meet for a national conference, research about the latest advancements in fighting cancer is announced and discussed. That's what happened at the recent AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held in Houston. And three of the most hopeful new studies about preventing and treating prostate cancer all had something in common -- they involved totally natural therapies.

For starters, German scientists presented research showing that hops could play a role in preventing prostate cancer. Hops, the flowering clusters of the plant known to botanists as Humulus lupulus, are not only used as a flavoring agent in beer and other beverages, but they have long been used as a traditional herbal medicine. Previous studies have found that a specific phytochemical called xanthohumol in hops binds to estrogen receptors and may prevent breast cancer. Because testosterone receptors act similarly to estrogen receptors, scientists have theorized the natural hops compound might also bind to testosterone receptors and fight prostate cancer.

So, in order to study the impact of xanthohumol on prostate cancer, a research team headed by Clarissa Gerhauser, Ph.D., the group leader of cancer chemoprevention in the Division of Epigenomics and Cancer Risk Factors at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, worked with hormone-dependent prostate cancer cells in the lab. First they stimulated the cells with testosterone. This created a huge excess of prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is associated with prostate cancer in men.

But when prostate cancer cells were treated with testosterone and xanthohumol, the hops phyotchemical inhibited the secretion of PSA and blocked other hormone-dependent actions that spur cancer growth. In fact, molecular testing showed that xanthohumol directly binds to the male hormone receptor structure.

"We hope that one day we can demonstrate that xanthohumol prevents prostate cancer development, first in animal models and then in humans, but we are just at the beginning," Dr. Gerhauser said in a statement to the media.

Anti-cancer properties of coffee

Another natural substance also was in the spotlight at the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference -- coffee. In the first study of its kind, Harvard scientists found a strong association between drinking coffee and a lowered risk of the most aggressive and deadly forms of prostate cancer.

"Coffee has effects on insulin and glucose metabolism as well as sex hormone levels, all of which play a role in prostate cancer. It was plausible that there may be an association between coffee and prostate cancer," Kathryn M. Wilson, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a press statement.

Dr. Wilson and her research team documented the regular and decaffeinated coffee intake of nearly 50,000 men every four years from 1986 to 2006; 4,975 of these men were diagnosed with prostate cancer over that period. The scientists found that men who drank the most coffee had a 60 percent lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer than men who were not coffee drinkers.

Caffeine is not the explanation for this association, Dr. Wilson emphasized. Instead, the researchers noted that coffee contains many biologically active natural compounds, including antioxidants and minerals, that could explain the lowered risk of the most serious forms of prostate cancer in coffee drinkers.

Exercise prevents prostate cancer

For men already diagnosed with prostate cancer, there was also hopeful news revealed at the AACR meeting. Researchers found that as little as 15 minutes of exercise daily reduced overall mortality rates in patients with prostate cancer.

"We saw benefits at very attainable levels of activity," said Stacey A. Kenfield, Sc.D., epidemiology research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the study, in a media statement. "The results suggest that men with prostate cancer should do some physical activity for their overall health."

The research team documented the physical activity levels of 2,686 prostate cancer patients without metastases who were enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Men who engaged in three or more hours of moderate to intense exercise (the equivalent of jogging, biking, swimming or playing tennis) for about a half an hour per week lowered their risk of overall mortality by 35 percent.

Men who walked four or more hours a week had a 23 percent lower risk of death from all causes compared to men who walked less than 20 minutes per week. And men who walked 90 or more minutes at a normal to brisk pace had a 51 percent lower risk of death from any cause than men who walked less than 90 minutes at a slower, easier pace. What's more, the research revealed that five or more hours of vigorous physical activity a week significantly reduced the risk of a man dying specifically from prostate cancer.

"This is the first large population study to examine exercise in relation to mortality in prostate cancer survivors," Dr. Kenfield said in a press statement. She added that while researchers haven't figured out the exact molecular effects exercise has on prostate cancer, they do know exercise has a favorable impact on hormones hypothesized to stimulate prostate cancer -- and exercise boosts immune function and reduces inflammation, too.

"How these factors may work together to affect prostate cancer biologically is still being studied," she concluded. "For now, our data indicate that for prostate cancer survivors, a moderate amount of regular exercise may improve overall survival, while five or more hours per week of vigorous exercise may decrease the death rate due to prostate cancer."

For more information:
http://www.aacr.org/home/public--me...
http://www.aacr.org/home/public--me...
http://www.aacr.org/home/public--me...