The Utah Jazz’s Derek Fisher finds himself in a whole new ballgame lately as he helps his 10-month-old daughter, Tatum, fight for her life.

Tatum was diagnosed last week with retinoblastoma, a cancerous tumor in her left eye. Fisher, who was excused from his team to begin dealing with his daughter’s illness, flew his family — his wife Candace, Tatum, and Tatum’s twin brother Drew, to New York on Monday to see a specialist.

Fisher and his wife must decide on a course of treatment for their daughter. Their options are removal of the eye or a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. Their most pressing goal is to save Tatum’s life. They also want to save her eye. And they think in her case, she should be able to keep her eye.

Tatum’s condition was first noticed by her mother who detected an odd reflection of light coming from her eye. The Fishers took her to a few doctors and then a pediatrician at the University of Utah who diagnosed the problem. Brother Drew has no signs of the condition.

Only 350 cases of retinoblastoma are diagnosed in the United States each year. The good news is that 95 to 98 percent of children grow to live a long life.

Fisher is back to playing ball. And when the basketball season ends, he and his wife say they will talk more about their daughter and her disease.

“My wife and I definitely plan to try and help as many people as we can,” Fisher said. “I don’t know how we’ll be able to at this point. If there’s a treatment out there, they should be able to get it. Some people can’t afford to get it. Some people don’t have the resources.”

The study marks the first time that Avastin has been tested against brain tumors, the researchers said. The drug, whose chemical name is bevacizumab, currently is used to treat lung and colorectal cancers. 

The researchers tested the effectiveness of Avastin in conjunction with a standard chemotherapy agent in patients with recurrent cancerous brain tumors called gliomas. They found that the two drugs together halted tumor growth up to twice as long as comparative therapies. Though gliomas remain incurable in nearly all cases, the combined drug therapy may buy precious time and preserve physical and mental function longer for patients facing this grim diagnosis, the researchers said.

“These results are exciting because of the possible implications for a patient population that currently has the poorest possible prognosis going into treatment, those with malignant brain tumors that have recurred after initial treatment,” said James Vredenburgh, M.D., a brain cancer specialist at Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center and lead researcher on the study.

The findings will appear in the Feb. 20, 2007, issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Research Fund, the Bryan Cless Research Fund and Genentech, the maker of Avastin.

Duke currently is participating in a large, multi-institutional study of Avastin to corroborate the results of this initial study, Vredenburgh said.

Kate Carr, president and chief executive officer of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, a not-for-profit organization that supports research to hasten a cure for brain cancer, said, “The results of this initial study are very encouraging and we are now excited to learn the findings of the larger study, that, it is hoped, will lead to an approved therapy for patients with brain cancer.”

In the pilot study, the researchers found that dual therapy with Avastin and the chemotherapy drug irinotecan either shrank the tumors or restricted their growth in nearly all cases for up to three months longer than comparative therapies. Three months is a significant advance when dealing with these aggressive tumors, Vredenburgh said; common current treatment normally offers only six to 12 weeks of halted growth before the tumor grows and spreads, ultimately destroying cognitive and physical function and leading to death.

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PITTSBURGH, PA, United States (UPI) — Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O`Connor died of brain cancer Friday night at 61, less than a year after his election to a post he had sought for years.

A spokesman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette O`Connor`s family was with him when he died at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside Hospital.

City Council President Luke Ravenstahl was sworn in as mayor at 10:30 p.m., less than two hours after O`Connor`s death.

O`Connor won the mayor`s race last November in his third try for the office. The newspaper characterized him as an energetic executive, leading a campaign to clean up the city in time for the Major League All-Star Game in July.

Shortly before the All-Star break, he was diagnosed with cancer. He spent the day of the game getting his first chemotherapy treatment.

O`Connor got into politics by running for the city council at age 45, after five years as a steel worker at Jones & Laughlin and a career as an executive with a restaurant company.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Source: Monster and Critics

Washington, Sept 2: Scientists studying the harmful effects of exposure to lead have found that people who are routinely exposed to it are 50 percent more likely to die of brain cancer.

The study, based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Death Index, was conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and provides further evidence that widespread environmental risk factors such as lead must be explored.

The study computed the risk estimates for lead exposure and brain cancer from a census sample of 317,968 people who reported their occupations between 1979 and 1981.

Edwin van Wijngaarden, Ph.D, the study’s author said followed the cancer rates of 318,000 people for nine years. He found 119 brain cancer deaths.

He found that the death rate among people with jobs that potentially exposed them to lead was 50 percent higher than unexposed people, and the number of deaths was larger than in many previous studies.

The study is published in the Sept. 1 issue of the International Journal of Cancer. (ANI)

Glioblastoma Multiforme is usually only has a survival rate up to one year after diagnosis. This primary brain tumor’s standard treatment is surgery to remove as much as the cancer as possible, radiation and or chemotherapy. Even with the most aggressive forms of treatment the patients do not survive.Researchers are trying to improve survival of patients diagnosed with Glioblastoma. The results of a phase III clinical trial published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology tried to improve survival rates by using a treatment consisting of cisplatin, carmustine and radiation therapy. Unfortunately this regimin produced more adverse side effects and did not improve survival.

My uncle died of a brain tumor. He died in 1987. I do not think that this disease has any better cure rate then it did back then. He died a little over a year after he was diagnosed. It doesn’t seem that chemotherapy or radiation works for this type of cancer but it’s all we got so we try new combinations.

The Cancer Blog 

According to University of Rochester Medical Center study people exposed to lead on the job are 50 percent more likely to die from brain cancer than people who are not exposed. The study author Edwin van Wijngaarden, Ph.D., said the study provides further evidence that widespread environmental risk factors such as lead must be explored. The study, which might be the largest study ever to find a lead-cancer link, was based on the information from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Death Index.

More than 18,000 brain and spinal cord tumors will be diagnosed in the United States this year. Yet little is known about what causes brain cancer; the only established risk factor is radiation, according to the American Cancer Society.

“If we are able to help explain the cause of even 1 or 2 percent of the total number of cases, that’s important,” said van Wijngaarden, an assistant professor and epidemiologist in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Rochester.

Published in the Sept. 1, 2006, issue of the International Journal of Cancer, the study computed the risk estimates for lead exposure and brain cancer from a census sample of 317,968 people who reported their occupations between 1979 and 1981. Van Wijngaarden was looking for evidence of an exposure-response trend, or a rise in cancer incidence or mortality associated with an exposure to a toxic substance. The goal among researchers who do this type of investigation is to identify preventable, environmental risk factors that might cause the gene mutations that lead to cancer.

Source: MedIndia

According to a report in the August 15th Cancer Research stem cell-like glioma cells, taken from glioblastoma biopsy specimens, promote tumor angiogenesis by secreting levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at levels ten to 20 fold higher than ordinary glioma cells.

Figuring out a way to control angiogenesis (growth of new blood vessels to the tumor) is what this is all about. Brain cancer is hard to treat and for it to become a chronic disease we need specialized medications that target the cancer cells. By understanding the stem cell-like glioma cells, which the researchers see have characteristics that contribute to tumor malignancy, they can then come up with drugs that prohibit angiogenesis from occurring thus killing the cancer cell.

Sir Bobby Robson is recovering in hospital after undergoing an operation to remove a small tumor on his brain.

A statement said the operation went “very well” and that the tumor had been completely removed.

The 73-year-old, who is currently a consultant for the Republic of Ireland side, will be attended to by his consultants over the next two days.

Robson was taken to hospital after falling ill during a match on 5 August at Ipswich.

The 73-year-old had a lung tumor removed earlier this year and has had cancer surgery on two other occasions.

Robson led England as coach to the 1990 World Cup semi-finals and had a successful managerial career at Ipswich.

He also managed Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and Newcastle.

Robson, who was brought in by Republic of Ireland at the same time as coach Steve Staunton, will miss the team’s opening Euro 2008 qualifier against Germany in Stuttgart on 2 September.

The Football Association of Ireland is hopeful he will be able to resume his duties alongside Staunton for the games against Cyprus and the Czech Republic in early October.

SOCCER legend Bobby Robson is fighting cancer for a fourth time.

The 73-year-old former England manager is having an operation on Wednesday to remove a brain tumor.

Doctors at first thought he had a stroke after he felt ill at a football match a fortnight ago.

But they found Sir Bobby, one of the nation’s favorite sporting heroes, had a tumor.

Sir Bobby said: “The tumor is in my brain, which sounds bad, but it is in a position where it can be removed relatively easily and it’s extremely small, the size of a grape.”

He has previously battled cancer in 1992, 1995, and in May this year had a tumor removed from his lung.

Sir Bobby was England manager for eight years

Mayor Bob O’Connor received his first treatment of whole-brain radiation yesterday — several days earlier than expected — and will have another today because of “worsening symptoms” of his rare brain cancer, according to his doctors.

In a prepared statement, Mr. O’Connor’s medical team said his symptoms “included headache and increased lethargy,” and were thought to be the result of fluid buildup overnight Wednesday.

The mayor was diagnosed last month with primary central nervous system T-cell lymphoma.

The fluid increase meant it wasn’t possible to do surgery, planned for yesterday, to internalize a shunt that would channel excess fluid from the brain into the abdomen. Instead, the external drain has been adjusted to accommodate the increased fluid level.

Because of the symptoms and postponement of the shunt procedure, the medical team decided to begin radiation of Mr. O’Connor’s entire brain yesterday. The treatment took about 10 minutes. He is expected to have another treatment today, plus intensity-modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, on Monday.

Last week, doctors said bleeding from the brain tumors apparently led to a fluid buildup and the need for a shunt. At a press briefing two days ago, they indicated the bleeding had resolved.

Dr. Michael Robertson, director of the lymphoma program at the Indiana University Cancer Center in Indianapolis, said he was unsure why the mayor’s fluid level might have increased. Most patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma don’t have that kind of fluid buildup, he said.

Dr. Robertson, who has no direct knowledge of the mayor’s condition or treatment, said it was difficult to say whether the latest fluid buildup is a negative development.

“I think this is another instance where we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

The radiation therapy the mayor is getting will target four brain tumors that did not respond to three rounds of high-dose methotrexate chemotherapy.

At Wednesday’s briefing, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center neuro-oncologist Dr. Frank Lieberman said, “At this point, the tumors, which are not shrinking, are causing neurologic problems. In order to improve his level of function, we’re going to have to get rid of those lymphoma masses. That’s what this radiation therapy is designed to do.”

He added, “If the mayor responds to therapy, he’s going to improve neurologically and for a substantial period of time.”

Source: Post Gazette