Genetic link found to breast, prostate cancers

• By John von Radowitz Friday June 25 2010

Hereditary breast and prostate cancer may be two sides of the same coin, new research suggests. Scientists have discovered that both diseases develop the same way in women and men with a faulty BRCA2 gene. The gene, which is involved in DNA repair, is known to play a role in breast, ovarian and prostate cancers.UK researchers pinpointed cancer-causing DNA defects in male mice genetically engineered to lack BRCA2 in their prostate glands. Prostate cells from the "knockout" mice accumulated DNA damage faster than it could be repaired. Over time, the disrupted DNA was expected to lead to anti-tumour genes being damaged, triggering cancer. The same process involving BRCA2 can lead to hereditary breast cancer in women, they found.

New drugs may target cancer pain

[Posted: Tue 22/06/2010 by Deborah Condon - www.irishhealth.com]

Scientists have developed new drugs which have the potential to relieve cancer-related pain without causing many of the side-effects of current pain treatments.At least nine in 10 cancer patients experience pain in the final year of their lives. The use of drugs such as morphine produces side-effects that can include depressed breathing, drowsiness, constipation and tolerance.Unfortunately tolerance usually results in an increased dose of morphine, which in turn means that patients experience more of these side-effects.

Researchers at the University of Leicester in the UK and the University of Ferrara in Italy have collaborated to develop this new group of drugs which may not produce these side-effects."This work is still at a very early stage, but has the potential to change the way we think about making drugs for pain-related issues," explained one of the lead researchers, Prof David Lambert of the UK team.

The new group of drugs, which were developed in the University of Ferrara and tested by the University of Leicester, is designed to produce pain relief by acting at two targets simultaneously. The two target idea may provide effective pain relief with less tolerance.According to the researchers, tolerance to strong painkillers like morphine ‘involves complicated biological processes, aspects of which still remain questionable'."Our research may provide some answers by designing new drugs that have multiple roles. We are now studying these drugs to see what they do in the long-term," they said.

They added that the work on the drugs needed to be refined ‘to enable studies to be performed in patients'.

"This may be a relatively long-term process, but it offers a completely new approach to pain management for cancer patients in the future," the team added.

Diabetes ups cancer risk in women

[Posted: Sat 12/06/2010 - www.irishhealth.com]

Type 2 diabetes causes insulin-like hormones to circulate throughout the body. A new study has found that this has a surprisingly positive effect on reducing the rate of prostate cancer in men, however it may double the risk of certain cancers in women.

According to Israeli researchers, this is not the first study to report such a risk. However it is one of the largest to confirm these findings and it is also the first to determine the statistical differences in cancer risks for men and women.

The study involved 16,721 people with diabetes. When it began in 2000, none of the participants had a history of cancer. Over the next eight years, the researchers documented 1,639 cases of different cancers among the group and compared them to occurrences of the same cancers in a healthy, non-diabetic population of 83,874.According to lead researcher, Dr Gabriel Chodick of Tel Aviv University, ‘this study is good news for men'.
It demonstrates that diabetes appears to have a preventative effect on conditions like prostate cancer, reducing the risk of cancers associated with insulin-like hormones by 47%.However the opposite is true for women."The interaction of diabetes and female hormones appears to exaggerate the risk and make certain organs like the uterus and ovaries more receptive to certain kinds of cancer," Dr Chodick explained.While the news is something for women with diabetes and their doctors to take into consideration, there is no cause for panic, he emphasised. Although colon and ovarian cancers are serious, their overall risk in women is generally quite low.

To read full article please click on this link www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=17458

Horan to chair NTPF

Thursday, June 10, 2010 - 11:37 AM Courtesy of The Irish Examiner

The National Treatment Purchase Fund has announced that John Horan is to be appointed the new Chairman.
He succeeds John O'Dwyer whose term has come to an end.
Mr Horan - a Donegal native - has been a Board member of the NTPF since 2007 and has also worked with Veterinary Ireland, Aer Lingus and the Irish Hotels Federation.
The National Treatment Purchase Fund was established in 2002 to arrange faster treatment for those patients waiting longest for surgical procedures.

Child cancer link to hormone deficiency [Posted: Wed 09/06/2010 by Deborah Condon - www.irishhealth.com]

Almost one in four men who were treated for cancer in childhood suffer from a deficiency of the male sex hormone testosterone, a Swedish researcher has found.According to Dr Patrik Romerius of Lund University, this deficiency can be treated with hormone supplements if the problem is diagnosed. However this rarely happens.Testosterone deficiency not only affects sex drive, in the long-term it can lead to depression, reduced muscle strength, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease."But if a young man comes to the health centre and complains of low libido and depression, this might be explained as the psychological effects of the cancer he had when he was younger. In actual fact, it may be due to a hormone reduction that can be treated," Dr Romerius explained.In one of his studies, he examined 150 men who had been treated for leukaemia and other forms of cancer before reaching adulthood. He found that 33 of them had testosterone deficiency, but this had only been diagnosed in four cases.Dr Romerius believes that this may be because these men represent a new patient group."Just a few decades ago, very few childhood cancer patients survived. Now almost four in five recover as a result of better diagnosis and treatment methods. But it is only now that the large groups of childhood cancer survivors have reached an age where the consequences of the treatment are starting to be seen," he said.

To read full article please click on this link www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=17434

Drumm advisers earn more than €2m

• By Eilish O'Regan and Shane Phelan Tuesday June 08 2010 Courtesy of The Irish Independent

TWO of departing health chief Brendan Drumm's controversial kitchen cabinet of personal advisers will quit the Health Service Executive (HSE) in autumn after earning more than €2m.Karl Anderson and Maureen Lynott's contracts will not run out until the end of October, though Prof Drumm will have left at the end of his five-year contract in August.His successor, former Eircom executive Cathal Magee, who will take over as the €320,000-a-year head of the HSE in September, has been told the controversial system of personal advisers will end.Figures obtained by the Irish Independent reveal that at the end of last year Ms Lynott, had earned more than €.1.1m since her appointment in 2005.Prof Drumm's personal press adviser Mr Anderson got in the region of €955,000 since 2005.

Ms Lynott is set to earn a further €200,000 this year, with Mr Anderson taking home another €180,000.When Prof Drumm became the first chief executive of the fledging HSE in 2005 he insisted that he bring his own "reform team". These included Mr Anderson; Ms Lynott; John O Brien, head of St James's Hospital; Sean McGuire, a doctor involved in founding GP co-ops; and Tommie Martin, head of Comhairle na nOspideal.

To read full article please click on this link www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/drumm-advisers-earn-more-than-euro2m-2211172.html

More health screening needed for young men

CLAIRE O'CONNELL The Irish Times - Tuesday, June 8, 2010

WE NEED to be proactive about offering health checks and raising health awareness among young men, according to an expert who will address a conference in Galway later this week.Of particular concern is the mortality rate for “working age” men, said Alan White, professor of men’s health at Leeds Metropolitan University, who will speak at a conference on men’s health being hosted by NUI Galway’s Health Promotion Research Centre on Thursday.“One of the things that concerns me is that 26.6 per cent of all your male deaths [in Ireland] occur between the ages of 15 and 64,” said White, who calculated the percentage based on Eurostat figures.“In the early years, 15 to 30, a lot of the deaths are from accidents and self harm. Then when you get beyond 35 you start to see a rapid increase in deaths from cancers and cardiovascular disease. So you have got these young men who think they are invincible, they can eat and drink and do what they want but they can’t – they are storing up problems. We have got to be more aware of picking issues up.”White would like to see more health advice and screens on offer through the workplace or at sporting events.

“People say men are hard to reach. Men are hard to avoid. If you go to a rugby or football match, men are everywhere,” he said. “If you are not getting men to the clinics, then you have to start thinking about how to invite them. One way is to do health checks in the workplace or at sporting events or drop-in centres like pharmacies.”White is involved with an initiative to offer health checks at matches.

Lung cancer drug 'extends life'
Page last updated at 07:03 GMT, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 08:03 UK Courtesy of BBC News

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in the UK after breast cancer A drug called erlotinib or Tarceva can extend life for women with advanced lung cancer, experts say.
Early trial results show the drug can reduce the chances of dying by a quarter.
An American cancer conference heard how it could offer new hope to those patients too sick for chemotherapy.
In trials, 15% of women were alive and had no progression of their cancer 12 months after taking the drug compared with only 5% of those on a placebo.
The study involved 670 men and women with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, of whom more than half were over the age of 77.
Continue reading the main story We are not yet sure why it was most effective in women but this is positive news for this large group who have few other treatment options
Dr Siow Ming Lee
 Lead researcher from UCL
According to Cancer Research UK, which ran the trial, almost half of the 39,750 lung cancer patients in the UK fall into the category of being too ill for chemotherapy.
Erlotinib works by interfering with how cancer cells multiply.
Dr Siow Ming Lee, trial leader and senior lecturer at the University College London Cancer Institute, said: "These results are a real step forward in the search for an effective treatment for patients with advanced lung cancer.
"We are not yet sure why it was most effective in women but this is positive news for this large group who have few other treatment options.
"Erlotinib should be recommended for women with non-small cell lung cancer who are unsuitable for first-line chemotherapy."
The drug is licensed in the UK to be used as a second-line treatment after chemotherapy.
Kate Law, Cancer Research UK's director of clinical trials, said: "This important trial demonstrates which patients are most likely to benefit from this new treatment.
"It is encouraging to see advances being made in lung cancer treatment, especially for those patients who have few alternatives."
 

71,000 due Respite Care Grant

[Posted: Sun 06/06/2010 by Deborah Condon - www.irishhealth.com]

Over 71,000 carers are due to receive their Respite Care Grant of €1,700 this week, the Department of Social and Family Affairs has said.

This annual payment is made by the department to all full-time carers, regardless of their means or social contributions, although some conditions apply.Carers can use the grant in any way they wish and it is not taxable.It is paid automatically to carers in receipt of schemes such as Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit and Domiciliary Care Allowance. Other full-time carers who are not eligible for these schemes may apply separately for it. They must fill certain criteria, for example, they have to be caring for the person on a full-time basis for at least the last six months and must be living with the person being cared for or if not, be contactable quickly via phone or alarm.Those working for more than 15 hours per week outside the home and those getting an unemployment payment do not qualify for the grant.Carers who are providing full-time care for more than one person may be entitled to €1,700 in respect of each person that they are caring for. For example, a person giving full-time care to two people with disabilities may be entitled to €3,400.The estimated cost of this scheme this year is €153 million.Commenting on the grant, Social Affairs Minister, Eamon O'Cuiv, insisted that the Government ‘is very aware and appreciative of the contribution made by carers'.The grant was first introduced in June 1999 at a rate of €254.Further information is available from the Respite Care Grant Section, Department of Social Protection, Landen House, Townsend Street, Dublin 2 or call 1890 66 22 44, Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 5.30pm.

One-shot radiotherapy 'success against breast cancer'
Page last updated at 16:09 GMT, Saturday, 5 June 2010 17:09 UK
Courtesy of BBC news
 A single dose of radiation during surgery is just as effective as a prolonged course of radiotherapy for breast cancer, a study suggests. Doctors have tested the technique, which involves a single shot of radiotherapy to a tumour site, in more than 2,000 patients. It could save the UK £15m a year, the researchers said.
Cancer Research UK said The Lancet study could have a "huge impact" for patients.
The researchers said using the one-stop procedure would be more convenient for patients and cut waiting lists.
Treatment to surgically remove cancerous breast tissue is the starting point of treatment for thousands of women in Britain each year.Continue reading the main story Radiotherapy is already a very effective treatment, so improving that even further is an exciting prospect
Kate Law
 
Cancer Research UK
 That is often followed up with weeks of radiotherapy to the whole breast to kill any remaining cancer cells.
But with the new technique, doctors use a mobile radiotherapy machine that can be inserted into the breast to target the exact site of the cancer.
Led by a UK team, but carried out in nine countries, the four-year trial in women over 45 showed similar rates of disease recurrence regardless of the treatment used.
There were six cases of the disease returning in those who had the new single-dose technique and five cases in those undergoing a prolonged course of radiotherapy.
But the single dose during surgery avoids potential damage to organs such as the heart, lung, and oesophagus, which can occur during radiation to the whole breast, the researchers said.
 Josephine Ford was treated using the radiation procedure The frequency of any complications and major toxic effects was similar in the two groups.
University College London Hospitals (UCLH) oncologist Prof Jeffrey Tobias, who enrolled the first patient on the trial at the former Middlesex Hospital in London with oncologist Jayant Vaidya, said: "I think the reason why it works so well is because of the precision of the treatment. It eradicates the very highest risk area - the part of the breast from which the tumour was removed."
Meanwhile, Mr Vaidya, who is also a UCLH oncologist, said the new treatment "could mean that many more women could conserve their breasts". Josephine Ford, 80, was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2008 and was successfully treated with this form of treatment three months later. She said this approach "simplified everything and made the process less traumatic".
And she added that it made her life "so much easier" since she "didn't have to come back to the radiotherapy department on a daily basis for five or six weeks".

'Exciting prospect'
 
While optimistic about the results, the researchers stressed the findings were only applicable to women with a similar type of breast cancer as those in the trial.
But they added: "Treatment of patients with breast cancer accounts for about a third of the workload of radiotherapy departments in some parts of the world and contributes substantially to the unacceptable waiting lists seen in many oncology departments worldwide.
"In countries such as the UK where the waiting list for

Patients face waiting-time lottery to get hospital scans

• By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Friday June 04 2010 Courtesy of The Irish Independent

PATIENTS in need of routine scans and X-rays face a 'postcode' lottery, with delays ranging from two weeks to seven months depending where they live.The variations were revealed yesterday in new figures from the Health Service Executive (HSE).The figures, compiled as part of league tables for March, which aim to measure the performance of hospitals under various headings, do not give reasons for the variations -- but underlying causes include levels of staffing, demand and availability of alternative services in a region.Public hospitals with some of the worst delays for an outpatient appointment for an ultrasound scan are Limerick Regional and St Luke's Hospital Kilkenny.

Both these hospitals have waiting times of seven months or more for this form of scan.

Tallaght Hospital in Dublin has a waiting time of nearly six months for an ultrasound, according to figures supplied by hospitals to the HSE.In the Mater Hospital in Dublin, which is to close 60 beds in the coming weeks, delays for a routine ultrasound can extend to almost three months. Patients referred there by a consultant for an MRI scan can wait more than six months.Delays faced by patients needing more basic routine X-rays also vary from a week in Galway University Hospital to six weeks in Tallaght Hospital.Waiting time for an X-ray in Mayo General and Beaumont Hospital in Dublin is around a month and just two weeks in Letterkenny General.Only St James's Hospital in Dublin is at the "very good performance" zone, with all others, bar one, deemed average. The exception is Cork University Hospital, which requires "urgent attention". It is still treating too many private patients in areas like orthopaedics, ophthalmology and general surgery while a significant number of public beds in the region are closed.A spokeswoman for the hospital said yesterday that 138 acute inpatient beds across the various hospitals in the HSE South, including Cork and Kerry, are currently closed."Bed closure plans have to be looked at in the context of delivering the level of service as per the HSE's Service Plan within the available resource."It is also important to note that bed closures are not all as a result of cost-containment measures," she said."Beds may be closed for other reasons; infection control, refurbishment, etc. And in many places beds are closed as a result of internal efficiency measures."The focus for 2010 is to continue to provide for emergency admissions and priority service workload in our hospitals, including elective surgery, while controlling the overall level of acute work within the context of a reduced resource," she said.

Effective

"People will be treated in a more effective way with no reduction in access to appropriate services. There will be a continued shift to care on a day-case basis, with plans to deliver an increase of 6.5pc over the day-case target."The waiting lists figures or diagnostic tests in public hospitals cover both public and private patients. This follows the introduction last year of a HSE rule that patients should be seen on the basis of medical need -- and not allowed to jump the queue because they have private health insurance.But many patients with private health insurance are covered for tests in other medical facilities which have no waiting time.

Prostate tumour size linked to weight

[Posted: Thu 03/06/2010 by Deborah Condon] Courtesy of Irish Health.com

The size of a prostate cancer patient's tumour is directly linked to their weight, the results of a new six-year study indicate.US researchers looked at 3,327 patients who had undergone a procedure to have their cancerous prostate gland and surrounding tissue removed. They found that those with the highest body mass index (BMI) had the largest tumours.The patients were studied over a six-year period, during which time they were divided into four categories based on their BMI - 24.9 or less (normal or underweight), 25 to 29.9 (overweight), 30 to 34.9 (obese), and 40 or higher (morbidly obese). In each category, the average age was about 60.After their tumours were removed, each was weighed and compared to a categorised database of prostate weight. In each BMI category, the researchers found the weight of the patient to be directly correlated to the size of the tumour, i.e. the smaller the patient, the smaller the tumour, while the heavier the patient, the larger the tumour."As the patients' body mass index increased, the tumour volume increased synchronously. Based on our results, we believe having a larger percentage of tumour volume may be contributing to the aggressive nature of the disease in men with a higher BMI," said lead researcher, Dr Nilesh Patil of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Details of these findings were presented at the 2010 American Urology Association's annual meeting in San Francisco.

Surgery boosts bowel cancer survival rates

• ·By Jane Kirby in London Thursday June 03 2010 Courtesy of The Irish Independent

PATIENTS with bowel cancer that has spread to the liver are around five times more likely to survive if they undergo surgery, experts said.Not all people will benefit from an operation but survival rates are boosted dramatically in those whose cancer is operable, a study found.

Only 9pc of patients will survive for five years or more if their cancer is stage four and has spread but they do not have surgery. A new study from the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) shows that liver resection -- removing the cancerous part of the liver and a small part of healthy tissue around it -- can boost this five-year survival to 46pc.This means patients with stage four disease have similar survival rates as people with stage three disease -- before the cancer has spread -- who have a 48pc chance of surviving.The surgery has now become the gold standard across the UK. Lead author Dr Eva Morris, a Cancer Research UK scientist from the University of Leeds, said: "The difference this surgery can make is remarkable." Cancer that has spread is often very hard to treat, "so it's good to see that there's an effective treatment option for some patients", he added.

Gene test hope for personalised cancer therapy
Page last updated at 15:11 GMT, Thursday, 3 June 2010 16:11 UK Courtesy of BBC News
 

Scientists want genetic testing of tumours to be done routinely NHS patients are to be offered personalised cancer treatment under a pilot scheme to carry out genetic tests on individuals' tumours.
Cancer Research UK hope that the project will analyse the tumours of up to 6,000 patients a year for a range of genetic defects.
The results will guide doctors in choosing the most effective therapy for that patient.
The charity predicts such tests could become routine within five years.
Due to be launched in the autumn, the project will examine how best to roll out genetic testing across the NHS.
Six centres will be set up around the country where scientists will classify a patient's tumour according to the specific genetic mutations it carries.
Continue reading the main story Patients will have their tumours genetically tested, and will receive treatments based on the evidence of what does and doesn't work for their type of tumour
James Peach
 Cancer Research UK
 Patients will then be offered drug treatment based on the genetic make-up of their cancer.
Potentially, such an approach could save the NHS money by cutting prescribing of expensive treatments which are unlikely to work.
Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said scientists have now discovered enough genetic markers and drugs for such testing to make a real difference.
Cancer drugs which have been developed in recent years to specifically target a genetic mutation, include the breast cancer treatment Herceptin.

Routine testing
 
Some genetic testing is already done in NHS cancer patients, but provision is patchy and tumours are often tested for just one mutation.
James Peach, the charity's director of stratified medicine, said they wanted to build a national programme to allow cancer patients in the UK to benefit from global genetic discoveries.
"Patients will have their tumours genetically tested, and will receive treatments based on the evidence of what does and doesn't work for their type of tumour.
"The benefits for patients are clear: better treatments and avoiding unnecessary side-effects. But this would also allow us to drive research in stratified medicines by recording the effectiveness of certain treatments against each type of tumour."
He said the first phase of the project would be set up in partnership with the NHS, business and government.
Once they have proven the approach works, the plan is to roll out the scheme to all patients.
The charity is looking to similar initiatives in the US to determine which mutations to test for in which cancers.
Professor Mike Stratton, director of the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said: "Discoveries of new cancer genes, of new drug targets and of new ways to predict whether patients will respond to particular therapies are accelerating, but a major challenge is how to obtain the benefits of these advances for patients in the NHS.
"This initiative will form the basis for doing just that."
 

First woman to head up surgical college

[Posted: Wed 02/06/2010] Courtesy of Irish Health

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has elected Ms Eilis McGovern as the first female President of the College in its 226-year history. Ms McGovern is a cardio-thoracic surgeon in St. James Hospital, Dublin. She was appointed consultant at St James’s in 1987.

Ms McGovern helped lead the establishment of the country’s third public cardiac unit in St. James’s, which opened in 2000 and resulted in a reduction in waiting lists for cardiac surgery.From 2006 – 2008, Ms McGovern served as project director of a HSE initiative to reconfigure acute hospital services in the north-east of the country.
During her two year term as President of RCSI, Ms McGovern says she will highlight safe surgery and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients.

Cancer patients dying from infections picked up in wards

• By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Wednesday June 02 2010 Courtesy of The Irish Independent

Cancer patients are dying or suffering delays in treatment -- for months in some cases -- due to infections they are picking up in hospital, doctors warned yesterday.

Cancer patients are particularly vulnerable to infection because their defences are weakened due to the effects of the disease and anti-cancer therapy such as intensive chemotherapy.Although the numbers who die from infection are low, the treatment to cure the disease may have to be delayed for weeks or months until they recover sufficiently, warned oncologist Prof Peter Daly and microbiologist Prof Hilary Humphreys.The rate of infection, which can include MRSA or C Difficile, may be as high as one in 10 for patients on intensive chemotherapy -- although there are no firm figures.

They were speaking a the launch of a new position document produced by the Royal College of Physicians, which outlines the risks to patients and calls for renewed measures to control the threat.To read full article please click on this link www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/cancer-patients-dying-from-infections-picked-up-in-wards-2203354.html

HSE boss banned from hiring advisers

• ·By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Tuesday June 01 2010

THE newly appointed head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) will be barred from hiring any advisers as he faces a year of severe budget cuts.

Cathal Magee, a former Eircom executive, takes over as head of the HSE in September.

He will not be allowed to repeat the controversial decision of outgoing chief executive Brendan Drumm to retain advisers -- the remaining two will depart this summer after earning well over €1m each.A spokeswoman for the HSE said yesterday that Mr Magee would be on a gross salary of €322,000, which will be subject to the pension levy. But it comes with no other perks and an agreement not to hire advisers.

Health Minister Mary Harney said yesterday the HSE board had to add another €100,000 to the €222,000 recommended salary for the post of chief executive in order to attract someone of the calibre of Mr Magee.

He was joining the HSE at a time when it would have to survive on a cut in a €15bn budget next year, and the health service would not escape cuts, she warned. "The Minister for Finance has made it clear the Government will be looking for €3bn in cuts in public expenditure and 27pc of the budget goes on health services."I have full confidence in him. He is not someone I ever worked with before. He has a track record in management.

"To get someone of his calibre is important, particularly at a time of moratoriums."Meanwhile, the HSE announced it had appointed another Welsh-born doctor based in Canada to take over from cancer tsar Tom Keane as director of Cancer Control. Dr Susan O'Reilly will take over the post in September. Her job is to re-organise cancer services in the eight hospitals designated to specialise in the disease. Her salary will be €237,000, which is a fixed salary for a Type A consultant in the public service. Prof Keane, who was on a two-year contract as interim director, received a package worth more than €650,000.

Patients won't get breast cancer jab 'for a decade'

• By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Tuesday June 01 2010 Courtesy of The Irish Independent

A VACCINE that may protect women from developing breast cancer is unlikely to be available to patients for up to a decade, a cancer specialist warned yesterday.

Oncologist Brian Hennessy of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda in Co Louth made the warning after it was announced that American scientists had developed a vaccine that has prevented breast cancer from developing in mice. The researchers -- whose findings are published in the journal, Nature Medicine -- are now planning to conduct trials of the drug in humans. But they said it could be some years before it was widely available.

Dr Hennessy yesterday welcomed the breakthrough and said it had been particularly difficult to develop a vaccine against breast cancer. The basis for this vaccine is that it targets a protein found in most breast tumours. So far, cancer experts are taking a cautious approach, pointing out that it is an early-stage study -- however, it offers major hope in tackling the disease which is diagnosed in over 2,000 women in Ireland annually, claiming around 650 lives.

The lead researcher, Vincent Tuohy, from the Cleveland Clinic Learner Research Institute, said: "We believe that this vaccine will some day be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases. "If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer." Dr Hennessy pointed out that when clinical trials begin on women they will be targeted at women in their 40s upwards.This will help to reach women in the years they are more likely to develop the disease, with the majority of cases emerging in post-menopausal women. The vaccine is not applicable to other cancers. It will be five to 10 years before the vaccine can be assessed for safety and effectiveness as a way to stop the disease from developing in women. The drug makes the immune system attack a particular protein found in most breast cancer cells and the mammary tissues of breastfeeding women, so it will be most suitable for those who have completed their families."The frequency of women who breastfeed in their early 40s and above is very low, so we are looking at vaccinating women against the disease from this stage of life onwards," Dr Tuohy said.For younger women with a heightened risk of breast cancer, the vaccine may be an option to consider instead of prophylactic mastectomy -- breast removal surgery to protect against breast cancer. In the study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated -- half with a vaccine containing a-lactalbumin and half with a vaccine that did not contain the antigen.

Doctors face skill checks under new rules

• ·By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Tuesday June 01 2010

DOCTORS will have to open their medical files to outside inspection to prove they are not harming patients under new competence rules, it emerged yesterday.

They will also be forced to earn 'credits' in order to prove their competence.The mandatory rules, to come into effect from May next year, will force doctors to demonstrate they are keeping up to date with medical knowledge and professional learning.Another key element of the new competence scheme -- which will be policed by disciplinary body, the Irish Medical Council (IMC) -- will be a clinical audit, which will shine a light on how capable the doctor is by examining their patient files.

The doctors will be obliged to spend an hour a month auditing their work, preferably with colleagues. And they may find they are part of an annual random spot-check which would see outside medics intensively checking their work.This kind of external check is seen as crucial to pick up weaknesses in a particular doctor's work that may be harming patients.

Credits

President of the IMC, Prof Kieran Murphy, said each doctor must build up 50 credits a year, demonstrating they are reading medical journals, attending conferences and auditing their work. They must accumulate 250 credits every five years to be allowed to stay on the medical register. "Clinical audits involve looking at doctor's practice and patient outcomes," he said. "We believe the majority of doctors are already meeting these standards. This puts it on a statutory footing and provides additional quality assurance for the patient."The new obligations on doctors have led to calls from medical representative bodies for funds to be set aside to allow medics like GPs to hire locums to stand in for them while they go on conferences.

However, Health Minister Mary Harney ruled this out yesterday saying study and professional development hours are already built into doctors' contracts.

New cancer chief appointed

[Posted: Tue 01/06/2010 by Niall Hunter, Editor] Courtesy of Irish Health

Dr Susan O'Reilly has been appointed as the new Director of the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP).

Dr O'Reilly succeeds Prof Tom Keane in the post.Like Prof Keane, Dr O'Reilly works with the British Columbia Cancer Agency in Canada, where she is Vice-President of Cancer Care.In this role she is responsible for strategy, financial planning and delivery of both medical and operational components of all programmes for cancer patients in five cancer agency centres.

Dr O'Reilly, who grew up Wales, is also Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of British Columbia. She completed her medical degree at Trinity College Dublin and having done her early training in a number of Dublin hospitals, moved to Canada to specialise in oncology. She will take up her new post in September.Prof Keane recently returned to Canada having completed his term as head of the NCCP.Although he was hotly tipped to take over from Prof Brendan Drumm as CEO of the HSE, he pulled out of the race in March.Last Friday, the HSE announced that Cathal Magee, formerly of Eircom, is to take up the CEO post in September.