Cancer

Up For Discussion: Cost Of Cancer Care Avoided Too Often

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:47:00 +0000

When the diagnosis is cancer, the expenses can pile up in a hurry.

Even people with insurance can face steep copayments for drugs, a sizable share of hospital bills and significant incidentals. These side effects of cancer care are sometimes even called "financial toxicity."

So wouldn't it make sense for doctors and patients to talk over the financial strain that cancer treatment might bring and what might be done to manage it?

Well, it's not always easy for patients to bring it up, says S.

Angelina Jolie's Mastectomy Decision And Weighing Cancer Risks

Scott Hensley — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:31:00 +0000

On Wednesday's Morning Edition, David Greene talks with writer and breast cancer survivor Peggy Orenstein about actress Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer.

Jolie, whose mother died at 56 from ovarian cancer, has a genetic variant that puts her at high risk for ovarian and breast cancer.

Angelina Jolie And The Rise Of Preventive Mastectomies

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:19:00 +0000

Angelina Jolie just became part of a medical trend: More women are deciding to have their breasts removed to reduce the risk of cancer.

Over the past decade, doctors have noticed a big increase in the number of women choosing prophylactic, or preventive, mastectomies.

Some, like Jolie, have a genetic mutation that makes it much more likely that they will have breast cancer. Her mother died of the disease at age 56. Jolie is 37.

Actress Angelina Jolie Shares Story Of Her Double Masectomy

Mark Memmott — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:43:00 +0000

Saying she is "writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience," actress Angelina Jolie reveals on the op-ed pages of The New York Times that she had a double mastectomy earlier this year to substantially reduce the chances she will develop breast cancer.

Jolie, 37, explains that because she carries a "faulty" gene known as BRCA1, "I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50

Price Break For Cervical Cancer Shots In Developing World

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:44:00 +0000

Cervical cancer takes its greatest toll in the countries whose economies and health systems are poorest.

Women in those places are less likely than those in rich countries to get regular Pap tests to detect the cancers when it can be treated effectively.

Of the 275,000 women who die of cervical cancer each year, more than 85 percent, or at least 234,000, are in low-income countries.

But a vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer could go a long way toward lowering the risk in those less developed countries.