cancer deaths rates dropping

The rate of cancer deaths in the country has steadily declined in the last three decades, according to a recent report in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Texas has seen a similar decline.
According to the Texas Cancer Registry, the statewide age-adjusted cancer death rate has slowly declined from 1990 to 2006, the most recent year numbers are available.
It dropped from 211 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to 175.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2006.
That’s a 20 percent drop in the 17-year span.
In the 26 counties of the Panhandle, the decline has been less noticeable, according to the Texas Cancer Registry.
The rate dropped from 198.5 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to 188.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2006. That’s a decline of 5 percent.
The Cancer Research journal also found younger people have experienced the biggest decline in deaths.
The World Health Organization expects the cancer death rate will surpass that of heart disease by 2010. While both rates have been declining recently, heart disease rates have been declining more rapidly.
While cancer incidence rates continue to grow, the mortality rate has decreased.

Turtle cancers versus bird cancers

Not all cancer cells spread at the same rate, I learned recently, but understanding the difference could help save untold amounts of money and suffering.
There are cancers that metastasize at the speed of turtles crawling, others at the speed of birds flying and some at the speed of bears running.
That analogy came from Barry Kramer, a leading oncologist and editor in chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, during a conference on medical reporting last week that I attended last week.
The cancer cells that spread as fast as birds are difficult to treat because the cancer has typically started to infect other parts of the body than where it had started by the time it’s detected.
The cancer cells that spread as fast as turtles aren’t nearly as dangerous and don’t need to be treated as intensely as others.
A great deal of resources, money and patient suffering could be spared if cancer doctors could spot the difference between bird cancers, bear cancers and turtle cancers.
If doctors could spot the different cancers they could adjust their treatment accordingly rather than do everything necessary to kill all cancer they see right then, Kramer said.
He added the problem for patients, oncologists and cancer researchers is that people are hesitant to stop and research the difference in how cancers spread. Doing so may endanger the safety of those receiving life-saving cancer therapies.

Texas wines and cancer growth

It’s a happy time for Texas wine drinkers.
According to a Texas AgriLife researcher, wines produced in the Lone Star State share anti-cancer traits that exist in wines from other parts of the world.
Extracts from two Texas red wines decreased colon and breast cancer cell growth in similar amounts to other wines previously studied.
"In general, studies show that wine may either prevent cells from mutating into cancer cells, or stop existing cancer cells from growing and causing them to die," Dr. Susanne Talcott said in a news release.
She said the findings suggest that people who consume regular, moderate amounts of Texas wine daily - up to a glass and a half - may benefit from similar health benefits ascribed to wines from other regions.
To put it simply, cancer cells grow unimpeded until wine compounds slow the spread of cancer. The study finished last month and examined port and syrah wine.
"These results could definitely be projected to all Texas wines containing similar amounts of bioactive compounds," Talcott said. "And this will be the basis for a continued intensive study of all the health benefits of wines made in this state."
She will now begin studying other health benefits of Texas wines including its impact on cardiovascular disease.
The state is home to 177 wineries.
For more information, visit http://winegrapes.tamu.edu/ or at http://www.gotexanwine.org/.