CancerCare has compiled these most promising findings in its new booklet, Your Guide to the Latest Cancer Research and Treatments: Highlights from ASCO 2011, available online now. You can also order your free copies from our publications page.

Excerpted from “The Last Refrigerator:”

“My wife has Stage IV lung cancer. Given the arc of the disease and the quality of refrigerator design and construction, it is highly probable that this [refrigerator we purchased] will be her last refrigerator. The question is, are we also on our last washing machine, hairdryer or big screen TV?

It is unbelievably painful — but sobering and highly instructive — to look at lung cancer that way. Diagnosed with lung cancer and you’re not talking decades, but kilowatt hours.”

Lung cancer is often referred to as being a “silent killer” due to lack of awareness and patients’ reluctance to discuss their diagnosis.  It is the least-funded of all major cancers, even though the mortality rate of people diagnosed with lung cancer is higher than most other cancers, and more men and women die of lung cancer than breast and prostate cancer combined.

Densen is founder and CEO of Tiller, Inc., a consulting firm based in New York City that works with major corporations to develop marketing programs for causes such as lung cancer awareness. Densen has devoted much of his blog coverage to raising awareness for lung cancer, urging more research and patient support.

Learn more about Tiller, Inc. and Rob Densen.

CancerCare is a participating member of The Global Lung Cancer Coalition. Visit the coalition’s website to learn more about early detection, treatment and supportive care.

CancerCare offers free, professional support services for anyone affected by a lung cancer diagnosis, including an upcoming Connect Education Workshop on December 14, “Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Coping with the Loss of Strength.”

To learn more about how we help people affected by lung cancer, visit our lung cancer diagnosis page or www.lungcancer.org.

[Pictured above: Huff Post Blogger and Tiller, Inc. CEO Rob Densen, with Prevent Cancer Foundation Founder and CEO Carolyn "Bo" Aldige in New York City on November 28, 2011]

• “Caring for Your Bones When You Have Breast Cancer” on Friday, October 7
• “Progress in the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer” on Thursday, October 13
• “Current Perspectives on Early Stage Breast Cancer” on Friday, October 28

Listen in live by telephone or online. These workshops will also be available as podcasts.

Like all of CancerCare’s services, our Connect Education Workshops are completely free of charge — no phone charges apply. However, pre-registration is required.

Learn more about our free, professional support services for people coping with breast cancer.

Support groups are available online, over the telephone, or in-person, and all are moderated by CancerCare’s professional oncology social workers.

Online support groups are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and telephone support groups connect people for regularly scheduled, one-hour sessions. Face-to-face support groups are offered at our offices in New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Learn more about CancerCare’s free support groups.

The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) followed current and former smokers who did not have any symptoms of lung cancer. Participants were scanned with either a CT scan or chest X-ray when they entered the study, and then at the end of their first and second years of the study.

Participants were then tracked for up to five years, during which time researchers recorded the deaths of participants from lung cancer. The results showed 20% fewer lung cancer deaths in people who were screened with a low-dose CT scan than with a chest X-ray.

These results are very encouraging, as a major hurdle to treating lung cancer has been diagnosing it early enough to begin effective treatment. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is exploring the most effective way to implement screening guidelines based on these results.

“The news of these results is welcomed by the entire lung cancer community as a major turning point in the way lung cancer can be detected and treated as an early stage disease,” says CancerCare National Lung Cancer Program Coordinator Win Boerckel, LCSW-R.

Read more about the National Lung Screening Trial.

CancerCare created www.lungcancer.org to serve as a source of information and support for people affected by lung cancer. You can also visit CancerCare’s lung cancer diagnosis page on our newly-designed website to learn more about our free, professional support services for people affected by lung cancer.

Approximately 60% of people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed in its advanced stages, where the disease has spread to other parts of the body and is difficult to treat. Afinitor, made by Novartis,  is the first drug in nearly 30 years to be approved for advanced pancreatic cancer.

Read Novartis’ press release about Afinitor.

CanceCare offers free, professional support services for people affected by pancreatic cancer, including financial help,  thanks in part to funds donated by the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, a nonprofit organization that provides resources and support to pancreatic cancer patients and their families.

Zytiga, a pill that decreases the production of a hormone that stimulates cancer cells to grow, prolonged the lives of men with late-stage prostate cancer who had received prior treatments and had few available therapeutic options. Listen to the workshop.

Learn more about Zytiga.

CancerCare offers free support services for people affected by prostate cancer, including an online support group for men affected by cancer. We are also recruiting participants for a face-to-face men’s cancers support group. Register and learn more about CancerCare’s free support groups.

Men who are affected by prostate cancer may also be eligible to receive up to $5,000 per year in co-payment assistance through the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation. Learn more.

• The Importance of Taking Your Pills Everyday on Schedule offers tips on how patients can adhere to their doctor’s instructions and remember to take their pills.
• Colorectal Cancer: The Importance of Screening and Early Detection describes the screening tests that are available to detect and also prevent colorectal cancer.
• Coping with Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma (PTCL) offers helpful tips for managing the practical and emotional concerns people may have after being diagnosed with peripheral t-cell lymphoma (PTCL).
• Update on the Treatment of Liver Cancer details the different types of liver cancer, their treatment options, how to manage side effects, and the importance of communicating with your health care support team.
• Latest News in Blood Cancer Research presents the latest research in the treatment of leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.

Three of these new publications are in Spanish:

• Lidiando con las nauseas y vomitos inducidos por la quimioterapia (Coping with Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting) (CINV)) offers tips for coping with nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy treatment.
• Mieloma multiple: Obtenga el maximo de sus citas medicas (Multiple Myeloma: Making the Most of Your Medical Appointments) explores ways to improve communication with your health care team.  
• Sobrellevando el mieloma multiple (Coping with Multiple Myeloma) offers tips for managing multiple myeloma so that patients can feel more in control of their diagnosis.  

Stay up-to-date on new publications by signing up for CancerCare E-News, CancerCare‘s free monthly email newsletter.

The workshop coincided with the FDA’s approval of “breakthrough” drug Yervoy, the first drug shown to prolong the lives of people with metastatic melanoma.  Listen to the workshop.

Yervoy’s manufacturer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, is expected to present studies on its effectiveness at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, to be held June 4-8 in Chicago, IL.  

Yervoy is an immunotherapy drug that harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight tumors. A recent New York Times article about the development of Yervoy described how it works by “essentially disabling a break on the immune system.”

CancerCare’s offers free, professional services for people affected by melanoma. The Melanoma Helpline, a partnership between CancerCare and the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF), is staffed by professional oncology social workers who provide free telephone counseling and reliable information about resources and ways to cope with melanoma. Call The Melanoma Helpline at 877-MRF-6460 (877-673-6460).

Teb’s Troops, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for people affected by melanoma, will hold its annual 5K in Chicago, IL on Sunday, July 24. Teb’s Troops provides a generous grant from funds raised at this event to support CancerCare’s free, professional services for anyone facing melanoma. Visit Teb’s Troops’ Facebook page to learn more.

Leading experts will present information from the conference and answer questions live during two upcoming CancerCare Connect Education Workshops:

•  Update on Lymphoma Treatment on December 15, 2010
•  The Latest Developments in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) on January 13, 2011

Register for a workshop.

Lean more about CancerCare’s free, professional support services for people affected by leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.