(Press-News.org) New Rochelle, NY, November 7, 2012—Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a rare form of thyroid tumor, but it is also the most deadly. Newly developed evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term monitoring and follow-up care of patients with this extremely aggressive form of thyroid cancer are published in Thyroid (http://www.liebertpub.com/thy), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The Guidelines, prepared by the American Thyroid Association Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Guidelines Task Force, are available free online on the Thyroid (http://www.liebertpub.com/thy) website.
Robert C. Smallridge, MD, Chair of the ATA Task Force, from the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, and coauthors of the "American Thyroid Association Guidelines for Management of Patients with Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/thy.2012.0302)" emphasize the importance of rapid diagnosis and evaluation of this aggressive tumor, establishing treatment goals, and employing a multidisciplinary team approach for optimal patient management. The comprehensive Guidelines cover recommended approaches to treatment including surgery, radiotherapy, systemic therapy, and supportive care. They also offer guidance on managing patients with advanced/metastatic disease, surveillance and long-term monitoring, palliative care options, and ethical issues including end-of-life care.
"The American Thyroid Association Guidelines for Management of Patients with Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer is a remarkable and comprehensive document that distills the literature and taskforce expertise into a useful guide for providers of patients with this aggressive cancer. The focused therapeutic approaches, as well as the inclusion of palliative care and ethical issues into this document, is a real advance for our field," says Bryan R. Haugen, MD, President of the ATA and Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Head, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Diabetes, Mary Rossick Kern and Jerome H. Kern Chair in Endocrine Neoplasms Research, University of Colorado School of Medicine.
"The Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Guidelines are a unique contribution to the endocrine literature," says Charles H. Emerson, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Thyroid and Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. "The Guidelines demand to be read now, not learned during the emergency that is anaplastic thyroid cancer."
INFORMATION:
About the Society
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) ((http://www.thyroid.org), is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,600 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 89th anniversary, ATA delivers its mission through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded monthly journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and Clinical Thyroidology for Patients; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public, and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease. The ATA has extensive online information at available on their website (http://www.thyroid.org) on thyroid disease for patients in both English and Spanish and serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet.
About the Journal
Thyroid (http://www.liebertpub.com/thy), the Official Journal of the American Thyroid Association ((http://www.thyroid.org), is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online. The Journal publishes original articles and timely reviews that reflect the rapidly advancing changes in our understanding of thyroid physiology and pathology, from the molecular biology of the cell to clinical management of thyroid disorders. Complete tables of content and a sample issue (http://online.liebertpub.com/toc/thy/21/6) may be viewed online on the Thyroid (http://www.liebertpub.com/thy) website.
About the Society
The American Thyroid Association (ATA) (http://www.thyroid.org) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,600 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 89th anniversary, ATA delivers its mission through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded monthly journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology and Clinical Thyroidology for Patients; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease. The ATA has extensive online information at available on their website (http://www.thyroid.org) on thyroid disease for patients in both English and Spanish and serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, Journal of Women's Health, and Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com) website.
First comprehensive guidelines for managing anaplastic thyroid cancer published in Thyroid journal
2012-11-07
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New cell type developed for possible treatment of Alzheimer's and other brain diseases
2012-11-07
Irvine, Calif., Nov. 7, 2012 — UC Irvine researchers have created a new stem cell-derived cell type with unique promise for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Dr. Edwin Monuki of UCI's Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, developmental & cell biology graduate student Momoko Watanabe and colleagues developed these cells –called choroid plexus epithelial cells – from existing mouse and human embryonic stem cell lines.
CPECs are critical for proper functioning of the choroid plexus, the tissue in the brain that produces cerebrospinal fluid. ...
Study shows how to reduce inappropriate shocks from implanted defibrillators
2012-11-07
MAYWOOD, Il. - Loyola University Medical Center is among the centers participating in a landmark study that could lead to fewer inappropriate shocks from implanted defibrillators.
Implanted defibrillators save lives by shocking hearts back into a normal rhythm. But sometimes a defibrillator can go off when it's not necessary, delivering a shock that feels like a kick in the chest.
The study found that reprogramming defibrillators to be less sensitive to irregular heart rhythms reduced the number of inappropriate shocks, while also reducing mortality. The study was presented ...
Researchers explore connection between popular pain relievers, bladder cancer
2012-11-07
(Lebanon, NH, 11/5/2012) — Dartmouth researchers have found that duration of ibuprofen use was associated with a reduced risk of bladder cancer in patients in northern New England, which has a high mortality rate of this disease. In a 2012 collaborative project with the National Cancer Institute, Margaret Karagas, PhD, co-director, Cancer Epidemiology & Chemoprevention program at Norris Cotton Cancer Center, and Professor of Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and Richard Waddell, D.Sc, Research Assistant Professor of Medicine at ...
New drug target found for cystic fibrosis lung disease
2012-11-07
Vancouver researchers have discovered the cellular pathway that causes lung-damaging inflammation in cystic fibrosis (CF), and that reducing the pathway's activity also decreases inflammation. The finding offers a potential new drug target for treating CF lung disease, which is a major cause of illness and death for people with CF.
"Developing new drugs that target lung inflammation would be a big step forward," says Dr. Stuart Turvey, who led the research. Dr. Turvey is the director of clinical research and senior clinician scientist at the Child & Family Research Institute ...
How butterfly wings can inspire new high-tech surfaces
2012-11-07
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A South American butterfly flapped its wings, and caused a flurry of nanotechnology research to happen in Ohio.
Researchers here have taken a new look at butterfly wings and rice leaves, and learned things about their microscopic texture that could improve a variety of products.
For example, the researchers were able to clean up to 85 percent of dust off a coated plastic surface that mimicked the texture of a butterfly wing, compared to only 70 percent off a flat surface.
In a recent issue of the journal Soft Matter, the Ohio State University engineers ...
DNA sequencing of infants and children with anatomical defects of unknown causes
2012-11-07
A presentation at the American Society of Human Genetics 2012 meeting updated genetics experts about a one-year-old research initiative that brought together researchers, clinicians and policy experts to tackle the challenges of incorporating new genomic technologies into clinical care of newborns, infants and children with anatomical defects whose causes are unknown.
Among the challenges is interpreting how variations in patients' DNA cause or contribute to their medical problems, said Duke University Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Erica E. Davis, Ph.D., who presented ...
Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys share DNA but not gene regulatory mechanisms
2012-11-07
Humans share over 90% of their DNA with their primate cousins. The expression or activity patterns of genes differ across species in ways that help explain each species' distinct biology and behavior.
DNA factors that contribute to the differences were described on Nov. 6 at the American Society of Human Genetics 2012 meeting in a presentation by Yoav Gilad, Ph.D., associate professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Gilad reported that up to 40% of the differences in the expression or activity patterns of genes between humans, chimpanzees and rhesus ...
New method helps link genomic variation to protein production
2012-11-07
Scientists have adopted a novel laboratory approach for determining the effect of genetic variation on the efficiency of the biological process that translates a gene's DNA sequence into a protein, such as hemoglobin, according to a presentation, Nov. 6, at the American Society of Human Genetics 2012 meeting in San Francisco.
In the 0.1% of the DNA that differs between any two individuals, scientists search for the biological mechanisms underlying human genetic differences, including disease susceptibility.
"How exactly these slight changes in the DNA affect the biology ...
Strong tobacco control policies in Brazil credited for more than 400,000 lives saved
2012-11-07
WASHINGTON – High cigarette prices, smoke-free air laws, marketing restrictions and other measures, all part of Brazil's strong tobacco control policies, are credited for a 50 percent reduction in smoking prevalence between 1989 and 2010. The reduction contributed to an estimated 420,000 lives saved during that time period. Those are the findings of a new study published today in PLOS Medicine by a team of researchers from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Brazilian National Cancer Institute.
Adding to the dramatic conclusion of the study, which ...
Regular physical activity increases life expectancy even if overweight
2012-11-07
People who do regular physical activity, such as brisk walking, live longer than those who don't do any leisure time exercise, even when overweight, reports a study by international researchers published in this week's PLOS Medicine.
These findings are important because, according to the authors (led by Steven Moore from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, USA): "This finding may help convince currently inactive persons that a modest physical activity program is ''worth it'' for health benefits, even if it may not result in weight control."
The researchers from ...