Thomas Jefferson University Hospital - What's New at Jefferson

Jefferson Researchers Show Chemotherapy and Radiation Together Extend Lung Cancer Patients’ Lives
(Published 11-9-2007) Chemotherapy given at the same time as radiation therapy can help patients with a certain type of lung cancer live nearly 50 percent longer than they might have otherwise if the same treatment was given differently, according to an international team’s analysis of several trial results.

Jefferson Scientists Find Blood Vessel-Building Protein Halts Blood Vessels from Forming in Cancer
(Published 11-14-2006) A piece of the protein cellular scaffolding involved in building blood vessels during development might have the opposite effect in tumors.

Chemotherapy Resistance Testing Needs to Be Studied, Jefferson Lung Cancer Surgeon Contends
(Published 3-16-2007) A study led by a lung cancer surgeon at Jefferson Medical College suggests that oncologists should take more advantage of laboratory tests that have the potential to help determine a lung cancer patient’s resistance to chemotherapy drugs. All too often, patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are given standard chemotherapy drugs after surgery in a “hit or miss” fashion, without doctors knowing which drugs might have better chances than others to help treat the tumor. Steps should be taken to validate such resistance tests in clinical trials.

Jefferson Researchers Find Chemotherapy and Radiation Together May Be Better for Patients with Locally Advanced Lung Cancer
(Published 9-1-2005) A new study led by lung cancer specialists at Jefferson Medical College adds to growing evidence that giving patients both chemotherapy and radiation in the beginning of treatment may help patients live longer. Non-small-cell lung cancer accounts for about 80 percent of all cases of lung cancer. An estimated 40,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with locally advanced disease.

Battling the Politics of Cancer (Featured in the Media)
(Published 8-19-05, The Baltimore Sun) Even before the death of ABC anchorman Peter Jennings, advocates and scientists were organizing to combat lung cancer's image as a smoker's comeuppance and increase government funding to match other, equally deadly forms of cancer.

But they were perfectly willing to capitalize on the flurry of attention from Jennings' death from lung cancer Aug. 7 and the news a day later that Dana Reeve, widow of the late Superman star Christopher Reeve, also has the disease. There's general recognition in Washington that funding for medical research is not driven by science alone.

Researchers and advocates blame public attitudes for the fact that lung cancer research doesn't get as much federal funding as studies involving breast and prostate cancer, even though lung cancer kills far more Americans.

"We just haven't had the same level of patient, doctor and family advocacy," said Walter J. Curran Jr., clinical director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and co-chair of a new association of scientists established to coordinate research and lobby for more money.
Radiation Oncology
Kimmel Cancer Center

Media Coverage:
The Baltimore Sun

Local expert says Jennings' cancer may be advanced (Featured in the Media)
(Published 4-7-05, Philadelphia Inquirer) Peter Jennings' lung cancer, which he disclosed Tuesday on ABC World News Tonight, may be in an advanced stage, a local expert on the disease says.

Most patients don't have their conditions diagnosed until the cancer is "So advanced that it can't be cured by surgery, and the patient has a poor chance of long-term survival," says Rita Axelrod, M.D., of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Kimmel Cancer Center.

Details of Jennings' condition haven't been disclosed, but his hoarse voice and the fact that he isn't having surgery immediately "suggests he could be in at least stage III" of lung cancer, says Dr. Axelrod, director of pulmonary medical oncology.

“Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in the United States, with roughly four out of five people who have the disease dying within five years,” said Dr. Axelrod.

The five leading causes: "Smoking, smoking, smoking, smoking and smoking."
Cancer CARE at Jefferson
Department of Medicine
Division of Medical Oncology

Kimmel Cancer Center

Media Coverage:
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/11329364.htm
http://www.dallasnews.com

Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Workshops on Lung Cancer Awareness Highlight Lecture Series
(Published 10-14-2004) A special series of workshops on lung cancer awareness are featured this fall in a program offered by the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. These special workshops will be offered in November during Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

Emmy Award-Winning Composer to Bring Musical Message of Hope to Cancer Survivors, October 12
(Published 9-16-2004) Emmy award-winning composer and pianist Misha Segal will give a special concert to benefit the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson during the center’s third annual educational conference: “Life After a Cancer Diagnosis.”

A Chance To Speak Up
(Published 2-13-2004) People with chronic hoarseness and breathy voices often learn to live with their impediment, accepting it as an unfortunate characteristic that they feel can never change.