International Journal of Cancer Management
Volume:4 Issue: 2, Spring 2011

Breast conserving surgery (BCS) is a widely accepted form of operation in patients with early breast cancer. Recurrence remains one of the greatest concerns in breast conserving surgery. It can provoke serious anxiety in the patient and, when treated by mastectomy, negate the objective of conservation. In this study we investigated the prognostic value of demographic, clinical and pathological factors and biological markers in breast cancer patients treated with BCS. This study was performed on 258 patients who underwent BCS from 2002 to 2010. All of the surgeries were performed by a single surgical team. Recurrence and its risk factors were evaluated. The mean age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 50. The overall 10 year survival was 81%, 5 year survival was 88% and recurrence rate after surgery was 9%. Lymphovascular Invasion (LVI) was observed in 41 (16%) patients and in 11 (48%) patients with recurrence. Our study confirmed that tumors with estrogen receptor negative and LVI had more recurrence rate but other demographic, clinical and pathological factors and biological markers (progesterone receptor, P53, HER-2) did not have any significant effect on recurrence. We recommend considering LVI and estrogen receptor assay as a prognostic factor in the patients treated with BCS.

In 1997 MMAC1 or the PTEN gene, was identified as a tumor suppressor gene on the long arm of chromosome 10.PTEN involves in the balance between proliferation, and differentiation, apoptosis and regulation of angiogenesis, and eventually mutation in this gene causes a strong potential for tumorigenesis cells. This study is the first report of the correlation between PTEN gene mutations with histological markers and the age of Glioblastoma patients with the purpose of using it to remove diagnostic ambiguities and identify the type of glioma. In this study, we screened for PTEN mutations in exon 4-8 in glioblastoma patients in Isfahanian population. Genomic DNA ware extract from 60 formalin fixed frozen glioblastoma tumors, 4 normal tissue sample and 60 blood samples. Mutational analysis was performed using polymerase chain reaction, single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and heteroduplex mobility techniques. In order to augment the accuracy, the experiments (PCR, SSCP, HMA) was repeated at least 3 times. The correlation between PTEN mutations with Clinical Pathologic markers (pleomorphism, Necrosis, cellularity, mitosis and endothelial proliferation) in Glioblastoma tumors and the age of patients were investigated With the help of statistical tests (t-test, Manvitni and Fisher's exact test). A total of 4 mutations (7%) were detected in 60 glioblastoma tumors. In this study, there was no significant relation between clinic pathologic markers and PTEN mutations (p-value > 0.05). Our data shows a positive association between the age of onset of cancer and PTEN mutations) p-value < 0.001. Our results suggested that PTEN mutations are Low in Iranian glioblastoma patients. People with PTEN mutations are more likely to develop glioblastoma before the age of 20.

Breast cancer is one of the main life-threatening diseases which a woman may face during her life. Several lifestyle factors such as weight gain, obesity, fat intake and decreased level of physical activity are associated with breast cancer risk. In vitro and vivo studies showed that, Linoleic acid (LA) is one of the main fatty acids composition of Nigella sativa.The objective was to investigate inhibitory and anti-cancer effects of Linoleic acid on the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. The apoptosis and cytotoxic activity assay was used in order to find toxic effects and the results were supported by flow cytometry (Cell cycle analysis). The results showed the cytotoxic effect of Linoleic acid on the breast cancer cell can be considered as an anti-cancer effect of LA. According to our findings, when the concentration of lionleic acid was increased, compared with the concentrations currently being reported, it showed an anti-cancer effects. The IC50 was 84.72µl/ml. There was a significant (p<0.05) effect between the treatment groups which are more than IC 50 and the control group. We came to this conclusion that Linoleic acid has an inhibitory effect on human breast cancer cell lines which can be due to its two double-bandings molecular structure

Hope is an essential and dynamic life force that grows out of faith, is supported by relationships, resources and work circumstances, which lead to the energy necessary to live for a desired future. Hope gives meaning and happiness. Four central attributes of hope are: experiential, spiritual, relational thought, and relational process.A sound instrument to measure hope, which should be theoretical base, fairly vigorous psychometric and user-friendly, would be a useful complement to interviews for assessing hope in palliative care. Assessment of ‘hope’ is a necessary foundation for enabling the implementation of various intervention strategies to foster hope especially in cancer patients and their family members.There is no suitable instrument to measure hope in palliative care for Iranian patients; therefore the aim of this study was to assess the understandability, reliability, validity and superiority of three relevant instruments to measure hope. Three questionnaires including the Herth Hope Index (HHI), Herth Hope Scale (HHS), and Miller Hope Scale (MHS) alongside with a generic health-related quality of life tool (EQ-5D) were completed by 70 normal randomly selected individuals aged 14-73 years. Cronbach's alpha was 0.76 for HHS, 0.67 for HHI and 0.81 for MHS, indicating satisfactory internal consistency. Concurrent criterion-related validity was assessed by calculating the correlations of the HHS and the MHS (r = 0.43), HHS and HHI (r=0.49) and MHS and HHI (r=0.62), at <0.001 significance level. MHS discriminated significantly better most of EQ-5D components including anxiety and depression, pain, personal and usual activities. Finding suggested that these instruments have satisfactory reliability and validity to be used in Iranian population. Miller Hope Scale showed superiority among these tools.

Euthanasia is an important subject that concerns law and medicine as well as morality and religion in the 21St century. Euthanasia has become a challengeable problem in scientific arena. In some countries, legal and medical practitioners are allowed to kill those cancer patients who suffer from excessive pain while incur enormous amount of expenses for their treatments. We used 3 main sources to find Islamic views on euthanasia: First, the Islamic primary source, the Holy Quran, which is the most important and reliable source for finding Islamic perspectives. Second, traditions (hadith) which include Prophet Mohammad's and his relatives's (Imams) advices. Third, religious opinions and decrees (Fatwas) from great Muslim scholars who are called Mofti Al-Aazam in Sunni tradition and Ayatollah Al-Ozma in Shiite tradition. Based on the reasons proposed in the references, it can be concluded that euthanasia is forbidden in Islamic theology; and no types of euthanasia are allowed or accepted in Islam; and any action whether voluntary or involuntary that results in euthanasia of cancer patients is considered suicide and is strongly forbidden in Islam. Euthanasia is purely illegal in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this study, we introduced a religious law based on Islamic point of view and Emamyeh section in Islam. To investigate the sensitive issue of euthanasia in Islam, the Holy Quran as the fundamental reference of Islamic law and Sonnah as the reference of Hadith (Traditions) were studied.

This study evaluated the effect of an educational program on breast self-examination (BSE) among women living in Bandar Abbas, Iran. This trial studied 240 eligible women attending at eight health centers of Bandar Abbas who were randomly divided into intervention (n = 120) or control (n=120) group. Data regarding belief on breast self examination were collected through the Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS). At the initial of the study, there were no differences between two groups in terms of socio demographic data, the mean scores of Champion’s Health Belief Model (CHBM) sub-scales and breast self-examination rate. At follow up time the intervention group compared to control group has obtained significant higher mean score of CHBM in terms of all sub-scales except for the subscale of BSE benefit. This study indicated that the designed program could improve Breast Self Examination among studied women.

Colorectal cancer is the second cause of the cancer related mortalities in the world. Screening can effectively reduce the mortality and morbidity rate of this cancer. Sensitivity and specificity of screening methods play an important role in their efficacy. The aim of this study is to review sensitivity and specificity of selected colorectal cancer screening methods systematically. This study conducted a systematic review of sensitivity and specificity of five common colorectal cancer screening methods. The sites Pubmed, Cochrane library and the center for review and dissemination (CRD database) were searched systematically in Jan 2009. Key questions for this search were focused on the sensitivity and specificity of the 5 screening methods. In these databases 2713 articles were matched well with our subject. Of these 130 articles were selected with specified inclusion-exclusion criteria. The mean ± standard deviation per patient sensitivities of colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, double contrast barium enema, CT colonography and fecal occult blood test for detecting colorectal cancer were respectively 94.7 ± 4.6 %, 82.0± 9.3%, 82.3 ± 8.7 %, 95.7 ±5.9% and 45.7 ± 26.5%. Specificities of these tests were respectively 99.8 ± 0.2%, 83.9%, 92.4 ± 14.7%, 98.5 ± 1.3% and 87.6 ± 11.4%. Based on available evidences, colonoscopy has the highest sensitivity and specificity among the selected screening methods and fecal occult blood test has the lowest sensitivity. Almost all of the tests except stool exams have acceptable sensitivity and specificity for detecting colorectal cancer.

Brain tumors are considered in regarded to their size, position and aggressive manner. Brain tumors cause several neurologic symptoms. For instance, they increase intracranial pressure due to local damage and displacement of surrounding tissues. In this paper, two glioblastoma multiform cases with more than 15 year- survival have been reported. The first patient was a 52 year- old woman who suffered from seizure. The CT scan demonstrated a focal low density in the left temporoparietal lobe, and Carbamazepine was prescribed. However, after 12 years, the patient started to suffer from seizures with transient awareness repletion and vomiting. Therefore, daily injection of 16 mg of dexamethason in two divided dosages was prescribed. Fourteen years after illness, biopsy with stereotaxy method was used and glioblastoma multiform was diagnosed by a pathologist. Unfortunately, this patient died due to progression of her illness 16 years after beginning of the seizures.The second patient was a 47 year- old man who also suffered from seizure. In the CT scan, a low density lesion was observed in his left parietal lobe. The patient was treated with 400 mg of Carbamazepine per day in two divided dosages. Dosage of drug was increased to 1200 mg per day. After one year, due to drug resistance, Phenytoin and Phenobarbital were also added to Carbamazepine because of repeated seizures. After 15 years, the soberness disorder of the patient increased and CT scan was repeated. However, due to increase in the tumor size, hydrocephaly surgery was performed and the pathologist reported glioblastoma multiform. Following the surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy were also used. This patient is in a good condition now and he has no serious problems. Glioblastoma multiform is a high degree astrocytic tumor. In this paper, two patients who were afflicted with glioblastoma multiform in fourth and fifth decades of their life were presented. The life span of these patients is considerable in contrast to several articles which indicated that a- five -year life span is rare in patients with glioblastoma multiform.