image by: Adam Fagen

HWN Suggests

Lyn’s poem about being a NET

What does it mean to you…

… the Nurse Practitioner who shrugged her shoulders when I begged her for help?

… the consultant who prescribed me anti-depressants?

… the consultant who advised me to drink mint tea, eat yogurt and stay away from vegetables?

What does it mean to you, the technician who laughed as he did my scan, again, … ‘that’ll do’ he said. But was it clear enough?

What does it mean to you…

the locum GP, the newly posted GP, the nearly-ready-to-retire GP, when faced with a tearful female who is complaining, yet again, of having a sore stomach?

”… she’s been told it’s mild gastritis and acid reflux for God’s sake!…

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Featured

 Research Today is the Treatment of Tomorrow

Doctors and scientists are always looking for better ways to care for patients with cancer; they are looking for a cure. Cancer research is currently running at full speed, taking advantage of all the technological advances that science has achieved over recent years. But what does that mean in terms of coming up with a cure for cancer?

 Your Hormomes and Cancer

If you are dealing with hormone struggles, then you already know how much they can affect your day-to-day life. From energy levels to weight, your hormones have a big impact on many factors of your life, especially when they are not in proper balance. What you may not know, however, is that hormone struggles can affect your body in ways you can't see. Those negative effects, when uncontrolled, can even lead to cancer. Here are some common cancers that can have hormonal causes:

Articles of Interest

How an endocrine disease may have shaped British history

Mary was unfortunately plagued with illness throughout her life and her documented symptoms included her periods stopping, she starting to lactate, suffered from increasingly bad headaches and, just before Mary died, she began to go blind. All of these symptoms suggest she was suffering from an expanding prolactin-secreting pituitary tumour. Ultimately, as the tumour expanded it likely placed pressure on vital areas within her brain that may have been the cause of her early death in 1558 at age 42.

Pheochromocytoma: The First Metabolic Endocrine Cancer

Our understanding of cancer pathophysiology and metabolism continues to evolve. Recent progress in metabolomics and other “omics”-based research is providing us with new insights into the metabolic alterations of a cancer cell.

An overview of endocrine tumours

Tumours can occur in the endocrine system. Most endocrine tumours are non-cancerous (benign), but some are cancerous (malignant).

It’s Not Cancer: Doctors Reclassify a Thyroid Tumor

The reclassified tumor is a small lump in the thyroid that is completely surrounded by a capsule of fibrous tissue. Its nucleus looks like a cancer but the cells have not broken out of their capsule, and surgery to remove the entire thyroid followed by treatment with radioactive iodine is unnecessary and harmful, the panel said. They have now renamed the tumor. Instead of calling it “encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma,” they now call it “noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features,” or NIFTP. The word “carcinoma” is gone.

Resources

Association for Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Disorders

AMEND is run by patients, for patients, to inform and support anyone affected by Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN) type 1 or 2 or associated endocrine syndromes and tumours.

Cancer Endocrinology

The aim of the section Cancer Endocrinology is to cover the entire field of endocrine cancer: from classical endocrine neoplasia, such as thyroid, pituitary, adrenal and neuroendocrine tumors, to types of cancer in which endocrine pathways seem to play a relevant role, such as breast, ovarian, colorectal, prostatic, and hepatocellular tumors.

Endocrine Neoplasia and Cancer

Read our special collection of journal articles focused on endocrine neoplasia and cancer...

Cancer Research UK

This page is about the hormone system and how cancer may affect it. It also tells you how hormone therapies can treat some types of cancer.

Endocrine-Related Cancer

Endocrine-Related Cancer is the established global journal for basic, translational and clinical research on hormones and cancer. Endocrine-related cancers typically include cancers of the breast, prostate, pituitary, testes, ovary and neuroendocrine system as well as hormone-dependent cancers elsewhere.

Hormones and Cancer

This journal examines all aspects of hormone action on cancer causation, progression, dependence, prevention, resistance, and treatment. It details findings with clinical applications in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hormonally related cancers.

CancerIndex

Resource for endocrine malignancies.

Nature.com

Endocrine cancers are a mixed group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cellular proliferation of the hormone-producing glands of the endocrine system. These include the thyroid, adrenal, pancreas, parathyroid and pituitary glands.

OncoLink

Endocrine System Cancers.