“When I meet with patients, I tell them that there are three critical parts to their therapy. The first is local therapy, such as surgery or radiation. The second is chemotherapy, or systemic therapy. And the third is their overall well-being, such as nutrition,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D. Hales, a radiation oncologist at the(...)
Prevention/Screening
How long does it take to test and see test results about lung cancer mutations?
Posted by | Prevention/Screening“Molecular profiling of a tumor has really taken off over the last few years, and a few years ago, it could take several weeks for these results to come back. We can now test for the changes we can target in a lung tumor within four to five days here at Hopkins,” says Russell K.(...)
How do you determine what stage of cancer I have?
Posted by | Prevention/Screening“Staging is a critical part of therapy,” says radiation oncologist Russell K. Hales, M.D. of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “We don’t want to focus only on a tumor in the chest, for example, if there’s something growing in another area of the body. That’s why we fully(...)
I was diagnosed with restrictive lung disease. My mother and my cat died of lung cancer. I’m a non-smoker but worried about environmental issues. How likely is it that this will become lung cancer, and what would the treatment be?
Posted by | Prevention/Screening, Uncategorized“It's not just smoking that leads to lung cancer,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D. “ We know that environmental exposures and underlying lung disease can increase the likelihood of lung cancer. Unfortunately, in patients with restrictive lung disease, we don't have any information to show that screening those patients will increase the likelihood of finding(...)
What is ground glass opacity on the lung? Is it likely to be cancer and how do you determine whether it is or not?
Posted by | Prevention/Screening“Not everything that arises in the lung is cancer,” says Russell K. Hales, M.D., a radiation oncologist, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. “A nodule in the lung can be from infection, irritation, or inflammation. It can be from other diseases, unrelated to cancer at all.” Hales notes(...)
A Conversation about Cancer
Posted by | precision medicine, Prevention/Screening, Research, UncategorizedOn Nov. 3, 2015, a capacity crowd of more than 250 Johns Hopkins leaders, faculty, staff, students, donors, and other guests filled the Albert H. Owens Auditorium at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center to honor the philanthropy of Sidney Kimmel for advancing cancer discovery and care. Hundreds more watched via video streaming as Kimmel(...)
Doctors Disagree on Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations
Posted by | Prevention/ScreeningYesterday's announcement from the United States Preventive Services Task Force of its final recommendations on breast cancer screenings was met with disagreement from many doctors who specialize in breast imaging. Dr. Susan Harvey, director of Breast Imaging at Johns Hopkins joined others who said the announcement will not change their own practices. "What this controversy(...)
Scientists respond to study on cancer risk factors
Posted by | Prevention/ScreeningThe following response was provided by Drs. Cristian Tomasetti and Bert Vogelstein in regards to a new paper published in the journal Nature: Scientific debate on the factors responsible for cancer is a welcome and important part of solving the challenges we face in reducing the burden of this disease . The differences between our(...)
Jimmy Carter Announces Cancer Scan Findings
Posted by | Prevention/Screening, treatment, UncategorizedIn today’s news, former President Jimmy Carter, who has metastatic melanoma, revealed that he has responded well to treatment. We asked melanoma expert Evan J. Lipson, M.D., for his thoughts: “I was pleased to hear President Carter’s report that his most recent MRI brain scan did not reveal any signs of the original cancer spots(...)
New, less invasive way to evaluate lymph nodes helps patients at risk of lung cancer
Posted by | Prevention/ScreeningA new, less invasive way to evaluate lymph nodes in patients at risk of lung cancer is finding more tumors within lymph nodes than previous procedures, says Russell K. Hales, M.D., a radiation oncologist, at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. To evaluate lymph nodes, lung cancer physicians traditionally(...)