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Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have begun testing for three new genetic targets and found that together they occur in approximately 50 percent of patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the lung, which affects 40,000 Americans each year. Initial findings of the research will be presented on June 4 at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

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Women on Long Island who don’t have insurance or who are underinsured may be able to take advantage of free mammograms at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Commack. The Center has contracted with the New York State Cancer Services Program (CSP) of Western Suffolk County to provide breast cancer screening at no cost to patients who are uninsured or underinsured and meet certain eligibility criteria.

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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s website has been nominated for The Webby Award, the most prestigious international award honoring excellence on the Internet.

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A new study offers the first evidence of a drug capable of preventing lethal damage to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract caused by exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation, such as those occurring during a nuclear incident. There are currently no FDA-approved treatments or prophylactics available to manage the condition, known as radiation gastrointestinal syndrome (RGS), which is associated with weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, systemic infection, and – in extreme cases – septic shock and death.

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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and IBM have agreed to collaborate on the development of a powerful tool built upon IBM Watson in order to provide medical professionals with improved access to current and comprehensive cancer data and practices.

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Memorial Sloan-Kettering is the first and only hospital in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to offer a new, more patient-friendly approach for doctors to precisely pinpoint and remove very small breast cancers that can be seen on a mammogram but not felt in the breast.

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Researchers have identified a set of genetic abnormalities in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) that doctors can use to more accurately predict patients’ prognoses and select treatments that are most likely to benefit them. The study, led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will be published in the March 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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A rarely seen phenomenon in cancer patients — in which focused radiation to the site of one tumor is associated with the disappearance of metastatic tumors all over the body — has been reported in a patient with melanoma treated with the immunotherapeutic agent ipilimumab (Yervoy™). Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center shared their findings in a unique single-patient study, which could help shed light on the immune system’s role in fighting cancer.

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For the first time, a new study has shown that removing polyps by colonoscopy not only prevents colorectal cancer from developing, but also prevents deaths from the disease. Patients in the study were evaluated for up to 23 years after having the procedure, providing the longest follow-up results to date. The collaborative study, led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, will be published in the February 23, 2012 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

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As an enduring tribute to a valued Board member and woman of incomparable grace, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has joined with The Robertson Foundation to undertake two high-profile initiatives in honor of Josephine “Josie” Robertson: the Josie Robertson Surgery Center and the Josie Robertson Investigators Program.

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Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have found that change in PSA levels over time — known as PSA velocity — is a poor predictor of prostate cancer and may lead to many unnecessary biopsies.

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On March 25, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that the drug ipilimumab (brand name Yervoy) was approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. It is the first drug ever shown to improve overall survival for patients with advanced melanoma.

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Patients diagnosed with rare cancers may have difficulty finding a physician knowledgeable in treating their type of cancer. Memorial Sloan-Kettering's depth and breadth of experience managing all cancers means that patients get the best possible care no matter how uncommon their disease.

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The US Food and Drug Administration announced today that the drug ipilimumab (brand name Yervoy) has been approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. It is the first drug ever shown to improve overall survival for patients with advanced melanoma.

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Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have found that change in PSA levels over time — known as PSA velocity — is a poor predictor of prostate cancer and may lead to many unnecessary biopsies.

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Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s Nanotechnology Center, along with collaborators at Cornell University and Hybrid Silica Technologies, have received approval for their first Investigational New Drug Application (IND) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an ultrasmall silica inorganic nanoparticle platform for targeted molecular imaging of cancer, which may be useful for cancer treatment in the future.

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An international, multi-center study has revealed the discovery of a novel oncogene that is associated with uveal melanoma, the most common form of eye cancer. Researchers have isolated an oncogene called GNA11 and have found that it is present in more than 40 percent of tumor samples taken from patients with uveal melanoma.

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An international study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has identified genetic variants in women with BRCA2 mutations that may increase or decrease their risk of developing breast cancer.

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A team of healthcare professionals at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has identified an efficient way to increase minority access to lifesaving colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) in communities where multiple barriers to preventive care exist.

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A multi-institutional team led by investigators from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has published a study that provides new insight into genetic changes that make some forms of glioblastoma, the most common type of primary brain cancer, more aggressive than others and explains why they may not respond to certain therapies.

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A blood test at the age of 60 can accurately predict the risk that a man will die from prostate cancer within the next 25 years, according to researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, and Lund University, in Sweden. The findings, published today online in the British Medical Journal, could have important implications for determining which men should be screened after the age of 60 and which may not benefit substantially from continued prostate cancer screening.

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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) today celebrated a new outpatient chemotherapy center, which is scheduled to open later this month, pending approval from the State Department of Health. The 7,745-square-foot facility, called the Brooklyn Infusion Center, will provide leading-edge chemotherapy services to current MSKCC patients who live in or near Brooklyn — which amounts to more than 15 percent of MSKCC’s patients currently being treated in Manhattan. Many of these patients can now be spared the regular commute and receive their treatment in a more convenient setting designed to meet the special needs of chemotherapy patients and their caregivers.

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The decision regarding treatment following breast-conserving surgery for patients diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) has long been an area of discussion and confusion for patients and physicians alike. While the mortality rates for DCIS remain low, the risk of local recurrence in the breast is high. In an attempt to help physicians and patients weigh the risks and benefits of the available options, researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) are reporting in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on the development of a new prediction tool that calculates a patient’s individualized risk for recurrence five and ten years after surgery.

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Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can help control a number of symptoms and side effects -- such as pain, fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, and vomiting -- associated with a variety of cancers and their treatments. Experts from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Integrative Medicine Service, who have either conducted or reviewed many of those studies, recommend that cancer patients interested in acupuncture seek a certified or licensed acupuncturist who has training or past experience working with individuals with cancer.

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About one-third of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer will have their cancer travel, or metastasize, to other parts of the body, with the bone being the most common site of initial detectable spread. Results from a recent retrospective study conducted by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators suggest that PET/CT scanning might offer the most efficient and effective detection of newly diagnosed breast cancer that has spread to the bone.

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A multicenter study has concluded that treatment with a new targeted therapy called PLX4032 (also called RG7204) resulted in significant tumor shrinkage in 80 percent of patients with advanced melanoma. Investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and colleagues at other cancer centers have published their findings in the August 26 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Craig B. Thompson, MD, has been named the new President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center effective November 2, 2010.

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The decision regarding treatment following breast-conserving surgery for patients diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) has long been an area of discussion and confusion for patients and physicians alike. While the mortality rates for DCIS remain low, the risk of local recurrence in the breast is high. In an attempt to help physicians and patients weigh the risks and benefits of the available options, researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) are reporting in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on the development of a new prediction tool that calculates a patient’s individualized risk for recurrence five and ten years after surgery.

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Image-guided interventions are revolutionizing cancer diagnosis and treatment. MSKCC’s new Center for Image-Guided Intervention (CIGI), which opened in June, offers cancer patients the most advanced, minimally invasive diagnostic and treatment options in a unique multidisciplinary setting designed to foster rapid innovations in cancer care.

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Physician-scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) are studying a novel approach to treat metastatic melanoma, known as immunotherapy, which uses the body’s own immune system to attack cancer. Presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, encouraging new data shows – for the first time – a survival benefit in metastatic melanoma patients using an immunotherapy discovered and clinically investigated by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.

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An experimental drug is showing promise for the treatment of men with an aggressive form of advanced prostate cancer. A new multicenter study has concluded that the targeted therapy MDV3100 is safe and effective for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), known for its poor prognosis and limited treatment options. The research, led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, appears early online and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet.

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A Perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine calls for change in the way researchers and pharmaceutical companies collect and report adverse symptom information in clinical trials submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and how the FDA represents this information on drug labels.

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A “Perspective” piece in today’s New England Journal of Medicine by Peter B. Bach, MD, MAPP, points out that policy makers are relying on hospital ratings from the Dartmouth Atlas that could be misleading.

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In clinical trials for cancer, it is standard for clinicians rather than patients to report adverse symptom side effects from treatments, such as nausea and fatigue. At present, patient self-reporting, although important, is not a well studied source of this information. A new longitudinal study from researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center finds that while clinicians’ and patients’ reporting of treatment side effects are very different from each other, together they provide a more complete, clinically meaningful picture of the treatment experience.

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There is concern that mastectomy is over-utilized in the United States, which raises questions about the role of surgeons and patient preference in treatment selection for breast cancer. New data from an observational study published in the October 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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The new Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and the MSKCC Imaging Center have opened, offering patients the most advanced outpatient services for cancer diagnosis and breast cancer treatment and detection.

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Three young investigators who have taken significant steps toward advancing the understanding of cancer will be the recipients of this year’s Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, a prize awarded biennially since 2001 to scientists under the age of forty-six by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

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To address the special challenges of treating cancer in older patients, Memorial Sloan-Kettering recently established a Geriatrics Service in the Department of Medicine.

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Investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), along with collaborating teams at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Michigan, have completed the first large- scale, multi-institutional study of prostate cancer death after standard treatment to remove the prostate since PSA screening has become widely used as a method to screen for the disease.

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New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center sheds light on a genetic function that gives breast cancer cells the ability to survive and spread to the bone years after treatment has been administered. The findings support the study of therapies that target this survival capacity and force the death of latent breast cancer cells before they get a chance to metastasize. The research will be published in the July 7 issue of Cancer Cell.

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A new study by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center reveals the genetic underpinnings of what causes lung cancer to quickly metastasize, or spread, to the brain and the bone "“ the two most prominent sites of lung cancer relapse. The study will be published online in the journal Cell on July 2.

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A new, international study found that the combination of two drugs delays disease progression for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Results from the Phase III "ATLAS" trial were presented today by Dr. Vincent Miller of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

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A new study shows that a large majority of patients who present with advanced colorectal cancer that has spread to other organs (stage IV) don't require immediate surgery to remove the primary tumor in the colon. Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) presented their data today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

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New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) identifies three genes that specifically mediate the metastasis, or spread, of breast cancer to the brain and illuminates the mechanisms by which this spread occurs. The study was published online today in Nature.

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A novel, minimally invasive surgical approach to treat stomach cancer has been shown to have advantages that may make it a preferable treatment for some patients.

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A new multi-center study shows that an experimental drug lowers prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels "“ a marker for tumor growth "“ in men with advanced prostate cancer for whom traditional treatment options have failed. The study, led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), is published today in Science Express, the online version of the journal Science.

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The strategy of using monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment was first described in the late 1970s with the promise that they could be developed into therapies that were highly specific to cancer cells, killing them with few or no side effects. For several types of cancer, monoclonal antibodies have already offered this advantage to patients. For other cancer types, they have provided an additional therapeutic weapon, but with smaller benefits and sometimes new side effects.

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Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have shown for the first time that a tendency to develop some blood disorders may be inherited. Their research, published online today in Nature Genetics, identifies a common genetic sequence abnormality that enhances the likelihood of acquiring a mutation in a gene linked to certain blood diseases.

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Nominations are currently being sought for the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. This award, established by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2001, is named for Paul A. Marks, MD, President Emeritus of the Center and a distinguished scientist.

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A new health policy report suggests that the swift and dramatic rise in cancer-drug spending is due to laws that keep Medicare from managing the use or price of cancer drugs. These laws limit Medicare's actions in cancer far more than they are limited in other areas of healthcare.