Â鶹ŮÓÅ

This new review, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, links an additional eight cancers to excess fat: gastric cardia, a cancer of the part of the stomach closest to the esophagus; liver cancer; gallbladder cancer; pancreatic cancer; thyroid cancer; ovarian cancer; meningioma, a usually benign type of brain cancer; and multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. (Bakalar, 8/24)

There may be plenty of room for debate about whether some aspects of everyday life cause cancer — whether it’s drinking too much coffee, eating too much sugar or talking too much on a cell phone. But the opposite seems to be true regarding the causal link with obesity, according to a scientific review by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. (Tan, 8/24)

When is it safe for a woman with breast cancer to skip chemotherapy? A new study helps answer that question, based on a test of gene activity in tumors. It found that nearly half of women with early-stage breast cancer who would traditionally receive chemo can avoid it, with little risk of the cancer coming back or spreading in the next five years. (Grady, 8/24)

Doctors have long known that many early-stage breast cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy don't actually need it to prevent recurrence of the disease after surgery. But they haven't known exactly which patients might safely skip the toxic treatment. A European study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds new light on the issue, concluding that many such patients might be able to avoid chemo. (McGinley, 8/24)

A major study about the best way to treat early-stage breast cancer reveals that "precision medicine" doesn't provide unambiguous answers about how to choose the best therapy. "Precision doesn't mean certainty," says David Hunter, a professor of cancer prevention at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. That point is illustrated in a large study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, involving decisions about chemotherapy. (Harris, 8/24)

In a boost for the concept of precision medicine and genetic testing, a major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday has found that some early-stage, post-operative breast cancer patients can avoid potentially dangerous and expensive chemotherapy with only a slightly lower survival rate and without the cancer spreading. The study found that 46 percent of women who were classified as  high-risk clinically but low-risk genetically could skip chemo with just a slightly higher chance – 1.5 percent — of not surviving or their cancer having metastasized after five years. (Brooks, 8/24)