Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease. Cancer involves abnormal cells that divide uncontrollably and have the ability to invade and destroy normal body tissue. Improvements in cancer screening and treatments have contributed to better survival rates.
Steve Jobs has been notoriously private about his health, but as he steps down as CEO of the company he helped invent and re-invent, speculation abounds that he has gotten very sick.
Firefighters exposed to toxic dust and fumes clogging the air after the World Trade Center towers collapsed 10 years ago are more likely to develop cancer, according to a new study.
Singing, playing an instrument or even just listening to music may lessen anxiety in cancer patients and improve their overall quality of life, according to a new analysis of previously published research.
Christie Hall began putting off mammograms long before debate about appropriate screening became a hot-button issue.
Many radiologists rely on specialized computer software to pinpoint suspicious areas in routine mammograms.
Men are more likely than women to get and die of cancer, according to an analysis of 36 different types of tumors and blood cancers that affect both sexes.
Stepped-up colon-cancer screening has helped slash death rates from the disease across the U.S. in recent years, but not all regions of the country have benefited equally.
Smoking will increase your risk of cancer, emphysema, heart disease, stroke, and dying young, but if you manage to dodge all those bullets, it may actually reduce your need for joint-replacement surgery later in life.
Monday morning, Patricia Howard, 66, was at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, undergoing scans that led doctors to declare her cancer-free -- five years after her advanced breast cancer was diagnosed.
Days ago, I sat at my mother's bedside and helped her hold a copy of our 2003 memoir, "Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights."
Men with prostate cancer who are cigarette smokers at the time of their diagnosis are much more likely to die of the disease or experience a recurrence than nonsmokers, including former smokers who kicked the habit at least 10 years before diagnosis.
Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.
When she found the lump in her breast, Jessica Denton had known she was pregnant with her first child for just a few days.
The use of mammograms has dipped since a medical task force made controversial recommendations that women in their 40s may not need to get breast cancer screenings every year, according to one of three small studies to be presented Monday.
Minuscule levels of radiation from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant incident have been detected in a widening number of U.S. states, but the Environmental Protection Agency reaffirmed this week that the levels represent no threat to public health.
Fewer U.S. adults are smoking, and those who do smoke are on average smoking less, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
By now, you likely know David Seidler, who won an Oscar on Sunday for best original screenplay for "The King's Speech," was a stutterer just like King George VI, whose battle with the speech disorder is portrayed in the film.
When Samantha Hessel heard about the risks associated with tanning beds, she ignored them. When her mom cautioned her not to tan so much, Hessel shrugged it off.
For years, Dr. Jaime Guevara-Aguirre of Quito, Ecuador, noticed that his shortest patients never seemed to get the common ailments that befell others.
Women with early stage breast cancer that has spread to their lymph nodes may require less extensive surgery than previously thought, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Women who smoke have an increased risk of developing breast cancer, especially if they become smokers early in life, a new study suggests.
Johnson and Johnson will partner with Massachusetts General Hospital to develop and market a blood test that could find a single cancer cell circulating in a person's blood, the company said Monday.
The controversial drug Avastin should be phased out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday, citing recent studies that show its benefits may be outweighed by dangerous side effects.
Elizabeth Edwards died Tuesday, after doctors had told her further cancer treatment would be "unproductive." She was at home, surrounded by people who loved her.
If you're a woman in your 40s, you probably remember how checking the health of your breasts became a point of national contention last year.
Most artists have to wait years -- or perhaps an eternity -- to earn serious money from their work. Aidan Reed, on the other hand, earned more than $83,000 in a few weeks, and he's only 5.
Elizabeth Anderson had to act fast when she learned she had advanced breast cancer in April 2009.
Of the 84,000 chemicals on the market today -- many of which are in objects that people come into contact with every day -- only about 1 percent of them have been studied for safety, Sen. Frank Lautenberg said Tuesday.
When Hallie Leighton received the letter from her doctor with the results of her recent mammogram, she opened it tentatively, afraid of what it might say. Her mother and grandmother had both had breast cancer, and she didn't want to suffer the same fate.
John Cossman's friends call him cancer's iron man. He's had more than 90 radiation treatments and 200 chemo treatments since being diagnosed with head and neck cancer eight years ago.
John Cossman's friends call him cancer's iron man. He's had more than 90 radiation treatments and 200 chemo treatments since being diagnosed with head and neck cancer eight years ago.
Many middle-aged women report sexual problems, including a loss of libido and a less-than-satisfying sex life. Now a new study suggests these problems are even more common among women who have had breast cancer.
Eden Lewis prefers to be "a bronzed goddess instead of a pasty Snow White," so she gets a spray tan before a vacation or an important social event.
Marcia Gilbert has spent most of her life in Charlotte, North Carolina, but for the end of summer, she decided to make a special trip.
When Joanne Branham lost her husband, Frank, to a brain tumor, she was devastated. But it wasn't until she visited her old neighbors in McCullom Lake, Illinois, that she began to question the cause of his death.
Almost a year to the day after learning he had the deadliest form of brain cancer, Steve Holl was dancing at his daughter Eryn's wedding.
Terminally ill cancer patients struggling with anxiety may get some relief from a guided "trip" on the hallucinogenic drug psilocybin, a new study suggests.
Women who have gene mutations that increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer can substantially reduce their chances of developing -- and dying from -- those cancers if they have their breasts or ovaries removed preemptively, according to a new study.
For years, Theresa Liao heard there were no cures, no treatments, no hope to help her son Jake.
Popular bone drugs taken by millions of older people to prevent osteoporosis do not appear to raise the risk of cancer in the esophagus, as some doctors and patients have feared.
Jasan Zimmerman remembers running into his room, burying his head under a pillow and saying he didn't want to die. His mother chased after him and told him, "I'm not going to let you die."
Millions of Americans already take fish oil to keep their hearts healthy and to treat ailments ranging from arthritis to depression. Now, a new study suggests that the supplements may also help women lower their risk of breast cancer.
When Jacqueline Shaw picked up her son, Aaron, from day care, he came running at her full-force, as always, with all the energy you'd expect from a loving 4-year-old thrilled to see his mother at the end of the day.
Bruce Feiler remembers how he felt in May 2008. "I was a healthy person," and he was on the top of the world. Happily married, father to twin girls and a best-selling author. His book "Walking the Bible" was celebrated, and it gave him the nickname, "The Walking Guy." He made a living exploring the world, literally walking in other people's shoes.
When Sanjay Gupta came to our home in Brooklyn, New York, recently to begin work on a documentary about "The Council of Dads," I was instantly struck that we had a number of things in common. We've both spent a lot of time on the road, including Iraq. We both have strong connections to Georgia. I was raised in Savannah; he lives in Atlanta.
A growing body of research is linking five chemicals -- among the most common in the world -- to a host of ailments, including cancer, sexual problems and behavioral issues.
Potential cancer vaccine! Possible anxiety treatment! Scientific studies looking at potential therapies for physical and mental illness often sound exciting -- that is, until you read further and realize they're in mice.
Whether a person is light- or dark-skinned, whether it's cloudy or sunny outside, dermatologists recommend wearing sunscreen -- globs of it.
Gather current and former Mossville, Louisiana, residents in a room and you're likely to hear a litany of health problems and a list of friends and relatives who died young.
Cancer survivors often feel fatigued and have trouble sleeping for months -- or even years -- after their last chemotherapy or radiation session. Now, a new study shows that yoga can help them sleep better, feel more energized, and cut back on sleeping medications.
Long-awaited data from an international study have shown no evidence of increased risk of brain tumors associated with mobile phones, except in people who have the most exposure.
A vaccine treatment for prostate cancer has become the first therapy of its kind to win approval for use in U.S. patients.
Courtney Bugler moved from Illinois to Georgia while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer four years ago, but she didn't ask anyone except her husband for help packing up her old apartment.
The first week of each month, Karen and Jerry Vaneman pack their car for a four-hour drive from Asheville, North Carolina, to the medical complex at Duke University. Inside the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Karen waits patiently as a parade of doctors and technicians pokes and prods, taking samples of all kinds. On this day alone, she gives 21 vials of blood.
Most men 50 and older should seriously consider the potential risks of treatment before deciding whether to be screened for prostate cancer, the American Cancer Society said Wednesday in revised guidelines.
It brought a tough, All-Star NBA coach to tears this week. And it stilled the voice of a famous film critic.
It's shocking, but it's true: Being a woman who's more than 20 pounds overweight may actually hike your risk of getting poor medical treatment. In fact, weighing too much can have surprising -- and devastating -- health repercussions beyond the usual diabetes and heart-health concerns you've heard about for years.
Yoga instructor Sadie Nardini and her husband got an early start on their New Year's resolution: In December, the New York couple decided to have sex every day for the entire month.
Most people know that healthy cholesterol levels can help protect your heart. But new research suggests another potential benefit: a lower risk of developing some types of cancer.
It was the year that a new pandemic flu swept across the globe, initially baffling health authorities and causing worldwide panic.
The recent revelation by Teresa Heinz, wife of U.S. Senator John Kerry, that she has been diagnosed with early-stage cancer in both of her breasts has likely left many women wondering, "Could this happen to me?"
When Tess Hamermesh found out her nana had cancer, her questions were simple.
Breast cancer survivors who have just a few alcoholic drinks per week are more likely than women who drink little or no alcohol to see their breast cancer return, according to research presented today at an annual meeting of breast cancer specialists.
Women with breast cancer who eat more soy are less likely to die or have a recurrence of cancer than women who eat few or no soy products, according to a new study.
New cancer cases and mortality rates linked to the disease have fallen significantly in recent years for almost all gender and ethnic groups in the United States, researchers said Monday.
Pat Folsom, 54, knows the importance of preventive medicine. As a health care worker, she goes for scheduled checkups. So when she went in for a routine dental exam last year, she didn't expect more than a cleaning, maybe a filling. But her dentist found something more serious.
It's been a confusing week for women.
A government task force says women in their 40s don't need annual mammograms, but Sara Fought would beg to differ: She says she's alive today because a routine mammogram found cancer when she was 42.
Breast cancer surgeons, cancer organizations and even the White House are expressing concern about new screening recommendations issued by the United States Preventive Services Task Force.
A vacation to Washington nearly a decade ago led to a life-changing revelation for Kathi Cordsen. Passing by a breast cancer awareness event, her mother blurted it out: Her doctor had just confirmed that she had breast cancer.
Women in their 40s should not get routine mammograms for early detection of breast cancer, according to updated guidelines set forth by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Heart attack patients are exposed to a radiation dose equal to about 725 chest X-rays over the course of their hospital stay, according to research presented Monday at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Almost half of women who have breast cancer surgery still have pain or numbness two to three years later, according to a new study. Women younger than 40 who receive lumpectomies are at the greatest risk.
In the year since a U.S. cancer researcher's warning drew wide attention, more evidence is emerging that long-term cell phone use is associated with cancer, but there's still not a definitive explanation or proof of cause and effect.
When Katherine Frazier was a teenager in Silver Spring, Maryland, back in the '60s, smoking was the "in" thing to do. She thought it was glamorous. She thought it was cool. Her friends smoked, her parents smoked, and at the time, no one knew that smoking tobacco could kill you.
The 12-year-old girl plucked cold, slimy potato peels out of the garbage containers in a village in eastern Poland. When those trash scraps became scarce, she ate clover.
More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat, according to a report released Thursday in Washington.
My son is not a hugger. He's almost 2 years old, and I can count on one hand the times he's squeezed his chubby arms around my neck (they all involve my husband running the vacuum). I'm okay with this because on the rare occasion when I do get a hug, I get very emotional. I imagine most moms experience these my-heart-might-burst moments when a seconds-long embrace makes them feel like the luckiest person in the world. But for me, it's a little different. A little sweeter. And I am a lot luckier. See, I wasn't supposed to have a baby. I'm a cancer patient. Seven years ago I was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a slow-moving form of blood cancer. I'm in remission, thanks to a medication I take every day that states right smack on the bottle: Do not get pregnant while taking this drug. But I did. Then I stopped my lifesaving medication and endured nine long months of what-ifs: What if the brief exposure to the drug affects the baby? What if my cancer comes back? What if I leave my child motherless? I took a big risk, but it paid off even bigger. Now I want to do it again.
Hannah Powell-Auslam of La Mirada, California, had surgery this month to check her lymph nodes, just in case the breast cancer had spread.
Three years ago, Anne Willis mentioned to the man she was dating that she didn't know about her fertility, since she had undergone cancer treatment as a teenager. His response --"Oh, so you don't know if you're going be able to have kids?" -- was off-putting.
Less than an hour before her mastectomy was scheduled to begin, Eve Wallinga's surgeon gave her the bad news: Because of unforeseen complications, doctors wouldn't be able to reconstruct a new breast for her immediately after removing her cancerous breast as planned. She was told she'd have to wait another day for the plastic surgery.
This week, the comedic actress Suzanne Somers is promoting her newly released book, which espouses the virtues of alternative medicine and, more important, explains why one should avoid conventional medicine.
Less than an hour before her mastectomy was scheduled to begin, Eve Wallinga's surgeon gave her the bad news: Because of unforeseen complications, doctors wouldn't be able to reconstruct a new breast for her immediately after removing her cancerous breast as planned. She was told she'd have to wait another day for the plastic surgery.
A year after beating breast cancer, Peter Criss, a founding member of the rock band KISS, calls himself "the luckiest man in the planet."
Leslie Elder's eyelids fluttered open, and through the fog of pain medication, she saw the emergency room doctors pull back the curtain in her room.
I was 18 when I first felt a lump in my breast. Of course, I was convinced that I was going to die. This was three decades ago -- back when we knew far less about breast cancer. A general surgeon removed the lump, which, thank goodness, wasn't malignant.
Walk into Lisa Nasser's kitchen most evenings and you're greeted by rich aromas that indicate an exceptional cook is at work on a delicious creation.
Actor Patrick Swayze's achievements include several feature films such as "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," as well as living with advanced pancreatic cancer for longer than most patients.
When Josephine Hathcock of Newark, Delaware, went in for gallbladder surgery, she never dreamed she'd wake up an ovarian cancer patient. Neither did her doctors, who found the cancer accidentally while she was on the operating table. To make matters worse, the cancer was stage 3, aggressive and had spread to her abdomen.
Men with prostate cancer who were previously infected with the sexually transmitted germ Trichomonas vaginalis are more likely to have an aggressive form of the cancer, compared with men who never had the STD, a new study says.
Do you sometimes feel as if going to a doctor's office is like going through a revolving door: in, swoosh-blur, out? You fight traffic to get there, wait a while in the waiting room, wait a while in the exam room, get seen, get dressed and get out. But once you've gone, you realize you're missing something -- maybe a small piece of helpful information. Below, some insider tips from medical specialists who tell you what your doctor doesn't have time to tell you in that all-too-brief appointment.
In 1974, when Edward Kennedy Jr., developed an aggressive form of bone cancer that at the time few survived, his father, the late senator, wasted no time snapping into action. Summoning a group of cancer specialists to his Virginia home, the senator and the doctors debated well into the night how best to treat the 12-year-old boy, according to Adam Clymer, author of "Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography."
It's Saturday night. Three young women are dressed to the nines at a trendy bistro on Rush Street in downtown Chicago. They're having drinks outside on the kind of summer night that makes you fall in love with the city.
When cancer invades the brain, the prognosis is usually grim. Despite his treatment at highly regarded medical centers, Edward "Ted" Kennedy, who served as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts for nearly 47 years, died just over a year after his surgery.
They're ready to sting, and they know where they're going.
Occupational therapist Cathy Kleinman-Barnett works with breast cancer patients, but she has never encouraged women with lymphedema, a breast cancer-related swelling of the arm, to lift weights.
If all goes according to plan, cancer survivor Kyle Garlett will compete in October's Ford Ironman World Championship, a grueling triathlon made up of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile run.
Women with a family history of breast cancer may have a new weapon against the disease: breast-feeding. In a new study of more than 60,000 women, nursing a baby for at least three months cut the risk of breast cancer in half for those who had a family history of the disease.
Sunbeds pose a similar cancer risk as cigarettes and asbestos, according to an international cancer research agency.
For 12 years, Georgia Dunston and Dr. Chiledum Ahaghotu have been trying to figure out why African-American men develop prostate cancer at an earlier age and are twice as likely to die from it than any other group in the United States.