A person’s likelihood of succumbing to a particular illness has very little, statistically, to do with how much broccoli they ate in their teens or how many press-ups they do every morning. The concept of the social determinants of health has become more mainstream in recent years, but I think we are still slow to accept how limited conventional medical treatment is when it comes to really making a bottom-line difference to people’s wellbeing.
Category: Uncategorized
Becoming agents for genomic change: genetic counsellors’ views of patient care and implementation influences when genomics is mainstreamed
Genetic counsellors are increasingly transitioning beyond clinical genetics services to meet the growing demands for genomic healthcare.
Challenges included hesitancy of some medical specialists regarding the value of genomics in healthcare and potential tension arising from distinct perspectives and practice between genetic and non-genetic professionals.
How I Truly Learned to Live With Stage 4 Colon Cancer
How do you live when you are constantly trying to figure out how not to die?
In the face of cancer, those who come before me have shown me how to live each day knowing it could very well be their last. It’s cliche, but it’s true.
None of us are given a timeline or know when we will no longer be a citizen of this world.
https://www.curetoday.com/view/how-i-truly-learned-to-live-with-stage-4-colon-cancer
Find Cancer Early
HSE’s Talking Health and Wellbeing podcast, Dr. Heather Burns discusses the importance of symptom awareness and early detection of cancer. Dr. Burns is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine and Public Health Lead for Early Detection of Cancer with the HSE National Cancer Control Programme. She notes that cancer is common in Ireland, with 1 in 2 people having a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
Early treatment discontinuation in patients with deficient mismatch repair or microsatellite instability high metastatic colorectal cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors
Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are recommended to treat patients with deficient mismatch repair/microsatellite instability high (dMMR/MSI-H) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Pivotal trials have fixed a maximum ICI duration of 2 years, without a compelling rationale.
Conclusions In our international series of dMMR/MSI-H mCRC, early treatment discontinuation of ICIs in the absence of progressive disease can lead to similar long-term disease control compared with a longer treatment duration did not seem detrimental in terms of progression-free survival and overall survival compared with continuing treatment beyond 1 year. Randomized clinical trials to compare short and long treatment duration are now warranted.
How does Lynch syndrome affect my family?
Genes are inherited in pairs. You inherit one from your mother and one from your father. If someone has Lynch syndrome, one copy of a mismatch repair (MMR) gene is altered and is not working properly. A mismatch gene is a gene involved in making repairs to errors in DNA. If a parent has Lynch syndrome, they can pass the affected gene on to their children. This means that each of their children have a 1 in 2 chance of also having Lynch syndrome.
Knowing this information means you can take steps to reduce your risk of developing cancer. Ask your healthcare provider about where you can get support to talk to your family.
“I stick to my strengths”
2025
Decoding clinical trial jargon: helping people understand the efficacy end points used in cancer trials
People living with cancer should have access to clear and comprehensible treatment information to empower informed decision-making.
This podcast highlights the need to support this aspect of health literacy by bringing together the perspectives of a patient, a patient advocate and a medical oncologist.
Accompanied by two visual, plain-language guides designed to help general audiences understand the key efficacy end points that are commonly used in trials of solid tumor treatments.
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 