Chemotherapy

He had just made the final out in a city where his name is booed, his jersey is reviled, and his team had been swept. His power had disappeared, his swing was spotty, and his season was a wreck. Matt Kemp would have been excused for quickly disappearing through the dugout at San Francisco's AT&T Park on Sunday night and forgetting all about an earlier promise to third base coach Tim Wallach. “But that was the neat deal about it,” Wallach said. “He was standing there waiting for me.” PHOTOS: Greatest moments in Dodger Stadium history Kemp was waiting to cross the diamond to sign an autograph for a terminally ill Dodgers fan, waiting to summon the passion necessary to pass along the hope that he now found so precious.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been out of public view since his December surgery for cancer, is undergoing another round of chemotherapy in a bid to stop the spread of the disease, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said. Speaking at a Mass at the military hospital where Chavez was admitted Feb. 18, Maduro said late Friday that the treatments would be "difficult. " "But he has a strength superior to the treatments that he is receiving, and he is in a good state of mind," Maduro said.

When cancers are treated, tumors may shrink but then come roaring back. Now studies on three different types of tumors suggest a key reason why: The cancers are fueled by stem cells that chemotherapy drugs don't kill. The findings - made by independent research teams that used mice to study tumors of the brain, intestines and skin - could change the approach to fighting cancers in humans, experts said. Properties of these so-called cancer stem cells can be investigated so researchers can devise strategies for killing them off, said Luis F. Parada, a molecular geneticist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and senior author of one of the studies published Wednesday.

Elwood Jensen, a medical researcher whose ground-breaking work in the field of endocrinology and breast cancer led to revolutionary and life-saving treatments, died of complications from pneumonia on Dec. 16 in suburban Cincinnati, the University of Cincinnati announced. He was 92. He was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize for his discovery of hormone receptors while at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. At Chicago, Jensen focused on the impact that breast tissue had on estrogen while most other researchers analyzed how the hormone influenced tissue.

"Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts, who five years ago beat breast cancer, said Monday that she has now been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder caused by chemotherapy for her cancer. She is now taking chemotherapy in preparation for receiving a bone marrow transplant from her sister later this year. Because she is relatively young and healthy, the combination of treatments should cure the condition, doctors have told her. Myelodysplastic syndrome is sometimes known as pre-leukemia, and many researchers now believe that, if untreated, it will progress to acute myeloid leukemia.

A novel type of cancer therapy appears dramatically effective in at least some patients, researchers announced Wednesday. The two-drug medication regimen represents a new treatment approach called epigenetic therapy and signals another potential avenue to eradicate tumors. Epigenetics explains molecular characteristics apart from DNA sequence that influence how genes are expressed. While gene mutations are known to cause cancer, epigenetic changes that turn genes on or off also affect disease development.

I recently had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from my breast and will soon be starting chemotherapy. I was surprised by the amount of medication I was told to take before I begin chemo, including anti-nausea and allergy medications. I'm wondering if this is common. How are patients typically prepared for chemo treatment? Anti-nausea and anti-allergy medications are routinely given to breast cancer patients preparing for chemotherapy, says Dr. Christy A. Russell, co-director of the breast center at USC Norris Cancer Hospital and past president of the California division of the American Cancer Society.

Breast cancer survival rates have improved in recent years, and women have more treatment choices, including -- in cases of early-stage cancer -- the opportunity to forgo chemotherapy. A new study shows, however, that women who undergo chemotherapy experience more symptoms in the year after surgery. Researchers led by Dr. Patricia A. Ganz of UCLA, found that women who have chemotherapy can have symptoms that persist for even a year. These include vaginal symptoms, musculoskeletal pain and weight problems.

Robert Benmosche, AIG’s chief executive, is reportedly undergoing what’s been termed "aggressive chemotherapy," but what is aggressive chemotherapy? Details are scant about Benmosche’s condition at the moment, much less his type of cancer – or treatment. ALSO: AIG’s agrees, in principle, to repay taxpayer money But the National Cancer Institute says this about how often – and how long – a patient receives chemotherapy: "Treatment schedules for chemotherapy vary widely.

A shortage of the chemotherapy drug cytarabine is threatening the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in children around the country, with some hospitals rationing supplies of the drug and others turning away new patients. Cytarabine is a key ingredient in the drug cocktails given to such children. "Without it, most patients die," Louis J. DeGennaro, chief mission officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, told Bloomberg News . "There's really no substitute for cytarabine in those chemotherapy regimens.

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens announced Monday that she has begun chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer but will continue to actively lead one of the state's largest law enforcement agencies. During a news conference at department headquarters in Santa Ana, Hutchens said she was confident that she could still serve and aggressively combat the cancer. If she found that she couldn't handle the load, she said, "I'd make other arrangements. " Sheriff's officials said the department was notified of Hutchens' health problems about two weeks ago in a staff memo that was sent the day after she began chemotherapy.

Fighting cancer has never been easy. But new research - much of it being done in Southern California - is pointing toward a future in which patients will receive precisely targeted treatments that are more effective and have fewer side effects. “The biggest advance is the move away from traditional chemotherapy, which is very difficult for the patient, and which not everyone will respond to,” said Judith Gasson, director of UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

A common type of brain tumor may be caused by mature adult cells being genetically "rewound" to a more immature state, according to a study in the journal Science . The discovery could pave the way for improved brain cancer treatments. The cancer that was studied, called glioblastoma multiforme, is the most common type of brain tumor. It is also the most aggressive. Researchers had previously thought that the tumors were generated by neural stem cells gone awry rather than adult cells, which were not thought to have a natural ability to revert to an earlier state of development.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl on Tuesday attended his first meeting since beginning cancer treatment six weeks ago, declaring he intends to seek a third four-year term in next year's election. Using a walker and looking more gaunt than he did when he last appeared at City Hall in July, Rosendahl was welcomed with a standing ovation before divulging that he has had "13 hits of radiation" and two chemotherapy treatments. The 67-year-old Rosendahl thanked his constituents, various politicians and left-leaning public figures, including actor/director Warren Beatty and U.S. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio)

When cancers are treated, tumors may shrink but then come roaring back. Now studies on three different types of tumors suggest a key reason why: The cancers are fueled by stem cells that chemotherapy drugs don't kill. The findings - made by independent research teams that used mice to study tumors of the brain, intestines and skin - could change the approach to fighting cancers in humans, experts said. Properties of these so-called cancer stem cells can be investigated so researchers can devise strategies for killing them off, said Luis F. Parada, a molecular geneticist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and senior author of one of the studies published Wednesday.

Not to be overly dramatic, but for me the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act was a matter of life and death. Because the law was largely upheld, I will be able to continue receiving treatment for breast cancer. I was one of the early beneficiaries of the law. When I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer late last year, I had no health insurance, which meant my options were extremely limited. No insurer would pick up someone in my circumstances. But luckily, the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan had already kicked in, and it made it possible for me to purchase insurance under a government program.

Chemotherapy can destroy ovarian function in premenopausal women and much research has been dedicated to finding ways to preserve fertility in these women. Among breast cancer patients, for instance, about one in 200 are younger than age 40, and some of them may wish to become pregnant after successful cancer treatment. At least one of the strategies to preserve fertility in these women looks to be a failure, however. Researchers led by Dr. Pamela Munster at UC San Francisco conducted a study of premenopausal women undergoing chemotherapy.

Massachusetts medical authorities disciplined a doctor who prescribed overdoses of chemotherapy that killed one woman and seriously sickened another, questioning his competence and finding him guilty of malpractice, officials said Monday. The state's Board of Registration in Medicine suspended Dr. James Foran for prescribing four times the proper dosage of chemotherapy drugs to the women at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in November 1994.

"Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts, who five years ago beat breast cancer, said Monday that she has now been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disorder caused by chemotherapy for her cancer. She is now taking chemotherapy in preparation for receiving a bone marrow transplant from her sister later this year. Because she is relatively young and healthy, the combination of treatments should cure the condition, doctors have told her. Myelodysplastic syndrome is sometimes known as pre-leukemia, and many researchers now believe that, if untreated, it will progress to acute myeloid leukemia.

Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno, head of the six-county Los Angeles diocese, has been diagnosed with leukemia and is undergoing aggressive treatment to fight the disease. The 65-year-old bishop said in an open letter that he had been suffering from what he thought was a bout of pneumonia since March. He underwent further tests after treatment failed to cure the "nagging problem. " Doctors at Good Samaritan Hospital discovered that Bruno had acute monocytic leukemia, a form of blood cancer.