Test may help rule out need for chemotherapy in early breast cancer

April 5, 2000

SAN FRANCISCO, APR 4 (AP) - Many women with early-stage breast cancer might be spared unnecessary chemotherapy if doctors check their tumors for proteins that help reveal whether the disease will spread.

Testing for these proteins is already becoming routine in Europe, but U.S. doctors say they need more evidence that the approach actually works.

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Prostate Cancer: ruling out false alarms

April 4, 2000

SAN FRANCISCO, APR 3 (UNB/AP) - Fine-tuning the standard screening test for prostate cancer can help doctors reduce false alarms by up to 40 percent and perhaps find early-stage tumors that might otherwise be missed, researchers say.

About three-quarters of men with prostate cancer have elevated levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen - PSA. Testing blood for PSA has been a standard screening method for older men since about 1990.

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