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Healthline

By wire services
Published March 1, 2005

THE ENDOMETRIOSIS ASSOCIATION has released a Spanish version of its resource book loaded with information about treatment options, key research findings, inspirational case histories and coping strategies. Endometriosis is a disease that occurs when tissue similar to the uterine lining is found in other areas of the body. More than 5-million women and girls in the United States have the disorder. To get more information about endometriosis or order the book, call toll-free 1-800-992-3636. Information in English and Spanish is available at www.endometriosisassn.org

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IF YOU RESOLVED to make a difference in your community this year, involve the whole family. Here are some ideas for things you can do with kids along, from Parents magazine:

-- Donate food to a food pantry.

-- Walk to fight disease.

-- Put together activity boxes - decorated boxes filled with cards, games and books - for kids at a local hospital or homeless shelter.

-- Visit a nursing home.

-- Pick up litter at a local park.

-- Deliver meals to homebound people.

-- Offer elderly people a lift to medical appointments, the grocery store or to visit friends.

-- Read books to children in the hospital.

-- Volunteer to care for abandoned dogs or cats.

ANALYZING CELLS FROM milk ducts doesn't reliably detect breast cancer, according to researchers. Because most breast cancer starts in a milk duct, scientists had theorized that flushing those ducts with fluid might draw out cancerous cells before they could be spotted on a mammogram. The milk duct technique, called ductal lavage, is among those experimental alternatives. To test it, doctors at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital administered ductal lavage to 39 women just before their breasts were removed for known cancer. Ductal lavage signaled cancer in just 13 percent of the cancerous breasts tested and possible signs in 42 percent. Among the problems: There are numerous milk ducts in the breast, and it's impossible to know in advance if ductal lavage produced cells from the one that contains cancer. And even when it did, the research found the cells produced didn't always signal cancer.

WITH PROSTATE CANCER, knowledge is power. That's the message in The American Cancer Society's Complete Guide to Prostate Cancer (American Cancer Society; $19.95), edited by Drs. David G. Bostwick, E. David Crawford, Celestia S. Higano and Mack Roach III. This book discusses the stages of prostate cancer, treatment options - including clinical trials, radiation and surgery - and quality-of-life issues after remission. The book also features an extensive resource guide for prostate cancer patients and survivors and a glossary of cancer-related terms.

[Last modified February 28, 2005, 16:11:03]