Latest news with #cancerDiagnosis
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
What is causing a huge spike in early onset cancers among Aussies? The data that everyone needs to see - as the country leads the world in one type of the disease
Australians in their 30s and 40s are being increasingly diagnosed with cancer, with at least 10 types of the disease rising at an alarming rate. The trend, known as early onset cancer, is worrying experts who have pointed to childhood obesity, ultra-processed foods and microplastics as possible reasons for the frightening phenomenon. Cancer Australia, the federal government's cancer agency, has released data on the staggering increases in cases between 2000 and 2024. In Australians aged 30 to 39, the rate of prostate cancer has increased by 500 per cent, pancreatic cancer by 200 per cent, liver cancer by 150 per cent, uterine cancer by 138 per cent and kidney cancer by 85 per cent. Professor Dorothy Keefe, the chief executive of Cancer Australia, has revealed approximately 10 types of cancer are now displaying unprecedented elevated rates in young adults. The likelihood of an adult being diagnosed with cancers such as bowel, breast and lung, has traditionally increased with age, but the worrying trend that has emerged in the last two decades contradicts this. Data from the United States shows Australia isn't alone with a dramatic rise in early onset cancers. But Australia is alarmingly a world leader when it comes to bowel cancer rates. Since 2000, bowel cancer cases among 30 to 30-year-olds have increased by 173 per cent and what's even more worrying is the fact diagnoses in this age group often occur at a later stage, when the cancer is harder to treat. Chris Burton, 39, told the ABC's Four Corners that he was planning his wedding when he noticed he was bleeding after going to the toilet. Six weeks later, it happened again and his GP referred him for a colonoscopy. After returning from his honeymoon, he had the procedure and was diagnosed with bowel cancer. 'Similar to a lot of young people, cancer's not at the forefront of what you think might be wrong with you,' he said. Mr Burton has understandably struggled following his diagnosis at a time that should have been a happy one. He learned of his diagnosis when his wife about to give birth to their second child. He said he often wonders if he could have done something to prevent the disease. 'That's the 3am thoughts that go through your head … have you done something to deserve it?' The specific reasons for the marked increase have not been pinned down, but theories are emerging in the scientific community. Many scientists believe environmental factors or the 'exposome' could partly be to blame for the increase in cancer cases in young adults. Understanding the environment of today's 30 to 40-year-olds when they were children could be the key, particularly societal changes between the 1960s and 1990s. Childhood obesity has increased in recent years, diets have become more reliant on ultra-processed foods, and antibiotics were more readily prescribed. Increased rates in caesareans could be a factor, as this may have disrupted the transfer of microbiomes from mother to child. This is something which could affect immune system development. Harmful microplastics and their growing presence in everyday life could also be a huge concern. Microplastics are small plastic particles, less than 5mm in diameter, which have been found in drinking water, food, and the atmosphere as they have become increasingly used in the modern world. A University of Newcastle report commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature found that the average individual could be ingesting as much as five grams of microplastics every single week. Mr Burton's wife Ali has since given birth to a baby girl, just three days after his latest surgery in June. 'It's a stormy dark period, but you know, it's possible to survive,' he added.
ABC News
26-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Doctors at Westmead Hospital to hold vote of no confidence in health district chief executive, amid delayed cancer scans
Doctors at Sydney's Westmead Hospital are calling for their chief executive to stand down over allegations of patient safety concerns and delayed cancer diagnoses. In a letter sent to hospital staff, the Medical Staff Council said it plans to hold a vote of no confidence in Western Sydney Local Health District's chief executive, Graeme Loy, on Thursday evening. Senior doctors say for the past five years they have raised concerns about unacceptable clinic wait times for routine scans that can detect preventable cancers, with some patients waiting up to three years. "You will be aware that the [Medical Staff Council] has advocated for many years for improvement in patient care including excessive delays in clinic review, procedures and surgical admissions," deputy chair of the Westmead Medical Staff Council Jenny King wrote in the letter. "This has been a particular concern for those patients with a positive faecal occult blood screen. "The issue of failure to provide care for those patients at high-risk malignancy has long been documented," Dr King wrote. Western Sydney Local Health District, Health Minister Ryan Park and NSW Health have been contacted for comment. The revolt among staff came after the dismissal of Westmead's head of gastroenterology department, Jacob George, last week, who raised concerns with management about the lengthy wait times. One senior doctor at Westmead, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, believed Professor George's dismissal was retaliation for speaking out. "For many years we have been struggling to have our concerns listened to, and the executive has been aware," the doctor said. The ABC understands wait times have impacted cancer diagnosis screenings in several departments including cardio, renal, dermatology and gastroenterology. The senior doctor said the delays could mean hundreds of patients who have cancer are in the dark about their disease, or receive late diagnoses. "It's a major risk and it's something we shouldn't be letting people down on," the doctor said. "If you have a possible cancer, we like to get a colonoscopy done within 30 days, but patients are waiting months, and the risk is the cancer has disseminated." Kathryn Austin, Australian Medical Association NSW president, said the issues were symptomatic of a lack of investment in staffing in public hospitals. "There has not been the investment in workforce that we need and the workforce is who deliver the care to patients," she said. "It's a sad state of affairs that it's come to this point and the clinical concerns haven't been addressed." A vote of no confidence has no binding power and does not mean Mr Loy will be dismissed from this role if passed. But the senior doctor said the significance of an unanimous vote would be hard to ignore. "If we don't win, the whole of public health is threatened," the senior doctor said.
Fox News
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Friends and Freedom Fest
Kennedy spent much of last week in Palm Springs, where she emceed Freedom Fest. There, she got to talk to her good friend Kat Timpf about the struggles of motherhood and her cancer diagnosis. Kat made her return to the small screen on Monday, and the Gutfeld gang couldn't be happier. As she recaps the event's festivities, she reflects on the ongoing situation in California and calls on Governor Gavin Newsom to get it together. Follow Kennedy on Twitter: @KennedyNation Kennedy Now Available on YouTube: Follow on TikTok: Join Kennedy for Happy Hour on Fridays! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Sponge pill test for diagnosing cancer rolled out in Halifax
A "pill-on-a-thread" designed to diagnose cancer is being trialled among heartburn patients in from across West Yorkshire were invited to take part in the oesophageal cancer trial at mobile screening vans in the Coyle, 61, was one of the first patients to undergo the procedure, which involved swallowing a small, coated sponge pill attached to a piece of said: "I thought it was going to be quite invasive, and really, it was nothing. It was just a case of swallowing the pill, waiting for several minutes and then it's pulled out and there was no real discomfort at all." "It was just a quick pull and a very slim amount of discomfort and that was it."Mr Coyle said he had suffered from indigestion throughout his life and had tried a number of remedies."Heartburn has been a lifelong problem for me, but it has soothed recently as I've been drinking cabbage juice," he said."It's one of these things you hear about. I don't know whether I heard about it online but it isn't a magical solution. It's a mind thing really, but it seems to soothe it a bit."He said he was pleased to have been asked to take part in the trial. "If there's any positive signs of cancer of the oesophagus, the team book you in for an endoscopy and if not they'll keep monitoring you."I would recommend it to anybody. It's a harmless procedure and it's all for the good." According to Cancer Research UK there are around 9,300 new cases of oesophageal cancer in the UK every year. The sponge test takes 10 minutes and can be done by a nurse, meaning it is faster and less expensive than an endoscopy, said patient swallows the pill, the coating dissolves and the sponge inside it expands to the size of a cherry sponge collects cells from the oesophagus as it is pulled out from the stomach. The cells are then tested for two proteins which tell doctors if someone has Barrett's oesophagus or oesophageal trial was funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care the next three years researchers aim to recruit 120,000 people who take medication for Rebecca Fitzgerald, inventor of the capsule sponge test and co-principal investigator of the study, said the trial was changing how the disease was detected."Catching it earlier can save lives by reducing the need for chemotherapy and surgery to remove the oesophagus," she said."This trial could fundamentally transform the lives of people affected by oesophageal cancer by providing the crucial evidence needed to make it a viable screening programme, rolled out to every part of the UK."The Halifax mobile screening follows initial trials in Cambridgeshire in November 2024. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
News.com.au
03-06-2025
- General
- News.com.au
‘I knew it': Sign 28yo had ‘aggressive' cancer
An Australian woman who was diagnosed with aggressive cancer at the age of just 28 has revealed the symptom that ultimately tipped her off that something was not quite right. Sam Bulloch, now 30, began to notice some bleeding when she went to the toilet — something that she put down to haemorrhoids. But, two years ago, her bathroom habits — such as a change in how many times she needed to use the restroom — made her stop and think. Ms Bulloch realised she wasn't eating as best she could as she had just switched careers and was a busy new librarian, often opting for quick and easy, cheap meals, so she put it down to the changes in her diet. But it was Ms Bulloch's depleted energy levels that eventually made her see a doctor, thinking she was having issues with her iron levels and even possibly anaemia — which had happened previously. It got to the point where the young librarian couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without being puffed. A GP sent her off for a blood test and an ultrasound, also under the belief that it could be to do with her iron levels. But when a tumour was found in Ms Bulloch's colon — as well as spots on her liver and lungs — doctors discovered she had stage 4 colon cancer. 'My first reaction was, 'I knew it. When I started Googling after the ultrasound, when things started to get serious, I knew something was wrong,' she told Ms Bulloch said it prompted her to look back at her health history, and she realised the blood she found when she went to the bathroom likely wasn't haemorrhoids as she initially suspected. 'When I found out it was cancer, my mind when to the worst place possible. And, just because it was so advanced at the time it was found, I just didn't have a lot of hope, to be honest.' It wasn't Ms Bulloch's first brush with a deadly cancer. Two decades prior to her diagnosis, the then 28-year-old's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. 'There's a lot that I don't remember from most of it, and by that I just mean life felt quite normal all things considered,' she said. Looking back, Ms Bulloch said she is now in shock and awe at how her mother handled breast cancer with such grace. Eventually, it spread to her lungs and her brain. 'I do remember when she started to decline, and I feel like that's what sticks in my mind the most — just watching her get sicker and sicker,' she recalled. 'I think the hardest part was just watching her change and not feel herself. Towards the end, it was impacting her speech and cognitive function. She just didn't feel like the mum I knew in those last months.' It was this knowledge of how brutal chemotherapy could be that scared Ms Bulloch, as she'd had a front-row seat to her mum's decline. With cancer such as Ms Bulloch's, there was a few lines of standardised treatment. This includes two types of chemotherapy, with the third being to combine the two treatments for a more aggressive approach. She started off with a specific chemotherapy regime, and after doing some genetic testing to see what else could be given alongside the treatment, a more targeted therapy was also applied. Her body responded well to that, and she was treated for 10 months before its effectiveness was questioned by her doctors. Ms Bulloch was then put on a different targeted therapy before she was eligible for surgery. 'We were doing the surgeries with the intention to remove all the cancer — which, spoiler, sadly didn't happen,' she said. The first surgery was called an high anterior resection, which saw all of her sigmoid colon and the top part of her rectum removed. Cancer was also removed from her liver. Two months later, she had another liver resection which saw the whole right lobe of her liver removed. There were plans to operate on her lungs, where cancer was also found, but at the last minute her treatment options were switched. She is now on a different chemotherapy. Ms Bulloch is sharing her story on behalf of Australian Cancer Research Foundation's Centre for Dynamic Immuno-Oncology at The Alfred in Melbourne. The centre looks at the potentially lifesaving potential of immunotherapy, with a grant allowing researchers to watch cancer cells interact with a patient's immune system in real time. This removes the need for things such as blood or tissue samples, and could allow researchers to find a more targeted approach for a person's individual cancer. Ms Bulloch said one of the chemotherapies was among the first ever created and had been around for 60 years. 'That's a good thing in some ways, but it's also really rubbish to receive. It makes you so sick,' she said. 'With chemotherapy, you kill everything and so you have a lot of collateral damage with that. Whereas with targeted therapies, it looks for something specific. 'And I mean, I'm no doctor, of course, but I'm convinced that the incredible response I had to treatment at the beginning was because of the targeted therapy.' Ms Bulloch had side effects to her treatment, such as a severe rash, but she said this was nothing compared to other types of treatment that left her bedridden and unable to have a semblance of regular life. Carly du Toit, General Manager of Australian Cancer Research Foundation, told that immunotherapy is one of the most important breakthroughs in cancer treatment. 'But right now, it's only effective in some patients and others experience severe side effects or minimal results,' she said. 'Until we unlock its full potential for all patients, we haven't truly delivered on its promise. At ACRF, our mission is to change that. By supporting world-leading research, like the ACRF Centre for Dynamic Immuno-Oncology, we're working to ensure that this lifesaving treatment becomes a reality for everyone who needs it.' Colon cancer falls under the banner of bowel cancer, with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners reporting that it was up 266 per cent from the 1980s among 15 to 24 year olds. Ms Bulloch said no two cancers were alike, and so she believed treatment options needed to be tailored. The young librarian also said she is sharing her story to show that colon cancer can impact anyone, and it's important to be on the lookout for what the signs are. She said she's had friends confide in her, and she wants these types of conversations to be normalised. 'When it started happening to me the first thing I felt was embarrassed, which is so silly, that I was embarrassed that I was having bleeding,' she said. 'I just let the embarrassment stop me from doing anything or telling anyone about it.' She said she will continue to advocate so that others can have full autonomy over their health. And, for Ms Bulloch, she said focusing on the everyday moments of joy while dealing with everything that has happened over the last two years is helping to get her through it all. At the beginning of this year, she met her partner Sam on Hinge when both were initially set on deleting the app for good. 'It's been a couple of months now we've done so many fun things but also he's sat with me in some really tough things,' she said. 'I went through losing my hair shortly after meeting him, getting bad scan results — like the poor things really like not come into my life at a mountain top moment.'
