This year’s meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology was conducted amidst the unfortunate news of the sad demise of Beau Biden, the son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. According to the official White House statement, Beau Biden passed away at the young age of 46 after having lost the battle with brain cancer. The age of 46 is considered a pretty young age especially for health purposes considering the numbers associated with standards of American longevity .
Beau Biden had worked as a lawyer and had a relatively short political career when he succumbed to the disease. Biden is survived by his siblings, a doting wife and two young children.
Brain cancer remains a rare occurrence in adults, and a stubborn cancer to get rid of. According to the NCI, tumors originating in the brain and central nervous system account for nearly 23,400 cases every year in the USA. These numbers might constitute a mere 1.4% of total cancer numbers in America but the instances of death in these cases are staggeringly disproportionate. Each year, this malignancy type kills 15,000 people. The NCI’s official spokesperson has also given interviews about the particular brain cancer that led to the death of Beau Biden to spread awareness about it.
This disease can affect anyone beyond their profession or socio-economic conditions or even heredity tracks. Primary brain cancer is not like other tumors that metastases into the brain. In spite of the progress made in the fields of cancer prognosis since the year 1975, brain cancer still remains an enigma to most. For this disease, chances of 5-year survival are under 35 percent. Treatments are not very effective either because drugs administered can barely get past the fluids of the nervous system to reach the malignant cells that require attention plus the cancers of the brain are usually in such small and scattered state that they are hard to target.
It is hard to focus funds and research into a form of cancer that is so hard to pinpoint and reach if looked at cynically. But optimistically speaking focus should be put on prevention, diagnostics and more importantly, relief of symptoms.
An honest look at numbers and figures would show that the numbers of deaths occurring from cancer dropped by 22 percent between the years of 1991 and 2011.
The report 2015 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status Cancer compiled by combining research from the New York State Cancer Registry, Temple University in Philadelphia, the National Center for Health Statistics, the NCI, the ACS, the CDC, Information Management Services, Inc. (in Rockville, MD), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries helps take a detailed look at the present circumstances associated with cancer in the United States.
Brain cancer along with liver and pancreatic cancer form a section of cancers that sadly still cause death in most of the cases. But there is hope that in continued research and discussions, we can find solutions in helping deal with these mortal cancers and save a lot of lives in the process in the way melanoma and lung cancer have been dealt with in the past.
References:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2015/06/02/on-the-death-of-beau-biden-brain-cancer-progress-and-hope/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2015/06/02/on-the-death-of-beau-biden-brain-cancer-progress-and-hope/2/
Beau Biden had worked as a lawyer and had a relatively short political career when he succumbed to the disease. Biden is survived by his siblings, a doting wife and two young children.
Brain cancer remains a rare occurrence in adults, and a stubborn cancer to get rid of. According to the NCI, tumors originating in the brain and central nervous system account for nearly 23,400 cases every year in the USA. These numbers might constitute a mere 1.4% of total cancer numbers in America but the instances of death in these cases are staggeringly disproportionate. Each year, this malignancy type kills 15,000 people. The NCI’s official spokesperson has also given interviews about the particular brain cancer that led to the death of Beau Biden to spread awareness about it.
This disease can affect anyone beyond their profession or socio-economic conditions or even heredity tracks. Primary brain cancer is not like other tumors that metastases into the brain. In spite of the progress made in the fields of cancer prognosis since the year 1975, brain cancer still remains an enigma to most. For this disease, chances of 5-year survival are under 35 percent. Treatments are not very effective either because drugs administered can barely get past the fluids of the nervous system to reach the malignant cells that require attention plus the cancers of the brain are usually in such small and scattered state that they are hard to target.
It is hard to focus funds and research into a form of cancer that is so hard to pinpoint and reach if looked at cynically. But optimistically speaking focus should be put on prevention, diagnostics and more importantly, relief of symptoms.
An honest look at numbers and figures would show that the numbers of deaths occurring from cancer dropped by 22 percent between the years of 1991 and 2011.
The report 2015 Annual Report to the Nation on the Status Cancer compiled by combining research from the New York State Cancer Registry, Temple University in Philadelphia, the National Center for Health Statistics, the NCI, the ACS, the CDC, Information Management Services, Inc. (in Rockville, MD), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries helps take a detailed look at the present circumstances associated with cancer in the United States.
Brain cancer along with liver and pancreatic cancer form a section of cancers that sadly still cause death in most of the cases. But there is hope that in continued research and discussions, we can find solutions in helping deal with these mortal cancers and save a lot of lives in the process in the way melanoma and lung cancer have been dealt with in the past.
References:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2015/06/02/on-the-death-of-beau-biden-brain-cancer-progress-and-hope/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/elaineschattner/2015/06/02/on-the-death-of-beau-biden-brain-cancer-progress-and-hope/2/
