ARCHIVED - Research About - Cancer

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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health-care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to nearly 12,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada. Through CIHR, the Government of Canada invested approximately $132.5 million in 2007-08 in cancer-related research across Canada.

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The Facts

• An estimated 166,400 new cases of cancer and 73,800 cancer deaths will occur in Canada in 2008.

• Cancer's primary target is older Canadians: 42% of new cancer cases and 60% of cancer deaths will occur among people who are at least 70. However, almost one-third of new cases and 18% of deaths will occur in young and middle-aged adults.

• Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women. In 2008, 22,400 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die of it.

• Among men, prostate cancer is the leading type of cancer. An estimated 24,700 cases will be diagnosed in 2008.

• Lung cancer, the most preventable of all types, remains the leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women, followed by colorectal cancer.

• Based on current incidence rates, 39% of Canadian women will develop cancer during their lives, while 45% of men will get it at some point.

(Source: Canadian Cancer Society/National Cancer Institute of Canada: Canadian Cancer Statistics 2008)

Finding Solutions

Hope helps the terminally ill

A University of Saskatchewan research team working with terminally ill cancer patients has found that engaging in activities that increase hope such as deciding on gifts to be given in perpetuity increases well-being during a person's last days. The team, led by CIHR-funded scientist Dr. Wendy Duggleby, also found that hope eases the suffering of the families and health professionals caring for the terminally ill. The research team has produced an award-winning video called Living With Hope, which can be viewed at the University of Saskatchewan site.

Tobacco ads near schools linked to youth smoking

A study involving more than 400 retail outlets and 22,000 students in five provinces found that schools with a high prevalence of smokers tended to be near stores with lower cigarette prices, more in-store promotions and fewer government-sponsored health warnings. Dr. Candace Nykiforuk, a professor in the University of Alberta's School of Public Health, noted that a number of provinces and territories have implemented or are considering regulations to restrict so-called "point-of-purchase" marketing. Results of the study were published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

Shining a light on colon cancer

Caught early, pre-cancerous growths in the esophagus and intestines can be treated with minimally invasive treatments that save lives and cut health care costs. Finding these early-stage growths, however, is difficult. A team led by Dr. Brian C. Wilson of the Ontario Cancer Institute has made a significant step forward in tracking early stage gastrointestinal cancers using an innovative new medical device. The team combined antibodies that target early malignancies with tiny nanocrystals called quantum dots. Homing in on early cancer cells, the dots glow when stimulated by an external light source. This innovative screening technique has the potential to dramatically improve early cancer detection.

The Researchers

Dr. Neil Hagen - Relieving breakthrough cancer pain

For cancer patients, one kind of pain is worse than all others -- breakthrough pain. The name itself tells the story: it's a sudden flare of pain so intense that it "breaks through" the pain medication given cancer patients to provide long-term relief. More than half of cancer patients with severe pain also have breakthrough pain.

"If we could do just one thing to improve cancer pain management, it's to find better ways to treat breakthrough pain," says Dr. Neil Hagen, a cancer pain researcher at the University of Calgary's Tom Baker Cancer Centre.

The challenge in treating breakthrough pain, says Dr. Hagen, is that it's a sudden, unexpected and intense event. On average, the intense pain peaks in three minutes and lasts about 30 minutes. In contrast, even today's most fast-acting painkillers, such as "lollipops" with the pain medication fentanyl, take 15 minutes to provide pain relief.

What painkiller might deliver super-rapid relief? Dr. Hagen's group believes the synthetic narcotic methadone might meet demands. Used widely in addiction treatment programs, methadone is inexpensive, can be easily administered under the tongue and provides near immediate pain relief.

But before Dr. Hagen's team could test this hypothesis, they realized they'd need to lay the scientific groundwork for conducting clinical trials on breakthrough pain treatment, since almost no work had been done on the topic.

The group's first step was creating the Alberta Breakthrough Pain Assessment tool. This patient questionnaire is the first tool of its kind, and was systematically developed through consultation with an expert panel of 16 Canadian cancer pain specialists, and a similar 22-person international panel.

A methadone pilot study to test the questionnaire and trial design has already provided results that could one day come as a great relief to cancer patients.

Says Dr. Hagen: "This pilot study found that with methadone given under the tongue there was relief of breakthrough pain in five minutes - three times faster than existing medications."

For more information, go to www.impact.cihr-irsc.gc.ca.