Maintained by the Biology Department at Emory University, this site explains the biology of cancer for several different audiences: patients, educators, students, and health professionals. You do not have to have a biology background to understand this information, which is organized into the topics Cell Biology, Cancer Biology, Detection and Treatment, Current Research, Multimedia and Additional Resources. This site is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Italian. The site contains numerous graphic images and animations to convey the information. In order to see the animations, you will need the Flash Player, which can be downloaded for free. An easy-to-use online dictionary is also available. Recommended for those who want to understand the basis of their disease.
The American Cancer Society provides information about more than 65 different types of cancer. There are lay-language overviews with information about symptoms, diagnosis, staging, and treatment. In the "Learn About Cancer" section, look for the link "Choose a cancer topic" to find an overview about a specific cancer. To help newly diagnosed patients who may be feeling overwhelmed, a number of overviews include a link to "Profiler Tools for Cancer", interactive tools designed to help patients make informed treatment decisions, including questions to ask their doctors about their treatment and prognosis, disclosure of side effects and outcomes, and links to relevant medical studies. The information in Cancer Profiler is based on scientific medical journals and is regularly updated by ASCO's Medical Editorial Board, experts in cancer research and treatment. There is also a Detailed Guide for each cancer type, designed for patients who want more specific medical information, including treatment information by stage of disease. A notation at the bottom of each page indicates when information was last updated.
In addition to general health and wellness news and information, the for-profit WebMD Web site offers cancer information, including symptoms, diagnosis, staging, and treatments for a number of the most common types of cancer. Cancer information about some cancers is provided in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and the National Cancer Institute.
For the most common types of cancer, there are links to news articles that cover advances in diagnosis and treatment, and information about the drugs most commonly used to treat those cancers. There is also a section called Community & Resources, that contains links to blogs written by medical professionals, and message boards where one can communicate with their peers, and/or ask questions of an expert. For all the cancer overviews, there is a list of helpful Frequently Asked Questions.
While these summaries may provide helpful background information about your type of cancer, they are somewhat general in nature and may not take into account all the factors your own doctor may consider important when evaluating potential treatment options.
In general, the WebMD site indicates when its information was last updated and who reviewed the material. The news articles included within each topic are written by journalists who work for WebMD and are reviewed by WebMD physicians. There is a helpful control that allows you increase and decrease the font size, and information is well-organized.
Cancer.Net, the American Society of Clinical Oncology's patient Web site, provides oncologist-approved information on more than 120 types of cancer in their Cancer Types section, including symptoms, diagnosis, staging, and treatment. The each cancer-specific write-up indicates when the material was last updated. The site also includes information about managing side effects and finding support groups. There are tailored lists of questions that patients may want to ask their doctors about treatment and related issues, as well as information about research on the horizon.
In the Library section, links to several online medical dictionaries are available, but you must enter the term you are looking for to find its definition. You will have difficulty finding a term if you do not have the correct spelling. There are also links to basic oncology terms, grouped into sections for the newly diagnosed, those currently receiving treatment, and those who have completed treatment. A Medical Illustrations Gallery offers full-color anatomical illustrations of common cancer sites, and there are podcasts (digital audio recordings) available to download, giving people the option of hearing, rather than reading, cancer.net's oncologist-approved information. Most information is also provided in Spanish.
The National Cancer Institute's authoritative Web site offers the latest information about cancer and its treatment. Here, you will find comprehensive information for more than 150 types of cancer, from the most common to the very rare. For each cancer type, there is information about causes, treatment, screening, and testing. For the more common cancers, such as breast, colon, lung, prostate, and others, the site provides summaries of recent clinical trial results. Information for each type of cancer is presented in two formats -- for patients and for health professionals -- in both English and Spanish. The patient version, written in lay language, may be especially useful for those newly diagnosed with cancer. Patients who have become more familiar with cancer, or those with a medical background, may prefer the more comprehensive and extensively referenced professional version.
The information on the site is updated regularly. Within each cancer, there are links to related topics. You can also find fact sheets about Cancer Staging and Tumor Grade, both of which affect cancer treatment choices and a patient's prognosis. The site includes information about newly approved cancer treatments, cancer statistics, and a dictionary of more than 4,000 cancer-related terms with easy-to-understand definitions.
Presented on the American Cancer Society's (ACS) Web site, the NexProfiler Tool, an interactive treatment decision tool, is designed to help patients better evaluate their treatment options and, with their physicians, make informed treatment decisions. It is available through a partnership between the ACS and NexCura, the for-profit healthcare information company that created the tool. In addition to the ACS site, the tool is also offered free of charge on other cancer and medical-related Web sites. It provides you with treatment options for 20 different types of cancer. To use this tool, patients should have a precise diagnosis and extensive information about their tumor type.
To access the tool, you must register. You also will need to complete a detailed, confidential questionnaire about your diagnosis, providing information about pathology results, staging, tumor marker test results, and other medical information. This questionnaire may take 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Based on the information you enter, you will receive a Treatment Options Report, with a description of each treatment option and the side effects most commonly associated with it. This report does not identify the best option(s) but includes all possible options. You can then access the Treatment Outcomes Tool to get information about outcomes related to your treatment options. This tool does not predict your likelihood of surviving cancer based on a particular treatment. Rather, it will guide you to abstracts of peer-reviewed medical journal articles that involve patients with a similar diagnosis and tumor type as yours. These abstracts are not written for a general lay audience and may require the guidance of a physician to interpret. Some of the journal articles have been published in the past several years; others were published a decade ago.
MedlinePlus, a Web site of the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, offers Interactive Health Tutorials -- similar to interactive slide shows with sound -- about procedures used to diagnose cancer, such as MRIs, CT scans, ultrasound, and mammograms. Look in the "Tests and Diagnostic Procedures" section to find them. The tutorials explain the procedures in language that is easy-to-understand, citing their potential risks as well. There are also tutorials on brain, breast, colon, lung, ovarian, and prostate cancer, as well as on leukemia, melanoma, and multiple myeloma.
Treatment Summaries and Guidelines @ National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a not-for-profit alliance of 21 of the world's leading cancer centers, has recently launched a patient-focused site which presents summaries of how cancer is treated at leading cancer centers throughout the United States. The patient treatment summaries currently cover about 70 percent of all cancers in adults -- including breast, colon, lung, Non-Hodgkins, ovarian, rectal and prostate -- and the site plans to add new ones throughout 2009 and 2010.
You can search these summaries by keyword or by cancer type (category). Each summary follows a similar template, including information such as background, diagnosis, tumor stage, treatment and prognosis. Each also includes a checklist of things to remember, such as considering second opinions, and asking your doctor if you will be able to work during treatment. In addition, you will find quick links to related content on the site, such as overviews on cancer staging and clinical trials, and links to noteworthy external resources and organizations. Terms that may be unfamiliar are in blue italics; you can read their definitions by clicking on them.
The treatment summaries are based on the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™.These guidelines are intended for professionals, although anyone, after submitting an "end user agreement" can download and print them. You will need the Adobe Reader software to do so. The guidelines are versioned and indicate when they were last updated.
The National Cancer Institute Web site contains tutorials with colorful graphics to help you understand the basics behind cancer topics that have been in the news.
Many life science teachers and medical professionals, as well as patients, find that they want more information about new technology and the science behind cancer. The NCI Web site provides easy-to-understand tutorials that can help you learn more about the disease and the advances in technology that are affecting the diagnosis and treatment. You can choose from the following tutorials:
Cancer
Understanding the Immune System
Understanding Cancer Genomics
Understanding Molecular Diagnostics
Understanding Angiogenesis
Understanding Estrogen Receptor/SERMS
Understanding Genetic Variation (SNPs)
Understanding Gene Testing
Understanding Cancer Genome Project
Understanding Nanodevices
Cancer and the Environment
Blood Stem Cell Transplants
HPV Vaccine
The tutorials are presented in a slide-show format, and you can click through the slides at your own pace. Each tutorial is available in both PDF and PowerPoint formats that may be downloaded from the Web free of charge. Additionally, for each topic, there is a clickable index of slide numbers and titles, enabling you to view only the slides that are of interest to you. Tutorials are also available in Spanish.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology's Cancer.Net Web site provides extensive, easy-to-understand information about clinical trials: what they are; who sponsors them, an explanation of their various phases; what insurance coverage is available for them; and a handy list of questions to ask your research team if you are considering participating in a clinical trial. The site also links to several established resources to locate clinical trials. The information is also available in Spanish.
Clinical Trials Database @ National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute's Clinical Trials database includes thousands of records of clinical trials that are actively recruiting patients. These include trials for cancer treatment, genetics, diagnosis, supportive care, screening, and prevention.You can search to locate clinical trials by type of cancer, stage of disease, type of treatment, location of trial, drug name, or a combination of these and other variables.You can also search using a more detailed form; both forms have help functions. The advanced search form allows you to do a more focused search, including trial phase, stage or subtype of cancer, protocol ID, hospital or institution, sponsor, trial investigators, and more.
This section also includes summaries that highlight recently released results from cancer clinical trials. The findings cited are significant enough that they are likely to influence patients' medical care. There are also helpful educational materials about clinical trials: how they work, why they're useful, patient care costs, and more.
Clinical Trials at Comprehensive Cancer Centers @ National Comprehensive Cancer Network
NCCN is a voluntary association of select centers across the United States, known for providing exceptional cancer care. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network's Web site helps you find a clinical trial near you by providing a clickable map of their 21 comprehensive cancer centers throughout the United States.
Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups @ cancertrialshelp.org
The Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups, Inc. -- a network of cancer clinical trials specialists -- includes cooperative clinical trials groups, cancer centers, academic medical centers, community hospitals, physician practices, and patient advocate groups. The Coalition offers a variety of programs and information for patients and physicians, which are designed to increase awareness of, and participation in, cancer clinical trials.
For some cancer patients, clinical trials may offer the best available treatment and the opportunity to receive new, potentially more effective therapy. Here you will find important information to help you decide whether a clinical trial is right for you, including questions to ask your doctor, guidelines on the informed consent process (a part of the decision that outlines potential risks and benefits of participation in a clinical trial), transcripts from discussions with leading cancer researchers, a glossary, and insurance information. You can also search the Coalition's database of cancer clinical trials, called TrialCheck.
TrialCheck is a searchable database of more than 4000 clinical trials. You do not have to register to use this search tool. The results of TrialCheck are based on your answers to eleven simple questions and indicate which trials you may be eligible for. You can then click on the corresponding link for each clinical trial to get more information; in most cases this includes the protocol abstract, eligibility requirements, and patient-friendly summaries. These are pdf files, which you can download if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer. If you do not have this program, you can download it for free from the Internet.
The TrialCheck database contains the active clinical trials of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), Gynecologic Oncology Group, North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG), National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). Trials from the NCI physician data query (PDQ), and selected pharmaceutical companies are also featured in TrialCheck. Clinical trials results are grouped into four categories: treatment, supportive care, prevention, and all other trials.
TrialCheck allows you to save your search results, if you like, and return to them whenever you choose. You also can receive e-mail updates whenever a new cancer clinical trial has been added to your search results.
EmergingMed, a for-profit healthcare technology company, provides a fast, free way for people with serious illnesses to search for and match their personal profiles to clinical trial information online. These trials are sponsored by both government and private industry, and can be searched without having to register. However, to use their matching service, you must register (accounts are anonymous and require only a username and password of your choice), and fill out a patient profile questionnaire. Once your profile is complete, you can click "match to trials" to find the trials that are most suitable for you. You can print out the trials to discuss them with your physician. You may also apply for enrollment in the clinical trials by submitting an online application. If you submit an application, you can elect to be contacted by an EmergingMed Member Services representative by phone or by e-mail. EmergingMed's representatives strive to contact you within 24-48 hours to verify your interest in the trial, and follows-up with you and the trial administrator until you have successfully made contact with each other. Please note that the order in which match results are displayed does not reflect that any clinical trial is better or more appropriate for you than any other match listed. You can also call a toll-free number, 1-877-601-8601, to find out if trials match your personal profile.
Questions to Ask About a Clinical Trials Web Site @ National Cancer Institute
Dozens of Web sites now exist to help people with cancer or other diseases more easily locate and be matched with clinical trials. But how do you know which are reputable? This section of the National Cancer Institute Web site is devoted to helping you evaluate them. The National Cancer Institute has developed a list of questions that you may want to consider when you visit clinical trials Web sites, pertaining to the different types of clinical trials, who sponsors them, participant protection, eligibility criteria, risks/benefits, insurance and payment information, and informed consent. Answering these questions can help you understand the possible biases and limitations of clinical trials information provided by particular Web sites.
What You Need to Know About Clinical Trials @ American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society presents comprehensive information about what cancer patients should know about clinical trials. This information includes an explanation of why clinical trials are conducted and who sponsors and conducts them; questions to consider if you are thinking about participating in a clinical trial; an explanation of the risks and benefits of participation, and what participation would involve; and information about whether medical insurance covers the cost of clinical trials.
About Herbs, Botanicals, and Other Products @ mskcc.org
Here you will find up-to-date, comprehensive information on nearly all herbs, botanicals, vitamins, and other supplements. Information about each agent is presented in two formats -- one for healthcare professionals and another for consumers. The consumer version features the Bottom Line, a brief summary of the benefits and risks of each agent as well as the scientific evidence, or lack of it, as a treatment for cancer or cancer-related symptoms. There is also detailed information about how the supplement works, research evidence, purported uses, and consumer warnings. This version is designed to help consumers sort out the confusing claims often made about herbal medications and other supplements. The version for healthcare professionals is more comprehensive and uses more technical language. It also includes citations in the medical literature and more detailed information about contraindications, adverse reactions, and drug interactions. For each agent, there is also a medical literature summary and critique. The "News & Alerts" feature details US government warnings about herbs and botanicals.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine @ National Cancer Institute
This information from the National Cancer Institute includes a Q&A on complementary and alternative medicine and descriptions of herbal and other alternative medicines. While this list is not extensive, each medicine listed includes a short overview that is cross-referenced with the more detailed Q&A section, including glossary definitions in pop-up windows for underlined words. There is also information about preclinical and clinical studies of each alternative medicine and adverse effects of these medicines. The summaries are provided in two formats -- for patients and for health professionals. The health professional version includes a Levels of Evidence section that indicates its proven effectiveness in humans. You can also find links to other US government resources for complementary and alternative therapies.
Fraud and Quackery in Complementary Medicine @ Quackwatch
The non-profit Quackwatch works to combat health-related frauds, myths, and fads. It was established in 1969 by psychiatrist Stephen Barrett, MD who oversees the organization's Web site and is well known for his work as a consumer advocate.
Quackwatch.com has hundreds of online articles on everything from how to spot quackery to specific therapies. A section of the Web site is devoted specifically to cancer patients seeking alternative therapies.
Although some listed topics on Quackwatch have yet to have articles posted to them, the site provides valuable information about evaluating health claims of various "alternative" cancer therapies. In the section for cancer patients, you can find information about how promoters of dubious treatments manipulate the emotions of desperate cancer patients and their families, a list of cancer-related tests to avoid, and a long list of questionable alternative therapies. Most of these therapies include links to information about their health claims, the legitimacy of these claims, and whether a particular treatment has been evaluated in clinical trials. This section also includes a list of cancer-related Web sites to avoid.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is dedicated to evaluating complementary and alternative healing methods in the context of rigorous science. This site offers a wealth of information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), much of which is also available in Spanish.
In the A-Z Index of Health Topics, you will find a link to cancer. In this section, you will find information such as key points, questions to ask your health provider, information on clinical trials, references, and more.You will also find information on specific complementary and alternative treatments for cancer, most of which are then linked to a National Cancer Institute Fact Sheet. The fact sheets typically contain a description of the treatment, a history of its use, and information about whether it has been evaluated in scientific studies, as well as any results from those studies, or harmful side effects.
NCCAM supports clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of complementary and alternative therapies. The Clinical Trials section provides more information about these clinical trials, including selected research results, an A-Z List of NCCAM Clinical Trials, and links to other NIH sponsored trials, including those using conventional treatment.
If you have questions about complementary or alternative therapies, you can contact the NCCAM Clearinghouse for more information at 888-644-6226 (toll-free) or 301-519-3153 (for international callers), or by e-mail at info@nccam.nih.gov. You can also get live help by clicking the online chat link, which allows you to type your questions and receive answers in real-time over an internet connection). Much of the information on the site is also available in Spanish.
This Web page, hosted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Cancer.Net Web site, provides links to a number of resources, such as the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute, where one can find summaries of drug information, including proper usage, precautions, drug interaction warnings, and side effects for both prescription and nonprescription drugs. On most of these sites, you can search either by drug name or browse the alphabetical listing.
This Web site of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health provides information on thousands of prescription and over-the-counter medications from AHFS Consumer Medication Information, a product of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Cancer patients often want more information about the cancer drugs they are taking or may be concerned about whether an over-the-counter medication may interfere with their cancer medicines. Medline Plus's comprehensive drug database is a reliable source of easy-to-understand drug information.
You can browse the Drug Information Database by the first letter of the drug's generic or brand name. For each drug, there is information about what it is used for, how it works, how it is administered, precautions to take while on the medication, side effects, and any special instructions or warnings. In many cases, there is information to consider before taking the medication, possible drug interactions, and what to do if you miss a dose.
The site indicates when information for a particular drug was last revised. In some cases, the brand names of the drugs differ depending on whether they are sold in the United States or Canada. In such instances, the site includes all brand names and indicates in which country they are available.
The site also includes searchable information on herbs and supplements from National Standard, an organization founded by clinicians and researchers to provide high quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies.
Drug Information Summaries @ National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute's Web site offers consumer-friendly information about certain drugs that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat cancer or conditions related to cancer. For each drug, there is information about the type of cancer the drug has been approved to treat, the way the drug works, its safety and effectiveness, dosage, and adverse side effects. This section is an excellent resource for patients who want to find information about the newest cancer therapies available. There are links to the complete product labels and full prescribing information, and to the FDA's Patient Information Sheet, lay language summaries of important information about the drugs.
Live, one-on-one, secure online help with answers to your questions about cancer or about the National Cancer Institute's Web site is available Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM, eastern time. LiveHelp connects you anonymously with information specialists who you chat with by typing on the computer. The LiveHelp specialists are not healthcare providers and they do not provide medical advice. But they do provide answers to general questions about cancer and its treatment, and they are very familiar with the broad range of cancer information available at the NCI. There is also a LiveHelp specifically for smoking cessation. Through LiveHelp you can also order free cancer publications or find out about clinical trials. Cancer information is available by phone through the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service at 800-4-CANCER (800-422-6237). You can call Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM local time to talk with a cancer information specialist.
Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have pioneered the use of computerized statistical devices that calculate probabilities based on the unique characteristics of a patient's cancer. These tools may enable doctors and patients to decide among several treatment options to ensure that patients at greatest risk of recurrence are more aggressively treated, while patients at low risk can avoid unnecessary treatments.
Several of these prediction tools, called nomograms, are available in easy-to-use online versions on the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Web site. These include tools that predict: 1) outcomes for surgery and/or radiation therapy in prostate cancer, colon cancer, and sarcoma; 2) the chance of breast cancer's spread to the sentinel lymph nodes and from the sentinel lymph nodes to axillary lymph nodes; 3) the risk of bladder cancer recurrence five years after radical cystectomy; 4) lung cancer risk in long-term cigarette smokers.
Other nomograms are available on the Web site, but you will have to download special software to access them. These include tools designed to assist physicians in predicting: 1) a patient's probability and length of survival after pancreatic cancer surgery; 2) outcomes for surgery and radiation therapy in renal cell carcinoma; 3) the likelihood that disease has spread to lymph nodes in patients with melanoma; 4) a patient's survival after surgery for gastric cancer.
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine created by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, allows you to search published biomedical literature to retrieve citations and abstracts of published, peer-reviewed medical research.
Many cancer patients are interested in finding the latest published research about their particular type of cancer and its treatment, or in reviewing the research published by their doctors. PubMed, which includes millions of citations for biomedical research articles dating back to the 1950s, allows you to search its database by author name, topic, or by journal name to find peer-reviewed citations and abstracts of published research. You can also use their Advanced Search to limit results by date, language, type of article, gender, age, and several other factors. PubMed also includes links to many journal sites that provide full-text articles.
Searching PubMed can be overwhelming because of the sheer number of citations it retrieves. While you can view the most current publications first, you will probably have to weed through a lot of basic research to find the clinical information you are searching for. Therefore, it is worthwhile to spend at least 15 to 20 minutes working through PubMed's online tutorial or one or more of the animated "Quick Tours" with audio. Each Quick Tour tutorial indicates how long it is, and generally, they all take under five minutes. They will save you a lot of frustration and help you build an effective search strategy.
PubMed uses several databases, but primarily MEDLINE, which covers journal articles in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, healthcare, and other areas of the life sciences. MEDLINE uses MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), a controlled vocabulary of search terms. MeSH provides uniformity and consistency to the indexing of biomedical literature, but if you don't know how to use MeSH to create a search, you will undoubtedly retrieve citations that are not useful to you. The "Searching with the MeSH Database" Quick Tour can help you become familiar with MeSH terms and show you how to find them. The site also has FAQs to help assist you.
Finally, you can also register on the site for a MyNCBI account, which generally offers a more robust and customizable search experience, by allowing you to save and categorize your searches, set up automatic updates, store collections of citations, and set advanced filters. There are Quick Tour tutorials that can assist you with this as well.
The Bone Marrow Foundation provides education, emotional support, and financial aid to bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients and their families. The Foundation's Patient Aid Program assists patients with the cost of donor searches, compatibility testing, the harvesting of bone marrow, medications, cord blood banking, home and child care services, and housing expenses related to a transplant. To qualify for financial assistance, you must receive treatment or services at one of 70 Foundation-affiliated bone marrow transplant centers in the US. You will also need to submit an application with information about your diagnosis, treatment, financial status, and information from your social worker and physician. You can request more information, or an application, by calling 1-800-365-1336.
In the "Resources for Patients and Families" area, the Foundation's SupportLine connects newly diagnosed patients and their families with patients who have already received a bone marrow transplant. In this way, patients who have gone through the experience can provide support and encouragement via e-mail to others as they prepare to undergo a transplant. The "Ask the Expert" Program allows patients to confidentially ask questions via e-mail to health care professionals and receive answers. Both of these member services are free but you must register. The Web site also provides a state-by-state listing of US hospitals with transplant centers, as well as publications in Spanish.
Medline Plus, a Web site of the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, provides a compilation of trustworthy bone marrow transplantation resources on the Web. These resources, from government agencies and health-related organizations, are authoritative and up-to-date, and together they provide a wealth of information about bone marrow and stem cell transplants. There are links to overviews about bone marrow and stem cell transplant and to sites that provide financial guidance or assistance, advice about choosing a bone marrow transplant center, explanations about how to become a bone marrow or stem cell donor, and information about potential post-transplant complications. Next to each link in parenthesis is the name of the organization that is the source of that information. Some information is available in Spanish.
Bone Marrow Transplantation and Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation @ National Cancer Institute
This Q&A from the National Cancer Institute provides helpful answers to basic questions about bone marrow and stem cell transplants and their role in cancer treatment. Questions range from what are transplants and why are they used to treat cancer, to how donor cells are matched and how marrow is harvested for transplant. There also is information about the potential risks and complications associated with transplants. This Q&A is an excellent, concise source of information for those considering a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.
The National Marrow Donor Program, a federally funded nonprofit organization, was created to improve the effectiveness of the search for donors. The NMDP maintains an international registry of volunteers willing to be donors for all sources of blood stem cells used in transplantation: bone marrow, peripheral blood, and umbilical cord blood. And the organization helps to match donors with patients who need a blood stem cell transplant for life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, aplastic anemia, as well as certain immune system and genetic disorders. If you need a transplant and do not have a matching donor in your family, your doctor can ask for a search of the program's registry to see if there may be a matching donor for you (your doctor will need to know your HLA tissue type first). If a preliminary search returns possible matches, those individuals will need to be tested further to determine whether any are a complete match.
The NMDP Web site also contains a list of participating transplant centers, which includes descriptions of the centers, their transplant experience, survival statistics, research interests, pretransplant costs, and contact information. The site also provides information about bone marrow and stem cell transplants (including a list of FAQs), as well as advice on how to choose a transplant center. Additionally, there is information about health insurance coverage for transplants, including a list of questions to ask your insurance provider and a worksheet to record answers. The online publication Mapping the Maze: A Personal Financial Guide to Blood Stem Cell Transplant, can also help patients and their families understand their bone marrow transplant health insurance coverage, learn about financial resources, and develop a financial plan for bone marrow transplant expenses. The site also includes information about how to join the donor registry.
You can get the latest information about cancer and cancer-related issues from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's leading doctors without venturing beyond your home. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Web site includes the CancerSmart Lectures and Educational Program for Survivors Web Casts. These community lectures, meetings and discussions are presented either to the public or to members of MSKCC's Post-Treatment Survivor Program, and were recorded so that you can view them on your computer. The videos play directly in the Web page simply by clicking a button. They are viewable on most operating systems, but if you don't see them, you may need to download the Adobe Flash Player, which is available on the Web free of charge. (Note: the older CancerSmart Web Casts from 2003 and 2004 are currently viewable only with the RealMedia Player, an application which can also be downloaded from the Web free of charge.)
