January 2008 News@MSKCC

An intraoperative MRI can give a surgeon the distinct advantage of being able to remove a tumor without damaging critical brain structures.

A technology known as image-guided radiation therapy enables doctors to image a tumor just before or even during the delivery of radiotherapy in order to verify its exact location, thereby precisely targeting the tumor and reducing the margin of healthy tissue exposed to radiation. This degree of accuracy is allowing MSKCC physicians to change the way they treat certain types of cancers.

Breast cancer risk varies widely among women who are carriers of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, according to a new study by researchers at MSKCC published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

MSKCC researchers and colleagues have developed a prediction tool to help newly diagnosed breast cancer patients assess the likelihood that the disease has spread beyond the original tumor to a sentinel lymph node.

A recent study conducted at MSKCC found that combining MRI screening with a scanning tool known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy can help radiologists in diagnosing breast cancer by producing fewer false-positive results and reducing the number of avoidable biopsies.

A new study by researchers at MSKCC finds that even the sickest cancer patients are willing and able to "self-report" symptoms using the Internet, thus supplying key data in real time to their healthcare providers.

MSKCC research has found that determining optimal seed placement in the operating room using sophisticated on-site computer programs combined with real-time ultrasound imaging allows accurate doses of radiation to be delivered to prostate tumors while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding tissues.

According to a retrospective study conducted by MSKCC investigators, patients with colorectal cancer who survive ten years after surgery to remove metastatic liver tumors can be considered cured.

Researchers at MSKCC have identified a specific group of microRNA molecules that are responsible for controlling genes that cause breast cancer metastasis.

MSKCC researchers have pinpointed sites on chromosomes where genetic material is exchanged between pairs of chromosomes occur before they separate.

Charles L. Sawyers, Chair of MSKCC's Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, is one of 15 patient-oriented researchers appointed as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

James P. Allison, Chair of the Immunology Program in the Sloan-Kettering Institute, has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine.