Category: Patient Education

REDLAMP – Review of Emerging Data for Lymphoma Patients – “Video Journal Club” Launched by Weill Cornell Lymphoma Program

Red Lamp logoThe Lymphoma Program at Weill Cornell Medical College, Meyer Cancer Center, and NewYork-Presbyterian is pleased to announce the initiation of a novel program to better inform patients and families dealing with lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and related disorders.

We will be presenting regular (roughly weekly) video programs where faculty briefly (3-5 minutes) review a new research publication that is important for lymphoma patients to learn about in terms that are understandable and relevant. The topics will be selected by our expert lymphoma faculty based on their importance to the field and our desire to make sure that lymphoma patients learn about new developments in a timely fashion.

The program will be named “REDLAMP” – Review of Emerging Data for Lymphoma Patients. Beyond the acronym, RED is also a nod to the colors of Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University and NewYork-Presbyterian (and blood cancers in general), while “LAMP” references our desire to “shine light” on important information for patients.

Our first video can be found below:

You can follow Lymphoma Program Director John Leonard @JohnPLeonardMD.

We encourage you to follow us on Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook where we will highlight new videos are about research publications as they are released. We also welcome your feedback, suggestions and questions about this project. If you have other questions about our lymphoma program or clinical trials or would like to see one of our lymphoma specialists, please contact us at 646-962-2074.

Dr. John Leonard Comments on Fox 5 News Regarding the Importance of Clinical Trials

Via the Meyer Cancer Center.

Recently Fox 5 News interviewed Lymphoma Program director, Dr. John Leonard about patient participation in clinical trials. As the director of the Joint Clinical Trials Office at Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Leonard is an expert in all questions relating to clinical trials. In the video Dr. Leonard cautioned that,

“…finding patients for clinical trials is often about numbers not money. Dr. Leonard says his office is trying to get the word out and let more patients know that clinical studies are out there that than can potentially help them.

Dr. Leonard’s office focuses on finding more effective treatments for serious illnesses like cancer and neurological disorders. He says it is a great opportunity for patients to gain access to the newest treatments before they’re available to anyone else.

Dr. Leonard has personally treated patients on clinical trials who have been among the first people to ever get a drug, and also among the first people to be effectively treated, cured, or had a better outcome because they participated in a clinical trial.

Remember, there is a big difference between answering an online ad for a medical study and going to a reputable institution like Weill Cornell Medical College or New York Presbyterian Hospital.

You can see plenty of cautionary tales online from people who signed up for studies online and gave their personal information only to find out that study was a scam designed to get and sell that personal information to marketers.

If you think a clinical trial might work for you, Dr. Leonard suggests contacting your physician.”

If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial for patients with lymphoma at Weill Cornell Medical College please click on the link.

Dr. John Leonard can be followed on Twitter @JohnPLeonardMD.

The Lymphoma Program can be followed on Twitter @lymphomaprogram.

World Health Organization Says Herbicide May Cause Non-Hodgkin Lmyphoma

Glysophosate is a herbicide with the highest production volume of all herbicides. In the United States it is currently marketed under the trade name Roundup, and use has increased with the introduction of genetically modified crops resistant to glysophosate. Recently experts from the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization met and assessed the carcinogenicity of different herbicides. In glysophosate they found an increased risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma:

Case-control studies of occupational exposure in the USA,14 Canada,6 and Sweden7 reported increased risks for non-Hodgkin lymphoma that persisted after adjustment for other pesticides. The AHS cohort did not show a significantly increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In male CD-1 mice, glyphosate induced a positive trend in the incidence of a rare tumour, renal tubule carcinoma. A second study reported a positive trend for haemangiosarcoma in male mice.15 Glyphosate increased pancreatic islet-cell adenoma in male rats in two studies. A glyphosate formulation promoted skin tumours in an initiation-promotion study in mice.

Glyphosate has been detected in the blood and urine of agricultural workers, indicating absorption…Glyphosate and glyphosate formulations induced DNA and chromosomal damage in mammals, and in human and animal cells in vitro. One study reported increases in blood markers of chromosomal damage (micronuclei) in residents of several communities after spraying of glyphosate formulations.16 Bacterial mutagenesis tests were negative. Glyphosate, glyphosate formulations, and AMPA induced oxidative stress in rodents and in vitro. The Working Group classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

We will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available and update guidelines accordingly.