cancer

Artificial intelligence can identify skin cancer in photographs with the same accuracy as trained doctors, say scientists. The Stanford University team said the findings were "incredibly exciting" and would now be tested in clinics. Eventually, they believe using AI could revolutionise...

Surgeons have described a new treatment for early stage prostate cancer as "truly transformative". The approach, tested across Europe, uses lasers and a drug made from deep sea bacteria to eliminate tumours, but without causing severe side effects. Trials on 413 men - published in The Lancet...

NHS pathology services cannot keep up with the increasing number of samples being taken from the growing number of people being tested for cancer, raising fears that some will be diagnosed late. That is the conclusion of a report published on Wednesday by Cancer Research UK, which warns that...

Bacteria living deep inside the digestive system seem to alter how cancer drugs work, a study suggests. Immunotherapies - which harness the body's own defences to fight tumours - can clear even terminal cancer in a small proportion of patients. However, a small study by the University of Texas...

More than 130,000 patients a year are not receiving vital NHS cancer care on time because hospitals are struggling to look after the growing number of people suspected of having the disease. Doctors are warning that a widespread and growing failure to meet waiting time targets was causing huge...

More than eight in 10 areas need to improve if England is going to meet its ambitious target of developing "world class" cancer care by 2020, according to an analysis by NHS bosses. The NHS England review looked at how all 209 local health boards - called clinical commissioning groups - were...

A simple blood test that can detect cancer before any symptoms are noticeable has been developed by researchers in a breakthrough that could save thousands of lives. The scientists, who unveiled the test at the British Science Festivalin Swansea, compared the new test to a smoke detector...

Hundreds of people in the UK have received an organ transplant from someone with a history of cancer, despite many believing you cannot donate if you have had the disease. A total of 272 organ donors across the UK in the past five years had a history of cancer, according to data obtained by the...

More than 170,000 people in the UK who were diagnosed with cancer up to 40 years ago are still alive, a report by Macmillan Cancer Support shows. The charity says people are twice as likely to survive for at least a decade after being diagnosed than they were at the start of the 1970s. It says...

One of the main types of blood cancer is not one but 11 distinct diseases, detailed genetic analysis suggests. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found genetic differences explain why some patients respond much better to treatment than others. The researchers say their findings...

Men with larger waistlines could be at higher risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer, a study has suggested. Research on 140,000 men from eight European countries found that a 4in (10cm) larger waist circumference could increase the chances of getting the cancer by 13%. Men were most at...

Finding new, more effective and personalised treatments for cancer is the challenge of many researchers. A challenge that has been successfully met by a team from Inserm led by Stéphane Rocchi (Inserm Unit 1065, "Mediterranean Center for Molecular Medicine"), which has just synthesised and...

Too many teenagers and young adults are dying of some types of cancer, a Europe-wide report warns. Their survival rates for cancers such as leukaemia are much lower than in younger children, says a report in the Lancet Oncology. The researchers suggest differences in tumours, delays in...

A vaccine to reduce the risk of cancer is to be offered to homosexual men in England in a pilot scheme starting in June. The jab protects against human papillomavirus, which increases the risk of oral, anal and penile cancers. It has been offered to school-age girls, to protect them from...

Higher levels of leisure-time physical activity are associated with a significantly lower risk of developing a number of cancers, the results of a pooled analysis of data from more than a million Europeans and Americans reveal. The findings, published online May 16 in JAMA Internal Medicine...

Fifteen cancer charities have said they are "deeply concerned" about new plans for approving innovative cancer medicines for the NHS in England. In a letter to the prime minister, the charities said many drugs would "now struggle to gain approval". The medicines regulator has rejected this and...

You’ve probably seen today's headlines, about the fact that processed meat has been classified as a ‘definite’ cause of cancer. And red meat is a ‘probable’ cause. The decision – coordinated by a respected international body – has been so highly anticipated by the media that speculation about...

Type 1 diabetes may increase the risk for some forms of cancer but lower the risk for others. This is according to new research published in the journal Diabetologia. Type 1 diabetes has been linked to increased risk of stomach, pancreatic, liver, kidney and endometrial cancers in the new...

A therapy that retrains the body's immune system to fight cancer has provoked excitement after more than 90% of terminally ill patients reportedly went into remission. White blood cells were taken from patients with leukaemia, modified in the lab and then put back. But the data has not been...

Rising levels of obesity and unhealthy weights could be linked to 670,000 extra cases of cancer in the next 20 years, a UK report predicts. If current trends continue, experts say, almost three in four adults could be overweight or obese by 2035, bringing a host of health issues. The Cancer...