News

'Putting Your Bottom at the Top of Your List' -- The Pap Smear That's Not Just for Women

Erin N. Marcus, MD, HuffPost
April 27, 2015
About 17 years ago, Jeff Taylor, an AIDS advocate, became worried he might have anal cancer. Through his work, Taylor knew that anal cancer rates had risen steeply among people with HIV. He was having discomfort, and he knew that there was a simple screening test: a swab that is processed just like a routine pap smear. His doctor knew about the test, but at that time there was little agreement on how to diagnose and treat anal cancer, which is rare in the general population. "He said, 'even if I sent it in, the lab wouldn't process it,'" because the pap smear specimen wasn't from a female

Anchor's Away!

Gary Bucher, M.D., FAACP
April 1, 2015
The Anal Cancer/HSIL Outcomes Research Study IT’S INDISPUTABLE THAT HAVING A CELEBRITY SPOKESPERSON benefits any cause. Scott Hamilton defeated testicular cancer, Kathy Bates overcame ovarian cancer and is now fighting breast cancer, and two of the original Charlie’s Angels, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, are breast cancer survivors. But it was the third angel, Farrah Fawcett, who didn’t survive her cancer, dying at the age of 62 in 2009 of anal cancer. Fawcett became the one who took this particular cancer from being “unmentionable” to finally grabbing the attention of the public. Now, it

Risk of anal cancer looms for those with HIV

Tim Nelson, Advocate Health Care eNews
March 24, 2015
Bob says the first indication something was wrong was the blood he found when he used the restroom more than four years ago. “I thought about going to the doctor, but bleeding stopped,” he says. But then, a year later, it began again. This time, it didn’t go away. “It got worse. It was constant. There was blood on my sheets, on my clothes,” Bob says. “I went to the doctor, had a colonoscopy. It turns out there was a cancerous growth in biopsy. It was anal cancer.” Read On

Anchor study seeks answers to link between HIV, HPV

Lauren E. Childers, Windy City Times
March 18, 2015
The Anchor Study's main goal is to determine if these screenings decrease the incidence of anal cancer. "In the Midwest, we're trying to get the word out because a lot of people aren't screening for this because patients don't want to get a rectal exam and doctors really don't want to do the rectal exam either," Bucher said. "But that's how you will find things." Read On

Screening May Miss Pre-cancerous Anal Lesions in Women with HIV

Theo Smart, AIDS Map
March 12, 2015
In an analysis that adjusted first for age and then for multiple other factors, Fanny Ita-Nagy from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the only risk factor that was significantly associated with high-grade anal dysplasia was being either a current or former smoker (adjusted odds ratio 1.93, or nearly double the risk). Read a summary . See the video of the CROI presentation .

Treating High-grade Lesions to Prevent Anal Cancer in HIV-infected People

National Cancer Institute
March 11, 2015
Why This Trial Is Important This study, called the ANCHOR (Anal Cancer/HSIL Outcomes Research) trial, will investigate whether screening and prevention methods similar to those used to prevent cervical cancer can help prevent anal cancer in HIV-infected men and women. Although anal cancer is rare, people with HIV are much more likely to develop it than people in the general population. Women with HIV are 24 times more likely to develop anal cancer than women who are HIV negative. The risk of anal cancer is 32 times higher for HIV-infected men than that of men in the general population

ANCHOR STUDY: GRAB sat down with Dr. Gary Bucher

Mark Nagel, GRAB
March 10, 2015
Most HIV positive men and women do not even know they are at higher risk for anal cancer. They should participate in the study to once again be at the forefront in HIV care to help us determine whether all HIV positive individuals should be screened and treated for HSIL to prevent anal cancer. Most patients do not want to have an anal exam and most doctors do not want to perform an anal exam, so it is a great way to get the anal care HIV patients need and deserve in a professional and respectful atmosphere while at the same time getting screened for anal cancer. Read On

Study Finds High Rates of Cancer among People Living with HIV

Theo Smart, AIDS Map
March 3, 2015
As pointed out by Eric Engels of the National Cancer Institute, who moderated the CROI panel discussion and was a co-author of the study, HIV has long been linked to three AIDS-defining cancers – Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and cervical cancer – the risks of which are greatly increased in people with HIV compared to the rest of the population. Another four cancers – Hodgkin’s lymphoma, anal cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer – are also found more commonly in people living with HIV than in the general population. Read on .

Anal Cancer: Are you at Risk?

Erin N. Marcus, MD, MPH, FACP
February 3, 2015
A Pap smear that many men should get, too One recent morning, a group of men and women sat in a clinic reception room, waiting for their Pap smear appointments. You read that correctly. The Pap smear—a screening test for cervical cancer and longtime fixture of the women’s health exam—is now used to detect and prevent cancer of the anus in both men and women. Experts believe that routine Pap testing could play an important role in curbing a doubling of new anal cancer cases that have occurred over the past three decades. Read on in Positively Aware

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