SEER Archives - Ronny Allan - Living with Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

21Jul 2018 by Ronny Allan 14 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer: Ga68 PET Scan – a game changer?

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

When I was offered my very first Ga68 PET/CT at a 6 monthly surveillance meeting in May 2018, I was both excited and apprehensive. Let me explain below why I had a mix of emotions. I was diagnosed in 2010 with metastatic NETs clearly showing on CT scan, the staging was confirmed via an Octreotide Scan which in addition pointed out two further deposits above the diaphragm (one of which has since been dealt with). In addition to routine surveillance via CT scan, I had two further Octreotide Scans in 2011 and 2013 following 3 surgeries, these confirmed the surveillance CT findings of remnant disease. The third scan in 2013 highlighted an additional lesion in my thyroid (still under a watch and wait regime, biopsy inconclusive but read on....). To…

31May 2018 by Ronny Allan 12 Comments

Gallium 68 PET Scans – Into the Unknown

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Survivorship, Technical NETs

OPINION Cancer is a growth industry ...literally! More people are being diagnosed than ever before. Fortunately, more people are surviving than ever before. This is against a backdrop of better awareness, better screening in the big population cancers, and to a certain extent better diagnostic tools, all of which is leading to earlier diagnosis. So how does this affect Neuroendocrine Cancer? According to the latest SEER database figures for Neuroendocrine Cancer, one reason for the 7 fold increase in incidence rates since the 1970s is all of those things above including better diagnostics. This has led to a revised set of epidemiological information in many countries that have made the effort to accurately update their cancer registries and there are consistent reports of incidence rates way beyond the recognised rare…

21Mar 2017 by Ronny Allan 29 Comments

In the war on Neuroendocrine Cancer, let’s not forget to win the battle for better quality of life

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

OPINION. Date of Article March 2017. In the last 24 months, there seems to have been announcement after announcement of new and/or upgraded/enhanced diagnostics and treatment types for Neuroendocrine Cancer. Increased availability of radionuclide scans, increased availability of radionuclide therapies, combination therapies, increased availability of somatostatin analogues, biological therapies, enhanced surgical and minimally invasive techniques, new oral drugs for carcinoid syndrome, more trials including immunotherapy. Admittedly, some of the announcements are just expansions of existing therapies having been approved in new regions. Compared to some other cancers, even those which hit the headlines often, we appear to be doing not too badly. However, the pressure needs to stay on, all patients, regardless of where they live, need access to the best diagnostics and treatments for them; and at the requisite time. This alone is…

10Nov 2016 by Ronny Allan 5 Comments

One every 2 hours

Awareness

I've made no secret of the fact that I don't believe Neuroendocrine Cancer is rare and you can read why in some detail in my article Neuroendocrine Cancer - not as rare as you think. Better diagnostic technology, greater awareness and better recording of the correct disease in national cancer registries. The latest figures for Public Health England (covering ~90% of UK), indicate there are now 4800 diagnoses of NETs every year, i.e. more people than ever are being diagnosed, It is calculated from an incidence rate of 9/100,000 (using the 2011 census for England of 53,000,000) The new figures do not include Lung Neuroendocrine Carcinomas (LCNEC and SCLC) - so it is understated. This would appear to debunk the myth that the condition is rare given that the…

07Jul 2015 by Ronny Allan 28 Comments

Neuroendocrine Neoplasms – not as rare as you think

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Technical NETs

Background Although initially considered rare tumours up until 10 years ago, the most recent data indicates the incidence of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NENs) has increased exponentially over the last 4 decades and they are as common as Myeloma, Testicular Cancer, and Hodgkin's Lymphoma. In terms of prevalence, NENs represent the second most common gastrointestinal malignancy after colorectal cancer. Consequently, many experts are now claiming NENs are not rare (see below). A recent study published on 5 Dec 2018 reports that even if you isolate Small Intestine NETs in the USA population, the incidence rate is 9/100,000. Contrast this against the US incidence rate as at 2012 of 7/100,000 for all NETs. The rare threshold in Europe is 5/100,000 and below. They're not common (in incidence rate terms which means the numbers diagnosed each…