Palliative care

A new test could help patients with advanced bowel cancer get the best treatment for their disease.

Elderly patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who developed a rash within 28 days of receiving the targeted drug erlotinib (Tarceva) survived on average 6.2 months, compared to 4.1 months for patients who were given a placebo, results from a major phase III Cancer Research UK-funded trial show today (Tuesday).

A new way of predicting how long terminally ill cancer patients have to live, has been devised by Cancer Research UK-funded research.

Two grants have been awarded from a programme of nearly Ј5 million to boost research into supportive and palliative care for British cancer patients.