
Sarcoma is an aggressive form of cancer. Here's key symptoms to know
Sarcoma is an aggressive but less recognised cancer affecting connective tissues like nerves, bones, and fat cells, with around 5,300 diagnoses annually in the UK.
Public awareness of sarcoma remains low due to its relative rarity and less descriptive name compared to more common cancers.
Key symptoms include a growing or changing lump for soft tissue sarcomas, persistent bone pain for bone sarcomas, and subtle signs like bloating or internal bleeding for GISTs.
Diagnosis typically involves imaging such as ultrasound, X-ray, and MRI, followed by a crucial biopsy to determine the specific subtype for effective treatment planning.
The primary treatment for sarcoma is surgery to remove the tumor, often combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, with early diagnosis significantly improving patient outcomes.
The truth about the aggressive type of cancer you've probably not heard of
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The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Wes Streeting questions affordability of setting up NHS assisted dying service
Wes Streeting has voiced doubts over whether the NHS can afford to establish an assisted dying service, after MPs passed a bill to legalise the procedure last week. The health secretary was previously a supporter of assisted dying but switched sides last year, expressing concerns about the ethics of offering such a service before significant improvements could be made to the NHS. 'The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money,' he wrote in a message to constituents. 'Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context, to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply. There isn't a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we've made the wrong one.' The bill will now head to the House of Lords, where there are expected to be continued battles over its progress, with campaigners urging peers to use 'dark arts' to impede it. MPs who backed the legislation have said it would be anti-democratic for peers to block the private member's bill passed by the elected house. Writing on Facebook, the health secretary said he wanted to speak directly to his Ilford North constituents on the issue. 'There is no doubt that this is a major and profound social change for our NHS and our country. I can understand why many people who are facing terminal illness, or fear terminal illness, are seeking the right to die at a time and manner of their choosing and I have enormous respect for their position,' he wrote. 'I also have the utmost respect for Kim Leadbeater and my other friends and colleagues in parliament who have supported this bill. I've seen first-hand how hard Kim has worked to listen to everyone's views and take onboard amendments to her bill with integrity.' But Streeting said he was disturbed by the concerns about the bill that have been voiced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and disability campaigners. Streeting said the department would work closely on the technical aspects of the bill, even though the government was neutral, and that Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, would work on the bill should the Lords pass it, in order to make sure 'we do a good job with it for the country'. The impact assessment produced by the government on the bill suggested that panels set up to approve procedures would cost about £2,000 a day, adding up to between £900,000 and £3.6m over a 10-year period. The total cost of running the panels – and employing a dedicated commissioner – would be between £10.9m and £13.6m a year. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion However, the assessment estimated that the bill would ultimately cut end-of-life care costs by millions, with a central estimate that 2,183 people would use the service by its 10th year. The bill, which passed with a majority of 23 on Friday, would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales who have fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death. This would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel including a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. The Labour peer Charlie Falconer, who is expected to take the lead on the legislation in the House of Lords, said despite the depth of feeling on the issue, peers should not use procedural devices to block it. 'The overwhelming instinct in the Lords will be not to block or delay but to see whether there can be any improvements which do not interfere with the bill's principles,' he wrote in the Sunday Times. 'The last time there were votes of real substance on this issue was on a bill I introduced in 2014 for which the votes in the Lords were in favour. There have been many new peers introduced into the House since then, and many departures. Where the House's views are now is difficult to judge but they will work towards a bill that gives effect to the Commons' view.'


BBC News
34 minutes ago
- BBC News
Highest number of abortions ever recorded in Jersey in 2024
More abortions took place in Jersey in 2024 than at any time since 2002, a report has Abortions Report found about 280 pregnancies were terminated in 2024 - up from 260 in 2023, and compared with 210 in highest ever number of terminations was recorded among women aged between 25 and 29, the report also found Jersey's abortion ratio was the highest on record and above the EU average, with 390 terminations per 1,000 live births. 'Notably higher' The Public Health annual report said the abortion ratio was the highest reported in the past 25 said the rise was driven "not only by small year-on-year increases in the number of abortions being conducted but also by a significant reduction in the number of live births in recent years".The report said Jersey's abortion ratio of 390 per 1,000 was "notably higher" than many European countries with the EU average being 199 and Great Britain added this may reflect improved access to abortion care and a broader shift in reproductive report showed an increase in the abortion rate from 9.7 per 1,000 in 2020 to 14.9 in also found the proportion of abortions performed before 10 weeks' gestation was 93% in 2024 which it said indicated better early pregnancy recognition and access to services.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Wes Streeting: NHS cannot afford assisted dying
Wes Streeting has warned that the NHS cannot afford legalising assisted dying. The Health Secretary, who opposed the legislation in the Commons, warned that assisted dying would take 'time and money' away from other parts of the health service. He said better end-of-life care was needed to prevent terminally ill people feeling they had no alternative but to end their own life. Writing on his Facebook page, Mr Streeting said he could not ignore the concerns 'about the risks that come with this Bill' raised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and charities representing under-privileged groups. The Government is neutral on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday. Mr Streeting, who was one of the most senior opponents of the legislation, said: 'Gordon Brown wrote this week that 'there is no effective freedom to choose if the alternative option, the freedom to draw on high-quality end-of-life care, is not available. 'Neither is there real freedom to choose if, as many fear, patients will feel under pressure to relieve their relatives of the burden of caring for them, a form of coercion that prioritising good end-of-life care would diminish.' He is right. 'The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money. 'Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply. 'There isn't a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we've made the wrong one.' Mr Streeting said the Department of Health and Social Care 'will continue to work constructively with Parliament to assist on technical aspects of the Bill' as it goes through the House of Lords. Dame Esther Rantzen, an assisted dying campaigner, urged peers not to block the landmark legislation. Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I don't need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. 'They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber. 'Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose. 'So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through.' Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday and has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to 'buzz off to Zurich' to use the Dignitas clinic. Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a Paralympian and crossbench peer, told BBC Breakfast: 'We're getting ready for it to come to the Lords and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger. 'We've been told it's the strongest Bill in the world, but to be honest, it's not a very high bar for other legislation. 'So I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in.' Conservative peer and disability rights campaigner, Lord Shinkwin, said the narrow Commons majority underlined the need for peers to take a close look at the legislation. He told Today: 'I think the House of Lords has a duty to expose and to subject this Bill to forensic scrutiny' but 'I don't think it's a question of blocking it so much as performing our duty as a revising chamber'. Lord Shinkwin added: 'The margin yesterday was so close that many MPs would appreciate the opportunity to look at this again in respect of safeguards as they relate to those who feel vulnerable, whether that's disabled people or older people.' Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who steered the Bill through the Commons, told the PA news agency she hoped peers would not seek to derail the legislation, which could run out of parliamentary time if it is held up in the Lords. She said: 'I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue.'