In this study of more than 6 million Swedes during 1991–2006, patients were at increased risk for suicide or death from cardiovascular causes after a diagnosis of cancer. Risks were especially high immediately after diagnosis and for cancers with a poor prognosis.

The European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer continues to show a 21% reduction in prostate-cancer mortality in the screening group, after 11 years of follow-up. The number of cancers that would need to be detected to prevent one prostate-cancer death is 37. Screening does not affect all-cause mortality.

Genetic analysis was applied to different regions of renal-cell cancers. The lesions noted in the tumor were not found in every sample, and regions of the tumor had different gene-expression patterns. This suggests that extrapolation from results of a single biopsy may be problematic.

Prostate cancer runs in families. However, the genes that affect the incidence remain largely undefined. The authors have identified a rare germline variant of a homeobox gene, HOXB13, in four families with a history of prostate cancer.

This trial compared a restrictive hemoglobin threshold with a liberal threshold for blood transfusion among hip-surgery patients with risk factors for CVD. The liberal strategy resulted in more transfusions and did not reduce death or inability to walk independently.