Cancer Story simplifies and places the complexities of cancer into understandable terms. Nationally recognized researchers and doctors from around the country present new models of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. Patients representing a variety of cancers are followed during the course of their treatments to illustrate the human side of the science, services and myriad issues raised by the disease. Through conversations with people affected by cancer, as well as experts at New Hampshire's Norris Cotton Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute, and other centers around the country, the series presents the basics of cancer: the experience, the current research and information on prevention and screening.

Tuesdays, 6/12-26/07 from 4:30-5:30 a.m. ET

New Directions
At any given time, thousands of new cancer treatments are being tested on patients in what are called clinical trials. Some of these trials track minor adjustments in current treatments, while others test radical new approaches such as molecularly targeted therapies, in which specific cell signaling processes are manipulated in hopes of blocking the pathways that allow cancers to grow.

Through interviews with the scientists, clinicians, and patients involved in these studies, feel the excitement and frustrations of research, and learn the prescribed steps by which a drug is tested for safety and effectiveness, the issues surrounding recruiting patients to these trials, the institutional procedures in place to ensure patient safety, and the concerns and hopes of the patients who choose to become subjects.

Prevention and Screening
This episode showcases prevention models that have changed behavior and reduced the incidence of cancer. More than any other preventative measure, changes in behavior like smoking cessation or weight control can reduce the risk of cancer. This show profiles a 75-year-old man whose throat cancer led to the removal of his larynx and the loss of his natural voice. This cancer is usually caused by a combination of tobacco, which is a carcinogen, and alcohol, which acts as a promoter.

Pesticides and other chemicals in the air, water and food have been shown to increase the risk of cancer. This program will show efforts to protect workers from exposure to carcinogens, and how scientists prove or disprove the carcinogenic risk of specific environmental substances.

Other cancer risk factors are impossible to change, like age, personal medical history, family history, gender, and ethnicity. This is where medical screening tests can play a role. The pros and cons of screening and the role of informed medical decision-making and genetic counseling in determining whether or not to have screening tests are included. A 54-year-old woman who carries a rare breast cancer gene tells about her experience with cancer and her decision to have her ovaries and breasts removed in hopes of preventing a recurrence. And two men with prostate cancer talk about their response to a positive PSA test for prostate cancer - one opts for surgery, the other chooses to wait and see if his PSA levels increase, using exercise and diet to improve his overall health.