Today's Globe: childhood cancer, 3-D mammography, cancer drugs, lung-cancer test, drug ads

In the days after being diagnosed with potentially inoperable brain cancer, Senator Edward M. Kennedy began crafting a strategy for his health, one not altogether different than those he's devised to pass healthcare legislation, run for president, or win regattas on Nantucket Sound. And to lead the methodical, analytical approach, the 76-year-old senator has turned to one of his most trusted former aides, Dr. Lawrence C. Horowitz.

New research suggests that childhood cancer is most common in the Northeast, results that caught scientists off-guard.

Hologic Inc. is trying to give breast cancer detection an upgrade.The Bedford medical-equipment maker, which dominates the market for mammography machines, is planning to launch its next generation of the X-ray machines within the next year - a so-called 3-D version.

Two biotechnology giants did battle at the nation's largest cancer conference over the weekend. And both remained standing. Data presented could increase sales of the drug Erbitux, developed by ImClone Systems, by allowing it to be used as an initial treatment for patients with advanced lung and colorectal cancers. That is now the domain of Genentech's drug Avastin.

A blood test may be able to detect lung cancer in its early stages, which could help improve survival rates, researchers said yesterday (fourth item).

"For seven years, Johnson & Johnson, which sold Procrit, aired TV commercials showing exhausted senior citizens suddenly revived after taking the drug. While the Procrit TV ads were ostensibly targeted at cancer patients who develop severe anemia as the consequence of chemotherapy, the commercials seemed designed for a much broader audience," Alison Bass, author of "Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and A Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial," writes on the op-ed page. The difference mattered to her 83-year-old father.