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| 31 Jan 2006 01:12:59 pm |
 Surgery Is Best Option For Elderly Breast Cancer Patients |
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Many women over 70 years of age may not be offered the option of surgery as treatment for breast cancer. Surgeons may be hesitant to offer lumpectomies and mastectomies to elderly women, but new research shows that surgery is still the best option for elderly women. Researchers have found that surgery works better than hormonal therapy to stop the progression of breast cancer in older women with operable tumors.
The study didn't find any survival benefit associated with breast cancer surgery at older age, however surgery was better in keeping these women free of breast cancer compared to hormonal therapy.
Elderly women who had surgery alone or surgery combined with hormone therapy had a 50 percent reduction in the progression of breast cancer compared to women who never had surgery.
These research findings are Daniel Hind and colleagues of the University of Sheffield in England and this study appears in the current issue of Cochrane Library. The study evaluated seven separate studies consisting of 1,571 women age 70 and older who had operable breast cancer.
Researchers conclude that surgery with or without hormonal therapy controls breast cancer better than tamoxifen alone in women aged 70 years and over, however the option of surgery does not make women live longer. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin |  Comments[13] |  Trackbacks [0] |
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| 30 Jan 2006 01:37:21 pm |
| COX-2 Inhibitors Decrease Risk Of Breast Cancer |
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Use of selective COX-2 inhibitors on a regular basis may decrease your risk of developing breast cancer as per new research findings. Researchers say that regular use of COX-2 inhibitors like celecoxib (Celebrex) and rofecoxib (Vioxx) may reduce the risk of development of breast cancer by a71 percent.
The COX-2 inhibitors are a group of drugs which has activity in blocking the enzyme COX-2, which is an enzyme involved in the inflammation pathway. Many common drugs like aspirin, and ibuprofen has the capacity to block COX-2. Selective COX-2 inhibitors are a newer group of drugs, which can selectively inhibit COX-2 enzyme, while sparing COX-1 enzyme, thereby reducing gastrointestinal toxicity. Examples of selective COX-2 enzymes include celecoxib (Celebrex) and rofecoxib (Vioxx).
This new research finding regarding risk reduction associated with the regular use of selective COX-2 inhibitors is published in the journal BMC Cancer. Researchers also found that non-selective COX-2 inhibitors, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, also reduced the risk of breast cancer.
This research comes from Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, Columbus, Ohio. Researchers Randall Harris and colleagues, collected data on 323 breast cancer patients with invasive breast cancer shortly after their diagnosis. They matched the patients for age, race and county of residence with 649 control individuals with no personal history of cancer.
Harris et al.'s results show that selective COX-2 inhibitors, as a group, were associated with a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer when taken daily for at least two years: a daily dose of 200 mg celecoxib reduced the risk of breast cancer by 83% and a daily dose of 25 mg rofecoxib reduced the risk of breast cancer by 64%.
Readers should be aware that rofecoxib (Vioxx) has been recently withdrawn from the US market due to increase risk of cardiac diseases associated with this drug. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[12] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 28 Jan 2006 09:19:02 pm |
| Passive Smoking, Breast Cancer And Government |
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We have discussed the link between passive smoking and risk of breast cancer in this blog earlier. Now there is legal backing for this argument.
Regulators in California have recently ruled that secondhand smoke increases the risk for breast cancer in younger women. This is an unprecedented finding that could lead to tougher anti-smoking measures.
This ruling was approved by the state's Air Resources Board, which is well known nationally for its tough stance on limiting auto and diesel pollution. The board has unanimously approved a 1,200-page report from California Environmental Protection Agency scientists report citing that secondhand smoke increases the risk of breast cancer in younger women. The agency's findings challenged conventional scientific community which until recently considered the link between female smoking and breast cancer is based on scanty evidence.
"I think that if we don't embrace these new conclusions, we're doing a disservice to younger women," says Andrew Hyland, a research scientist at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. "My prediction is that in the months to come, people will see the evidence and change their opinion."
By accepting the environmental protection agencies finding, the Air Resources Board officially lists secondhand smoke as a "toxic air contaminant" under state law. That begins a process that could lead to new restrictions in the state that already has the nation's toughest anti-smoking rules. Those could include reducing exposure in vehicles carrying children or in rental buildings where smoke drifts from apartments with smokers to non-smokers' units. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[9] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 26 Jan 2006 04:13:46 pm |
| Delivering Chemotherapy To Breast Ducts |
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Researchers from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center are studying whether delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to breast gland ducts would make the treatment of early breast cancer more effective. They are trying to see if this would be at least as good as surgery or radiation.
Priliminary studies in this new technique called intraductal therapy are now done experimental animals. Findings from this appear in the latest issue of Cancer Research. Researchers are planning to expand the study in to women with early stage breast cancer in the near future.
This new technique is based on the fact that most breast cancers arise from cells lining the ducts of milk producing glands. Saraswati Sukumar, Ph.D and colleagues, of Kimmel Cancer Center is experimenting on this idea of treating the cancer where it originates. These researchers would insert hair-thin catheters into the milk ducts through openings at the nipple and inject chemotherapy to the site of cancer.
Sukumar is hoping to device a technique for treatment of early stage breast cancer that would avoid disfigurement and spares normal tissues. She says that, injecting chemotherapy into the milk ducts confines most of the drug to the breasts, leaving other tissues unharmed.
Preliminary studies showed that intraductal chemotherapy is much more effective than intravenous chemotherapy in animal models. Sukumar believes that injecting chemotherapy agents or prevention drugs like tamoxifen into the breast ducts could be one option for women at high risk for the disease.
Much more work is to be done in this field before this technique may become clinically available. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[15] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 25 Jan 2006 02:42:33 pm |
| Many Things That May Cause Breast Cancer |
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Now it comes to common everyday things that may increase the risk of breast cancer. They say that common things like plastic food containers, moisturizers and termite sprays and many other things may increase your risk of breast cancer. These materials, they say contain chemicals that may ultimately increase the risk of breast cancer development.
The possible connection between the environment factors and breast cancer has long been debated. This new report suggest that as many as half of all new breast cancers may be related to pollutants in the environment, caused by items such as bisphenol which is a lining used inside tin cans or radiation from early mammograms or other environmental pollutants. This report was produced by two breast cancer groups after analyzing 350 different studies. Their report called "State of the Evidence," argues that repeated low doses of environmental pollutants especially during early childhood could have detrimental effects in terms of breast cancer.
This list of possible environmental chemicals that may increase risk of breast cancer also includes substances known to cause cancer, like secondhand smoke and industrial byproducts like dioxin. Various other chemicals, the report said, have "probable" links to breast cancer, including PAH, a compound found in diesel exhaust fumes; dioxin; the pesticide DDT; and PCBs.
These breast caner activists say that government has failed to protect the public from long-term low-dose carcinogens, whether it's pesticides in farm communities, cosmetics marketed to young girls, or even unnecessary x-rays. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[9] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 24 Jan 2006 02:01:07 pm |
| Missing The Diagnosis Of Breast Cancer |
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I was reading this disturbing news this morning which says that a consultant radiologist who was working Trafford General Hospital, UK, has missed breast cancer 22 at least 22 times. These 22 women were told much later that they had breast cancer in their mammograms that were taken previously, some dating as long back as two years.
This is a disturbing news, I can not just stop thinking about the plight of those 22 women who's prognosis of breast cancer may have changed markedly due to this radiologist's mistakes. One woman, who was given all clear certificate by this consultant radiologist, spent two years not knowing that she is harboring a growing breast cancer for two years.
This consultant's name is not released, but he remains suspended from work, was based at Trafford General Hospital from April 2003 and did locum work at North Manchester General Hospital from January 2004. This consultant radiologist's mistakes came into limelight last April when radiographers and a surgeon raised concerns about the accuracy of his reports.
An investigation was quickly enforced and experts combed through nearly 2,500 mammograms handled by the consultant at the two hospitals. They found that reading by this radiologist contained significant errors. About 176 patients were recalled to have repeat mammogram and among 28 were found to have some form of breast cancer. Twenty-one had been diagnosed with breast caner and one had treatable tumor.
Women undergo mammogram in an effort to find breast cancer early, and mistakes like this which defeats the purpose of mammogram can't be tolerated. The pain and misery caused to these 22 women who had significant delays in their breast cancer diagnosis can't be amply compensated by any action by the authorities. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[9] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Jan 2006 02:27:08 pm |
| Don't Count On Veggie Burgers Or Toufu |
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I do some posting in the cancer blog located at medicineworld.org. I was posting this article about soy and it's effect on cholesterol. Since I have discussed so much about soy and breast cancer link, which has left me in a state of confusion, I thought I would share this new information on cholesterol and soy.
Do not count on Veggie burgers and tofu to protect you from heart disease. A recent American Heart Association committee review report examined studies spanning over a decade and came up with doubts regarding the claim that soy-based foods and supplements are effective in significantly lowering cholesterol.
You may read more of this blog posting here. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[10] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 23 Jan 2006 01:04:30 pm |
| Epstein-Barr Virus And Breast Cancer |
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Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a member of the herpesvirus family and one of the most common human viruses. The virus can be found all over the world, and most people become infected with EBV sometime during their lives. In the United States, as many as 95% of adults between 35 and 40 years of age have been infected with EBV. Infections usually cause no symptoms or are indistinguishable from the other mild, brief illnesses of childhood. When infection with EBV occurs during adolescence or young adulthood, it causes infectious mononucleosis.
Epstein-Barr virus has been previously linked to skin and gastric cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, as well as cancer of the salivary glands and thymus. New studies have detected EBV in breast cancer specimens and have prompted researchers to examine the effect of infection with EBV on anticancer drug treatment.
Researchers from France and Japan report that presence of Epstein-Barr virus in the breast cancer tissue and tumor cells may impact the efficiency of chemotherapeutic drug treatment. They report their findings in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Virology.
In the study, the researchers examined biopsy specimens of breast cancer tissue for the presence of EBV, which was identified in about half of the specimens. However they found that, the viral load was highly variable among different tumor specimens. These findings indicate that EBV may not be the cause of breast cancer, but it may lead to tumor progression. Researchers also studied the EBV infected cells in the laboratory and found that the tumor cells containing EBV are more resistant to chemotherapy drugs.like taxol. They found that this resistance is due to overexpression of a gene called the multidrug resistance gene (MDRI).
The researchers say that even if a small number of breast cancer cells are EBV infected, the impact of EBV infection on the efficiency of anticancer treatment might very significant and more research is needed in this direction. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[8] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 22 Jan 2006 10:35:10 pm |
| Still There Is Room For Improvement |
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I believe there is always room for improvement in any particular situation, because, there is nothing perfect out there. The situation with breast cancer is not any different. Survivors of early-stage breast cancer generally receive good follow up care during the first year after they finish treatment, but not all of them get the recommended mammograms.
The above findings are from a study done by Dr. Jeanne S. Mandelblatt of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC, and her colleagues. These researchers studied a group of survivors with stage I or II breast cancer who had received appropriate treatment for their breast cancer. The patients were asked to complete calendar diaries detailing health care use for one year after treatment.
A total of 558 women participated in the study, 391 turned in a health care diary. The researchers found that, on average, these survivors used health service 30 times in the year after treatment, a rate higher than that of the general population. Although all women with breast cancer should have a mammography in the first year after treatment, the researchers report that only 62 percent did really have mammograms. Researchers found that women who had a lumpectomy were more likely to receive a mammogram than those who had a mastectomy, and white women were more likely to receive one than nonwhite women.
It is important to note that for every 100,000 women alive today in the United States, 815 are breast cancer survivors. These women should receive optimal surveillance for recurrence of breast cancer, for the development of other cancers and for evaluation of long-term side effects related to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[9] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 20 Jan 2006 05:49:43 am |
| What All Tests You Need At Followup? |
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Annual mammograms and doctor visits are the best follow-up strategy for women who have been treated for early stage breast cancer, according to a new review of recent research.
The report suggests that more intensive lab tests like liver scans and molecular tumor markers do not improve the chances of detecting a recurrence of cancer or increase survival rates among former breast cancer patients.
The finding is at odds with the usual therapy for breast cancer patients, according to Dr. Roldano Fossati of the Mario Negri Institute in Italy and his colleagues.
Fossati says "intensive follow-up is quite common in clinical practice and represents a significant workload for radiotherapy, surgical and oncologic departments".
The review appears in the recent issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
The new analysis is an update of a 20-year-old Cochrane report on the topic. The current review includes four randomized controlled trial studies of 3,055 patients that compare different types of breast cancer follow-up care.
After analyzing data from two of the studies, the scientists found no significant difference in terms of survival, detection of new cancers or quality of life between a group of women who got regular physical exams and annual mammograms and a group who underwent a more extensive battery of laboratory tests that included liver scans, molecular tumor markers, chest x-rays and blood and liver function tests.
Another study included in the review found that follow-up care by hospital-based specialists was not significantly different from that offered by general practitioners in terms of improvements in the patient's quality of life or speed in detecting new cancers. However, patients were more likely to be satisfied with care by their general practitioner. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Janet | Comments[11] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 19 Jan 2006 01:28:48 pm |
| Who Uses The Online Breast Cancer Support Groups? |
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You might be familiar with our breast cancer support group located at this site. I am mentioning about this because of some interesting research done in this field and I was reading about it this morning. Researchers in a new study are examining, who is more likely to make full use of online support groups. Their findings are a bit surprising in the fact that, contrary to traditional wisdom, age, income and educational level did not matter when it came to utilization of online support forum.
This study was conducted by researchers at the Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research from University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study found that a significant number of women with diagnosis of breast cancer are indeed participating in such online forums and support groups and their numbers are fast growing.
This new research reveals the characteristics profiles of women who are more likely to get involved in such support forums if barriers to computers and Internet access are removed. In this study 144 women who were recently diagnosed with breast cancer were provided free computer hardware, Internet access and training in how to use an online health education and support system, which they were able to use for six months. The researchers then examined who was most likely to use the online support groups.
Socioeconomic status of the study participant generally did not have much effect on participation of the online support. Women who were more active in these forums tend to have higher energy levels, more positive physician-patient relationship, and fewer concerns about breast cancer recurrence. They also had a higher perception of support from their family.
The study showed minorities are not fully utilizing the benefits of the breast cancer support forums that are available on the Internet.
Women frequently wrote about their disease and expressed their inner fears in these online forums. They expressed concerns that breast cancer might cut short their time to enjoy family and be around for important milestones as their children are growing older. This closer tie with family was apparent in psychological make of the woman who has breast cancer. Closer a woman felt to her family or larger social network, the more she feared her potential separation from them as a result of breast cancer.
Our breast cancer support group is located at the following page
Breast cancer support group
Image credit: Lung transplant association |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[16] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 18 Jan 2006 02:53:30 am |
| Adding Confusion To The Soy Breast Cancer Link |
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Please read this post before you read the current post.
Postmenopausal women, who have relatively high levels of estrogen in their body might get help from eating a diet rich in soy. Soy contains, natural plant estrogens or isoflavones, and this may help protect postmenopausal women from developing breast cancer, as per reports from a new study.
Postmenopausal women who have relatively low levels of estrogen may not derive the same benefit from eating soy compared to women who have relatively high levels of estrogen in the body, but the researchers are saying that, soy may provide vitamins and other nutrients and soy is not harmful for breast cancer.
Charles E. Wood, an instructor of pathology at Wake Forest University who is one of the investigators of this study say that, isoflvones could block the adverse effects of estrogen on the breast tissue and this can lead to a decreased risk of breast cancer.
There is an ongoing debate about the risks and benefits of soy in the scientific community and this study just adds fuel to the current controversy and debate. Wood say that there is a lot of confusing information out there some citing an increased risk of breast cancer with the consumption of soy.
Wood say that most population studies have found that women who consume lots of soy are less likely to develop breast cancer, however, isoflavones from soy, which have a structure similar to estrogen, have been found to stimulate breast cancer cells grown in the laboratory.
My comments: I am now totally confused. Is soy helpful or harmful? |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[17] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 16 Jan 2006 01:17:58 pm |
| Those Extra Pounds Cause Poor Outcome In Breast Cancer |
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Those extra pounds on your body may work against you in many ways including the outcome in breast cancer. Previous studies have shown that there is a relationship between overweight and increased risk of dying from breast cancer. Now a new study from China shows, women who are overweight have a poorer outcome in breast cancer compared to those women who have a more lean body structure.
The authors of the study say that prevention of overweight is a priority for general population as well as for those have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The research team includes Dr Xiao-Ou Shu from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and his colleagues from the US and China. They reported these findings in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
This large study included 1,455 Chinese women who were followed for roughly five years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
While most women were still alive after five years, those who were overweight at the time of diagnosis or soon afterward had a poorer survival rate.
At the time of reporting 80 percent of overweight women were still alive, and this compares with 6.5 percent survival among the leanest women and 84 percent survival among those who were slightly heavier but still in the normal weight range.
Shu said, in general, moderate exercise and a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains are key to improved survival. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[9] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 13 Jan 2006 01:15:53 pm |
| Kylie Minogue Now Free Of Cancer |
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Doctors say that Kylie Minogue has completed her chemotherapy and at this time has no evidence of cancer in her body, as per reports from a British newspaper Sun. Kylie was exhaustively examined by doctors in Paris at the end of her six month course of chemotherapy and was given this cancer free certificate.
However, Minogue has to start a course of daily radiation treatment to prevent the recurrence of the breast cancer.
Paris is the home to her partner Olivier Martinez, who is a French actor. Kylie has elected to have chemotherapy treatment in Paris after having a partial mastectomy in Melbourne, Australia in last May. Minogue has now returned to Australia to celebrate her newly found freedom from breast cancer.
"She is thrilled and relieved. It's been a tough few months and there have been times when she felt very weak and very down," as per the Sun newspaper.
"For the past couple of months she has been feeling very positive and healthy. She has put a bit of weight on and has been feeling confident about the future", the paper adds.
As per the repots from Sun, Kylie Minogue had her last course of chemotherapy on December 18 and received final test results last Friday, which showed no evidence of residual cancer.
Minogue, who is Australia's biggest pop star, is now living in London and is selling an estimated 40 million records worldwide.
Read also this related post |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[13] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 12 Jan 2006 01:16:57 pm |
| Would You Preserve Fertility After Breast Cancer Treatment? |
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My friend Cathy was only 37 years old, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had one of those genetic mutations called BRCA1. Cathy underwent lumpectomy and was found to have one lymph node positive. She received chemotherapy and subsequently received radiation therapy. She is now on hormonal therapy. Chemotherapy had stopped her menstrual cycles and she has not yet regained her cycle now four years after completion of her chemotherapy.
Even though most cases of breast cancer occur after menopause, breast cancer developing in younger premneopausal women is not uncommon at all. Many of these women may not have completed their family and would like to have children after the treatment is complete. This naturally raises the question of fertility after breast cancer treatment.
Various strategies are in clinical development to preserve the fertility of these young women who undergo chemotherapy. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center say that they have developed a new method of predicting development of infertility after chemotherapy. They say that ovarian hormone levels may predict which women are likely to become infertile after chemotherapy to treat breast cancer.
This finding may enable the treating physician to identify those women who are high risk for development of ovarian failure after chemotherapy so that preventive measures may be implemented as per the lead author of the study Carey Anders, M.D.
Dr. Anders and colleagues have shown that women who developed premature ovarian failure had lower levels of the ovarian hormone called inhibin A prior to initiation of chemotherapy and six months after chemotherapy had ended. Another ovarian hormone called inhibin B was also lower in these women six months after chemotherapy.
On the other hand, women who had restoration of menstrual cycles after treatment had higher levels of inhibin A before receiving chemotherapy and six months afterward. Similar effects were also found with another female hormone called estradiol. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[14] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 11 Jan 2006 01:33:48 pm |
| Predicting Outcomes In Breast Cancer |
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If your breast cancer does not express a protein called alpha-basic-crystalline then it is good news for you, because researchers Vincent Cryns and colleagues at Northwestern University say that if a breast cancer tumor expresses alpha-basic-crystalline, that may signal poor outcome.
As you may very well know, researchers have been trying to find genes and proteins that can predict the outcome of breast cancer, with the main idea of classifying breast cancer into low risk and high risk groups. Now since we do not have a good method to classify low risk and high-risk breast cancer patients, most of the patients receive toxic chemotherapies, because your doctor just doesn't know if you are at a very high risk or low risk of breast cancer recurrence.
There are some advances occurring in this field. A new genetic testing called Oncotype-Dx testing has been introduced, and this test together with other tests in development is expected to tell exactly if a woman with breast cancer would require chemotherapy.
Anyhow to come back to the point, these researchers have been examining the genes expressed during breast cancer in order to classify those genes into groups that can reliably predict the outcome of disease. They found that a protein that is found in some breast cancer tumors called alpha-basic-crystallin, predicts poor survival in breast cancer. This predictive value of alpha-basic-crystalline was independently of other known prognostic markers.
Researchers say that alpha-basic-crystallin is overexpressed in mammary epithelial cells and causes dysregulated growth, changes in cell structure, diminished programmed cell death, and the formation of invasive carcinomas that is linked to activation of the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway. These new findings may facilitate research and development of tailored therapies that are active against this signaling pathway. This study was published in the recent issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[10] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 10 Jan 2006 01:02:26 pm |
| Shorter Radiation Therapy Technique In The Horizon |
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Anyone who has gone through that radiation therapy knows that more than anything it's the monotonous prolonged duration of treatment that causes fatigue and metal strain to breast cancer patients than anything else associated with this treatment.
A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a small lump (about 1 inch in size) and had no lymph nodes involved. After lumpectomy she had this prolonged course of radiation therapy. She said that it was never ending and seemed to last forever. She was literally counting the days, and couldn't wait for those days to be over.
There is good news to suggest that radiation therapy may get a little easier for thousands of breast cancer patients in the near future. Researchers are now able to target the radiation beams just at the tumor site instead of the whole breast, cutting the usual six-week treatment down to five days.
The effectiveness of this type of radiation therapy has to be proven by controlled clinical trials. A major clinical trial is under way to prove the effectiveness of this new mode of radiation therapy and if it is effective, who's a good candidate and which of three five-day methods works best.
There is another way of giving radiation therapy and it is called brachytherapy. Some researchers from Canada are trying to develop a one-day treatment method by permanently implanting radiation seeds inside the breast to kill cancer cells. This brachytherapy treatment is also used in other cancers like prostate cancer.
This new technique is called partial-breast radiation and this is already fast gaining in popularity even before the effectiveness of this form of radiation therapy is proven by clinical trials. There is an ongoing National Cancer Institute-funded study to see if this form of radiation therapy works, and this study is recruiting patients since March.
Experts are warning women that, at this time there is no proof for the effectiveness of this type of radiation therapy and the say that women must carefully weigh the new options. If a woman is interested in this shorter course of radiation therapy, then the best course of action would be enrolment into a clinical trial. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[9] | Trackbacks [5] |
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| 10 Jan 2006 01:05:31 am |
| That Fatigue After Breast Cancer Treatment |
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On December 18th I have written about a study, which showed that persistent fatigue after chemotherapy is rare. In this study only one in five women showed persistent fatigue after chemotherapy, regardless of the type of chemotherapy used. Some of these women had received regular chemotherapy while some other had received high dose chemotherapy.
I was reading a new study, which suggests somewhat different results regarding breast cancer treatment and fatigue. This study shows that fatigue may persist for five years after breast cancer treatment in almost one third of patients. In about two thirds of these patients, the fatigue will persist, the results of this long-term study indicate.
Ganz, from the University of California at Los Angeles, and her associates previously reported that 35 percent of 1,957 women who were diagnosed between with early-stage breast carcinoma between 1994 and 1997-experienced fatigue for the first five years after treatment.
The results showed that 34 percent were classified as being fatigued. Among those classified as fatigued during the first survey, 63 percent continued to score in the fatigued range.
Further analyses indicated that depression, pain and heart disease were significant long-term predictors of fatigue, as was treatment with combined radiation and chemotherapy compared with either treatment alone.
Different studies may differ to some extent, in the results, but these two studies represent just opposing results, I would say. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[17] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 07 Jan 2006 12:15:06 am |
| Optimal Radiation Therapy Improves Survival |
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There has been a long controversy in the scientific community about benefits of radiation therapy after breast cancer surgery. Now it looks like this controversy is coming to an end.
A new research report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggest that women who get an optimal dose of radiation therapy after mastectomy have a better survival in 10 years compared to those women, who never received radiation therapy.
These researchers from the National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Centre in New South Wales, Australia reanalyzed data from 36 clinical trials in which radiation therapy was the major difference between groups of patients. These 36 clinical trials were divided into three categories, those in which an optimal dose of radiation was used, those in which inadequate doses of radiation therapy was used, and those in which excessive doses of radiation therapy was used.
These researchers have found that in five years, patients belonging to the first category had 2.9 percent increase in survival at the end of five years. The difference increased to 6.4 percent in ten years time. The second and third categories where an optimal dose of radiation therapy was not used, there was no apparent improvement in survival.
The researchers say that this study shows that there is strong evidence for the benefits of radiation in those women who received breast cancer surgery. They recommend that post mastectomy radiation should be given to all women who have high risk of breast cancer recurrence. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[10] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 05 Jan 2006 01:29:25 pm |
| Stem Cell Breakthrough In Breast Cancer |
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(Image courtesy of Pravda)
Are we witnessing a new breakthrough for breast cancer? That's what Francois Vaillant and colleagues are claiming. These Australian researchers say that they have discovered the stem cells responsible for growth of the mammary gland. They were able to grow new breasts in mice and claim that this could lay foundation for all new treatment options for breast cancer.
Scientists were successful in growing skin tissue from single stem cells in the past. This is the first time a complex organ like the mammary gland was grown from a one single stem cell. This study is published in the recent issue of the journal Nature.
Other researchers say that this study that comes from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne is a breakthrough in understanding how normal breast tissue develops and could revolutionize the way how we treat breast cancer and other cancers.
What does it mean to you and me? Knowing the pathways of normal growth of the stem cells into the mammary gland could lead to development of new medications to treat breast cancer. Also it may be possible in future to develop a technique to grow new breast in women who had mastectomy. Researchers say that it may take next 10 or 20 years before we may develop new medications to treat breast cancer based on this new discovery.
It's a puzzle among scientific community, why women who had all the breast cancer cells eliminated by using chemotherapy could experience a recurrence of breast cancer. If all the factors controlling the growth of the stem cells go in a regulated fashion the stem cell would grow in to a normal breast tissue, but a combination of genetic errors and other external influences could cause it to generate faulty cells. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[11] | Trackbacks [2] |
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| 04 Jan 2006 01:22:37 pm |
| Statins Have No Breast Cancer Protective Effect |
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It was widely believed by the scientific community until now that the popular group of cholesterol lowering drugs called statins, have a protective effect against cancer. Previous studies have shown that these drugs may protect you from various cancers including breast cancer. Now this belief is being shattered by the publication of two large studies which showed no cancer protective effect for this popular group cholesterol lowering drugs.
It's interesting to note that Sherin has posted another study with the same negative findings in October 2005. This study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine studied 79,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study. This study suggested that the beneficial effect of statins on breast cancer observed in experimental studies may not be applicable to humans.
Now two more studies have shown that statins offer no protective effect against developing or dying from cancer. A new meta-analysis of 26 studies involving 87,000 patients has concluded that statins do not lower the risk of developing cancer or dying from cancer. Statins had absolutely no impact on cancer as per the article published in Journal of the American Medical Association.
In another study organized by the American Cancer Society, researchers, reviewed data on more than 130,000 patients from the United States and found that statins have no effect on colon cancer. The findings from this team of researchers are published in the latest issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Janet | Comments[11] | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 04 Jan 2006 01:03:57 am |
| BRCA1 mutation? Drink Coffee! |
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Recently I was seeing many benefits associated with coffee in the recent medical news releases. I have recently read about the benefits of coffee in prevention of colon cancer. I was reading this news about benefits of coffee in prevention of breast cancer today.
This new research by Dr. Steven A. Narod, of the University of Toronto, Ontario showed that women who have BRCA1 gene mutations might benefit from drinking coffee with respect to the risk of development of breast cancer.
These researchers studied 1690 high-risk women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations from 40 clinical centers in four countries. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the average lifetime coffee consumption.
Women with BRCA mutations who drank 1 to 3 cups of coffee daily had 10 percent reduction in the risk of breast cancer, women how drank 4 to 5 cups of coffee had 25 percent reduction in breast cancer and those women who drank 6 or more cups of coffee had a high 69 percent reduction in the risk of breast cancer. Amazing to think about it, right?
Another surprising finding evolved from the research. They found that the protective effect of coffee was mainly limited to BRCA1 gene mutation carriers and most of the BRCA2 gene mutation carriers did not have significant benefit from drinking coffee.
Investigators say that coffee is an important source of phytoestrogens, which may have protective effects against cancer. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[12] | Trackbacks [1] |
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| 02 Jan 2006 01:29:58 pm |
| Art Therapy To Reduce Pain In Cancer Patients |
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The world of arts and painting is coming to the comfort of cancer patients! If the cancer patients would paint pictures in watercolor, or sketch with charcoal, do engage in fashioning of a craft under the gentle guidance of an therapist, this can lead to significant reduction in anxiety and fatigue in cancer patients as per a new findings from a new study.
This study from scientists at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago showed that art therapy helped alleviate eight of nine symptoms in patients being treated for cancer, including pain, depression, poor appetite and fatigue.
Fifty patients with conditions that ranged from breast and colorectal cancer to leukemia and lymphoma took part in this study, which involved a one-hour art therapy session in the hospital. Most patients' cancers were incurable.
"It's not simply making art, it's not simply gluing some sequins on a piece of paper," Judith Paice, director of the hospital's cancer pain program and a study co-author, said from Chicago.
"There is really an expression that goes on and an interpretation and discussion of that expression that allows people to reframe what's happening to them, to reframe that they're in the hospital and maybe experiencing symptoms and maybe scared about their diagnosis or the future.
"The adult patients are able to express their fears, their emotions, their concerns, their wishes and their dreams in another manner," said Paice, noting that many patients find receiving counseling through art far less intimidating and stigmatizing than standard psychotherapy.
The art therapy has to be conducted by a specialist trained in both art and psychological counseling. They use the creative process to induce relaxation and give expression to a person's deepest emotions. |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Janet | Comments[10] | Trackbacks [0] |
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