Breast Cancer
UK breast cancer sufferer goes to court for drug
|
|
A woman with early-stage breast cancer went to the High Court on Monday in an attempt to force her local health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.
Ann Marie Rogers, 54, was refused the drug after Swindon Primary Care Trust in Wiltshire said it would not fund the treatment, which costs around 20,000 pounds ($36,000) a year.
Radiation cuts risk of breast cancer return
|
|
Use of radiation therapy reduces the risk that a breast cancer removed with breast-conserving surgery will return, according to a report in the medical journal Cancer. A surgical specimen with no evidence that cancer was left behind is tied to a reduced risk of recurrence as well.
The results also show that cancer recurrence is an important determinant of subsequent spread to distant sites in the body.
Boss key to return to work after breast cancer
|
|
Research indicates that the vast majority of working women who develop breast cancer return to their job after treatment and it helps to have an accommodating employer.
“Working women who develop breast cancer can be encouraged to know that they can maintain a high quality of life after a breast cancer diagnosis because over 80 percent of employed women in our study returned to their same job position within one year of their cancer diagnosis,” study chief Dr. Reynard R. Bouknight told Reuters Health.
UK breast cancer patients wrongly given all-clear
|
|
Twenty-two women were wrongly given the all clear at two Greater Manchester hospitals when they actually had breast cancer, a report on Tuesday revealed.
An investigation has now been launched into the misdiagnoses and the radiologist at the centre of the scandal has been suspended.
Variety of Approaches to Genetic Counseling for Breast, Ovarian Cancer
|
|
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is Testing Several Approaches to Counseling Women with Family or Personal Histories of Breast and/or Ovarian Cancer
The diagnosis of breast or ovarian cancer in one member of a family can have repercussions for daughters, sisters, mothers, and other relatives. The knowledge that these cancers can run in families raises questions about risk and concerns about what steps can and should be taken for prevention.
For Latinas, cancer treatment is a family affair
|
|
Many Latin women with breast cancer rely on family members to decide on the type of treatment they should receive, according to new study findings, which may offer insight into the disparities observed in breast cancer treatment among minority groups.
“Family is the chief decision maker” in older Latina patients with breast cancer, study author Dr. Rose C. Maly, of the University of California at Los Angeles, told Reuters Health. She added that “it is a family affair and has to be addressed as such.”
One Day Radiation may become an Option for Breast Cancer Patients
|
|
Doctors in Canada are studying the effectiveness of permanent radiation seed implants following lumpectomy as an alternative to whole or partial breast irradiation for early-stage breast cancer patients, according to a study published in the January 1, 2006, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. This type of radiation would cut treatment time for certain patients from several weeks to one day.
For early stage breast cancer, women often undergo a lumpectomy to remove the tumor followed by radiation therapy to kill any cancer cells that may remain. Most women undergo external beam radiation, which is given every day, Monday through Friday, for six to eight weeks. Doctors have been experimenting with ways to shorten this treatment. One technique used by a growing number of radiation oncologists involves the use of temporary radiation implants. These radiation sources are delivered through a catheter into the breast, usually twice a day for one week.
Letrozole tops tamoxifen for early breast cancer
|
|
As add-on therapy for breast cancer, letrozole appears to be more effective than tamoxifen in reducing the risk of the disease recurring, new research suggests.
Dr. Beat Thurlimann, from the Senology Center of Eastern Switzerland in Kantonsspital, and colleagues compared the outcomes of 8010 women who were randomly assigned to one of four treatment regimens for 5 years: letrozole; letrozole followed by tamoxifen; tamoxifen; or tamoxifen followed by letrozole.
Women often uninformed about breast reconstruction
|
|
Though most women with breast cancer are aware they have the option for breast reconstruction soon after surgery, few may fully understand the details of the procedure, a new study suggests.
This was particularly the case, researchers found, for black women, who were more likely to say they did not know enough about breast reconstruction or to feel that the procedure was not recommended.
Ancient Chinese Remedy Shows Potential in Preventing Breast Cancer
|
|
A derivative of the sweet wormwood plant used since ancient times to fight malaria and shown to precisely target and kill cancer cells may someday aid in stopping breast cancer before it gets a toehold.
In a new study, two University of Washington bioengineers found that the substance, artemisinin, appeared to prevent the onset of breast cancer in rats that had been given a cancer-causing agent. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Cancer Letters.
Gene Variation Affects Tamoxifen’s Benefit for Breast Cancer
|
|
One of the most commonly prescribed drugs for breast cancer, tamoxifen, may not be as effective for women who inherit a common genetic variation, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and the Mayo Clinic. The genetic variation affects the level of a crucial enzyme that activates tamoxifen to fight breast cancer.
The study, co-led by researcher James Rae, Ph.D., at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Matthew Goetz, M.D., an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, tested the most common genetic variant responsible for lowering the CYP2D6 enzyme, and found that women with this genetic variant were almost twice as likely to see their breast cancer return. Up to 10 percent of women inherit this genetic trait.
Australian breast cancer study seeks participants
|
|
RMIT University researchers are seeking healthy, postmenopausal women to participate in a study to determine if diet and lifestyle can reduce the risk breast cancer.
“Previous research indicates that flaxseed may contain compounds that protect postmenopausal women from breast cancer,” Leah Williamson, a postgraduate researcher at RMIT’s Department of Food Science, said.
“These compounds, called phytoestrogens, work at lowering levels of estrogens linked to breast cancer. Flaxseed is particularly high in one such phytoestrogen, lignan, which is believed to reduce the enzymes and the estrogens that cause the breast to produce potentially cancerous cells.
Alzheimer’s patients get less breast cancer therapy
|
|
Women with Alzheimer’s disease receive less treatment for breast cancer than do comparable female Medicare beneficiaries, the results of a new study indicate. However, this pattern is not necessarily inappropriate, the authors note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Dr. Sherri Sheinfeld Gorin and colleagues from Columbia University, New York, examined the use of breast cancer treatment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease based on data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry and Medicare billing records.
Distance from facility affects cancer therapy
|
|
The distance a woman has to travel to reach a radiation therapy facility appears to influence whether she receives the recommended treatment for early-stage breast cancer, investigators report. Women who live farther away are also less likely to undergo breast-conserving surgery plus radiation as opposed to mastectomy.
Treatment guidelines recommend breast-conserving surgery plus radiation for early stage breast cancers. However, radiation treatment after surgery involves daily treatments for 5 to 6 consecutive weeks, Lydia Voti, at the University of Miami in Florida, and her colleagues explain.
Breast cancer vaccine may prevent recurrence
|
|
A vaccine using a protein that is a biological “marker” for breast cancer, called HER2/neu, prompts a specific immune response and may prevent recurrence of the disease in certain patients who have become disease-free after treatment for breast cancer, according to researchers.
“While our results are preliminary,” lead investigator Dr. George E. Peoples told Reuters Health, “we are encouraged that this type of trial, evaluating cancer prevention as opposed to cancer treatment, will ultimately reveal the power, and appropriate future use, of cancer vaccines.”
