Surgery prevents breast cancers in high-risk women
(Reuters) – Women with mutations in the well-known BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes who have their breasts and ovaries removed are much more likely to survive than women who do not get preventive surgery, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
The study shows the benefits of genetic tests that give women with a family history of cancer the chance to take steps to increase their chances of survival, they said.
“This is the first study to prove women survive longer with these preventive surgeries and shows the importance of genetic testing when there is a family history of early breast or ovarian cancer,” Dr. Virginia Kaklamani of Northwestern University in Chicago wrote in a commentary about the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Women with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have a 56 to 84 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer during their lifetimes.
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Study Could Reignite Hormone Therapy Debate
(CBS) Since 2002 when the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study showed an increase risk of breast cancer for women using estrogen and progestin, hormone use has dropped off. But the debate still rages on about just what the risk is.
Now, new findings in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) further clarify that risk.
The study found that, compared with women who had never used hormone therapy, women who used estrogen therapy for more than 15 years had a 19 percent greater risk of developing breast cancer.
Women who used combined therapy with estrogen plus progestin for 15 or more years had an 83 percent greater risk. Breast cancer risk was highest among women who used the combination regimen.
Other important findings :
• Risk varied according to Body Mass Index (BMI), with greater risks for thinner women.
• Longer duration of hormone therapy increased breast cancer risk.
So what should women take away from this new study?
According to CBS News Medical Correspondent and OB-GYN, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, this study looked at women taking hormone replacement therapy, also known as HRT, over a certain period of time and then helped to stratify their risk of breast cancer.
While we already know HRT increases the risk of breast cancer, Ashton points out this study focuses on duration of use and combination of HRT, including estrogen and progesterone.
The findings that women who used combined therapy with estrogen plus progestin for 15 or more years had an 83 percent greater risk raises a lot of concern, “Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill pointed out.
“If taken for more than 15 years,” Ashton reiterates. “Remember, if it was 100 percent risk, that would be equivalent to doubling your risk. This 83 percent is actually very similar to what came out in 2002.”
Therefore, length of time is important.
“Length of time, longer risk associated with higher risk. Women who took HRT for about two years really showed a minimal increase in their breast cancer risk, so that’s important.
“Women who took both combination, as we just saw, estrogen and progesterone, had a higher risk. And women who took what we call continuously without a break also had a higher risk. So that further delineates what the risks are. So like anything, (it’s about) risk versus benefits. You want to be able to stratify those risks as much as possible,” she added.
Weight also plays a significant role, but the results are surprising.
“Usually we hear obesity can contribute to the risk of breast cancer. This study found thinner women had higher risk,” Ashton explained. “It’s important to remember, again, this needs to be individually discussed with your doctor, that WHI study from 2002 actually found hormone replacement therapy can lessen the risk of colon cancer. So, if that’s a bigger risk for you versus breast cancer, you want to discuss that with your doctor. It’s not a simple equation.”
Women who used combined therapy with estrogen plus progestin for 15 or more years had an 83 percent greater risk. Breast cancer risk was highest among women who used the combination regimen.
Other important findings :
• Risk varied according to Body Mass Index (BMI), with greater risks for thinner women.
• Longer duration of hormone therapy increased breast cancer risk.
So what should women take away from this new study?
According to CBS News Medical Correspondent and OB-GYN, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, this study looked at women taking hormone replacement therapy, also known as HRT, over a certain period of time and then helped to stratify their risk of breast cancer.
While we already know HRT increases the risk of breast cancer, Ashton points out this study focuses on duration of use and combination of HRT, including estrogen and progesterone.
The findings that women who used combined therapy with estrogen plus progestin for 15 or more years had an 83 percent greater risk raises a lot of concern, “Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill pointed out.
“If taken for more than 15 years,” Ashton reiterates. “Remember, if it was 100 percent risk, that would be equivalent to doubling your risk. This 83 percent is actually very similar to what came out in 2002.”
Therefore, length of time is important.
“Length of time, longer risk associated with higher risk. Women who took HRT for about two years really showed a minimal increase in their breast cancer risk, so that’s important.
“Women who took both combination, as we just saw, estrogen and progesterone, had a higher risk. And women who took what we call continuously without a break also had a higher risk. So that further delineates what the risks are. So like anything, (it’s about) risk versus benefits. You want to be able to stratify those risks as much as possible,” she added.
Weight also plays a significant role, but the results are surprising.
“Usually we hear obesity can contribute to the risk of breast cancer. This study found thinner women had higher risk,” Ashton explained. “It’s important to remember, again, this needs to be individually discussed with your doctor, that WHI study from 2002 actually found hormone replacement therapy can lessen the risk of colon cancer. So, if that’s a bigger risk for you versus breast cancer, you want to discuss that with your doctor. It’s not a simple equation.”
A Doctor Discovers a Patient in the Mirror
The first thing I do is convince myself it isn’t a lump. Not difficult, as I’ve felt plenty of lumps, and mine does not fit the category. They are usually small, or soft and cystlike, or part of a general lumpy-bumpiness. This one, I tell myself, is nothing more than dense tissue.
But one day, stepping out of the shower, I raise my arms and look in the mirror. And damn, I can see it. You cannot make out dense breast tissue in a mirror. My nonlump has become a lump. I am frightened.
They say doctors make the worst patients, but I do not agree. The worst patients are abusive or rude; I am merely neglectful. I do not go to doctors or have a personal physician. I don’t need one: I run six miles a day and don’t smoke, drink or eat red meat — I am ridiculously healthy.
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Fish oil linked to lower breast cancer risk
(Health.com) — Millions of Americans already take fish oil to keep their hearts healthy and to treat ailments ranging from arthritis to depression. Now, a new study suggests that the supplements may also help women lower their risk of breast cancer.
Postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 76 who took fish oil were 32 percent less likely to develop certain types of breast cancer than women who didn’t, the study found.
The researchers looked at 14 other popular supplements (including gingko biloba, black cohosh, soy, and St. John’s wort), but only fish oil — which contains concentrated amounts of the omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, tuna, and other fish — had any connection to breast cancer risk.
Despite their findings, the researchers say it’s too soon to recommend that women start taking fish oil to stave off breast cancer.
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Young breast-cancer patients often give up on hormonal therapy
Breasts After undergoing treatment for breast cancer, many women — especially young women — fail to complete subsequent therapy intended to reduce their risk of recurrence, according to researchers.
In a study of 8,769 women prescribed hormonal therapy for breast cancer, researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in New York and Kaiser Permanente in Northern California found that just under half — 49% — completed the recommended course.
Hormonal therapy is routinely prescribed for about 60% of breast cancer patients, that is, those who have tumors fueled by the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone, said Dr. Dawn Hershman, who led the study. The therapy reduces the risk of cancer recurrence, and patients are advised to take it for at least five years.
“There are a lot of outstanding treatments for breast cancer, but it’s clear that if people don’t get them for as long as they should, they won’t get the full benefits,” said Hershman, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia.
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Breast density linked to cancer risk
Density. It’s a less obvious feature of the female breast than, say, size. But at least when it comes to good health, it’s probably more important.
In fact, it just might be the greatest cancer risk you’ve never heard of.
Study after study has found that as breast density goes up, so does the risk of breast cancer. “There are very few things we know about that are so reproducibly found,” says Dr. Norman Boyd, senior scientist at the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto.
And the relationship can be very strong: Evidence shows that for women with extremely dense breasts, the cancer risk can be four to six times higher than for women whose breasts are not dense. By comparison, a family history of breast cancer — long considered an important risk factor — usually only doubles the risk.
The link between breast density and breast cancer was first discovered in the 1970s. “It took a long time for people to accept it,” says Malcolm Pike, a professor of preventive medicine at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at USC and an attending epidemiologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. “But nobody’s arguing about it now.”
Yet as widely accepted as the link is in the scientific community — and despite the fact that many researchers are convinced it could help identify high-risk women and maybe lead to treatments to reduce their risk — to date it has played a small part in the battle against breast cancer.
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Mastectomy rates still declining across U.S.
(Reuters Health) – Mastectomy rates among US women with breast cancer are not on the rise, despite recent studies from three major cancer centers suggesting that more women were opting for the operation.
But the percentage of women who choose to have their other, cancer-free breast removed at the same time for preventive reasons is increasing, Dr. Elizabeth B. Habermann of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and her colleagues found.
In 1990, the National Institutes of Health recommended breast-conserving surgery-”lumpectomy,” in which only the tumor and surrounding tissue are removed-along with radiation as the preferred treatment for breast cancer in one breast. Numerous studies done in the previous decade had found that women fared just as well with lumpectomy and radiation as they did with mastectomy, a more radical operation that carries greater risk of complications.
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Findings May Alter Care for Early Breast Cancer
CHICAGO — For many women with early-stage breast cancer, treatment may become considerably less arduous, researchers say.
A new study found that certain women getting a lumpectomy may not need an operation to remove underarm lymph nodes, a procedure that can leave them with painfully swollen arms. Compared with not removing the nodes, the surgery did not prolong survival or prevent recurrence of the cancer.
And a second study found that a single dose of radiation, delivered directly to the site of the tumor right after a woman has a lumpectomy, was as effective as the six or so weeks of daily radiation treatments that most women now endure.
“We’re now getting really good long-term survival for breast cancer,” said Michael Baum of University College London, the lead investigator of the radiation study, which was presented here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “The theme is now how can we improve the quality of life for women.”
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Vaccine May Cure Breast Cancer
DENVER — The cure for breast cancer could come in a shot.
A breakthrough discovery is bringing a new sense of reality that an end to the disease could be in the future.
The new vaccine created by scientists at the Cleveland Clinic has prevented cancerous tumors from growing in mice. That is why doctors, patients and survivors hope the same technology will work in humans.
With 19 marathons under her belt, Saundra Robinson is a picture of good health.
“You feel like there’s nothing that can get in your way,” said Robinson.
But just five years ago, Saundra faced a big hurdle. She was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“You flashback on that and you think, ‘Why me?’ Then you think as my minister said in a recent sermon, ‘Why not me?’” said Robinson.
Saundra’s a survivor and is intrigued by the new cancer research by the Cleveland Clinic.
For the last eight years, scientists have been testing the vaccine on mice.
The vaccine has prevented tumors from forming and has stopped the growth of existing ones, by targeting specific proteins.
“This is a ground changer,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz.
During a visit to 7NEWS, Dr. Oz said the next step is clinical trials on cancer patients.
“If we can just educate our bodies to keep up with the cancer cells as we do with viruses, we can knock them off just as easily,” said Dr. Oz.
It’s news that will motivate Saundra, who is getting ready to run the New York City Marathon.
“It’s pretty exciting to hear that there’s really major progress being done,” said Robinson.
Doctors say it may be at least five years before the success of the research is known.
The current challenge is to raise money for those studies and to keep encouraging women to get exams.
The Denver Channel
Peregrine drug shows promise against breast cancer
(Reuters) – A small, mid-stage trial of an experimental breast cancer drug developed by Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc showed that 74 percent of patients responded to the treatment, according to the company.
The Phase 2 trial enrolled 46 patients with advanced breast cancer who were treated with a combination of the drug, called bavituximab, and chemotherapy drugs paclitaxel and carboplatin.
The trial found that, after a treatment period of about six months, 34 patients achieved an “objective tumor response,” meaning their tumors shrank at least 30 percent. Four patients, or 9 percent, had their tumors completely disappear.
Patients survived a median of 6.9 months without their cancer worsening and overall survival will eventually be reported, Peregrine said.
By comparison, an older trial showed that treating advanced breast cancer patients with the chemo drugs alone resulted in a response rate of 62 percent and median progression-free survival of 4.8 months.
Side effects were in line with those typically seen with chemo drugs, said Marvin Garovoy, head of clinical science at Peregrine.
Bavituximab is an antibody designed to reactivate the immune system to fight tumors and tumor blood vessels.
Peregrine, which will present the bavituximab data at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology next month, said it is planning future Phase 2 trials.
Garovoy said the company plans to launch by the middle of this year a controlled study of the drug in lung cancer patients.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; editing by Carol Bishopric)