Breast Reading

The best “treatment” for cancer is to prevent it from occurring. Research is ongoing to evaluate environmental and lifestyle factors that may be linked with an increased incidence of cancer. Identifying such risk factors may allow individuals to modify lifestyle choices in order to reduce their risk of developing cancer.

The Million Women Study in the United Kingdom involved over 1.3 million middle-aged women who responded to a questionnaire regarding sociodemographic and personal information, including alcohol consumption. These women were followed for several years in an effort to determine how reproductive and lifestyle factors affect women’s health.

The current study used the data from just over 1.2 million of the women in the Million Women Study, excluding some women based on pre-unfilled cancers or because pertinent information was excluded on the questionnaire. In this area one-quarter of the cohort reported drinking no alcohol. Of the remaining women who reported consuming alcohol, 98% consumed less than 21 drinks per week, with the average being one drink per day. (Less than three drinks per day is considered low to moderate alcohol consumption.)

The women were followed for an average of 7.2 years, during which 68,775 invasive cancers occurred. Increased alcohol consumption was linked with increased risks of some cancers. With each bonus drink consumed per day, the risk of breast cancer increased by 11%, oral cavity/pharynx cancer by 29%, esophageal cancer by 22%, larynx cancer by 44%, liver cancer by 24%, and total cancer by 6%.

The researchers concluded that low to moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of certain cancers. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2009

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Terramed Alliance News Researchers at Rush Academe Medical Center and Argonne National Laboratory are collaborating on a study to determine if an imaging technique used by NASA to inspect the space shuttle can be used to predict tissue hurt often experienced by breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. The study is examining the utility of three-dimensional thermal tomography in radiation oncology.

Preliminary results from the study are being showed during the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Assembly in Chicago, being held from November 1 – 5, 2009.

Approximately 80 percent of breast cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment develop acute skin reactions that range in severity. The more severe reactions cause discomfort and distress to the patient, and sometimes result in treatment interruptions. The severity is quite variable among patients and hard to predict.

“Because reactions usually occur from 10 to 14 days with the commencement of therapy, if we could predict skin reactions sooner we may be able to offer preventative treatment to make the most of effectiveness and minimize interruption of radiation treatment,” said Dr. Katherine Griem, professor of radiation oncology at Rush.

Terramed Alliance News : Researchers at Rush and Argonne are studying if three-dimensional thermal tomography (3DTT) can detect the earliest changes that may trigger a skin reaction. 3DTT is a relatively new thermal imaging process that is currently being used as a noninvasive away to detect defects in composite materials. The valuable thought of thermal imaging is to apply heat or cold to a material and observing the resulting temperature change with an infrared camera to learn in this area its composition.

Unlike most thermal imaging studies which have quantitative limitations, 3DTT measures the thermal effusivity of skin tissue. Thermal effusivity is a rate of a material’s skill to exchange heat with its surroundings.

In this study, a flash of light is used to heat up the skin. An infrared camera captures a series of images over time that show the temperature of the skin, represented by colors. An algorithm developed by Argonne is used to calculate the temperature change and determine the thermal effusivity of different areas of the skin.

“How quickly the skin cools is related to the organize underneath. Hurt skin cells have different effusivity values compared to that of healthy skin, said James Chu, PhD, chairperson of the part of medical physics at Rush. “By identifying the earliest changes in hurt tissue, we may be able to predict acute skin toxicities.”

Terramed Alliance News: Preliminary data from the study show that marked decreases in thermal effusivity of irradiated skin occur well in development of the development of high grade skin reactions.

“Our initial data with radiation induced skin changes are quite encouraging,” said Dr. Alan Coon, chief resident of radiation oncology at Rush and primary author on the study. “In addition to finding decreases in effusivity of the treated areas many days before the development of skin reactions, we have also seen that the magnitude of these decreases varies with the grade of the reactions. This exciting result bodes well for the clinical utility of this technique in predicting the severity of a skin reaction before it occurs.”

In addition, researchers note that 3DTT techniques can be used to rate these tissue property changes noninvasively with no interruption of therapy and the technique allowed for swift pointer.

“3DTT may also be used to detect other skin diseases such as skin cancer and rate skin hurt caused by electricity or lightening. Such applications require the determinations of tissue conditions below the skin that is normally not visible but can be leisurely by 3DTT,” said J.G. Sun, a mechanical engineer at Argonne.

Researchers plot to perform bonus studies to confirm the preliminary results and hope to soon commence studying 3DTT in breast cancer patients.

The investigators on the project include Dr. Katherine Griem, James Chu, PhD; Dr. Alan Coon; Damian Bernard, PhD; Riu Yao and Alistair Templeton, all from Rush Academe Medical Center and J.G. Sun from Argonne National Laboratory. Fund: Kim Waterman Rush Academe Medical Center

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Standard adjuvant treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer patients, following primary surgery for their cancer, is Trastuzumab (Herceptin)–typically used in combination with chemotherapy. But, a new study by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center reports that it may be safe to treat these patients with both Trastuzumab and adjuvant radiation therapy.

The study will be presented at the annual assembly of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

“Our study evaluated the skin toxicity and early cardiac toxicity of concurrent Trastuzumab and radiation therapy treatment in the adjuvant setting,” says Penny Anderson, M.D., radiation oncologist at Fox Chase and lead author on the study. “We found that there was an extremely low rate of acute radiation dermatitis and cardiac toxicity in patients who received this type of treatment.”

The study followed 85 breast cancer patients who received adjuvant Trastuzumab while also receiving a course of adjuvant radiation therapy, as well as 85 breast cancer patients who only received adjuvant radiation therapy. Acute dermatitis was grade 2 in 15% and grade 3 in 2% of the patients receiving concurrent treatment, likewise grade 2 and grade 3 dermatitis was observed in 14% and 2 % of patients only receiving radiation therapy–there was only one patient who developed a grade > 2. There were no differences in cardiac toxicity between the two groups.

“The results of this study show that it is safe to use both Trastuzumab and radiation therapy in an adjuvant setting, when clinically indicated,” adds Anderson. “We want to see longer follow-up to evaluate the potential differences in late cardiac toxicity.”  Adapted from materials provided by Fox Chase Cancer Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Terramed Alliance News Nearly half of all breast cancer patients experienced chronic pain two to three years with treatment and more than half felt discomfort, according to a study by Danish researchers in print Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New York Times reports. The study found that women younger than age 40, those who underwent radiation treatment and those who had surgery to remove lymph nodes in the armpit are most likely to experience lingering pain.

In an accompanying editorial, Loretta Loftus, a senior limb of the breast cancer program at the Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, wrote, “This should alert clinicians who are caring for these patients to pay more attention to those who are in the high risk groups for pain” (Caryn Rabin, New York Times, 11/10).

Researchers examined a 2009 survey of 3,253 Danish women who had breast cancer surgery in 2005 and 2006, Reuters reports. Forty-seven percent of the patients reported pain. Surrounded by that group, 13% described the pain as severe, 39% described it as moderate and 48% said it was light. Twenty percent of the women surveyed said they had contacted a physician surrounded by the last three months regarding their pain (Auburn, Reuters, 11/10). Women of all ages who had mastectomies were more likely to have severe pain than light pain. Pain most frequently occurred in the breast that was operated upon, in the chest area where tissue was removed, in the upper arm where lymph nodes were removed or along one side of the body, according to U.S. News & Planet Report’s “On Women.”

“This study isn’t saying to change treatment recommendations based on whether or not a certain treatment is likely to be linked with pain,” Loftus said, adding, “But it’s telling oncologists that they need to be more alert to the incidence of pain,” she said (Kotz, “On Women,” U.S. News & Planet Report, 11/10). The study’s author, Henrik Kehlet of the Academe of Copenhagen, said more research is looked-for to determine why some women experience lingering pain and others do not (Szabo, USA Today, 11/11).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the full Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, in print by The Advisory Board Company.

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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This finding by a team of biologists at Boston Academe is the first to link choline consumption during pregnancy to breast cancer. It also is the first to identify possible choline-related genetic changes that affect breast cancer survival rates.

“We’ve known for a long time that some agents taken by pregnant women, such as diethylstibesterol, have adverse consequences for their daughters,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “But there’s an upside. The emerging science of epigenetics has yielded a breakthrough. For the first time, we’ve learned that we might be able to prevent breast cancer as early as a mother’s pregnancy.”

The researchers made the discovery in rats by studying females whose mothers were fed varying amounts of choline during pregnancy. Different groups of pregnant rats received diets containing standard amounts of choline, no choline at all, or extra choline. Then the researchers treated the female offspring with a chemical that causes cancer of the mammary gland (breast cancer). Although animals in all groups developed mammary cancer, the daughters of mothers that had received extra choline during pregnancy had slow growing tumors while daughters of mothers that had no choline during pregnancy had quick growing tumors.

“Our study provides bonus support for the notion that choline is an valuable nutrient that has to be considered when dietary guidelines are developed,” said Krzysztof Blusztajn, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology at Boston Academe and the study’s senior researcher. “We hope it will be possible to develop nutritional guidelines for pregnant women that ensure the excellent health of their offspring well into ancient age.”

The researchers also found multiple genetic and molecular changes in the rats’ tumors that correlated with survival outcomes. For example, the slow growing tumors in rats had a genetic pattern similar to those seen in breast cancers of women who are considered to have a excellent prognosis. The quick growing tumors in mice had a pattern of genetic changes similar to those seen in women with a more aggressive disease. The researchers also found evidence that these genetic changes may result from the way that choline affects modifications of the DNA surrounded by the mammary gland of fetuses as they develop in the womb.

The National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be more than 184,000 new suitcases of breast cancer in 2008 and more than 40,000 deaths. Treatments for women suffering from breat cancer range from hormone therapy to surgery. Adapted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS. ScienceDaily

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Pregnancy-linked breast cancer (PABC) is defined as breast cancer that develops during or surrounded by one year with pregnancy. It is relatively rare, with approximately 10% of all breast cancer suitcases under age 40 occurring in pregnant women. But, some researchers have speculated that the incidence of PABC may increase as the average age at the time of pregnancy increases.

Some research has indicated that PABC has a worse outcome than other breast cancers; but, this could also be attributable to young age, since most women with PABC tend to be young and breast cancer in young women tends to have a worse prognosis.

Researchers from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center analyzed data from 652 women ages 35 and younger who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1973 and 2006. The group included 104 women with PABC—51 who were diagnosed during their pregnancy and 53 who were diagnosed surrounded by the following year.

The researchers observed that the tumors in the pregnant women were more advanced upon diagnosis; but, this could be because the pregnancy masked symptoms, leading to a delayed diagnosis. The data indicated that the rates of overall survival, distant metastases, and locoregional recurrence were similar among women with PABC and those with non-PABC.

The researchers concluded that pregnancy in and of itself does not predict for worse outcomes in women with breast cancer; but, they stressed the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. This is a complex issue due to the perceived notion of endangering the fetus during treatment. Research will likely be ongoing to evaluate this issue. Breast Cancer Information Center on CancerConsultants.com

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Previous studies have shown that younger breast cancer patients consistently have poorer outcomes than patients who develop the disease later in life, which can translate into lower rates of overall survival. While the reason for this is not known, it is not compulsory that breast cancer in younger patients is more biologically aggressive.

Researchers from the Academe of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston sought to determine which form of breast cancer treatment – breast-conserving therapy, mastectomy lonely or mastectomy with adjuvant radiation – better benefits younger women with any Stage I or Stage II breast cancer.

A total of 652 young women with breast cancer from 1973 to 2006 were considered, with 197 of the patients having received breast-conserving therapy, 237 having received a mastectomy and 234 having received mastectomy with adjuvant radiation. The study authors confirmed that younger breast cancer patients do have relatively high locoregional recurrence rates, but that patients with Stage II disease achieved the best locoregional control rates with mastectomy plus adjuvant radiation therapy. Patients with Stage I disease had similar outcomes with breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy, but adding chemotherapy to any treatment was beneficial.

“Locoregional recurrence with optimal breast cancer treatment in young women remains a significant problem,” Beth Beadle, M.D., Ph.D., a resident at M. D. Anderson and lead author of the study, said. “Our study hopefully will help radiation oncologists plot therapies for younger breast cancer patients, who have inferior outcomes compared to older patients, and generate new interest in prospective studies to evaluate the best treatment strategies for these young women.” American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (2009). Younger Breast Cancer Patients Have Greater Chance Of Recurrence, Especially With Certain Treatments. ScienceDaily.

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States, with approximately 180,000 suitcases diagnosed each year. Researchers continue to evaluate environmental factors, such as diet, that influence the development of breast cancer. Numerous studies have provided a wealth of often-contradictory information in this area the detrimental and shielding factors of different foods. High fruit and vegetable consumption has been linked with a reduced risk for developing at least 10 different cancers. Studies evaluating the influence of diet on breast cancer prognosis have produced inconsistent results.

Researchers from California and Utah assessed a cohort of 1,901 women from the Life With Cancer Epidemiology (LACE) Study who were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer between 1997 and 2000. Upon entering the study, the women completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The researchers used the data from the FFQs to identify two dietary patterns among the women: a prudent diet included high intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and poultry, whereas a Western diet included high intakes of red and processed meats and refined grains. The researchers then evaluated the rates of recurrence, overall death, death from breast cancer, and death from causes other than breast cancer. As of May 2008, there were 268 breast cancer recurrences and 226 deaths, 128 of which were attributed to breast cancer.

With analyzing the data, the researchers found that women who followed the prudent diet had a statistically significant decreased risk of overall death and death from non–breast cancer causes, whereas those who followed the Western diet had an increased risk of overall death and death from non–breast cancer causes. Neither dietary pattern was linked with a risk of breast cancer recurrence or death from breast cancer. Because the prudent diet was linked with a decreased risk of overall death, the researchers concluded that “women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer may benefit from dietary patterns that include healthier foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and poultry and less consumption of red meat and refined foods.” Journal of Clinical Oncology

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

 

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Terra med Alliance News Doctors and experts are in racket over new recommendations to raise the age of breast cancer screening, warning more women will die from the disease which already claims some 40,000 lives each year.

Terra med Alliance News : Doctors and experts are in racket over new recommendations to raise the age of breast cancer screening, warning more women will die from the disease which already claims some 40,000 lives each year.

The high-level United States Preventative Services Task Force of scientists and researchers Monday recommended that breast cancer screening in women should now start at the age of 50 as opposed to 40.

And it further said that women between the ages of 50 to 74 should be screened every two years instead of annually.

“Screening saves lives, and cutting back on screening would cost lives,” said Dr. Timothy Johnson, an oncologist at Holyoke Medical Center in Massachusetts.

“I’m against the proposals to cut back the screening on women between the age of 40 and 50, absolutely,” he told AFP.

Some 210,000 American women are affected by the disease each year, and breast tumors are the most common cancer in women patients at Holyoke.

The task force’s findings came two years with the panel issued a report which looked at the same issue, but did not recommend raising the screening age.

Some wondered whether the recommendations issued Monday were part of a cost-cutting effort as the United States wrestles to reform its health care system, something it wasn’t doing two years ago.

Terra med Alliance News: But if that was the thought, cutting mammograms for younger women was not the way to go, said Dr Christine Pellegrino of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Cancer Care in New York.

“Are they going to not reimburse mammograms for younger women versus potentially having to absorb the case of a woman who presents years later with advanced breast cancer where you’re talking chemotherapy, surgery, more chemo, radiation and a fantastic potential for recurrence?” Pellegrino, who is director of Montefiore-Einstein’s breast clinic, wondered.

“Not only does that have a huge financial cost but also a devastating psychological impact,” said Pellegrino, who was also opposed to hiking the starting age for breast cancer screening.

“If a woman shows up at 50 for her first screening and they find out she has this huge cancer, and you know that if you had screened her a few years earlier you would have found it… whether you’re the patient or the provider, if you have to say, ‘Well, if we had done this two years earlier,’ nobody will recover from that.”

Mammograms currently cost the US public health system, Medicare, between three and five billion dollars a year.

One reason the task force gave for phasing out mammograms for younger women was the higher incidence of fake-positive results in the group. These caused significant stress and led to unnecessary biopsies and treatment.

But cancer survivor Debbie Guardian said a fake-positive was a small price to pay for catching the real thing in time.

“What’s worse? A lot of stress only to find out it was plain ancient calcification or a lot of stress to learn you’ve got breast cancer but it’s treatable because you were screened on time?” Guardian, whose doctors confirmed she had breast cancer days with her 50th birthday last year, told AFP.

“I went every single year (for a mammogram) starting at 40. Had I not gone when I was still 49, I wouldn’t have known I had cancer because it wasn’t huge enough for me to feel, but it was huge enough to be serious,” she said.

“What this esteemed panel of experts is recommending is not wise, to place it politely. Based on personal experience, I wholeheartedly disagree with them,” she said.

Pellegrino said the panel’s recommendations went against years of efforts to raise awareness of breast cancer.

“To start telling women, ‘I know you just turned 40 but we’re not going to do your baseline mammogram’ — the reaction is going to be one of complete gut disbelief like, ‘What do you mean I’m not going to have my mammogram’?”

According to this year’s report, one life is saved for every 1,900 women aged 40-49 screened for breast cancer, compared to one life for every 1,300 in the 50-59 year age group.

“You may have to screen 1,900 women a year to save one life, but that’s part of cancer screening,” said Johnson. “We see a lot of women in their 40s with breast cancer, and by screening younger women, we save lives.”

Terra med Alliance is a non-profit charity establishment dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this convergence and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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