Latest News in Breast Cancer: Detection and Treatment

June 27, 2012 By admin

A number of recent studies have revealed exciting news in both the detection and treatment of breast cancer. Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer when it comes to cancer deaths among women in the U.S. As we learn more about breast cancer, we are able to develop methods of reducing the incidence of it, which can help protect scores of women from this deadly disease.

In the area of breast cancer detection, two new developments can help in the area of early detection. Breast cancer early detection can make all the difference in a patient’s outcome; when breast cancer is caught at the localized stage, the five-year survival rate is 98%. Part of early detection is knowing whether you have an increased risk for breast cancer. For this reason, a number of women are opting for genetic testing to see whether they carry the markers for increased breast cancer risk. However, at this time, direct to consumer DNA tests are, for many people, prohibitively expensive, costing between $100 and $1500. Researchers at Johns Hopkins performed a focus group to find out what women were looking for in direct to consumer tests. Results revealed that women would be willing to buy tests that ranged in price from $10 to $20, and that they would be willing to test their children for increased risk of the disease. These findings can be used to make direct to consumer genetic testing more easily available.

In other detection news, with the successful completion of the mapping of the human genome, researchers are now focusing on proteins. By studying protein microarrays, doctors feel that they will be better able to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages. Until recently, this was a dauntingly time consuming process because of the need to isolate proteins. However, a new technique which does not require that the proteins be purified can speed up the process, allowing doctors to learn more quickly. Accuracy of the program is high; in a recent study where 28 antigens were identified, doctors were able to identify cancer with 80 to 100 percent accuracy.

In the area of treatment, a recent clinical trial on a cancer vaccine has had promising results. When women who had had cancer before were given the vaccine, their rate of recurrence dropped to around 10%, down from 18% without the vaccine over a period of 22 months. This represents a 43% drop in reoccurrence. Short term side effects of the vaccine were minimal, and included flu-like symptoms, redness at the injection area and bone pain. The vaccine works by teaching the body to recognize HER2, the oncoprotein that promotes tumor growth, as an invader.

Filed Under: Cancer News

Guidelines for Nutrition and Physical Activity for Cancer Prevention

October 11, 2011 By admin

The American Cancer Society recently added guidelines for nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention in the 2011-2012 Breast Cancer Factbook. These guidelines are meant to complement the guidelines for early detection, allowing women to take control over their health.

Maintain a healthy weight throughout life.

  • Balance calorie intake with physical activity.
  • Avoid excessive weight gain throughout life.
  • Achieve and maintain a healthy weight if currently overweight or obese.

Adopt a physically active lifestyle.

  • Adults should engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, above usual activities, on 5 or more days of the week; 45 to 60 minutes of intentional physical activity is preferable.
  • Children and adolescents should engage in at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity at least 5 days per week.

Eat a healthy diet, with an emphasis on plant sources.

  • Choose foods and drinks in amounts that help achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
  • Eat 5 or more servings of a variety of vegetables and fruits each day.
  • Choose whole grains over processed (refined) grains.
  • Limit intake of processed and red meats.

If you drink alcoholic beverages, limit your intake.

  • Women should drink no more than 1 drink per day (or 2 per day for men).
Filed Under: Cancer News, Prevention

Women who eat lots of fiber have less breast cancer

July 29, 2011 By admin

(By Eric Schultz, Reuters Health) – A fresh look at the medical evidence shows women who eat more fiber are less likely to get breast cancer.

Chinese researchers found those who ate the most of the healthy plant components were 11 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than women who ate the least.

Their findings don’t prove fiber itself lowers cancer risk, however, because women who consume a lot of it might be healthier overall than those who don’t.

The results “can identify associations but cannot tell us what will happen if people change their behavior,” said John Pierce, a cancer research at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the work.

While earlier research has yielded mixed conclusions on the link between cancer and fiber, it would make scientific sense: According to the Chinese researchers, people who eat high-fiber diets have lower levels of estrogen, which is a risk factor for breast tumors.

So to get more clarity, the researchers combined 10 earlier studies that looked at women’s diets and followed them over seven to 18 years to see who developed cancer.

Of more than 710,000 women, 2.4 percent ended up with breast cancer. And those in the top fifth of fiber intake were 11 percent less likely to do so than women in the bottom fifth.

That was after accounting for differences in risk factors like alcohol drinking, weight, hormone replacement therapy and family members with the disease.

Still, it’s impossible to rule out that big fiber eaters had healthier habits overall that would cut their risk, Jia-Yi Dong of Soochow University in Suzhou and his colleagues write in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

And the potential effect was “very small,” Dr. Eleni Linos of Stanford University, who wasn’t involved in the research, told Reuters Health in an email.

About one in eight American women get breast cancer at some point, with less than a quarter of them dying from it.

Although the connection between breast cancer risk and fiber is a small one, fiber is “something that we know is healthy for you anyway,” said Christina Clarke, a research scientist at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California in Fremont.

Known benefits of a high-fiber diet include lower cholesterol and weight loss. If it turns out to cut cancer risk as well, that would be an extra bonus, Clarke said.

Fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains are all high in fiber.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines, most Americans don’t get enough fiber. The guidelines recommend that women eat 25 grams of fiber per day and men eat 38 grams, while the average Americans gets just 15 grams a day.

“Increasing dietary fiber intake in the general public is of great public health significance,” the Chinese team concludes.

SOURCE: bit.ly/qKtsU2 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online July 20, 2011.

Filed Under: Cancer News

Expert Panel Issues Lymphedema White Paper: Calls for Early Detection and Intervention to Reduce Lymphedema Progression

July 28, 2011 By admin

Avon Foundation for Women-sponsored white paper reports latest lymphedema clinical advances that could benefit many of the 2.3 million U.S. breast cancer survivors 

New York City, July 27, 2011 –

An expert panel issued a white paper examining new evidence that shows early detection and intervention hold the greatest promise for reducing breast cancer-related lymphedema, which affects up to one-third of the 180,000 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients annually and 2.3 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. The Avon Foundation for Women, in partnership with the Lymphatic Research Foundation and the National Lymphedema Network, convened a group of leading scientists, clinicians and advocates in April 2011 to discuss recent advances in the early detection and early intervention of upper extremity lymphedema. The expert panel produced several recommendations, which are shared in a white paper released today, Recent Advances in Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema Detection and Treatment.

Breast cancer-related lymphedema is a chronic, debilitating disorder that may occur following surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy that causes limb swelling and chronic inflammation. According to the white paper, monitoring for lymphedema onset in breast cancer patients is essential—and medically necessary—and should include capturing baseline arm volume measurements prior to treatment and follow-up measurements at regular intervals once breast cancer treatment is completed.  By the time lymphedema is visually detectable, it has already progressed to advanced stages. Regular surveillance, using tools such as perometry or bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), in the years following breast cancer treatment can reduce the development of irreversible lymphedema and improve quality of life.

“Lymphedema can have devastating physical and emotional consequences for breast cancer survivors,” said Marc Hurlbert, executive director of the Avon Foundation for Women Breast Cancer Crusade. “The expert panel’s recommendations for lymphedema care can dramatically change the lives of breast cancer patients. Early detection of lymphedema can identify sub-clinical lymphedema at a time when simple, cost-effective interventions can be used to prevent it from evolving into advanced stages of lymphedema and reduce the condition’s severity.”

The white paper recommends that breast cancer survivors be closely monitored for the development of lymphedema and learn how to reduce their risk of developing the disorder, such as by recognizing the physical triggers (e.g. cuts or burns on the fingers) that may transform the disease from latent to active and by maintaining meticulous skin care hygiene and a healthy body weight. Recent studies in weight lifting, exercise and weight loss also have demonstrated a benefit in preventing lymphedema: stretching, aerobics and arm and leg weight lifting resulted in fewer flare-ups among patients with lymphedema and reduced the chance of developing the condition among at-risk patients by 70%. 

“The Lymphatic Research Foundation (LRF) and our National Lymphatic Disease and Lymphedema Registry (NLDLR) were pleased to partner with the Avon Foundation for Women in co-sponsoring this important conference,” said Jacqueline Reinhard, executive director of the Lymphatic Research Foundation.  “Publication of the resulting White Paper – Recent Advances in Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema Detection and Treatment – provides a much-needed resource for the many patients living with lymphedema, as well as the researchers and treatment professionals involved in this field.”

At the Avon Foundation symposium, the National Lymphedema Network (NLN) also shared its recent position paper on lymphedema screening and treatment. The NLN’s position paper recommends all breast cancer patients receive pre- and post-treatment measurements on both arms, as well as consistent measurements throughout their treatment, and use bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) or infrared perometry as alternatives to a tape measure. These precautions have proven to reduce the occurrence of false negative and false positive results which could be obtained by using a tape measure.

For more information about lymphedema or to download Recent Advances in Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema Detection and Treatment or the National Lymphedema Network’s recent white paper, please visit www.avonfoundation.org/programs-and-events/lymphedema-information.html.

Filed Under: Cancer News, Early Detection

FDA: Breast thermography not a substitute for mammography

June 7, 2011 By admin

(This information was released on June 2 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The original release can be found here.)

Telethermographic, ‘infrared’ devices not approved for primary cancer screening

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration h aswarned women not to substitute breast thermography for mammography to screen for breast cancer.

Unlike mammography, in which an X-ray of the breast is taken, thermography produces an infrared image that shows the patterns of heat and blood flow on or near the surface of the body. Some health care providers claim thermography is superior to mammography as a screening method for breast cancer because it does not require radiation exposure or breast compression.

However, the FDA is unaware of any valid scientific evidence showing that thermography, when used alone, is effective in screening for breast cancer. To date, the FDA has not approved a thermography device (also referred to as a telethermographic device) for use as a stand-alone to screen or diagnose breast cancer. The FDA has cleared thermography devices for use only as an additional diagnostic tool for breast cancer screening and diagnosis. Therefore, FDA says, thermography devices should not be used as a stand-alone method for breast cancer screening or diagnosis.

“Mammography is still the most effective screening method for detecting breast cancer in its early, most treatable stages,” said Helen Barr, M.D., director of the Division of Mammography Quality and Radiation Programs in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Women should not rely solely on thermography for the screening or diagnosis of breast cancer.”

The FDA has issued warning letters to some health care providers who have been promoting the inappropriate use of breast thermography. The letters instructed the providers to cease making claims that thermography devices, when used alone, are an effective means of detecting breast cancer. Claims have, for instance, appeared on some providers’ websites.

The FDA encourages women to:

• Have regular mammograms according to screening guidelines or as recommended by their health care provider;
• Follow their health care provider’s recommendations for additional breast diagnostic procedures, such as various mammographic views, clinical breast exam, breast ultrasound, MRI or biopsy; additional procedures could include thermography;
• Remember that thermography is not a substitute for mammography and should not be used by itself for breast cancer screening or diagnosis.

“While there is plenty of evidence that mammography is effective in breast cancer detection, there is simply no evidence that thermography can take its place,” said Barr.

Filed Under: Cancer News