Breast cancer is the abnormal growth and uncontrolled division of cells in the breast. Cancer cells invade and destroy surrounding normal tissue, and can spread throughout the body via blood or lymph fluid (clear fluid bathing body cells) to start a new cancer in another part of the body.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves new genetic test for patients with breast cancer. – SPOT-Light HER2 CISH kit – a novel genetic test for determining whether patients with breast cancer are good candidates for treatment with the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Weight loss bariatric surgery for morbid obesity also prevents cancer, revealed by McGill/MUHC researchers. – The latest study by Dr. Nicolas Christou of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and McGill University shows that Weight loss bariatric surgery decreases the risk of developing cancer by up to 80 percent.
Maintaining bone density could be a key to decreasing the spread of cancer in women with locally advanced breast cancer. Bones are common sites for the spread, or metastasis, of breast cancer. – Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that women treated for stage II/III breast cancer who also received a bone strengthening drug zoledronic acid were less likely to have breast tumor cells growing in their bones after three months.
Many of the women did not know that symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain, upper abdominal discomfort that seemed like indigestion and unusual fatigue could signal a heart problem. – Many women under age 55 aren’t seeking timely treatment for heart attack because they expect the warning signs and their reaction to follow a Hollywood script – tightening in the chest, shortness of breath, clutching the chest while dropping to one knee.
Two studies find mammograms benefit women up to the age of 75, and that three-yearly screening intervals are best. – Breast cancer screening is effective, appropriate and reduces deaths from the disease in women aged up to 75 years old according to new research in over 860,000 women aged 70-75 presented at the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) in Berlin.
There may be a way to directly create cancer stem cells in the lab so you don?t always have to purify these rare cells from patients in order to study them directly. – With a bit of genetic trickery, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have turned normal skin cells into cancer stem cells, a step that will make these naturally rare cells easier to study.
Within weeks, women suffering from a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer will have access to a new drug on the PBS that will improve quality of life and prolong some lives. – Women suffering from a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer will have access to a new drug lapatinib (Tykerb) on the PBS that will improve quality of life and prolong some lives, reported by Australian Department of Health and Ageing.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for peri- and postmenopausal symptoms increases disease recurrence in breast cancer survivors. – A new study HABITS revealed that breast cancer survivors who took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for peri- and postmenopausal symptoms increases disease recurrence than those who did not take HRT.
Shorter radiotherapy treatments have been used in the UK for many years with promising results but this is the first systematic and reliable evaluation to compare the longer international treatment and the shorter revised UK treatment. – A lower total dose of radiotherapy, delivered in fewer, larger treatments has been shown to be as effective as the international standard of a higher total dose delivered over a longer time to treat women with early breast cancer ? according to new research published in the Lancet and Lancet Oncology today.
Results from this analysis affirm the safety and efficacy of Novartis’ Femara as extended adjuvant therapy (i.e. following the completion of five years of tamoxifen). – Women may reduce the risk of their breast cancer returning by starting treatment with Femara (letrozole) anywhere from one to seven years after finishing tamoxifen therapy, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Cardiac effects associated with breast cancer treatment appear lower with dose-dense delivery of conventional chemotherapy – A new pilot study by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) found that breast cancer patients can be treated safely with a “dose-dense” regimen of standard chemotherapy agents and the antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin), a drug that has previously been shown to cause cardiac toxicity.
Anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin may reduce breast cancer by up to 20 per cent, according to an extensive review carried out by experts at London?s Guy?s Hospital – Anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin may reduce breast cancer by up to 20 per cent, according to an extensive review carried out by experts at London’s Guy’s Hospital and published in the March issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
