Breast Cancer
Breast implants have been under fire recently — there are numerous reports of leaks and “silent” ruptures leading to breast implant illness and even lymphoma, a cancer that affects the immune system. The FDA called a meeting of the GPSD Committee (General and Plastic Surgery Devices) recently to discuss and…
An FDA advisory panel is calling on the agency to provide women with more information on the potential risks associated with breast implants prior to surgery. The panel, which heard from women who had been harmed by the implants, said a consent form should be reviewed by patients and their…
Women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer and who face a low risk of suffering adverse events should be given a drug such as tamoxifen, according to a recently released recommendation. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) says that women at low breast cancer risk should…
Breast cancer patients met with the FDA in April to talk about living with this disease and to describe how treatments have changed their lives. While the women have survived breast cancer, some for 20 years after their diagnosis, they are tolerating unanticipated and unwanted changes to their bodies and…
Acupuncture is effective in relieving joint pain, a common side effect seen in a class of drugs used to treat breast cancer, according to a new study. Musculoskeletal symptoms are the most common adverse effects of aromatase inhibitors and can be so severe that they cause some women to stop…
Many women with early-stage breast cancer can safely avoid chemotherapy as part of their treatment, according to a major study. More than 10,000 women within the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, underwent a gene test known as the Oncotype DX Breast Cancer Assay, performed on biopsy…
Six in 7 women shun a medication that may reduce their risk of breast cancer because some do not trust the drug, while others fear the side effects associated with it, according to a study funded by Cancer Research UK. In 2013, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care…
Some breast cancer treatments may increase your risk of heart disease, according to a scientific statementissued by the American Heart Association. The group is suggesting that breast cancer patients and their doctors discuss the benefits and potential harms associated with specific breast cancer treatments before moving forward with the therapy….
Women taking birth control have a slightly increased risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The risk increased with the duration of use, but still remained small. In a nationwide prospective cohort study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen examined…
Advanced breast cancer patients who are treated with a combination of drugs that target specific cancer molecules are at increased risk of suffering side effects. Researchers examined data from 16 randomized clinical trials that included more than 8,500 patients with advanced hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. The team analyzed hormonal therapies…
Every morning, I swallow a little white pill in the hope that it will keep me from losing my breasts — or my life — to the disease that’s already taken so much from so many women in my family. The drug is tamoxifen, a selective estrogen receptor modulator that…
A new class of oral drugs for treating the most common type of breast cancer, known as cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors, appears to have fewer adverse events and side effects for most patients compared to other treatments. There are 2 CDK inhibitors currently on the market: Ibrance (palbociclib), approved in…
Many women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer are not taking the drug tamoxifen – which has been shown to reduce that risk – because they mistake symptoms of early menopause for side effects of the drug. A study that has been ongoing since 1992, the International…
Still tired, sleepless and depressed a year after cancer treatment has ended? Here’s an effective, cheap, self-administered technique to feel better. Many women survive breast cancer only to find that even a year after treatment ends, exhaustion is so great that it interferes with their life. While common, is it…
While the chemotherapy drug tamoxifen has long been associated with a risk of fatal cardiovascular events, a recent study shows that a newer class of breast cancer drugs has the same level of risk. However, aromatase inhibitors also have an increased risk of less severe cardiovascular complications compared to tamoxifen….
Growing heart muscle cells from human stem cells can help determine whether cancer patients taking the chemotherapy agent doxorubicin are at risk of developing heart damage, a severe side effect associated with the drug. Scientists at Stanford University say that new researchconducted using heart muscle cells derived from women with…
According to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania, two-thirds of women who have lumpectomies for breast cancer are receiving radiation treatment that lasts nearly twice as long as necessary. The conventional, longer treatment lasts 5 to 7 weeks. But 4 rigorous studies and guidelines from a leading radiology…
Breast cancer occurs when malignant tumors develop in the breast, often in the lobules (the milk-producing glands) or in the ducts (the passages that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple). As cancer cells reproduce, they can invade the lymph nodes and blood vessels near the original tumor and…
Here are ideas that made me put down my coffee and pay attention: Avoid taking any drug that has been on the market for less than 3 years. Why? Some drugs have significant side effects that don’t become apparent until a large group of people have taken it under real-life circumstances….
Mammograms save lives, don’t they? A great debate is raging around the accepted policy that mammograms provide early detection of breast cancer and that early detection saves lives. The latest uproar is about a 25-year Canadian study published in the British Medical Journal comparing death rates from breast cancer between two…
A dear friend entrusted me with the secret that she has been diagnosed with an early stage breast cancer. She has decided not to follow her doctors’ recommendations. After her lumpectomy, she will refuse radiation and chemo. While I don’t agree with her decision to not share the information with…
Bad news, chemo brain exists. Good news, it only affects about 1 in 5 on chemo. More specifically, 1 in 4 had memory problems, 1 in 5 had problems with higher cognition questions. Women who had both chemo and radiation were more likely to have more severe memory and higher-level…
