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Breast Cancer -- Male Blog

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Men's Breast Cancer Often More Deadly, Study Suggests

Posted 4 May 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, May 4 – Breast cancer in men is much less common than it is in women, but it may be more deadly, new research suggests. "Men with breast cancer don't do as well as women with breast cancer, and there are opportunities to improve that," said study author Dr. Jon Greif, a breast surgeon in San Francisco. "They were less likely to get the standard treatments that women get." Survival rates for men with breast cancer, overall, are lower than those for women, at least when it is diagnosed in the early stages, Greif found. The cancers differ in other respects too. Greif was scheduled to present his findings Friday at the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting in Phoenix. Greif and his team warn, however, that some of the differences they found may not bear out in clinical practice. A big limitation to the research: The database they drew from keeps track of which breast ... Read more

Related support groups: Breast Cancer -- Male

Side Effects May Spur Men to Drop Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer

Posted 16 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 – One in five male breast cancer patients stops taking the drug tamoxifen early due to side effects caused by the medicine and may be at increased risk for cancer recurrence, new research suggests. Tamoxifen is the standard of care for the hormone treatment of male breast cancer patients, according to the authors of a new report published in the Nov. 16 issue of the Annals of Oncology. In the study, researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston examined the records of 64 male breast cancer patients who received tamoxifen for an average of four years and found that 34 of them (53 percent) experienced one or more tamoxifen-related side effects, such as weight gain and loss of sex drive. Thirteen (20.3 percent) of the patients stopped taking tamoxifen due to the side effects. Nine of the patients died after they discontinued tamoxifen ... Read more

Cancer Patients Should Ask Doctors to Use Simple Terms

Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – Cancer patients are often faced with many difficult-to-understand treatment choices that can have serious side effects and even mean the difference between life and death. That's why it's crucial that patients insist doctors use plain language in explaining the options, advised Angela Fagerlin, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a researcher at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center. "People are making life and death decisions that may affect their survival and they need to know what they're getting themselves into. Cancer treatments and tests can be serious. Patients need to know what kind of side effects they might experience as a result of the treatment they undergo," Fagerlin said in a university news release. She and her colleagues outlined a number of tips to help patients get the information they need ... Read more

Fewer Cancer Patients May Be Depressed Than Thought

Posted 20 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Jan. 20 – The rate of depression among cancer patients may be lower than previously believed, a new study indicates. An international team of researchers analyzed 94 studies involving more than 14,000 patients and found that about one-sixth of cancer patients suffer depression and about one-third have a more widely defined mood disorder. Only modest rates of depression and anxiety occurred in cancer patients in the first five years after diagnosis, which suggests that depression is not inevitable in these patients, the researchers said. Only when it was combined with other mood disorders was depression common, occurring in 30 percent of hospitalized cancer patients. The study is published online Jan. 19 in The Lancet Oncology. Rates of depression and anxiety were not significantly different between patients receiving palliative care (care designed to ease pain and increase ... Read more

1 in 5 Cancer Survivors Suffers Chronic Pain, Study Finds

Posted 20 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 – More than 40 percent of cancer survivors experience pain, and the risk is highest among black and female patients, finds a new study. Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System surveyed nearly 200 U.S. cancer survivors and found that 43 percent had experienced pain since their diagnosis, and 20 percent suffered chronic cancer-related pain at least two years later. Among white patients, the most significant source of pain was cancer surgery (53.8 percent), and among black patients the greatest source of pain was cancer treatment (46.2 percent), according to the report. In addition, the study found that compared to men, women had more pain, more pain flare-ups, more disability due to pain and were more depressed because of pain. The authors also noted that black patients were more likely to report greater severity of pain and more pain-related ... Read more

Cancer Patients' Secondary Symptoms Need Attention: Study

Posted 11 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Oct. 11 – Many cancer patients with pain or depression also experience physical symptoms, such as fatigue, dry mouth and nausea, that can cause disability, a new study shows. Doctors need to recognize and treat these symptoms in order to improve quality of life for cancer patients, said Dr. Kurt Kroenke, of the Richard Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indiana University, and Regenstrief Institute Inc. in Indianapolis, and colleagues. They analyzed data from 405 cancer patients who had either pain or depression and found that all the patients had at least one of 22 physical symptoms examined in the study. More than half of patients reported 15 of the 22 symptoms. The most common symptoms were fatigue (97.5 percent), difficulty sleeping (about 79 percent), pain in limbs or joints (78 percent), back pain (nearly 75 percent) and memory problems (72 percent). The patients also reported ... Read more

Many Docs Deliver Cancer Diagnosis Badly: Study

Posted 7 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, July 7 – One patient found out he had cancer by reading his radiology report. Another got the news when her neurologist called to say he had arranged for her to see a neurosurgeon. When she asked why, the doctor told her she had a brain tumor and hung up. A third learned she had breast cancer listening to her answering machine with her grandson sitting on her lap. A new study about how people learn of cancer diagnoses finds that many doctors have poor communication skills and often leave patients stranded with devastating information about a deadly illness, sometimes in a public setting. One-third of the cancer patients in the U.S. National Cancer Institute study recalled being told on the phone, in an emergency room, radiology department or other public hospital setting that they had cancer, most often leukemia, lymphoma or brain tumors. "It's really dismaying to think that ... Read more

Breast Cancer Gene May Raise Men's Risk, Too

Posted 6 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, July 6 – A faulty gene that greatly increases a woman's risk of breast cancer also boosts a man's risk for the disease, a new study finds. While most people think of breast cancer as a woman's illness, in rare cases men can develop breast tumors as well. The new study found that men with a faulty BRCA2 gene, long tied to female breast tumors, have a one in 12 chance of developing breast cancer before they're 80. British researchers analyzed data from 321 families with a faulty BRCA2 gene. They found that 20 men in the families had developed breast cancer between the ages of 29 and 79. Of the 905 first-degree male relatives (parent or sibling) of known BRCA2 carriers, 16 men (2 percent) had developed the disease. Eight other cases of breast cancer occurred in second-degree male relatives, two of whom were also BRCA carriers. Based on this data, the researchers calculated that ... Read more

Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prevention, Breast Cancer -- Male

Cost-Conscious Cancer Survivors Skip Care

Posted 14 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 14 – Millions of Americans with a history of cancer, particularly people under age 65, are delaying or skimping on medical care because of worries about the cost of treatment, a new study suggests. The finding raises troubling questions about the long-term survival and quality of life of the 12 million adults in the United States whose lives have been forever changed by a diagnosis of cancer. "I think it's concerning because we recognize that cancer survivors have many medical needs that persist for years after their diagnosis and treatment," said study lead author Kathryn E. Weaver, an assistant professor in the Department of Social Sciences & Health Policy at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. The report was published online June 14 in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society. Cost concerns have posed a threat to cancer ... Read more

Pain Relief Often Delayed for Cancer Patients

Posted 16 Mar 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 16 – Palliative care services, which help people who are seriously ill relieve symptoms such as pain, are now found at most U.S. cancer centers, but many programs don't interact with patients until it's too late, study findings show. Dr. David Hui, of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and his colleagues surveyed 71 U.S. National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers and randomly surveyed 71 other cancer centers. They received responses from 71 percent of 142 executives and 82 percent of 120 program leaders. The researchers also found that the NCI cancer centers were more likely to have palliative care programs and physicians. A report on the survey was published in the March 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Palliative care outpatient clinics, inpatient consultation teams, palliative care units and hospices ... Read more

U.S. Cancer Cases, Deaths Continue to Drop

Posted 8 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Dec. 7 – Better screening, healthier living and new treatments have all continued to help cut the annual number of cancer cases and deaths in the United States, a new report says. The findings showed that new cancer cases and deaths from cancer have declined significantly for both men and women and for most racial/ethnic populations. These decreases were largely due to decreased incidence and death from lung, prostate and colon cancer among men and a drop in two of the three leading cancers in women (breast and colon cancers). New diagnoses for all types of cancer in the United States declined almost 1 percent per year from 1999 to 2006 and cancer deaths dropped 1.6 percent per year from 2001 to 2006. The report, which appears in the Dec. 7 online edition of Cancer, was compiled from data by the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ... Read more

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