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'Freezing' Secondary Breast Cancer Tumors Shows Promise
Posted 26 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, March 26 – In a small and preliminary study, researchers report that they successfully froze secondary tumors in patients with incurable breast cancer. The findings raise the prospect of a potential new treatment for metastatic tumors in individual patients, although the research is in the very early stages. "This therapy provides a minimal rate of cancer recurrence and no major complications," study co-author Dr. Peter Littrup, director of imaging core and radiology research at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, said in a news release from the Society of Interventional Radiology. The study is scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the society's annual meeting in San Francisco. Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. "This is a preliminary study, and at this point we're hoping that the ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic
'Chemo Brain' May Linger 20 Years After Breast Cancer Treatment
Posted 27 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Feb. 27 – "Chemo brain," the name given to the mental fog and related memory problems that can occur during and after chemotherapy, may last for two decades after breast cancer treatment, new research suggests. In the new study, 196 women with breast cancer who were treated with chemotherapy roughly 21 years earlier performed worse on tests of their memory, processing speed and other thinking ("cognitive") skills when compared to their counterparts who had never been diagnosed with cancer. Participants had all been treated for breast cancer with a chemotherapy combination that included the drugs cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil between 1976 and 1995. This regimen was considered the standard of care for breast cancer worldwide from the 1970s to the 1990s and was received by thousands of women during this time. Women in the study were aged 50 to 80. "To our ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic
Advances in Breast Cancer Care May Not Be Reaching Older Women
Posted 8 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Nov. 8 – New research finds older U.S. women have higher odds of dying from breast cancer than younger women, suggesting that older patients may not be benefiting as much from advances in breast cancer care made over the past three decades. Researchers analyzed U.S. government data from 1980 to 2007. They found that breast cancer death rates were stable throughout the 1980s for women aged 20-64 but rose for women 65 and older. Between 1990 and 2007, the largest decrease in breast cancer death rates occurred in women aged 20-49 (2.4 percent per year), helped by widespread availability of mammography and the use of hormonal therapy and adjuvant chemotherapy, according to the researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. At the same time, the smallest decrease in breast cancer deaths was seen among women aged 75 and older (1.1 percent per year). "Given the ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Breast Cancer -- Adjuvant, Breast Cancer -- Palliative
Less Frequent Mammograms May Lower False-Positive Results
Posted 17 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Oct. 17 – Women who undergo mammograms every two years instead of every year have fewer false-positive results, but the trade-off is a slightly higher risk of being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer, new research finds. "After 10 years, biennial mammograms reduced the risk of false-positives by about one-third and, over a lifetime, that would accumulate," said Rebecca Hubbard, lead author of a study published in the Oct. 18 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine and funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. But the increase in breast cancer diagnoses wasn't statistically significant, she said. And breast cancer stage was only analyzed in women who actually developed cancer. On the other hand, among roughly 170,000 women screened between 1994 and 2006 and followed for a decade, more than half who received annual mammograms were called back at least once because of a ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic
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
Related support groups: Cancer, Methotrexate, Provera, Breast Cancer, Lupron, Accutane, Depo-Provera, Prostate Cancer, Tamoxifen, Femara, Arimidex, Lupron Depot, Medroxyprogesterone, Claravis, Fluorouracil
Reconstruction Safe Right After Mastectomy: Study
Posted 1 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, July 1 – Immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy has a low risk of complications and does not cause unreasonable delays in breast cancer treatment, according to a new study. Mastectomy is partial or complete surgical removal of one or both breasts. Researchers looked at 170 women with advanced breast cancer who had immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy, including 13 women who had reconstruction of both breasts. The reconstructions were mainly done with tissue from the abdominal area, known as TRAM flaps. Fifteen major complications, a rate of 8.8 percent, occurred among the women. These complications caused delays in further cancer treatments involving chemotherapy and/or radiation in eight women, with a maximum delay of three weeks, the researchers said. Recurrent breast cancer was diagnosed in 15 of the women during follow-up, and immediate breast ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Breast Cancer, Prevention
FDA to Hear Appeal on Breast Cancer Drug
Posted 28 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, June 28 – The controversial cancer drug Avastin becomes the focus of U.S. regulators' attention again Tuesday during a two-day hearing to determine if the medication can keep its FDA approval for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Back on Dec. 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended revoking approval of the drug to fight breast cancer, citing the medication's poor performance in follow-up studies and its potential for serious side effects. The drug's maker, Genentech, now owned by the pharmaceutical giant Roche, was given the chance to appeal the FDA recommendation and present additional evidence. That appeal will be the focus of the hearing and, according to published reports, will involve Genentech urging one more clinical trial before any government action on the drug. The FDA's unusual step of scheduling another hearing on the drug underscores the ... Read more
Related support groups: Avastin, Breast Cancer, Metastatic
New Chemo Drug May Benefit Some Breast Cancer Patients
Posted 3 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, March 2 – The new chemotherapy drug eribulin extends the lives of metastatic breast cancer patients who have received extensive treatment, according to a new study. The researchers found that among patients whose cancer had spread, those who took the drug lived a median of 2.5 months longer than those who received a physician-chosen treatment – 13.1 months versus 10.6 months. The study included 508 women who were given eribulin and 254 women who received treatment of the physician's choice, which was defined as: any single-agent chemotherapy, hormonal or biological treatment approved for cancer treatment; radiotherapy; or symptomatic treatment alone. The most common side effects in both groups were fatigue and depletion of white blood cells. Numbness and pain stemming from nerve damage were the most common adverse event connected to eribulin that led women to drop out of ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Metastatic
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
Related support groups: Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Brain Tumor, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma, Pancreatic Cancer, Skin Cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Osteosarcoma, Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer -- Adjuvant
Small Spreads of Breast Cancer May Not Affect Survival
Posted 20 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19 – For decades, doctors have debated about how to best determine whether a patient's breast cancer has spread, especially in the earliest cases of metastases. Now, researchers have compared two approaches – a sentinel lymph node biopsy alone, or the sentinel biopsy combined with axillary dissection, which is a more invasive procedure that can spot hidden, smaller metastases. The finding: As long as the larger metastases (2 millimeters in diameter and up) are found, the outcomes of the two procedures are similar. "What we showed was the significance of these small micrometastases is very small," explained study author Dr. Donald L. Weaver, a professor of pathology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Vermont Cancer Center. The report is published in the Jan. 19 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Weaver and his team randomly assigned ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic
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
Related support groups: Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Brain Tumor, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma, Pancreatic Cancer, Skin Cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Osteosarcoma, Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer -- Adjuvant
FDA Approves Halaven for Late-Stage Breast Cancer
Posted 15 Nov 2010 by Drugs.com
SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Halaven (eribulin mesylate) to treat patients with metastatic breast cancer who have received at least two prior chemotherapy regimens for late-stage disease. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related death among women, according to the National Cancer Institute. This year, an estimated 207,090 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, while 39,840 women will die from the disease. Halaven is a synthetic form of a chemotherapeutically active compound derived from the sea sponge Halichondria okadai. This injectable therapy is a microtubule inhibitor, believed to work by inhibiting cancer cell growth. Before receiving Halaven, patients should have received prior anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy for early or late-stage breast cancer. Halaven's ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic
Demand for Radiation Therapy Predicted to Exceed Supply
Posted 21 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Oct. 21 – Over the next decade, the growth in demand for radiation therapy in the United States will be 10 times greater than the increase in new radiation oncologists, a difference that could affect cancer patients' access to treatment, according to a new study. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of patients requiring radiation therapy will increase 22 percent but the number of full-time radiation oncologists entering the workforce will increase just 2 percent, said researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and colleagues. They based their predictions on projections that this year 3,943 radiation oncologists will treat an estimated 470,000 patients in the United States. The large increase in demand for radiation therapy will be partly due to growing numbers of older adults and minorities, groups in which certain types of cancers are more ... Read more
Related support groups: Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Brain Tumor, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma, Pancreatic Cancer, Skin Cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Osteosarcoma, Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer -- Adjuvant
FDA Approves Herceptin For HER2-Positive Metastatic Stomach Cancer
Posted 20 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 20, 2010 - Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Herceptin (trastuzumab) in combination with chemotherapy (cisplatin plus either capecitabine or 5-fluorouracil [5-FU]) for HER2-positive metastatic (cancer that has spread) cancer of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction, in men and women who have not received prior medicines for their metastatic disease. People diagnosed with metastatic stomach cancer should have the HER2 status of their tumors determined with FDA-approved diagnostic tests, as only people with HER2-positive disease are eligible for treatment with Herceptin plus chemotherapy. "Since Herceptin's approval in HER2-positive advanced breast cancer more than a decade ago, we have continued to study how the HER2 pathway contributes to the growth and ... Read more
Related support groups: Breast Cancer, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Herceptin, Gastric Cancer, Trastuzumab
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
Related support groups: Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Brain Tumor, Breast Cancer, Metastatic, Renal Cell Carcinoma, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Skin Cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Osteosarcoma, Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer -- Adjuvant
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