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Health News:Breast Cancer

No Immediate Changes Expected in Mammogram Coverage

November 20, 2009

FRIDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) — Women can rest assured, at least for now, that their health plan will continue to pay for an annual mammogram beginning at age 40.

A firestorm set off this week by a federal task force recommendation against “routine screening” of women under 50 is not likely to spur hasty changes in coverage policies, experts say.

“We’re not hearing that coverage is going to change. We’re hearing that coverage will continue pretty much as it has been,” said Susan Pisano, vice president of communications for America’s Health Insurance Plans in Washington, D.C. Read More

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Task Force Member Defends Mammography Guidelines

November 19, 2009

THURSDAY, Nov. 19 (HealthDay News) — Responding to the uproar over revised mammogram recommendations unveiled earlier this week, a member of the independent task force that crafted the recommendations defended them Thursday, saying they were based on the most current, accurate information available.

Dr. Timothy Wilt, a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, defended the recommendation that most women don’t need to get mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at age 50. That recommendation runs counter to the American Cancer Society’s long-held stance that women should get a yearly mammogram starting at age 40. Read More

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Mammography: What to Do Now?

November 18, 2009

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 18 (HealthDay News) — When a U.S. government task force recommended that women wait until they’re 50 to get their first mammogram to check for breast cancer, reaction was swift.

Critics such as the American Cancer Society vowed to stand by its advice that annual screening begin at age 40 for women of average risk. The American College of Radiology agreed.

But what will doctors who see female patients day after day suggest they do? Read More

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Gene Linked to Breast Cancer Might Boost Heart Health

November 16, 2009

SUNDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) — The over-activity of a gene known to boost a woman’s risk for breast cancer may have a good side, making arteries healthier, a new study suggests.

The study, performed in mice, also found that when this gene, called BRCA1, is turned off, it promotes an inflammation that can lead to atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.

Although there has been no previous observation of increased cardiovascular death specifically in the large number of people who carry the BRCA1 mutation, there has been a surprising suggestion of higher non-cancer death in this population, noted study senior author Dr. Subodh Verma, who was to present the results Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla. Read More

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Lab Study Slows Breast Cancer Spread to Bone in Mice

November 13, 2009

THURSDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) — An experimental drug reduced the spread of breast cancer into bone in mice, researchers say.

The drug — Y27632 — inhibits a protein called Rho-associated kinase (ROCK), which is over-produced in metastatic breast cancer. Inhibiting ROCK in the earliest stages of breast cancer reduced overall frequency of cancer spread (metastasis) by 36 percent and decreased metastatic tumor mass in bone by 77 percent, the researchers found.

The findings suggest that ROCK may prove to be a good target for new drug treatments to reduce the spread of breast cancer. Read More

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Less HRT, Fewer Cases of Possible Breast Cancer Precursor

November 13, 2009

THURSDAY, Nov. 12 (HealthDay News) — Declining use of hormone replacement therapy may be driving down rates of a condition called “atypical ductal hyperplasia,” a known risk factor for breast cancer, new research suggests.

This is the first time a link has been found between atypical ductal hyperplasia — abnormal cells in the breast’s milk ducts — and hormone therapy, said Diana Miglioretti, senior author of a paper published in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Read More

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Dense Breasts Raise Risk of Cancer Recurrence

November 9, 2009

MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) — After a lumpectomy, women with very dense breasts have a higher risk of cancer recurrence in the affected breast, a new study shows.

Breast density has already been linked with an increased risk of developing breast cancer, and experts have suspected that very dense breasts may also be associated with an increased risk of cancer recurrence at the site of the original cancer after lumpectomy.

The Canadian study, which involved a 10-year follow-up and is published online Nov. 9 and in the Dec. 15 print issue of Cancer, suggests those suspicions are correct. Read More

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Breast Cancer Drugs May Fight Cervical Cancer, Too

November 9, 2009

MONDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) — Two drugs used to treat breast cancer and osteoporosis eliminated cervical cancer in mice, according to a new study.

The drugs also cleared precancerous growths in the cervix and vagina, and prevented the onset of cancer in mice with precancerous lesions.

The breast cancer drug fulvestrant and the breast cancer/osteoporosis drug raloxifene were given to mice genetically engineered to carry human papillomavirus (HPV) 16, which is strongly associated with cervical cancer. Both drugs prevent estrogen from working in cells. Fulvestrant is marketed for women as Faslodex, and raloxifene is marketed as Evista. Read More

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Shorter, More Intense Radiation OK for Some Breast Cancers

November 4, 2009

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 4 (HealthDay News) — A shorter, more intense course of whole-breast radiation works as well as the traditional six-week course, at least for some early-stage breast cancers, a new study shows.

“This concept of a shorter length of treatment is gaining acceptance,” said Dr. Manjeet Chadha, associate chair of radiation oncology at Beth Israel Medical Center and associate professor of radiation oncology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, both in New York City. Chadha led the study and is scheduled to present the results Wednesday at the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting, in Chicago. Read More

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Drug Could Help Treat Small HER2-Positive Breast Tumors

November 3, 2009

TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) — Women with a relatively uncommon type of breast cancer are significantly more likely to face its recurrence and spread, but researchers now say these women may benefit from treatment with the breast cancer drug Herceptin.

Two studies, from the United States and Italy, examined cases of women with small (1 centimeter or less in diameter) HER2-positive breast cancers that hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes. The researchers found that the cancer is more than two times more likely to recur in HER2-positive women than in women with HER2-negative breast cancers.

The U.S. study, which looked at 965 women diagnosed between 1990 and 2002, also found that HER2-positive women had a more than fivefold higher risk of metastasis, in which the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, once the cancer returns than those with HER2-negative tumors.

The researchers estimate that only one in four breast cancers are HER2-positive. The new research, published in the Nov. 2 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, looked at those with small tumors.

Currently, the guidelines don’t suggest that women with such small tumors receive treatment with the drug trastuzumab (Herceptin). However, the authors of the new studies recommend that the drug be considered for them.

“We expected the risk of recurrence and metastasis in HER2-positive node-negative patients with small tumors to be higher than in women with HER2-negative tumors, but we didn’t expect the magnitude of this [increased] risk to be so high,” Dr. Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo, an associate professor in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and lead author of the U.S. study, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher. “This elevated risk is unacceptable, and indicates that women with small HER2-positive node-negative breast tumors should be offered participation in clinical trials assessing anti-HER2 therapies, such as trastuzumab [Herceptin], or other adjuvant treatment.”

More information

Learn more about breast cancer from the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

— Randy Dotinga

SOURCE: American Society of Clinical Oncology, news release, Nov. 2, 2009

Last Updated: Nov. 03, 2009

Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Related Links:

Breast Cancer Myths
Breast Cancer Quiz
Do You Have Breast Cancer in Your Family?
Life After Breast Cancer

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