By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) — Oncologists and even some breast cancer support groups are endorsing a U.S. health advisory panel’s recommendation that the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin be removed for use in metastatic breast cancer.
The reason: There’s still a lack of understanding of how the drug works or who it helps.
FRIDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) — 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.
THURSDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) — Women diagnosed with breast cancer who also suffer from other health problems have higher death rates than women who just have breast cancer, according to researchers.
Even compared with women with more advanced breast cancer but no chronic illness, those who had conditions such as heart disease, ulcers or diabetes still had a similar or lower survival rate, the study authors reported in the June 30 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) — The blockbuster cancer drug Avastin got soundly rejected late Wednesday as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer by a U.S. health advisory panel that found the medication was not effective and causes dangerous side effects.
By unanimous vote, the panelists rejected the drug maker’s appeal of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendation last December to revoke Avastin’s approval for breast cancer. The FDA recommendation cited the medication’s poor performance in follow-up studies and its potential for serious side effects.
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) — Mammography screening reduces breast cancer deaths even more than most experts have long believed, according to a new, large-scale Swedish trial.
In a study with a follow-up of nearly three decades — the longest ever — the researchers found that the benefits of the screenings become clearer as the decades roll on.
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) — 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.
MONDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) — Even though radiation after mastectomy for advanced breast cancer has been proven to save lives and multiple guidelines call for it, nearly half of these patients don’t receive it, researchers say.
Between 1999 and 2005, only 55 percent of older high-risk breast cancer patients who should have undergone radiation therapy actually received it, according to the study that appears online June 27 in the journal Cancer.
FRIDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) — Lifestyle changes such as losing weight, drinking less alcohol and getting more exercise could lead to a substantial reduction in breast cancer cases across an entire population, according to a new model that estimates the impact of these modifiable risk factors.
Although such models are often used to estimate breast cancer risk, they are usually based on things that women can’t change, such as a family history of breast cancer. Up to now, there have been few models based on ways women could reduce their risk through changes in their lifestyle.
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to common chemicals during critical periods of breast development may affect breast growth, the ability to breast-feed and breast cancer risk, a new report contends.
Some of these chemicals are found in ordinary household products such as certain types of plastic water bottles, canned foods and laundry detergents, the researchers noted.
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) — Exposure to common chemicals during critical periods of breast development may affect breast growth, the ability to breast-feed and breast cancer risk, a new report contends.
Some of these chemicals are found in ordinary household products such as certain types of plastic water bottles, canned foods and laundry detergents, the researchers noted.
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