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Previous studies have shown that younger breast cancer patients consistently have poorer outcomes than patients who develop the disease later in life, which can translate into lower rates of overall survival. While the reason for this is not known, it is suggested that breast cancer in younger patients is more biologically aggressive.

Researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston sought to determine which form of breast cancer treatment – breast-conserving therapy, mastectomy alone or mastectomy with adjuvant radiation – better benefits younger women with either Stage I or Stage II breast cancer.

A total of 652 young women with breast cancer from 1973 to 2006 were studied, with 197 of the patients having received breast-conserving therapy, 237 having received a mastectomy and 234 having received mastectomy with adjuvant radiation. The study authors confirmed that younger breast cancer patients do have relatively high locoregional recurrence rates, but that patients with Stage II disease achieved the best locoregional control rates with mastectomy plus adjuvant radiation therapy. Patients with Stage I disease had similar outcomes with breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy, but adding chemotherapy to either treatment was beneficial.

“Locoregional recurrence after optimal breast cancer treatment in young women remains a significant problem,” Beth Beadle, M.D., Ph.D., a resident at M. D. Anderson and lead author of the study, said. “Our study hopefully will help radiation oncologists plan therapies for younger breast cancer patients, who have inferior outcomes compared to older patients, and generate new interest in prospective studies to evaluate the best treatment strategies for these young women.” American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (2009). Younger Breast Cancer Patients Have Greater Chance Of Recurrence, Especially After Certain Treatments. ScienceDaily.

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity organization dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this community and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States, with approximately 180,000 cases diagnosed each year. Researchers continue to evaluate environmental factors, such as diet, that influence the development of breast cancer. Numerous studies have provided a wealth of often-contradictory information about the detrimental and protective factors of different foods. High fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with a reduced risk for developing at least 10 different cancers. Studies evaluating the influence of diet on breast cancer prognosis have produced inconsistent results.

Researchers from California and Utah assessed a cohort of 1,901 women from the Life After Cancer Epidemiology (LACE) Study who were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer between 1997 and 2000. Upon entering the study, the women completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The researchers used the data from the FFQs to identify two dietary patterns among the women: a prudent diet included high intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and poultry, whereas a Western diet included high intakes of red and processed meats and refined grains. The researchers then evaluated the rates of recurrence, overall death, death from breast cancer, and death from causes other than breast cancer. As of May 2008, there were 268 breast cancer recurrences and 226 deaths, 128 of which were attributed to breast cancer.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that women who followed the prudent diet had a statistically significant decreased risk of overall death and death from non–breast cancer causes, whereas those who followed the Western diet had an increased risk of overall death and death from non–breast cancer causes. Neither dietary pattern was associated with a risk of breast cancer recurrence or death from breast cancer. Because the prudent diet was associated with a decreased risk of overall death, the researchers concluded that “women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer may benefit from dietary patterns that include healthier foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and poultry and less consumption of red meat and refined foods.” Journal of Clinical Oncology

Terramed Alliance is a non-profit charity organization dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this community and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

 

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Terra med Alliance News Doctors and experts are in uproar over new recommendations to raise the age of breast cancer screening, warning more women will die from the disease which already claims some 40,000 lives each year.Terra med Alliance News : Doctors and experts are in uproar over new recommendations to raise the age of breast cancer screening, warning more women will die from the disease which already claims some 40,000 lives each year.

The high-level United States Preventative Services Task Force of scientists and researchers Monday recommended that breast cancer screening in women should now start at the age of 50 as opposed to 40.

And it further said that women between the ages of 50 to 74 should be screened every two years instead of annually.

“Screening saves lives, and cutting back on screening would cost lives,” said Dr. Timothy Johnson, an oncologist at Holyoke Medical Center in Massachusetts.

“I’m against the proposals to cut back the screening on women between the age of 40 and 50, absolutely,” he told AFP.

Some 210,000 American women are affected by the disease each year, and breast tumors are the most common cancer in women patients at Holyoke.

The task force’s findings came two years after the panel issued a report which looked at the same issue, but did not recommend raising the screening age.

Some wondered whether the recommendations issued Monday were part of a cost-cutting effort as the United States wrestles to reform its health care system, something it wasn’t doing two years ago.

Terra med Alliance News: But if that was the idea, cutting mammograms for younger women was not the way to go, said Dr Christine Pellegrino of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Cancer Care in New York.

“Are they going to not reimburse mammograms for younger women versus potentially having to absorb the case of a woman who presents years later with advanced breast cancer where you’re talking chemotherapy, surgery, more chemo, radiation and a great potential for recurrence?” Pellegrino, who is director of Montefiore-Einstein’s breast clinic, wondered.

“Not only does that have a huge financial cost but also a devastating psychological impact,” said Pellegrino, who was also opposed to hiking the starting age for breast cancer screening.

“If a woman shows up at 50 for her first screening and they find out she has this big cancer, and you know that if you had screened her a few years earlier you would have found it… whether you’re the patient or the provider, if you have to say, ‘Well, if we had done this two years earlier,’ nobody will recover from that.”

Mammograms currently cost the US public health system, Medicare, between three and five billion dollars a year.

One reason the task force gave for phasing out mammograms for younger women was the higher incidence of false-positive results in the group. These caused significant stress and led to unnecessary biopsies and treatment.

But cancer survivor Debbie Guardian said a false-positive was a small price to pay for catching the real thing in time.

“What’s worse? A lot of stress only to find out it was plain old calcification or a lot of stress to discover you’ve got breast cancer but it’s treatable because you were screened on time?” Guardian, whose doctors confirmed she had breast cancer days after her 50th birthday last year, told AFP.

“I went every single year (for a mammogram) starting at 40. Had I not gone when I was still 49, I wouldn’t have known I had cancer because it wasn’t big enough for me to feel, but it was big enough to be serious,” she said.

“What this esteemed panel of experts is recommending is not wise, to put it politely. Based on personal experience, I wholeheartedly disagree with them,” she said.

Pellegrino said the panel’s recommendations went against years of efforts to raise awareness of breast cancer.

“To start telling women, ‘I know you just turned 40 but we’re not going to do your baseline mammogram’ — the reaction is going to be one of complete visceral disbelief like, ‘What do you mean I’m not going to have my mammogram’?”

According to this year’s report, one life is saved for every 1,900 women aged 40-49 screened for breast cancer, compared to one life for every 1,300 in the 50-59 year age group.

“You may have to screen 1,900 women a year to save one life, but that’s part of cancer screening,” said Johnson. “We see a lot of women in their 40s with breast cancer, and by screening younger women, we save lives.”

Terra med Alliance is a non-profit charity organization dedicated to research, education and advocacy of breast cancer. One of the vision of Terramed Alliance is to provide this community and Internet users with a charity based research and education entity. Advocacy of breast cancer through education is vital to the reduction of this disease.  For any requests and enquiries, please contact at us: cancer@terramedalliance.us www.terramedalliance.us

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I’m 17 and a senior at highschool and a student at the School of Nursing and I’m a huge advocate for Breast Cancer research and support. I’m always wearing my pink ribbon and my pink ribbon necklace and I have many breast cancer/pink ribbon clothing articles. Since it’s breast cancer awareness month I tried to see what my community//county and surronding cities are doing to support………..and I found out…completely nothing. At the highschool football games I take donations and sell pink ribbons. I’m getting some pretty positive responses from this but I need more. Does anyone know where I can get free materials for breast cancer awareness other than just printing stuff off the internet?

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