Posts Tagged ‘women’

Docs: Ovary Removal Helps High-Risk Women

Docs: Ovary Removal Helps High-Risk Women
New research suggests surgery to remove healthy ovaries gives a triple benefit to some women at high risk for cancer.

Read more on KMGH 7 Denver

Benefits seen in ovary removal for high-risk women

Benefits seen in ovary removal for high-risk women
CHICAGO – Surgery to remove healthy ovaries gives a triple benefit to high-risk women: It lowers their threat of breast and ovarian cancer, and boosts their chances of living longer, new research suggests.

Read more on The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Cut Them Off,” Say Some. Preventative Mastectomies Offered To Texas Women Genetically Prone to Brea

Deciphering a blessing from a curse isn’t always as clear-cut as it may seem. At least that’s true for women who have been told that they carry one of the most potentially deadly genetic mutations — one of the BRCA, or breast cancer genes, associated with an unusually high risk of the disease. While the discovery of the BRCAs are promising — eventually leading, hopefully, to prevention as medical science advances — deciding what to do after finding out one has tested positive can be just as difficult as wondering.

“It’s taking over my mind,” said Deborah Linder, 33, a medical resident at Northwestern University who tested positive.*

For many with high family incidences of breast cancer, the tendency was simply known as “the family curse.” Now, at least “the curse” has a name scientists can validate with a term more specific than “family history.” But treatment options are varied, and each comes with its own risks.

The majority of those who receive news that they carry the gene opt to have both ovaries removed, which reduces risks of both breast cancer and the often-associated ovarian cancer. About a third have a preventative mastectomy performed, which decreases the likelihood of the disease by ninety percent, and a few prefer to take prophylactic anti-cancer drugs. Still others opt for herbs and natural means of prevention, and even more decide vigilant surveillance is all that’s necessary, which can include frequent MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), mammograms, and sonograms. Yet mammograms and ultrasounds can miss half of cancers in young women, who tend to have denser breasts.

The presence of BRCA1 raises the risk of developing breast cancer anywhere from sixty to ninety percent. An estimated 250,000 American women carry it, though only 30,000 have actually been tested. According to the American Cancer Society, twenty-six percent of new cancer diagnoses are of the breast, and in Texas alone, 2,480 women are expected to die of it this year. Many more will be diagnosed.. In the Lone Star state, breast cancer is the third leading cancer diagnosis, topped only by lung and colon/rectal. Other risk factors, such as obesity, also run high in Texas. Twenty-seven percent of state residents are obese, and new studies on children in Dallas, Austin, and Houston reveal a trend that may still further increase that number.

Such statistics, combined with an overwhelming lack of health coverage — twenty-five percent of the state as a whole, and twenty-seven percent of its young adults are living without health insurance — makes facing the issue that much harder for Texan women.

The majority of breast cancer cases, in fact, are not associated with the presence of a BRCA gene. Only five to ten percent are. But still is the possibility of personal risk being almost twice that of non-carriers worth finding out? Is reducing the chance of getting the disease worth losing the opportunity to have children or breastfeed, which, in itself, would decrease the cancers’ likelihoods?

“I know the joy that my girls have brought to me,” Deborah’s mother, a breast cancer survivor, said. “If Deb misses it, she won’t know what she missed. But having experienced it, I would never have wanted to miss it.” Yet, she, too was torn. “Have the surgery as soon as possible,” she told her daughter one day after finding out others in her family were diagnosed at the same age as Deborah.*

The question becomes even more complex when one considers that new treatment options may be just around the corner. While the chances of surviving breast cancer are good if detected early, ovarian cancer, which attacks fifty percent of BRCA1 carriers, is deadly seventy-five percent of the time. A new study, published this month in Clinical Cancer Research, revealed that a protease inhibitor used to treat HIV patients may also be useful in treating drug-resistant cancers, including breast cancer. Marketed under the brand name Viracept, nelfinavir proved to have the most powerful effect on tumor growth of six protease inhibitors in laboratory experiments. The drug is currently in Phase 1 of clinical trials for cancer treatment.

Would young women, then, who have been told they carry the genetic mutation, be wise to wait for better detection and treatment methods? It would seem that the science of detecting the presence of the disease is not nearly as advanced as the science of predicting its possibility. It’s impossible to know so early on; only more time (years more) will yield the statistics necessary to determine the success rates for different prophylactic options.

If you ask Dr. Patrick I. Borgen, the director of the Brooklyn Breast Cancer Project at the Maimonides Cancer Center, who has performed several preventative mastectomies, he might advise to say goodbye to a part of the body in exchange for saving a life. “Maybe [BRCA carriers'] grandchildren will have better options, but right now a draconian operation [a preventative mastectomy] is the best thing we can do.

*As quoted in New York Times in “Cancer Free at 33, But Weighing a Mastectomy” on September 16, 2007.

Increased Critical Illness Insurance for Women who Get Cancer Tests

Ladies, if your mother or any other female blood-line relatives have a history of breast or ovarian cancer then from next year onwards, you could face higher insurance premiums. You could even be refused cover altogether.

When these women apply for life and critical illness cover, the insurance industry wants to ask them whether they have been tested for the gene mutations BRCA1 or BRCA2. These are the gene complications that increase the chances of them developing these cancers. But before the insurance companies can ask these questions on their application forms, they must get approval from the Genetics and Insurance Committee, the body that advises the Government on these and similar issues.

In the coming months the Association of British Insurers (ABI) will be requesting the Committee for authority to ask women whether they have been tested positive for BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations. These are the mutations that are present in 1 in 10 of newly diagnosed cases of ovarian cancer and 1 in 20 of new cases of breast cancer. Approximately 1 in 850 women in Britain inherit a faulty BRCA1 gene and of those, 14 – 18% will develop breast cancer during in their lives.

On the web site for the Genetics and Insurance Committee we found a notice saying, ” The Committee expects that the Association of British Insurers will submit in late 2006/2007 four revised and updated applications for the use of adverse results from the predictive genetic tests of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes (breast/ovarian cancer) in helping to determine insurance premiums for life and critical illness insurance”.

So far, application forms issued by British insurance companies are only allowed to ask for the results of predictive tests for Huntington’s disease. Even then, the question can only be asked when the application is for more than £500,000 of life insurance cover or mote than £300,000 for critical illness insurance or over £30,000 for payment protection insurance. This rule is set under an agreement entered into by the insurance industry which is due to expire in 2011 but the Chairman of the ABI’s Genetics Working Party, Harpal Karlcut, is reported in the trade insurance magazine “Cover”, as saying: –

“We are looking to get approval for the breast cancer test by the end of the year”, adding, “The two breast cancers are the next conditions that we will look at but after that we don’t see the need to look at other conditions. We do keep an eye out for what diseases may come up in the future but there is nothing else on the horizon”. We add another important rider – yet!

Breast Health: An Informative Guide for Women

The National Breast Cancer Foundation estimates that every year a total of 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and more or less 40,000 of those diagnosed die.

In 2005, the American Cancer Society estimated total risks of one for every eight woman for breast cancer. Many women do not even know that they have one until they reached the lateral stages, where most symptoms are detected.

Breast health involves improving the conditions of the breasts and keeping them from damage like cancer.

Why Do Women Develop Breast Cancer?

The following are just some of the contributing factors that could lead to breast cancer for most women:

a)Getting older

b)Direct family history

c)Genetics

d)Breast lesions

e)Distant family history

f)Abnormal breast biopsy

g)Excessive radiation

h)Alcohol

i)Weight

j)Late or early menopause

k)Race

How Does One Detect Breast Cancer?

The early stages of breast cancer are not painful. Some symptoms are detected later. These may include:

a)A change in both the size and the shape of the breast

b)Lump detection near the breast or underarm area

c)Discharge and tenderness in the nipple

d)Pitting and ridge in the breast

e)Change in the feel and texture of the breast, areola, and nipples

If ever such symptoms occur, a woman should immediately go and see her doctor. More often than not, the signs are not cancer, but it is still advisable to check with the doctor so that the problems will be treated and diagnosed as early as possible.

When these symptoms show, the doctors would perform the following treatments, and physical exams are conducted for detection and confirmation:

a) Clinical breast exam

b) Mammography

c) Ultrasonography

Basing on the results of these exams, the doctor may decide whether or not further tests are required and if treatment is necessary. In such cases, the doctor needs to check the condition of the patient regularly.

Jones Encourages Women to Get Mammograms

Jones Encourages Women to Get Mammograms
Provincial Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones says at age 42, she was shocked to learn she had developed breast cancer — and now she’s encouraging women over 40 to talk to their doctors about mammograms. Jones confirmed on Friday that she will go in for surgery on Monday.

Read more on Voice of the Common Man

WindberCare: Women Find Wholeness & Healing

www.windbercare.com – Patient testimonial from Leone White, victorious over breast cancer The Personal Touch of the caring healers of the Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center at Windber Medical Center.

Smile Pink campaign encourages women, men to support early breast cancer testing

Smile Pink campaign encourages women, men to support early breast cancer testing
Over five hundred dentists from around the United States have joined forces in an exciting new initiative aimed at promoting early detection in breast cancer. Dubbed “Smile Pink”, the campaign encourages women and men to show their support of early breast cancer testing by adding a stylish Pink Swarovski Crystal to their smile.

Read more on News-Medical-Net

New Drug Reduces Tumor Size in Women with Advanced Hereditary Ovarian Or Breast Cancer

New Drug Reduces Tumor Size in Women with Advanced Hereditary Ovarian Or Breast Cancer
Understanding the underlying genetic weakness of certain types of cancer may lead to targeted therapy and provide the key to effective treatment, a new study suggests. An international consortium of researchers has shown that an investigational drug, Olaparib, can reduce the size of tumors in women with advanced hereditary ovarian cancer with BRCA gene mutations.

Read more on Newswise

OhioHealth Reports More Young Women Are Getting Mammograms

WBNS-10TV Anchor Heather Pick’s public battle and death from breast cancer raised the awareness among younger women of the importance of mammograms. OhioHealth Hospitals are happy to report that more women are getting routine mammograms.