A new review of studies offers good news and bad news for women faced with the decision about whether to get regular mammograms. The good news is that screening mammography does reduce breast cancer mortality. The review found that women offered screening mammograms are 15 percent less likely to die of breast cancer than women who are not offered mammograms.
Researchers have known that a woman’s natural hormone levels can affect her risk of developing breast cancer. A new study from the University of Southern California (USC) has found that the natural levels of estrogens in post-menopausal women varies by ethnicity and race, and may explain the differences in the groups’ breast cancer rates. The study appears in the October issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Postmenopausal women who want to significantly decrease their breast-cancer risk would be wise to exercise regularly and keep their weight within a normal range for their height, according to new findings from the Women’s Health Initiative to be published in the journal Obesity.
Women undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer benefit from moderate intensity, regular aerobic activity, according to a new study. Published in the November 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study found that exercise improved the oxygen capacity of patients and maintained levels of red blood cells during radiation treatment. In contrast, women who did not exercise experienced significant declines in their oxygen capacity. This is the first study to investigate the effect of exercise during treatment.
Results from a recent survey of European women with early breast cancer, presented for the first time at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress, show that the information needs of patients are not being met and that there is an unacceptably low level of patient involvement in potentially life-extending treatment decisions. The survey revealed that older women, those with a low level of education and those without Internet access are particularly uninformed.
Molecular and genetic alterations that cause tumors and drive the course of disease may someday explain the differences in incidence and mortality between African American and European American breast cancer patients. This is the conclusion of a literature review by a research team at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) led by Christine B. Ambrosone, PhD, Chair of Epidemiology at RPCI. Results of the study are published in the September edition of Cancer Research.
Although surgery is the most effective (and hence, the most widely used) breast cancer treatment method, there are several other ways of dealing with the disease, some are more powerful than the others. These include radiation therapy, chemotherapy or hormonal therapy, each of them with their own assets and downsides.
Women getting over breast cancer treatment who engage in aerobic and resistance training exercises may have better physical fitness and better quality-of-life than their more sedentary counterparts, new study findings show.
Chest X-rays of women with high-risk genes could increase their chances of breast cancer, a study says.
Scientists have made headway in understanding how breast cancer progresses to other parts of the body, by discovering a protein potentially involved in the disease? spread.