Breast Cancer News

Young women who smoke and have been smoking a pack a day for a decade or more have a significantly increased risk of developing the most common type of breast cancer. That is the finding of an analysis published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study indicates that an increased risk of breast cancer may be another health risk … [Read more...]

Omega-3 fatty acids may lower the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal obese women, according to researchers. The protection likely comes from the fatty acids' anti-inflammatory effects, said Dr. Andrea Manni, professor and division chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, Penn State College of Medicine. Obesity is a major breast cancer risk factor in … [Read more...]

Preventing cancer requires intimate knowledge of how cancer starts, what causes it to grow and flourish, and how to stop it in its tracks. Sometimes this comes in the form of a vaccine (the HPV vaccine for cervical and head and neck cancers), a screening (a colonoscopy for colorectal cancer) or a blood test (the PSA level test for prostate cancer). Carol Fabian, M.D., … [Read more...]

So far, studies have suggested no significant association between red meat intake and breast cancer. However, most have been based on diet during midlife and later, and many lines of evidence suggest that some exposures, potentially including dietary factors, may have greater effects on the development of breast cancer during early adulthood. So a team of US researchers … [Read more...]

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of obesity to promote cancer progression. In their report published online in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the research team describes finding an association between obesity and an overabundance of a factor called PlGF (placental growth factor) and that PlGF's … [Read more...]

Dartmouth researchers have found that reducing carbohydrate intake could reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence among women whose tumor tissue is positive for the IGF-1 receptor. The study, "Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence Associated with Carbohydrate Intake and Tissue Expression of IGFI Receptor," will appear in the July issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & … [Read more...]

Folic acid supplements at levels consumed by breast cancer patients and survivors in North America promoted the growth of existing breast cancer in rats, new research found. The role of folate, a B vitamin, and its synthetic form, folic acid, in the development and progression of breast cancer is highly controversial. Although some studies have found it may offer protection … [Read more...]

Nearly 70 percent of patients with advanced breast cancer experience skeletal metastasis, in which cancer cells migrate from a primary tumor into bone -- a painful development that can cause fractures and spinal compression. While scientists are attempting to better understand metastasis in general, not much is known about how and why certain cancers spread to specific organs, … [Read more...]

For women undergoing breast cancer surgery, a technique called lipofilling -- using the patient's own fat cells to optimize the results of breast reconstruction -- does not increase the risk of recurrent breast cancer, reports a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons … [Read more...]

In a review article published in the Feb. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a pair of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers provide an in-depth look at the issues associated with the care of women in families with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome who have not yet developed cancer themselves. The article addresses optimal risk assessment for breast and … [Read more...]

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. For patients whose breast cancers are hormone-dependent, current treatment focuses on using drugs that block estrogen (a type of hormone) from attaching to estrogen receptors on tumor cells to prevent the cells from growing and spreading. In a new … [Read more...]

A pair of Yale Cancer Center interventional studies involving breast cancer survivors found that lifestyle changes in the form of healthy eating and regular exercise can decrease biomarkers related to breast cancer recurrence and mortality. The abstracts are scheduled to be presented at the 2014 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago May 30-June … [Read more...]

A doctor treating a patient with a potentially fatal metastatic breast tumor would be very pleased to find, after administering a round of treatment, that the primary tumor had undergone a change in character -- from aggressive to static, and no longer shedding cells that can colonize distant organs of the body. Indeed, most patients with breast and other forms of cancer who … [Read more...]

Adoption of new guidelines recommending screening mammography every two years for women ages 50 to 74 would result in breast cancer screening that is equally effective, while saving the United States $4.3 billion a year in health care costs, according to a study led by UC San Francisco. The study compares three possible mammography screening strategies with a model of … [Read more...]

Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have published new findings in the February issue of American Journal of Roentgenology that mammography remains beneficial for women in their 40s. According to the study, women between ages 40 and 49 who underwent routine screening mammography were diagnosed at … [Read more...]

Long-term (five-year) outcomes of breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) after breast-conserving surgery show excellent tumor control and breast cosmesis (cosmetic outcomes) with minimal late toxicity, according to a study published in the February 1, 2014 print edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, … [Read more...]

Contrary to existing understanding, long-term follow-up of patients with two types of breast tissue abnormalities suggests that both types of abnormalities have the same potential to progress to breast cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Findings from this study could improve clinical … [Read more...]

Age is a key risk factor for breast cancer. A recent study by researchers from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), "Age-related DNA methylation in normal breast tissue and its relationship with invasive breast tumor methylation," examines the connection between cancer and the aging process to see if epigenetic DNA alterations might contribute to … [Read more...]

Each year, about 1.38 million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer. Advances in treatment have facilitated a 90% five-year survival rate among those treated. Given the increased rate and length of survival following breast cancer, more and more survivors are facing life-time risk of developing late effects of cancer treatment that negatively impact long-term … [Read more...]

A major component of olive oil, hydroxytyrosol, is the subject of a Houston Methodist study of women who are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. The study focuses on the changes in breast density after one year of treatment and is the first of its kind in the United States. Tejal Patel, M.D., breast medical oncologist with Houston Methodist Cancer Center, leads … [Read more...]

Survivors of breast cancer have a one in six chance of developing breast cancer in the other breast. But a study conducted in mice suggests that survivors can dramatically reduce that risk through treatment with moderate doses of radiation to the unaffected breast at the same time that they receive radiation therapy to their affected breast. The treatment, if it works as well … [Read more...]

Dartmouth engineers and radiologists are developing new approaches for an emerging technique in diagnostic imaging for breast cancer -- MRI with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as reported in the journal Academic Radiology, February 2014. Combined MRI/NIRS may benefit women whose mammogram showed an abnormality and requires further testing to rule out cancer. The test … [Read more...]

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have taken a new approach to understanding why so many breast cancer patients in Appalachia aren't getting the care they need, and their findings are set to change how people view the obstacles to care that beset the region. For example, the distance patients have to travel for cancer care is often viewed as a … [Read more...]

Only one in three women participating in Germany's mammography screening programme (MSP) is well-informed about it: the higher the level of education, the greater the chance of women making an informed decision. These are the results of a study that health care researchers at Bielefeld University are publishing today (03.11.2015) in the international specialist journal PLOS … [Read more...]

In a review of guideline-concordant treatment modalities for women with early stage breast cancer, mastectomy and reconstruction had the highest rate of complications and complication-related costs, regardless of age. It was also the most expensive treatment option in a younger patient population, according to a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer … [Read more...]

Cancer Research UK scientists have found that five in six women with increased risk of breast cancer turn down drugs likely to prevent the disease, according to research published in Annals of Oncology. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London collected data from 26 international studies totalling more than 21,000 women of all ages who were at increased risk of … [Read more...]

A team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have identified critical complex mechanisms involved in the metastasis of deadly “triple negative” breast cancers (TNBC). These tumors are extremely difficult to treat, frequently return after remission, and are the most aggressive form of breast cancer in women. The discovery of this … [Read more...]