Cancer Prevention News: Explaining New High Risk Breast Cancer Prevention Treatment
Explaining New High Risk Breast Cancer Prevention Treatment
“A new study, using estrogen-fighting drugs, helps prevent breast cancer in high risk patients—with fewer side effects,” said Dr. Robyn Young, a specialist focusing entirely on breast cancer treatment (http://www.thecentertx.com/physicians_young.html).
Young explained, “Estrogen is a hormone that causes some types of breast cancer cells to grow. These drugs, also called aromatase inhibitors, remove estrogen. Compared to the existing prevention therapy, Tamoxifen, which slightly increases the chance of blood clots or endometrial cancer, these drugs look like a much better option for patients with a high risk of getting breast cancer.”
The new study, announced this week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, showed that aromatase inhibitors cut the relative risk of getting breast cancer by 65%, for women who had at least one risk factor—without the traditional side effects. The study was led by Dr. Paul Goss of Massachusetts General Hospital and involved 4,560 women.
This therapy is not intended to prevent the disease in those with an average risk.
High risk factors include, but are not limited to:
Family history of breast cancer
Breast biopsy results showing abnormal cells called hyperplasia
Genetic testing results showing possible future breast cancer
Irvine boy donates presents to cancer patients
When most 7-year-olds think about their birthday, they don’t focus on giving their presents away to cancer patients.
But this year, Jet Charter, 7, of Irvine and several friends brought more than 100 gifts and toys to pediatric cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.
The Todos Conference Room in The Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment was decorated with balloons and kids were served birthday treats.
Jet and friends lined up to put birthday gifts and donated toys in the hospital’s ‘treasure chest.’ After radiation treatment, patients get to select a gift from the treasure chest before going home.
The room filled with hospital employees, and parents and kids sang “Happy Birthday” to Jet. At the end of the song, Jet was presented with a thank you certificate from the hospital.
Jet’s father, Ron Charter, worked closely with the hospital and received support from friends and family.
Gift cards from Jet’s birthday party were used to purchase toys for girls’ and unisex toys for all of the children undergoing radiation treatment at the cancer center.
The family hopes to return next year for Jet’s 8th birthday in hopes to always keep the treasure chest full of toys for the patients.
Massive trial trying to pinpoint cause of cancer
David Greenway’s death from brain cancer on Nov. 17, 1991, came four months after he began getting excruciating headaches.
They turned out to be the first symptoms of the disease.
Greenway died two days before his 23rd birthday. At the time, Suzanne Mensch, Greenway’s older sister by 14 months, couldn’t help but wonder if cancer would strike her next.
“Any headache for the longest time has really scared me,” said Mensch, 43, of Elkton, Md. “It really has freaked me out where I wonder whether this is the beginning of a cancer diagnosis.”
Mensch still wonders why she has been spared from cancer and her brother was killed by it. She hopes researchers will be able to unlock that mystery through her participation in a cancer trial that has recruited people in New Castle County and Cecil County, Md.
The Cancer Prevention Study-3 — called CPS-3 for short — is the American Cancer Society’s fourth large-scale follow-up study on cancer. It is following as many as 500,000 Americans — including nearly 200 local people — over 20 to 30 years.
Some participants will develop cancer and others won’t. The study’s goal is to pinpoint the personal habits, genetic traits and environmental triggers that cause or prevent cancer.
A previous Cancer Society study exposed the strong link between smoking and lung cancer. The link between obesity and the increased odds of dying from cancer was established in another study. More than 300 scientific articles have been published on the results of such studies.
“One of the most unique facets of this study is that we’ll be looking at any cancer,” said Alpa V. Patel, the principal investigator of CPS-3. “This study doesn’t have a focus on any specific type of cancer.”
Getting specific
To participate, enrollees need to be between 30 and 65 and have no history of cancer.
Nearly 100,000 people have enrolled so far, with the recruitment period ending in December 2013. Researchers are aiming for a sample size in which 25 percent of the subjects are minorities.
Cassandra Cogan was motivated to sign up because her family has a cancer history.
Her father survived colon cancer and her grandmother survived breast cancer. But Cogan’s aunt, Eileen Paulus, died in April from pancreatic cancer after surviving cancer in her uterus and breast.
“It does make me wonder why Eileen got all the cancer and I’m hoping that with the studies … the researchers will find a link, whether it’s with lifestyles or medications,” said Cogan, 32 of Elkton. “It makes me feel good knowing that I live in an area that they picked for the study.”
Patel said the Elkton area was selected this year as one of the 100 enrollment sites because of its robust volunteer team.
Because the latest study involves the collection of blood samples from participants, it could significantly advance cancer research, said Dr. Diana Dickson-Witmer, a surgeon and associate medical director of the Christiana Care Breast Center at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in Stanton.
“They can look at the specific chromosomes of the people who developed cancers to see if there were patterns that formed,” Dickson-Witmer said.
‘Unique opportunity’
Bob Gravell, 58, of Odessa, is aware of how pervasive cancer is in Delaware, where 507 of every 100,000 people are diagnosed with cancer and 194 of every 100,000 people here die of cancer. Both rates — collected by Delaware’s Division of Public Health — are higher than the national rates.
But the breadth of CPS-3 was the reason he enrolled recently in the study at Elkton High School, during the annual Relay for Life, an overnight walking-and-running fundraiser run by the Cancer Society.
“It’s kind of a unique opportunity to be part of a statistically significant study,” he said.
By joining the study, Mensch said, she feels like she’s contributing to the efforts to find a cure for the disease.
“It’s like donating blood,” she said. “You don’t know for sure if your blood is going to help someone in an accident or whether it’s going to expire on a shelf. But you give it because it has that potential to help. This study has that kind of potential.”