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Women taking aromatase inhibitors to treat breast cancer or prevent its recurrence should think twice before also taking a soy-based dietary supplement, researchers report. Genistein, a soy isoflavone that mimics the effects of estrogen in the body, can negate the effectiveness of aromatase inhibitors, which are designed to reduce the levels of estrogens that can promote tumor growth in some types of breast cancer. The new study, which included researchers from the University of Illinois, Virginia Polytechnic and State University and the National Center for Toxicological Research, appears in the journal Carcinogenesis. Aromatase inhibitors are a mainstay of breast cancer treatment in post-menopausal women. These drugs work by inter...

Personal beliefs about inconclusive DNA testing for hereditary breast cancer are associated with cancer-related worry, and such beliefs are an especially strong predictor of whether women had been able to leave the period of DNA-testing behind, reports a study in the October issue of Genetics in medicine, official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG). The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer health. Published during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the study lends new insights into how women cope with the results of BRCA testing for hereditary breast cancer an increasingly used genetic test in which an "inconclusive" result is common. Sandra van Dijk, M.A., Ph.D.,...

Women who have had early stage breast cancer surgically removed, and whose tumour cells are stimulated by the hormone oestrogen, can benefit from taking Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) antagonists, a Cochrane Systematic review has concluded. This medication may be taken alone or alongside the use of tamoxifen (see also Wiley-Blackwell). Developing effective treatment regimes is important because approximately 30% of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer eventually die of the disease. In over half of the premenopausal women who develop breast cancer, the cells in the tumours grow faster in the presence of oestrogen. Their tumours are said to be ER+. Treatment often starts with the surgical removal of the tumour, b...

A majority of women with breast cancer today are candidates for lumpectomy, allowing for conservation of most of their breast tissue. Results of a UC Davis study, however, show that a number of women whose cancer recurs in the same breast are treated with a second lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy, defying current treatment recommendations and cutting the number of years those women survive in half. "We were surprised to find that so many women in our study almost a quarter of them had received another lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy," said Steven Chen, a UC Davis Cancer Center surgical oncologist and lead author of the study, which appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Surgery. "It's likely that patients are as...

Statistically, chances of one in roughly 185,000 are no guarantee when it comes to winning a lottery. But if you, or someone you know, are the one in 185,000 or so who will be diagnosed with breast cancer during 2008, those numbers mean something different. I am one of the 185,000. So, no, this story is not unique. I feel as if I should always wear a sign that says those words: breast cancer. While they tell me the cancer cells were removed, I'm now undergoing one of the hormone replacement therapies used to treat some breast cancer patients who have had a lumpectomy and subsequent radiation. As I've been planning writing this, I believe it was my daughter who said to me, "How can you write about this when you don't talk abou...

It's hard to get excited about any medical visit or screening, but the month of October is dedicated to breast cancer awareness, a designation designed to increase awareness about the disease and encourage women to have regular screenings. Because early detection increases the likelihood of survival, medical professionals encourage women to do monthly breast self-exams and to have a baseline mammogram -- one to compare against in the future -- by age 35. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are 178,000 new cases of breast cancer in women diagnosed each year in the United States. There are about 2,000 cases diagnosed in men. Of these cases, approximately 40,460 women and 450 men will die from the disease. Breast cancer...