[Lotus]

Use of Hair to Diagnose the Presence of Breast Cancer


Using synchrotron X-ray diffraction, it has been reported that a hair from an individual with breast cancer exhibits a difference in its molecular structure compared to that of an individual without breast cancer. This difference is visible in the X-ray diffraction pattern as a ring superimposed on the pattern for normal hair.

The hypothesis of this study is that synchrotron x-ray diffraction can be used to differentiate hairs from women with medically diagnosed breast cancer from women not known to have the disease.

To test this hypothesis, hair from 2000 women attending radiology clinics for mammography will be collected, analysed by x-ray diffraction and then analysed using Fermiscan proprietary image analysis software. The mammogram status of the subjects will be blinded from the diffraction analysts. Results will then be compared with mammography results to allow a direct comparison between the Fermiscan test and mammography in terms of specificity and sensitivity.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00419900

[Lotus]

Many Women With Breast Cancer Get Too Little Exercise


MONDAY, June 9, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The majority of women with breast cancer get too little exercise for optimum health, a new study suggests.

After women are diagnosed with breast cancer, they are less likely to meet exercise recommendations that link physical activity with longer survival and better quality of life, researchers report online June 9 in the journal Cancer.

"Medical care providers should discuss the role physical activity plays in improving breast cancer outcomes with their patients, and strategies that may be successful in increasing physical activity among breast cancer patients need to be comprehensively evaluated and implemented," Brionna Hair, a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a journal news release.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/...46699.html

[Lotus]

Mammograms

Key Points
A mammogram is an x-ray picture of the breast. Screening mammograms are used to check for breast cancer in women who have no signs or symptoms of the disease. Diagnostic mammograms are used to check for breast cancer after a lump or other sign or symptom of the disease has been found.
Screening mammography can help reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer among women ages 40 to 74.
Potential limitations of screening mammography include false-positive results, overdiagnosis and overtreatment, false-negative results, and radiation exposure.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts...mammograms

[Lotus]

Treatment & Side Effects

In recent years, there's been an explosion of life-saving treatment advances against breast cancer, bringing new hope and excitement. Instead of only one or two options, today there's an overwhelming menu of treatment choices that fight the complex mix of cells in each individual cancer. The decisions — surgery, then perhaps radiation, hormonal (anti-estrogen) therapy, and/or chemotherapy — can feel overwhelming.

Breastcancer.org can help you understand your cancer stage and appropriate options, so you and your doctors can arrive at the best treatment plan for YOU.

In the following pages of the Treatment and Side Effects section, you can learn about:
http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment

[Lotus]

Hormone therapy

Hormone therapy is a cancer treatment that removes hormones or blocks their action and stops cancer cells from growing. Hormones are substances made by glands in the body and circulated in the bloodstream. Some hormones can cause certain cancers to grow. If tests show that the cancer cells have places where hormones can attach (receptors), drugs, surgery, or radiation therapy is used to reduce the production of hormones or block them from working. The hormone estrogen, which makes some breast cancers grow, is made mainly by the ovaries. Treatment to stop the ovaries from making estrogen is called ovarian ablation.

Hormone therapy with tamoxifen is often given to patients with early stages of breast cancer and those with metastatic breast cancer (cancer that has spread to other parts of the body). Hormone therapy with tamoxifen or estrogens can act on cells all over the body and may increase the chance of developing endometrial cancer. Women taking tamoxifen should have a pelvic exam every year to look for any signs of cancer. Any vaginal bleeding, other than menstrual bleeding, should be reported to a doctor as soon as possible.

Hormone therapy with an aromatase inhibitor is given to some postmenopausal women who have hormone-dependent breast cancer. Hormone-dependent breast cancer needs the hormone estrogen to grow. Aromatase inhibitors decrease the body's estrogen by blocking an enzyme called aromatase from turning androgen into estrogen.

For the treatment of early stage breast cancer, certain aromatase inhibitors may be used as adjuvant therapy instead of tamoxifen or after 2 or more years of tamoxifen. For the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, aromatase inhibitors are being tested in clinical trials to compare them to hormone therapy with tamoxifen.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/t...Keypoint25

[Lotus]

High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant

High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is a way of giving high doses of chemotherapy and replacing blood -forming cells destroyed by the cancer treatment. Stem cells (immature blood cells) are removed from the blood or bone marrow of the patient or a donor and are frozen and stored. After the chemotherapy is completed, the stored stem cells are thawed and given back to the patient through an infusion. These reinfused stem cells grow into (and restore) the body’s blood cells.

Studies have shown that high-dose chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplant does not work better than standard chemotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer. Doctors have decided that, for now, high-dose chemotherapy should be tested only in clinical trials. Before taking part in such a trial, women should talk with their doctors about the serious side effects, including death, that may be caused by high-dose chemotherapy.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/t...Keypoint27

[Lotus]

Biological Therapy.


Biological Therapy works with your body's immune system to help it fight cancer or to control side effects from other cancer treatments. Side effects are how your body reacts to drugs or other treatments.
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_i...atment.htm

[EllaC]

Thanks Lotus for keepin us all in check and reminding us to be safe with all this

[Lotus]

Thanks Lotus for keepin us all in check and reminding us to be safe with all this

Oh thanks ELLA,

Just Plugging away here!!, it's important to have all the info we can have, don't you think?. I had now idea of all the new research that their developing these days, really promising.

Thanks again.

[EllaC]

Thanks Lotus for keepin us all in check and reminding us to be safe with all this

Oh thanks ELLA,

Just Plugging away here!!, it's important to have all the info we can have, don't you think?. I had now idea of all the new research that their developing these days, really promising.

Thanks again.

Good points L. I love the one about exercise! Sedentary lifestyle and all that! Makes me think maybe i should go for a walk instead of cracking open a bottle of wine!!!!