Breast Cancer Prevention

Regular Aspirin Intake May Improve Breast Cancer Survival Odds

Apparently, aspirin, that cheap little pill that has fallen our of favor as a pain reliever of choice, but now has many other favorably viewed health benefits for your heart purportedly, may actually help you survive and avoid another recurrence of breast cancer if you are a breast cancer survivor. The study that was carried out was the first of it’s kind directly aimed at looking at how aspirin intake on a regular basis may help or hinder breast cancer patients. I’m not sure why this study started, or what the basis is for aspirin being a potential breast cancer deterrent though.

The study has spanned over thirty years, and involved nurses who had a wide span of health issues, so the study was multi pronged. What happened is that, sort of accidentally, they noticed a correlation between women who took aspirin for heart health and also as a preventive measure against stroke, since aspirin helps to thin the blood and prevent these problems which are caused by thickened blood, but also happened to have had breast cancer, had a higher survival rate, and less of a recurrence rate for their breast cancer, if they took aspirin several days a week.

However, if you are not a person who likes to take aspirin, or perhaps, like many other people, it upsets your stomach, there were similar effects observed with the same family of pain relievers called NSAIDS, non steroidal anti inflammatories, but there was not enough data on these to actually make any conclusions as to whether they had the same extent of benefit as aspirin for breast cancer patients. Also, you have to consider that this study was carried out over several years, most of which aspirin was still the popular choice for preventive measures against heart attacks and strokes.

Who knows, it may be prudent to take aspirin if you are prone to heart diseasea and stroke in your family and you have also been a breast cancer survivor, however, they are careful to point out that you should not take it regularly without talking to your doc first, since it can cause stomach bleeding, and also you usually should not take it in combo with chemotherapy or cancer treatment because it may have adverse side effects.

Breast Cancer Scans Not Worth It?

MRI's Not Needed?

MRI’s are very expensive, and even if you have insurance, you can find yourself paying out the wazoo if you have to have one for a specific health problem or suspected issue.

That is why some scoffed when MRI’s began to be used as scans for breast cancer, or returning breast cancer, but because of their more thorough nature, or at least their perceived more thorough and less intrusive nature, many were applauding them for the new way to thoroughly scan for breast cancer, and foregoing or eschewing the idea of getting a traditional mammogram which can be painful and intrusive, especially if you happen to have breast implants.

I even thought it was a great thing, and I still do think that the MRI has some great benefits over other types of breast cancer detection because it is by it’s very nature a more thorough and comprehensive way to look for abnormalities in the human body.

However, apparently there are studies now that are showing that MRI’s are really not doing any better than any other form of breast cancer detection, and are not causing women to get another surgery.

They are really used when determining whether women need further operations for already existing breast cancer, and since the incidence of women needing further surgeries found was so low, they have deemed that since it is such an expensive and lengthy process, it may not be necessary. I’m not quite sure that the expense should be a factor when you are talking about the difference between life and death though – thoughts?

New Mammogram Guidelines Still Subject of Debate

The latest mammogram guidelines that were set as a result of a government appointed US advisory panel pretty much had sparks flying from the beginning when they were recommended last year. The new recommendations had women waiting until they were 50, not 40, even if they were considered a high risk group for breast cancer (aka having a family history of the disease), which had many health care professional, oncologists or not, up in arms that the panel was actually recommending to women that they wait even longer because they found no evidence that these earlier mammograms prevented enough of a metastatis of breast cancer, at least not enough to save lives to the degree they felt was worth it.

The problem of course, is that these “earlier” mammograms saved enough lives to make it worth it for lots of women, and I’m sure they wouldn’t want to be on a list where they weren’t qualified according to some recommendation when it saved their lives in the past.

Two more breast cancer related organizations have blatantly said that they don’t support the findings of breast mammograms being done later rather than sooner, and they do see benefit to having these often life saving imaging scans done earlier, because they can detect breast cancer in younger patients that aren’t yet detectable by hand, or by self examination because they aren’t yet big enough.  Not yet big enough, but of course, very very treatable, which is the whole point of getting mammograms at a younger age when the breast tissue if often still too dense to be able to feel these small lumps or masses of tissue.

These organizations cite a significant decrease in the  mortality rates of breast cancer, to the tune of about 30%, since the mammogram guidelines that were in place before these ridiculous new guidelines came out, as a reason that they do not support the new guidelines recommended by the panel.

The recommendations of starting earlier also cover newer and often perceived as more effective breast cancer screening processes, like the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and ultrasounds where the breast tissue is examined for irregularities.  Surprisingly, the recommendations for women who do screen positive for the genes where they are much more likely to develop breast cancer, the recommendation is that they have a sonogram, MRI or mammogram every year starting when they are 30 years old, which is pretty early on according to other guidelines that were set up before.

The thing is, that you should really have them when you know it’s right for you, based on your family history. Of course, I’m an advocate of getting them done earlier, but it depends on your situation and personal comfort level too.

John Kerry’s Wife Fights Breast Cancer

John Kerry, the former Democratic presidential nominee, has a wife named Teresa Heinz who is currently fighting breast cancer.  I feel bad describing her that way, but didn’t know how else to tell you who she is, although she is quite an active spokesperson herself, and John Kerry’s whitehouse bid seems somehow that it was now ions away. How is that anyways?  I think that Teresa Heinz was alarmed by what she has seen in the news as of late about the mixed messages that women are getting about mamograms and when they should start getting them, some say at 40 others at fifty, and she wanted to come out and voice her opinion since this is clearly something that is close to her heart.

To refresh your memory, a panel has recently instructed women that they do not need to have their mammographies starting at the age of forty as previously indicated, and having them yearly, but rather they can wait until they are fifty and not have them as often. This recommendation set off a litany of criticism, by man women as well as men, as a lot of people think that mammographies saved lives, and many women who were diagnosed through these screenings say they would have never known had it not been for these tests. Not to mention, the recommendation is really pissing a lot of people off who are in the health profession themselves.

As a matter of fact, I’m only 35, and because I have breast cancer in my family history on the female side, my doctor recommended that I receive a mammogram now. She did not believe in the recommendation that the panel gave, and advised me of her opinion. I trust her, so I actually took her prescription for the mammogram and intend to go have one done, and of course report back to you about my experience once it’s done.

Since Ms. Heinz herself was diagnosed through a mammogram, although at age 71, she says that she doesn’t see why they would instruct against them for younger women. Especially when it is more treatable at these early stages, and saves a lot of hassle, heartache and pain, not to mention money and insurance premiums, when it is caught earlier on and the survival and treatment rate is much more successful. I feel like we were kind of dealt a bad blow with this recommendation, and they should just take it back, it’s confusing too many women over an already intensely private decision and a hard one at that.

At Risk Breast Cancer Patients Refusing MRIs?

Many women apparently are refusing to have MRIs done that could greatly benefit from one of the magnetic resonance imaging tests due to their status as high risk breast cancer potential patients.  MRI’s have a much better chance at detecting breast cancer when it’s in the very earliest stages in these at risk women because it thoroughly scans the body for any irregularities.  However, in studies where patients were identified as high risk breast cancer patients, about 42% of these women actually refused the MRI for various reasons, even when it was offered free of charge.

This really surprised the doctors that offered the tests for free in the study, because, like me, they thought these patients would want to participate in almost a 100% rate since the test was free and their health could potentially be at risk with something that may not be identified otherwise.  The patients had many reasons, one of them being financial, but not directly related to the cost of the MRI, rather to any costs they were afraid of incurring because of anything that might be found, or the ever popular false positive readings.

There have been known to be false positive readings from breast cancer screenings that result in unnecessary further medical costs like biopsies and other things that may add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars in costs.  Some women in the study cited claustrophobia and not being able to be in the cylindrical, restrictive environment that you are required to be in for a long period of time for the MRI reading.  Even when offered sedation, many women still did not want to subject themselves to that.

Some women cited time restraints, which I can understand as the process can be lengthy, however even that seems like a somewhat weak excuse for something that could save your life in the end, although I suspect that these women were giving reasons that really only were part of the real reason why they didn’t want one, and in fact they may have had several reasons for not wanting the MRI.  At any rate, MRI’s are coming up as one of the better, more thorough ways of screening for breast cancer, however they have to figure out a better way to do them, and at a lower cost, before patients really start wanting to have one done.

Herceptin and Tykerb Combo May Prove Effective

For women with advanced breast cancer, there may be some very good news on the horizon in extending their lives longer and perhaps helping to put them into remission, even when all hope seems lost.  But does it really improve their quality of life as well? To me that is the real question.  So  read more about this new super combo that has shown promise, the combination of two existing breast cancer drugs, one called Tykerb, one called Herceptin, both of which we have discussed here before, one, Tykerb, I think when it had just first come out, so I don’t even think that one has been on the market all that long.

Here’s the scoop, thus far, on the findings.  In a study involving 300 women with breast cancer in it’s advanced stages, the women who were receiving the Tykerb and Herceptin combo lived nearly five months longer than the women who did not receive this new drug combo. Does that mean that their quality of life was also better, or did it really improve the cancer? It doesn’t really say. Let’s hope so.  The real finding here too is that if it can help women with advanced breast cancer this much to extend their life span, then what can it do for women with less advanced forms of the cancer?

They are hoping that it really helps to improve odds for women who are in their earlier stages, so that is the next phase of experiments.  The specific job that Herceptin and Tykerb do inside the body of a breast cancer patient, is that they take aim at and destroy proteins called HER-2, which are found in abnormal abundance in the breast cancer patient.  By destroying these, they presumably increase the life span of the breast cancer patient who otherwise would not have that benefit.

The unique combination attacks the HER-2 cells from both the inside and outside of the cell, one drug doing the outside attack and the other drug doing the inside attack, a very comprehensive approach to destroying a main component of breast cancer reproduction.

This way, if one of them doesn’t work at cracking the inside, or alternatively, the outside of the cell, then the other one kicks in and at least delivers one of the two pronged fatal blows to the deadly cells.  Potential side effects of the drugs include severe diarrhea and potentially fatal blood clots, but if properly managed, these potential side effects I’m sure could be minimized. Plus, I’m sure that if I were faced with two options, I’d probably choose one that could potentially extend my life and maybe even save my life versus the risks it could have against my health. Heck, they sound better than chemo and radiation to me.

Breast Thermography an Alternative to Mammography

A newer technique in screening for breast cancer may soon be taking hold as a preferred method over the often uncomfortable mammogram.  It’s called the breast thermography.  How it works is it takes thermal image “photos” of your breasts from several different angles and with your body in several different positions to get the different parts of the breasts on the screen.

The thermal images are supposed to be able to detect higher heat areas, which may indicate abnormalities in the breast tissues, and can also detect cancer, instead of actually scanning it via mammography, which has been a  subject of debate as well since some say it’s not as accurate on denser breast tissue (which generally means younger breasts).

It is believed by advocates of breast thermography that this technique of scanning the breast tissue can detect abnormalities and precancerous conditions in the tissue years before a typical mammogram can. It does this, they say, by showing where there is more blood flow activity and therefore showing signs of trouble that may lead to cancer years in advance. Even so though, I wonder what a woman could really do about that knowing it, besides try to change her diet and lifestyle habits to be healthier and help prevent the cancer from forming. Nonetheless, this is a very intriguing newer way of detecting breast cancers.

Advocates also prefer the thermography scan over mammography because there is no radiation exposure at all, which in comparison to the mammogram makes it desirable to those who prefer to be “au naturelle”.  Sounds like it would be the right option for me then too!  I’m actually supposed to schedule a mammogram for myself in the next few weeks, at the suggestion of my doctor. Even though I’m only 35 years old, she believes I should start getting them now because I have a maternal aunt who had aggressive breast cancer and died from it.

However, you should note that there are still die hard doctors out there who do not recommend the thermography over the mammography yet. They say it has not been compared rigorously enough to the mammogram and that it’s not quite ready to really replace anything, although some day it might be ready for the spotlight, there still needs to be research done to prove that it catches cancers just as often.

Whatever your choice might be, it may be a little harder to find thermography than it is to find the traditional screening since it is still fairly new. I know one thing I wouldn’t miss, all that pulling, pressing and compressing – youch!

Mammogram Guideline Confusion

**Since I published this, there have now been back and forth debates between a president-appointed health adviser, Kathleen Sebelius, and the government appointed panel’s recommendations to not get mammograms til your fifty. The long and short of it?  Just get them when it’s right for you, or consult your doctor to figure out what is right for you, considering your family history, and ALWAYS do your self exams.

These days, apparently the guidelines differ as to when you should start getting mammograms, depending on who you happen to ask.  The American Cancer Society still recommends that women begin getting them done in their forties, and now a new government panel/task force has done some research and recommended that these guidelines be revised to starting them when you are fifty, and getting them every two years thereafter.  The American Cancer Society has stook by their 40 recommendation steadfastly and even refutes the idea that 50 years of age is the right time to start worrying about breast cancer.

Some are concerned that this recommendation may lead to more confusion than clarification when it comes to women who are in their forties, since it really tends to gloss over the fact that a lot of women now are getting breast cancer in their earlier age. It’s not clear though, if many of these breast cancers that are caught on women in their forties, are more often than not life threatening. In fact, the reason the panel came to the decision they did was because they said that comparatively, women in their forties getting mammograms leads to more misdiagnoses and unnecessary biopsies and worry than it does to successfully catching and treating truly life threatening cancer.

What is also under review is the fact that self examinations have come under scrutiny for being basically useless.  Many women totally disagree with this assertion, and I happen to disagree with it as well.  I know too many women and have heard too many stories of women who have discovered what turned out to be cancerous lumps in their breasts, by doing the breast self examination regularly.  These women certainly wouldn’t tell you that a self exam is worthless, if you ask me!

In the end, no matter who is making whatever recommendation, the decision is up to you.  You should also check into what is covered under your medical program or insurance, to see if mammograms would be covered for certain ages or with certain family backgrounds.  I myself found out that my insurance company through my employer will cover a mammogram for me, and I’m only 35 years old.  They just changed their guidelines to allow that, by the way, because younger patients are getting more agressive breast cancers and doctors are becoming concerned with prevention at an earlier age, especially when a family history exists on the female side, as I have on my side of the family.

Tiny Chip to Measure Breast Estrogen Levels?

Estrogen is one of the things that can feed breast cancer, and it is one of the concerns that doctors have as to the levels of the hormone in a woman’s breast when they have breast cancer, or to determine their likelihood of getting breast cancer, so they have been trying to figure out a way to measure breast estrogen levels without actually doing anything invasive, like cutting into the breast tissues (ouch).

They still may have to invade the breast tissue, but with a new possible invention, they may only need to prod the breast tissue with a needle that is headed up by a tiny microchip which can read the levels of estrogen inside of a woman’s breast.  But the implications for this type of minimally invasive therapy to tell what a person’s hormones levels are in certain areas of the body go much further than breast cancer treatment and testing whether breast cancer therapy is actually working in a patient by looking at her hormone levels when she is on estrogen limiting medications.

The implications may spread to diagnosing and successfully treating infertility in women (and potentially men too), helping to figure out the likelihood and the treatment of choice for prostate cancer in men, and basically any disease that has connections to hormone levels in the male and female body, which are unfortunately aplenty in the world of disease and physical conditions that range from burdensome to life threatening.

The idea behind this high tech, under development high tech hormone detecting chip is that it uses electrical currents to separate hormones from other cells, and then gathers them together to test for their levels.  It does this all, miraculously, on the surface of a tiny, almost microscopic chip. Of course, this product is years away from any type of release into physicians and oncologist’s hands, but it is nonetheless intriguing to think of how this could be used in the future of medicine.

Breasts have a high concentration of estrogen in them normally, and women with breast cancer have an even higher concentration of the hormone in their breast tissue, so this signifies a higher likelihood of a woman developing breast cancer, however right now the technology to detect hormone levels in a breast are highly invasive, with a large chunk of breast tissue being needed from the patient in order that a scientists/researcher may study it and determine the hormone levels.

Obviously, this is not preferable and results in a lot of trauma, so if a better method can be attained, that would be awesome for women everywhere.

Emotional Impact of Breast Cancer on Couples

One part of breast cancer that isn’t addressed nearly enough by the caretakers that are thrust into the situations, such as the hospital, medical centers and the oncologists themselves, is the fact that breast cancer has a real emotional impact on couples.  It often puts a strain on even the most loving and supportive of relationships because of the unresolved feelings of guilt, pain, frustration, and even resentment that may brew over the woman’s illness and her partner’s and her feelings the go along with the debilitating and crippling feelings that come with such a serious illness.  Especially the more serious the disease gets or the further into stages it gets.

There are a lot of things that couples in intimate relationships really don’t want to talk about because they are afraid it will make them look weak or not supportive enough.  Things like feelings of lessened sexual attraction, perceived selfish motives of wanting one’s spouse to be in good health, spirits and physical appearance. These things are not only embarrassing to talk about, but they are hard even to admit to one’s self.  Often times men feel guilty and helpless that they cannot help their wives or their partners out of their pain, and they also feel conflict because they feel selfish that maybe now their own needs won’t be met.

Here they are, threatened with the loss of their loved one, and also fighting feelings over viewing the breasts, which were once an object of desire and eroticism as the very thing that threatens the life of the woman they treasure, love and need, and who may also be the mother of their children already or in the future.  They face feelings of fear over being left alone, over having their lives as they know it taken away from them, and yet they don’t feel they can talk about this with their partner because she is already going through enough as it is.

Women have it even worse, because they are the ones that are facing the possibility of mortality. Women often feel guilty too because we often feel that we always have to be the consummate caregivers and providers of comfort and affection toward our spouses and any involved children, and when that prospect is threatened, women often feel conflicted over taking care of themselves properly and taking care of their families. They often find this hard to voice to their spouse, and this becomes a communication breakdown that can really harm the relationship.

Getting counseling is vital for any couple going through the journey of a cancer battle if they are to come through it intact and without any real drama or serious damage to the relationship.