Breast Cancer News and Research

Latest Breast Cancer News and Research

Tumor cell activity may provide clues for treating breast cancer in young women

When women under 50 develop breast cancer the disease tends to be more aggressive and less responsive to treatment than when it occurs in older women.

5 Jun 2007

Circulating tumor cells predict how prostate cancer patients do with chemotherapy

The number of tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream of patients with metastatic, hormone-resistant, prostate cancer can predict how they will do with chemotherapy, according to results of an international trial.

5 Jun 2007

Study finds difference in survival rates among white and black women with advanced breast cancer

Despite modest overall improvements in breast cancer survival rates for women with advanced disease over the last two decades, the rates for black women have not improved and the difference in life expectancy between white and black women continues to widen, according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

5 Jun 2007

MRI detects cancers missed by mammography in breast cancer patients

A unique examination of one treatment center's use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in new breast cancer patients has found MRI to be superior to mammography in finding additional tumors in a breast in which cancer has already been diagnosed, and in detecting new tumors in a patient's supposedly healthy breast.

5 Jun 2007

Herceptin does not increase heart failure in patients long-term

Risk of congestive heart failure in women treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and combination chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer did not increase over time according to a five-year follow-up of National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) trial B-31, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.

5 Jun 2007

Researchers identify novel genetic mutations linked to hereditary diffuse gastric cancer

Researchers have identified novel genetic mutations that are linked to hereditary diffuse gastric cancer, with these mutations being due to both independent mutational events and common ancestry, according to a study in the June 6 issue of JAMA.

5 Jun 2007

Exercise lowers insulin in breast cancer survivors

Normally sedentary breast cancer survivors who completed an exercise program reduced the levels of insulin in their blood, revealing a likely link between physical activity and better outcomes, researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

5 Jun 2007

E/Tablet technology may improve healthcare

The old wooden clipboard and pen that patients typically encounter when providing information in a doctor's office may soon be replaced by wireless, handheld notebook-and-pen-style computers called E/Tablets.

5 Jun 2007

Drug lapatinib shows activity against brain metastases

The drug lapatinib shrank tumors and slowed progression of brain metastases in some patients with advanced breast cancer, according to results of a clinical trial presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

5 Jun 2007

Modafinil (Provigil) alleviates post-chemotherapy fogginess

A drug described by some people as a genius pill for enhancing cognitive function provided relief to a small group of Rochester breast cancer survivors who were coping with a side effect known as chemo-brain, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study.

5 Jun 2007

Benefits of Herceptin are lasting

An updated analysis of two large randomized clinical trials has found that breast cancer patients who received the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) along with chemotherapy are living longer and with less risk of recurrent disease, compared to patients treated with chemotherapy alone.

5 Jun 2007

New drugs to fight colon and breast cancer

A study on epithelial cell lines has allowed for the development of six new drugs to fight colon and breast cancer more effectively than other currently used drugs.

3 Jun 2007

Genetic testing helps cancer survivors fight for their loved ones

Family members of those who are successfully fighting cancer are protecting themselves and their families from the disease through genetic testing and hereditary cancer risk assessment.

3 Jun 2007

Dietary vitamin B6. B12 and folate, may decrease pancreatic cancer risk among lean people

Researchers exploring the notion that certain nutrients might protect against pancreatic cancer found that lean individuals who got most of these nutrients from food were protected against developing cancer.

3 Jun 2007

Apple peel shows anti-cancer potential

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, Or, what appears to be more accurate: An apple peel a day might help keep cancer at bay, according to a new Cornell study.

3 Jun 2007

MRI effective method for revealing anatomical details of soft tissues

Contrast agents can help to make these images even clearer and allow physiological processes to be followed in real time. Conventional gadolinium complexes currently used as MRI contrast agent cannot reveal anatomic structures.

1 Jun 2007

Study on intensity modulated radiation therapy for breast cancer

Women with breast cancer who receive higher doses of radiation with IMRT each day can reduce their treatment time by two weeks without increasing side effects, according to a study released in the June 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics , the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

1 Jun 2007