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September/October 2001, Vol.8, No.5 442 Cancer Control Sexual Functioning in Breast Cancer Survivors Christina L.Thors, PhD, Jo Ann Broeckel, PhD, and Paul B.Jacobsen, PhD Background: A growing body of evidence suggests that sexual dysfunction may be among the more common and distressing symptoms experienced by breast cancer survivors. Methods: This report reviews studies in which sexual functioning in breast cancer survivors has been investigated. Included are reports on the prevalence and nature of sexual difficulties, the relationship between specific breast cancer treatments and sexual difficulties, and the treatment of sexual dysfunction following completion of breast cancer treatment. Results: A review of the literature suggests a wide range of rates for the prevalence of sexual problems in breast cancer survivors. Factors that may affect prevalence rates ...

Breast Cancer Sentinel Node Metastases: Histopathologic Detection and Clinical Significance David W.Ollila, MD, and Karyn B.Stitzenberg, MD Background: Lymphatic mapping with sentinel lymphadenectomy (LM/SL) is an accurate and less morbid means of determining the tumor status of the axilla in breast cancer patients than standard level I and II axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). This review addresses the handling and pathologic examination of the sentinel node (SN), the clinical significance of tumor within the SN, and the risk factors for non-SN tumor involvement. Methods: The seminal works that have addressed pathologic examination of ALND specimens and SN specimens are summarized, and the important studies attempting to identify predictors of non-SN metastases in patients with a tumor-involved SN are reviewed. Results: Standard single-section hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) examination ...

Management of Breast Cancer in the Older Woman Lodovico Balducci, MD, Martine Extermann, MD, and Ignazio Carreca, MD Background: Approximately half of all breast cancer cases occur after age 65. Several aspects for the treatment of early breast cancer may be influenced by patient age, including postoperative irradiation after partial mastectomy, axillary lymphadenectomy, primary medical treatment of early breast cancer , and adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: The authors review the literature regarding age-specific issues in the management of breast cancer , and they report their own experience in treating older women with breast cancer . Results: In terms of survival and disease-free survival, tamoxifen alone in primary breast cancer is inferior to surgical treatment followed by adjuvant tamoxifen. Tamoxifen alone should be reserved for patients with absolute contraindications ...

C a n c e r C o n t r o l Editorial September/October 2001, Vol.8, No.5 392 Cancer Control In earlier times,still within the memory of a few of the more senior oncologists, the care of breast cancer was virtually entirely restricted to the activities of gener- al surgeons,pathologists,and radia- tion therapists. Medical oncology developed largely because of a void in the care of the cancer patients who developed recurrence or metastatic disease and,over the last few decades, it has become clear that optimal care for the millions of patients at risk for, with, or surviv- ing after breast cancer cannot be effectively provided by a few physi- cian specialists alone. Now, a large variety of physician specialists work in consort with various non- physician team members led by a ...

Fibroadenomas are common noncancerous breast lumps. Fibrocystic disease may cause pain and increased lumpiness in the last days of each menstrual cycle. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs within the breast . JAMA PATIENT PAGE Know your options for breast cancer The JAMA Patient Page is a public service of JAMA and the AMA. The information and recommendations appearing on this page are appropriate in most instances; but they are not a substitute for medical diagnosis. For specific information concerning your personal medical condition, JAMA and AMA suggest that you consult your physician. This page may be reproduced noncommercially by physicians and other health care professionals to share with patients. Any other reproduction is subject to AMA approval. Bulk reprints available by calling 212/354-0050. f you or someone you love has been diagnosed with ...

1 6 0 Trkg Edit DE 1 DE 2 Other Date Initial PARTICIPANT ID: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BREAST CANCER FAMILY REGISTRY PROXY QUESTIONNAIRE MALE Living or Deceased CENTER ID: FAMILY ID: DATE OF DIAGNOSIS: MO DAY YEAR INTERVIEWER: _ DATE OF INTERVIEW: MO DAY YEAR STARTING TIME OF INTERVIEW AM 1 HR MIN PM 2 TYPE OF INTERVIEW: IN-PERSON 1 PHONE 2 h:\qnaire\malproxy.rv2 11/25/97 SECTION A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Page 2 2 I would like to begin by asking you some questions about his background. A1. How old was he (on his last birthday/when he passed away)? AGE A2. What is his date of birth? MO DAY YEAR A3. IDENTIFY SEX OF PARTICIPANT MALE 1 ...

1 6 0 Trkg Edit DE 1 DE 2 Other Date Initial PARTICIPANT ID: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BREAST CANCER FAMILY REGISTRY PROXY QUESTIONNAIRE FEMALE Living or Deceased CENTER ID: FAMILY ID: DATE OF DIAGNOSIS: MO DAY YEAR INTERVIEWER: _ DATE OF INTERVIEW: MO DAY YEAR STARTING TIME OF INTERVIEW AM 1 HR MIN PM 2 TYPE OF INTERVIEW: IN-PERSON 1 PHONE 2 h:\qnaire\femproxy.rv2 11/25/97 SECTION A. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Page 2 2 I would like to begin by asking you some questions about her background. A1. How old was she (on her last birthday/when she passed away)? AGE A2. What is her date of birth? MO DAY YEAR A3. IDENTIFY SEX OF PARTICIPANT ...

Breast cancer ’s ability to silently spread to various parts of the body via the bloodstream has frustrated physicians for decades. Several studies in the past few years, however, have detected stray tumor cells in the bone marrow of breast cancer patients after surgery. This suggests that these cells, which were carried there by the blood, might herald a relapse elsewhere. Scientists in Germany now have evidence that patients carrying such aberrant cells are indeed more likely to die from cancer or have cancer appear in nonbreast tissue than are patients without the cells. The discovery may eventually open a new avenue that physicians can follow to determine a patient’s risk of cancer recurrence, says study coauthor Wolfgang Janni, a gynecological oncol- ogist at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Such information could also help clarify what kind of treatment a person needs when first diagnosed with the ...

] 164 Tel. 972 8 934 Fax. 972 8 934 E-mail: state and during changing conditions. It has the capability to provide image contrast based on several independent nuclear magnetic properties as well as on metabolic and physiologic characteristics. It can also image molecules tagged with magnetically sensitive probes and thereby enhance molecular targeted imaging. The imaging technology developed in our laboratory in recent years reached the state of clinical testing. New parametric MRI methods, including the 3TP (Three Time Point) method for the diagnosis of prostate cancer and of breast cancer are being evaluated in Israel (Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center) and USA (University of Wisconsin, Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Hospital of Boca Raton). An example of parametric MRI of the prostate is shown in Fig. 1. Our current research activities include ...

Cornell University Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State (BCERF) FACT SHEET #36 June 2000 Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology Cornell Center for the Environment Whole Grains, Fiber, And Breast Cancer Risk Eating whole grains may be linked to a small reduction in breast cancer risk. Total fiber in the diet appears to have little or no association with breast cancer risk, although the fiber component of fruit and vegetables has been connected with decreased risk. Nonetheless, whole grains have been associated with a decrease in the risk of other cancers and health problems, including heart disease. These nutritious and beneficial foods should be included in everyone’s diet. What are whole grains and fiber? Whole grains are the unrefined products of various cereal plants including wheat, oats, ...

77 Comment 43 National Breast Cancer Coalition/Fran Visco From: Alana Wexler [AWexler@natlbcc.org] Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 4:00 PM To: 'mark.nagumo@uspto.gov' Subject: Comments on the Revised Utility Examination and Written Description Guidelines March 22, 2000 Mark Nagumo Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Box 8 Washington, D.C. 20231 Dear Commissioner Nagumo I am writing to you on behalf of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), and the 2.6 million women living with breast cancer . NBCC, a grassroots advocacy organization made up of over 500 organizations and tens of thousands of individuals, has been working since l99l to eradicate breast cancer through increased funding and new strategies for breast cancer research, access to quality health care for all women, and expanded influence ...

146 Comment 63 National Breast Cancer Coalition / Fran Visco -----Original Message----- From: Alana Wexler [SMTP:AWexler@natlbcc.org] Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 4:00 PM To: 'mark.nagumo@uspto.gov' Subject: Comments on the Revised Utility Examination and Written Description Guidelines March 22, 2000 Mark Nagumo Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Box 8 Washington, D.C. 20231 Dear Commissioner Nagumo I am writing to you on behalf of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), and the 2.6 million women living with breast cancer . NBCC, a grassroots advocacy organization made up of over 500 organizations and tens of thousands of individuals, has been working since l99l to eradicate breast cancer through increased funding and new strategies for breast cancer research, access to quality ...

The anti-AIDS drug AZT functions like a Trojan horse. Once inside a rapidly dividing HIV- infected cell, it prevents the virus from making a copy of its genes. AZT displaces thymidine, one of the four building blocks used to construct the virus’ DNA. Thus, the invading virus can- not use such a cell to spread. A similar strategy would seem to work against cancer cells, which also synthesize DNA to divide rapidly, but scientists have had only spotty success using AZT against the disease in lab studies. Now, a study in rats indicates that AZT may have another Trojan horse in its army: The drug also appears to substitute for uridine, another component of the cell’s genetic machinery. When AZT displaces both compounds, it seems to fight breast cancer . That’s the hypothesis raised by chemist Carston R. Wagner of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Wagner was using AZT last year as a control substance in tests of new ...

Hints of virus reemerge in breast cancer Surprising new evidence promises to revive a controversial claim that medical detectives dis- missed as spurious many years ago. Cancerous breast cells often contain genetic sequences characteristic of an infectious virus that triggers mammary tumors in mice, reported virologist Beatriz G.-T. Pogo of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and her colleagues at a cancer meeting this week. In contrast, normal breast cells rarely possess these viral sequences, the group reported. The new findings raise once again the provocative, decades-old question of whether an infec- tious virus plays a role in at least some breast cancer . “It would be extremely exciting and interesting, if true,” observes Harald zur Hausen of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Over the last few decades, investigators have linked a number of viruses, specifically retro- ...

Epidemiologist Dimitrios Trichopoulos, puzzling over why women develop breast cancer , focused on various factors before homing in on a chemical that appeared to operate in a surprising environment many years earlier. That chemical is the natural hormone estrogen, which may have set the stage for cancer while the women were still in the womb, says Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Invasive breast cancer strikes about 180,000 women in the United States each year. It is the most common cancer among U.S. women. Known risk factors, such as a family history of the disease, early menarche, or a first live birth after age 30, account for only a small portion of cases. What’s behind the high frequency of this disease in the U.S. population? Over the years, scientists have blamed and exonerated many factors, including a high-fat diet and abortion, but none has proved ...

Aspirin Users May Trim Breast Cancer Risk Aspirin, whose active ingredient has been an accepted pain remedy for more than 2,000 years, has emerged recently as a preventive for colon cancer and second heart attacks. Now, aspirin and some related drugs may be cast in a new role—that of safeguard against breast cancer . The value of another suspected breast cancer preventive, breast -feeding, remains unclear, according to an unrelated study. Researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus surveyed 511 breast cancer patients and 1,534 women who did not have the disease. The investigators found that women who took an aspirin or ibuprofen at least three times a week for 5 years cut their breast cancer risk by one- third. If these findings are borne out by subsequent studies, aspirin, ibuprofen, and other nons- teroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) would become the first agents known to stave ...

Genetic flaw linked to breast cancer Much discussion of genetic links to breast cancer has centered on mutations in genes called BRCA-1 and BRCA-2, which predispose some women to the disease. New research suggests that other genetic flaws also increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer . Among these flaws are variants of three GST genes, named for the glutathione S-transferase enzymes that they encode. GST enzymes act as roving cleanup crews to detoxify potential can- cer-causing agents in the body. A flaw in the gene, GSTM1, that encodes one such enzyme has been associated with lung cancer . Other studies have hinted that cancer of the colon, bladder, and testicles could also be linked to GST variations. To assess the role of these genetic variations in breast cancer , researchers at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Md., analyzed blood samples from 110 women who had breast ...

U.S. researchers sparked a transatlantic debate this spring when they announced that the drug tamoxifen can prevent women from developing breast cancer . Researchers in Britain responded that longer studies were necessary to justify that conclusion. Now, two teams of European researchers offer some support for those critics. In the July 11 L ANCET , both groups report preliminary findings that indicate tamoxifen—a widely prescribed medication for limiting breast cancer recurrence—provides no significant protective effect. Like the U.S. researchers, teams in England and Italy examined whether the drug reduces the number of new cases of cancer among healthy women with no previous breast cancer but who were, for a variety of reasons, at high risk of contracting the disease. Neither study found a significant difference in cancer incidence between women who took an inactive substance, or placebo, ...

Last year, when an international team ended a 4-year quest for the gene responsible for inherited breast cancer , the researchers announced that they and another team, working together, had discovered a second breast cancer gene somewhere on the long arm of chromo- some 13. Now, that second team, headed by Michael R. Stratton, has the additional gene in hand. Approximately 90 percent of all inherited cases of breast cancer can be attributed to mutations in either of the two genes. “We don’t have all of [the second gene] because it is quite large,” says Stratton, of the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, England. “But we do have the abnormalities which are responsible for breast cancer risk.” In 1990, Mary-Claire King, now of the University of Washington in Seattle, reported that a breast cancer susceptibility gene dubbed BRCA resides on chromosome 17 and may cause the 5 to 10 percent of breast ...

Taking estrogen for 5 or more years may raise postmenopausal women’s risk of developing breast cancer and of dying from the disease, a controversial new study shows. What’s more, taking progestin does not reduce those odds, the researchers report. Earlier studies produced conflicting results on whether estrogen, a hormone that helps lower postmenopausal women’s likelihood of getting heart disease and other disorders, raises their chance of developing breast cancer (SN: 2/4/95, p.74) . Taking progestin counteracts estrogen’s effect of increasing women’s susceptibility to uterine cancer , but few studies exam- ined whether progestin also protects against breast cancer . In the new study, women who had taken hormones for 5 or more years and who were still taking them showed a 30 to 40 percent higher incidence of breast cancer than nonusers, report Graham A. Colditz of Harvard Medical School in Boston and ...

How common is breast cancer ? Breast cancer is not very common until about 40 years of age, but it becomes more common as women get older. The incidence of breast cancer has increased over the last 20 years. Now, more than 6000 new cases are diag- nosed each year in Australia. One in 15 women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Why is screening for breast cancer important? Early detection of breast cancer is very important; it increases the success of treatment and reduces the risk of death. Research has shown that a mammogram is the most effective way of finding early breast can- cer in older women. Some symptoms, such as a lump in the breast , may be a sign of breast cancer . However, there may be other causes. If you do have any breast ...

Breast Cancer Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women (aside from skin cancer ). It was estimated that 211,240 women would be diagnosed in 2005. When found and treated early before it spreads, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is 98 percent. PREVENTION • Eat a low-fat diet. • Exercise regularly. • Drugs are available to help prevent breast cancer in women at high risk. RISKS • All men and women • Women more than 50 years old are at higher risk • Women with a family history of breast cancer • Women with inherited abnormal genes • Women who had breast cancer in one breast • Obese women with a sedentary lifestyle SYMPTOMS • A lump, mass or thickening in the breast • Change in the size or shape of a breast • Nipple pain, tenderness or discharge, including ...

Breast Cancer and the Jewish Woman Talking Points Excerpted from the Sharsheret booklet, “Facing Breast Cancer as a Jewish Woman” © 2006 Sharsheret, Inc. All rights reserved. The High Holidays • National Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October and the Jewish holidays of Tishrei present an important opportunity to reflect on health awareness for Jewish women. • The High Holidays are a relevant time to address women’s health as many of the biblical passages we read at this time focus on women, such as Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah. • For the Jewish woman facing breast cancer , navigating the physical and emotional demands of the holidays may also make these trying times. Some women find general holiday preparations – shopping, cooking, and cleaning – physically taxing. Others do not feel emotionally ready to celebrate. The High Holidays period, in particular, can bring with ...

breast cancer 1581 For Breast Cancer A program of the UAMS College of Pharmacy Funded through unrestricted educational grants by Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Arkansas Affiliate Overview of Breast Cancer Jan K. Hastings, Pharm.D. Breast Cancer The most common form of cancer among women The second most common cause of cancer related mortality 1 of 8 women (12.2%) One third of women with breast cancer die from breast cancer Risk Factors for Breast Cancer Female (1% male) Aging Relative (mother or sister) Menstrual history early on set late menopause Child birth After the age of 30 Exogenous Estrogen Hormonal replacement therapy(HRT) 30% ...

It’s What You Need To Know THE FACTS ABOUT BREAST CANCER This year, about 211,240 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and about 40,870 will die from the disease. A woman’s best defense against breast cancer is the proper utilization of mammograms beginning at age 40. Most women who develop breast cancer have no known risk factors. Finding breast cancer early gives a woman more treatment choices and a better chance for survival. Up to 80% of all women can be treated by surgery that saves the breast and removes only the cancerous lump. What are the warning signs? If you notice a change in your breast tissue, you should contact your doctor for a check-up before your annual exam. Some of the changes that may be warning signs for breast cancer include: • A lump, ridge, thickening or a dimpling effect on or near the breast or underarm area. ...

Optical Transillumination Spectroscopy for Breast Cancer Risk Assessment c Roberta Jong d Brian C Wilson a, b Norman Boyd a, b Kristina Blyschak a a Ontario Cancer Institute 610 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 2M9 b University of Toronto, 610 University Avenue, Toronto . ON M5G 2M9 c Photonics Research Ontario, 60 St George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1A7 . d Sunnybrook and Women’s Health Science Centre, 2200 Bayview, Toronto, ON M5S 1B2 ABSTRACT – In vivo transillumination spectroscopy is being developed as a means to identify women at risk of developing breast cancer . The first stage in this development is to test whether optical spectroscopy is at least equivalent to X-ray mammographic density as a risk predictor. A prototype instrument ...