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Monday, January 28, 2008
NBCC's Annual Advocacy Conference April 26-29
Register today for NBCC's Annual Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC. They have a great lineup of speakers and
workshops and many survivors will be attending from across Ohio. NOBCCF will coordinate travel and training to help
you maximize your conference experience. Register at NBCC's web site and make sure to put NOBCCF as your membership
organization.
Scholarships to cover travel and lodging expenses are available from NBCC and NOBCCF, but you must be a member to be
eligible.
28 jan 08 @ 11:32 am
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
NCCN Updates Breast Cancer Guidelines
Getting quality care for breast cancer screening and treatment is easier if you know where to go for information about
expert recommendations. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network regularly reviews the latest research and provides
guidelines to physicians about how to screen and treat breast cancer. Following is their latest update on changes to
best practice for breast cancer treatment....
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is proud to announce several new updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice
Guidelines in Oncology™ Breast Cancer. These changes highlight leading developments in the treatment of breast cancer and
represent the recognized standard for clinical care in oncology in both the community and the academic practice settings.
A new section focusing on the treatment of patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) has been added. IBC is a rare,
aggressive form of breast cancer estimated to account for 1% to 6% of breast cancer cases in the United States. IBC is characterized
by redness and swelling of the skin of the breast due to blockage of lymph vessels by cancer cells. Recommendations from the
NCCN Guideline Panel for treatment of IBC (without evidence of metastases) involve a combined modality approach including
preoperative chemotherapy with an anthracycline with or without a taxane followed by total mastectomy and radiation therapy
for patients responding to preoperative chemotherapy.
In the latest version of the NCCN Guidelines, the option of using a gene-based assay of tumor tissue (Oncotype DX®,
Genomic Health) to help guide chemotherapy treatment decisions is now included within the systemic adjuvant treatment decision
pathway for patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative tumors that are 0.6 to 1.0 cm and moderately/poorly differentiated
or with unfavorable features, or > 1 cm.
Bevacizumab (Avastin®, Genentech) continues to be a recommended therapy in combination with paclitaxel for the treatment
of recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.
The NCCN Breast Cancer Guideline V.2.2008 now includes new sections covering principles of breast reconstruction following
mastectomy and principles of radiation therapy.
For questions about NCCN or for interview information, please contact Thomas Mitchell at 215.690.0245.
Link to new section for treating inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)
More info
Infections After Breast Implantation Surgery
A new study shows that infections after breast implantation surgery are more common than expected,
and those involving implants. Post mastectomy infections after breast reconstruction surgery occurred in more than 5
per cent of patients according to an article in the January 2008 issue of Archives of Surgery reporting on a study done by
the Washington University School of Medicine. The result was longer hospital stays and average additional cost of around
$4,000 per patient.
Infection occurred following 12.4 percent of mastectomies with immediate breast reconstruction using
an implant; 6.2 percent of mastectomies with immediate breast reconstruction using abdominal tissue; 4.4 percent of mastectomies
only and 1.1 percent of breast reduction surgeries. The average time between surgery and infection diagnosis was 46.6 days.
While risk of infection appears lower in patients whose own tissue was used for reconstruction, its not always an
option for breast cancer patients, particularly those who have double mastectomy surgery.
Infections can be prevented. Talk to your doctor before surgery about your risk of
infection and whether you might benefit from preventive measures such as taking antibiotics beforehand. As
someone who went through two infections after reconstructive surgery, I recommend asking questions and taking precautions.
Spending a summer on IV anti-biotics is no fun.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Dr. Judah Folkman - Pioneer In Cancer ResearchA giant in the field of cancer research, and a native of Cleveland, Dr. Judah Folkman, has died. His work pioneered
the idea that tumors could be controlled or eliminated by cutting off the blood supply. His discoveries led
to later development of drugs like Avastin.
I was fortunate to meet Dr. Folkman at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and found him to be a warm, friendly
and fascinating person. Rest in Peace Dr. Folkman, you have left this world a far better place.
From the New York Times, Jan. 16:
Dr. Judah Folkman, a giant of cancer research who faced years of skepticism before his ideas led to successful treatments,
died Monday in Denver. He was 74.
The cause was apparently a heart attack, his wife, Paula Folkman, said Tuesday. Dr. Folkman died at the airport, where
he was changing planes on the way to a conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.
...
"His vision and ideas literally changed the course of modern medicine," said Dr. William Li, a former student of Dr.
Folkman's, who is president of the Angiogenesis Foundation, an organization that promotes the promise of Dr. Folkman's approach.
Angiogenesis refers to the formation of new blood vessels....."
Hormone Replacement Therapy Raises Risk of Lobular Breast Cancer
Its been well established in recent years that hormone replacement therapy raises breast cancer risk in post-menopausal
women. A new study, published in the January issue of Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, shows
use of combined estrogen-progestin hormone therapy it also greatly increases the risk of lobular breast cancer.
"We found that women who were using combined estrogen and progestin hormone therapy had a nearly 300 percent increased
risk in their risk of lobular, but only a 40 percent increase in their risk of ductal cancer," said study author Dr. Christopher
I. Li, an associate member in the epidemiology program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "There is
clear, strong, consistent evidence that using combined estrogen and progestin hormone therapy increases a woman's risk of
breast cancer. It is less well known how these hormones influence risk of different types of breast cancer."
Kim WadeI wanted to share with you the news that our former Patient Coordinator for Lend A Helping Hand, Kim Wade, is currently in
hospice care at:
Hospice House
Hospice of the Western Reserve
300 E 185th St
Cleveland, OH 44119
(216)
383-2222
Kim served as our Lend A Helping Hand patient coordinator in 2004 and 2005, providing warm, friendly and reassuring
guidance as a fellow breast cancer survivor to the dozens of women in northeast Ohio who called for help. She originally
came to us as a client, but when her treatment for her first breast cancer diagnosis was completed, we asked her to work for
us. She stayed until her cancer returned, when she had to leave to focus on fighting her disease. She returned to LHH for
a short while in early 2006, but was unable to continue working due to problems w/ side effects of treatment. Please join
us in our prayers and good thoughts for Kim and her family.
16 jan 08 @ 8:07 am
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Great Resource for Patient Navigation
Dr. Carolyn Clancy of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently began
writing a series of columns on the AHRQ web site with easy to understand tips for patients on how to navigate
the health care system and get quality care. Everyone needs to be a good health care consumer, especially for breast cancer
screening and treatment.
As information, Dr. Clancy is also an instructor for National Breast Cancer Coaltion's Quality Care ProjectLEAD
course.
I will post a link to Dr. Clancy's page here and also in our "Links And Resources" section so patients can access it
permanently without having to go through the Breast Blog archives.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Illinois Expands Breast Cancer Screening & Treatment to Cover All Uninsured
Illinois has just taken an important step to reduce breast & cervical cancer deaths by expanding their BCCP screening
and treatment coverage to all uninsured Illinois women.
During January, Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, Governor Rod Blagojevich is continuing his commitment to make sure all
uninsured women in Illinois have access to breast and cervical cancer screenings and treatment.
Effective October
1, 2007, Blagojevich made Illinois the first and only state in the country to make sure women who need access to potentially
life-saving cancer screenings and treatment could get it by expanding the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program to all
uninsured women in the state.
The expansion makes it possible for more that 260,000 women in Illinois to qualify for free cancer screenings and treatment
when they need them, regardless of income.
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