Breast Cancer

A preliminary analysis of ongoing research suggests that high-risk women with breast cancer who do not have a BRCA1/2 mutation may face a greater chance for developing a second breast cancer than previously thought. With the increased risk of cancer in these women, should sentinel node biopsy be considered at the time of prophylactic mastectomy, and how can women best be counseled after these findings?

Make no bones about it: Maintaining a strong skeleton could be a key to stopping the spread of metastatic breast cancer, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine here. The study involved more than 100 women with locally advanced cancer. Doctors found that those who received zoledronic acid, a drug that helps builds bone tissue, were less likely to wind up with renegade cancer cells in their bone marrow. Such cells can spur tumor growth elsewhere in the body.

CHICAGO -- Signaling the reversal of a long decline in the use of mastectomy for breast cancer patients, a new study indicates more women are opting for the operation in part because more patients are getting MRI scans that can find additional tumors. The marked change in care in recent years suggests a deepening of the emotional dilemma that many women face when choosing between mastectomy and more targeted treatments that can preserve the breast. The study of 5,463 Mayo Clinic breast cancer patients found an increase of 13 percentage points in the use of mastectomy between 2003 and 2006.

HOUSTON -- A U.S. study shows Gefitinib, a once-promising drug for treating lung cancer, can enhance hormonal therapy for treating some metastatic breast cancers. The finding concerning the drug, also known as Iressa, represents the first positive study involving breast cancer for the entire class of drugs known as epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, said Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli, the study's principal investigator at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Men from families where the women have high rates of breast cancer could face a heightened risk of prostate cancer, Australian researchers said Monday. A mutated gene seen as a factor in breast cancer can also expose men to a four times higher risk of prostate cancer, the scientists said, describing confirmation of the link as a world first. The research was funded by Australia's National Breast Cancer Foundation and carried out by researchers at kConFab, an Australian and New Zealand consortium for research into familial breast cancer.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A U.S. study shows adding an ultrasound screening to routine mammography may find more breast cancers, but also hikes the rate of false positive findings. The American College of Radiology Imaging Network's biostatistics center at Brown University conducted the study and said there is a significant trade-off with ultrasound screening. "The medical community may well decide that the screening benefit is offset by the increase in risk to women from a false positive finding," said Associate Professor Jeffrey Blume.

Screening for breast cancer with both ultrasound and mammogram gives a better diagnosis than with either method by itself -- although it increases the number of biopsies for lesions that turn out to be non-cancerous. The findings, in a study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, affirms a belief long held by Dr. Nilza Kallos of the Breast Health Center and Diagnostic Ultrasound of Miami, a pioneer in using ultrasound. "For many years we have been asking for this study because insurance was not paying for routine ultrasound," Kallos said.

CHICAGO -- An anesthetic injection into a collection of nerves in the neck of breast cancer survivors may reduce the severity and frequency of debilitating hot flashes and night awakenings associated with breast cancer treatment, according to a new study published online today by The Lancet Oncology and appearing in its June issue. Hot flashes and sleep dysfunctions often plague breast cancer survivors, especially those who take anti-estrogen medications. Conventional treatments have been only partially effective and may carry serious risks.

Two to three cups of coffee a day can reduce a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, while alcohol consumption increases it, according to the results of two recent studies. Citing research by Lund University and Malmo University in Sweden, the Swedish Research Council reported that coffee could retard the release of cancer-causing metabolic products by female sex hormones. What's more, it said, the caffeine in coffee had been shown to hamper the growth of cancer cells.

Women deficient in vitamin D at the time of a breast cancer diagnosis are more likely to die or see the tumor spread, a Canadian study published in the United States has shown. Patients low in vitamin D were 94 percent more likely to see their cancer metastasize and 73 percent more likely to die from it, compared to women with normal levels of vitamin D in their blood, researchers found. And many of the 512 breast cancer patients participating in the research, published Thursday in the American Society of Clinical Oncology, had inadequate vitamin D to begin with.