More women getting double mastectomies

NF Reporter · 10-23-2007, 01:30 AM

AP - More women who have cancer in only one breast are getting both breasts removed, says research that found the trend more than doubled in just six years. It's still a rare option: Most breast cancer in this country is treated by lumpectomy, removing just the tumor while saving the breast.

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waltky · 09-23-2008, 01:17 AM

Shorter radiation for breast cancer...

Shorter Radiation for Cancer of the Breast
September 22, 2008 - Three weeks of radiation treatment work just as well as the usual course of five weeks or more for women with early-stage breast cancers, Canadian researchers have reported, after monitoring a large group of patients for 12 years.

Quote:

The results, presented Monday at a conference in Boston, provide some of the strongest evidence yet that radiation schedules can safely be shortened to make life easier for patients and to let clinics reduce their waiting lists and treat more women without buying more machines. Experts say the new findings, from a respected study, could change the standard of care in the United States. The typical schedule now involves five to seven weeks of daily treatments, and most women would welcome a chance to get it over with faster — especially those who work, have small children or live far from the clinic.

About 180,000 women a year develop breast cancer in the United States, and most need radiation. From 30 percent to 40 percent may be candidates for the type of treatment given in the study. Some centers in this country already offer shorter courses of treatment, but they are more widely available in Canada and parts of Europe. “We’ve really got to give it serious consideration in the United States,” said Dr. Anthony L. Zietman, a radiation oncologist at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and president-elect of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. He was not involved in the Canadian study.

But Dr. Zietman cautioned that the results applied only to women with early cancers like those in the study, which were removed by lumpectomy and had not spread to the lymph nodes. Often, women with such early cancers do not need chemotherapy. Other major changes in radiation are also in the works. Doctors are experimenting with ways to treat just part of the breast rather than all of it, and to make the treatment safer, they are trying to avoid exposing the heart and lungs to radiation. The purpose of radiation is to keep cancer from coming back in the same breast where it first occurred, by killing any tumor cells that may have evaded surgery and chemotherapy. Cancer cells are more vulnerable to radiation than are normal ones, and the treatment has always been a balancing act between giving enough radiation to destroy the tumor cells but not enough to cause serious damage to healthy tissue and organs.

The changes now being made result in part from the overall success in treating early breast cancers, Dr. Zietman said. Survival rates have climbed so high — 98 percent of women with early-stage cancers survive at least five years — that it is now considered reasonable to step back, look at women’s quality of life and try modifying the regimens to make treatment less onerous. “It’s a bit of a change in our thinking,” Dr. Zietman said.

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Icorigin · 09-23-2008, 06:29 PM

Cancers occur for all sort of causes.

It is not God's intention for women to pretend to
be tomboys and thus tightly flat-chested.
The Lord has rules against transvestitism and
lesbian homosexuality.

Nor is it His intention for men to squeeze women's
breasts roughly and abusively. Sensitive fondling is
congruent with the narratives of the Old-Testament's
Song of Solomon, but there is no place for men
to violate Saint Peter's admonition of: "Husbands,
live CONSIDERATELY with your wives, bestowing HONOR
on the woman as the WEAKER vessel, that your prayers
be not hindered."

It is NOT honorable to mis-name breasts: "boobs."
And other make-fun-of-them terms do not indicate
gentle respect in attitudes nor actions for what should
be considered desirable and beautiful.

- BREAKINGNEWS
- NATURESITES
- PALINPORNPIX