Every month, I’ll be highlighting breast
cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites,
journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and
share them with you. Today:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/264999.php
One of the most
AMAZING things about consistently looking at current breast cancer research is
that the discoveries seem to be never-ending. I can’t imagine ever stumbling
across a headline that reads, “Scientists Know Everything About Breast Cancer,
Research Centers Closed”…
Aside from the
shock to breast cancer researchers if they actually reached their ultimate
goal, I wonder what the next frontier would be? Certainly the world of research
changed when smallpox was finally vanquished or we conquered polio.
At any rate,
there’s news now that breast cancer treatment may be taking another turn –
women who contemplate a lumpectomy typically follow up with both radiation and
some sort of chemotherapy.
One research
team is now proposing that treatment centers and doctors WEIGH the advantages
and disadvantages of subjecting a woman to sometimes debilitating treatment with
radiation. “The most contentious issue surrounds radiotherapy and
whether all patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery should receive it.
The authors believe that if toxic effects of radiotherapy exceed any
oncological gains amongst DCIS patients, it is likely to lead to a higher
all-cause mortality rate.”
In other words, it’s a case of “if they don’t need it,
don’t do it” school of medicine.
While the research DOES NOT SAY RADIATION TREATMENT IS A
WASTE OF TIME OR HARMFUL IN ALL WOMEN, they do note that “Present treatment
options for DCIS [ductal in situ carcinoma – the most common form of breast
cancer] are acknowledged as being excessive for many patients, and the aim of
molecular profiling is to ensure that additional treatments such as
radiotherapy are restricted to patients at highest risk of invasive
recurrence."
What is molecular
profiling? “Molecular profiling [looks at] the [patient’s] genetics
and... [looks for] molecules found in the blood, other body fluids or tissues.
Based on the information gathered from a patient’s tumor, doctors are able to
identify the appropriate therapies that target[s that] patient’s cancer cells.”
So doctors are
working to first detect breast cancer as early as possible, then treat the
cancer effectively using ONLY what is needed to heal the patient. This would
include the recent push to only remove SENTINEL lymph nodes that test positive
for cancer rather than entire lymph node structures along with recent research
that indicates that it MAY be possible to reattach the lymph ducts from a limb
back into the blood stream if a large number of nodes were removed, thereby
reducing the incidence of lymphedema...but that’s the subject of another post!
Targeted
treatment for maximum impact with minimal damage? Sounds like a good plan to me.
Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRVkFRtGA5UXZVtD-Eyd1tVlU6EOv90F8h-L7P9D3RqyJKBGJxTGYN2t5RqLuz-x62MCoQuYC1Alc6jdAAD4NzuNdHhr2lpqi9De7HsH6aDEwBEwrNl6IQQRGHUHWn_aR7zPBZPvDP_b0/s200/breast-cancer-s14-radiation-for-breast-cancer.jpg
Thank you for your honest and open blog, I have gone through 18 months of treatment for my advanced rare breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer. And hope to keep my NED status too. Please keep up the good honest work you have put into this for yourself and your support for your wife. But mostly for other men who really need to read this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I'll keep on...maybe even until a cure for cancer is discovered!
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