From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…That was four years ago – as time passed, people searching for
answers stumbled across my blog and checked out what I had to say. The
following entry appeared in August 2013. The root of this one is from: 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment