Will My Breast Cancer Come Back? Reducing the Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence After Surgery
More than 215,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. For many of them, surgery to remove the tumor is just the first step in the battle against the disease, often followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy. After that, these women may need to decide with their doctor whether to have "adjuvant therapy"-medication to help prevent their cancer from coming back.
When a woman's breast cancer does come back or spreads to other parts of the body, she may be at greater risk of dying from the disease. Women whose breast cancer is detected in the nearby lymph nodes at diagnosis and those who receive chemotherapy after surgery are considered to be at increased risk for breast cancer recurrence.
Postmenopausal women whose early-stage breast cancer is hormone-sensitive have a new option as their first hormone therapy following surgery. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Femara® (letrozole tablets) on December 28, 2005 for this type of use. This approval was based on a median of 24 months of treatment. The study is still ongoing to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of Femara. Already a leading breast cancer treatment, Femara is now the only medicine in a group called aromatase inhibitors that is approved for use both immediately following surgery and after five years of tamoxifen. The FDA granted Femara a priority review, a distinction reserved for medications that could potentially offer a significant improvement compared to products currently on the market.
A panel from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the country's leading group of oncologists, recommends aromatase inhibitors, such as Femara, be part of the optimal adjuvant treatment for this group of women.
"One of the greatest fears confronted by women who have been treated for early breast cancer is that their cancer will come back. With Femara, we now have an option that can help address that fear early on, even in patients who we know face the greatest risk of recurrence," said Matthew Ellis, MD, PhD, FRCP, director of the Breast Cancer Program at Washington University in St. Louis.
In a large clinical study of post-surgery breast cancer treatment, researchers compared the effectiveness of Femara and tamoxifen, another drug prescribed after surgery. An analysis performed after 26 months showed that Femara reduced the risk of breast cancer coming back by 21% over the reduction offered by tamoxifen. Patients taking Femara also showed a 27 percent reduction in the risk of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body.
In this study, women at increased risk of recurrence experienced the greatest benefit from Femara. Femara lowered this risk by 29 percent in women whose breast cancer had already spread to the lymph nodes at the time of diagnosis and by 30 percent in women who had prior chemotherapy. The results also showed that in these high-risk women, Femara reduced the risk of cancer spreading to distant parts of the body by 33 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
In this study, Femara was generally well tolerated with the most common side effects including hot flashes, joint pain, night sweats, weight gain and nausea.
Tips for Living Healthy
Discuss postsurgery treatment options with an oncologist. Whether you're one, five or 10 years beyond your diagnosis, taking care of your overall health and well-being can also reduce your risk of cancer coming back and give you the energy to do the things in life that you love.
Practice good nutrition
Exercise regularly
Tap into a support network
Take time out for yourself
Editors Note: Important safety information
Femara® (letrozole tablets) is approved for the adjuvant (following surgery) treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive early breast cancer. The benefits of Femara in clinical trials are based on 24 months of treatment. Further follow-up will be needed to determine long-term results, safety and effectiveness.
Talk to your doctor if you're allergic to Femara or any of its ingredients. You should not take Femara if you are pregnant as it may cause fetal harm. You must be postmenopausal to take Femara. Some women reported fatigue and dizziness with Femara. Until you know how it affects you, use caution before driving or operating machinery. There was an increase in cholesterol in patients on Femara versus tamoxifen (5.4% vs. 1.2%).
In the adjuvant setting, commonly reported side effects were generally mild to moderate. Side effects seen in Femara versus tamoxifen included hot flashes (33.7% vs. 38%), joint pain (21.2% vs. 13.5%), night sweats (14.1% vs. 13.5%), weight gain (10.7% vs. 12.9%) and nausea (9.5% vs. 10.4%). Other side effects seen were bone fractures and osteoporosis.
Questions and Answers
Cancer stem cell content and the intrinsic radio sensitivity of cancer stem cells is thought to vary between tumors, thereby affecting their radio curability. Most cancers are named for where they start. For example, lung cancer starts in the lung, and breast cancer starts in the breast.
Article on bone cancer which outlines the disease, guides the reader through the various types of bone tumors and describes the signs and symptoms, treatments and survival rates.
Among the various type of cancer deaths, lung cancer is responsible for 29 percent of that. Hence, you can begin protecting yourself now by arming yourself with the general facts on lung cancer before it's too late.
The liver is the largest internal organ in the body. It is also known as primary liver cancer or hepatoma and hepatocellular carcinoma is a cancer arising from the liver.
Cancer which is found in the lungs is termed as lung cancer. Lungs are the softy organs located in the chest on both either side of the heart. Lungs are the essential organs useful in supplying oxygen in the blood to various parts of the body. Lung cancer is referred as the malignant tumor because it spreads through out the body, lung cancer cells usually travels through blood vessels into tissues and lymph nodes
Prostate cancer is referred as malignant tumor because it is cancerous and moreover it spreads to the various organs in the body. It has metastatic characteristics. Prostate cancer occurs to the cells of prostate gland.
Cancer translational research brings together scientists' and clinicians' suggestions to develop solutions to biomedical complications. This kind of applied research strives to offer strategies to questions surrounding the etiology, pathology, diagnosis, prevention and treating cancer.
Orbs are actually a lumpectomy or quadrantectomy combined with rotating the breast tissue or mobilize the flap into the cavity of the surgery time fill is removed. It also includes the comparative change in shape and size is doing in relation to breast and moved if necessary, does not affect the conversion of the breast. The deferred plan the reconstruction is not part of endoplasmic techniques. Both procedures are performed by specific thoracic surgeons.
What every woman fears for is losing her self confidence , losing hope and losing her personality. The term "Breast Cancer" is a very negative word and that it creates negative vibrations in her heart. So, to make her comfortable with the basics of breast cancer and to make her means any woman understand that this type of cancer is the least dangerous than all cancers and that if it is detected early then you will fight with it successfully. Causes, Symptoms, treatment, discussed in detail.
Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that originates in the mesothelium. The mesothelium is the protective lining that covers the body's internal organs. Mesothelioma occurs when the mesothelium cells start to divide uncontrollably.
Chemotherapy is a treatment for killing cancerous cells which is given intravenous or extra-venous to the cancer patient. Even breast cancer patients have to go through the treatment. This treatment mainly focuses on the cancerous cells that are spread in the blood stream in the whole body . If any cancerous cells are there then they are killed by the chemotherapy medicine. The medicine is very costly and it has to be taken for one or two days continuously for every 21 days .
According to a newly study, a mentholated cigarette are less to develop a lung cancer rather than the other types of cigarettes. In other words, the risk of lung cancer is for those people who smoke a regular cigarette it is proven by the researchers report.
On February 15 Tuesday, according to the study showing that men who start to go bald at 20 may be more likely to develop prostate cancer in later life.
The first three-dimensional mammogram device was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on last Friday, February 11, 2011.
According to the statistics by 20% among women who have a lung cancer are died. Unlike breast cancer, the lung cancer is detected only during advance stage. In fact, a female smoke a cigarettes can cause a higher mortality rate among women.
A center which works to save the life and limb. Fight cancer with a smile. Get strength with positive attitude. Bone cancer is the rare illness that causes in children more than the adults.
Discuss this Article
