Pain after any type of surgery is expected, but up to 30% of women undergoing mastectomy as part of breast cancer treatment will experience long-term pain and discomfort known as Post-Mastectomy Pain Syndrome, or PMPS. Fortunately, several effective treatment options are available for this vexing and distressing condition. Each year, more than 100,000 women… Continue reading Post-Mastectomy Pain Syndrome
Category: Breast Cancer
Why Feeling is Lost After Mastectomy and How Sensation Can Be Restored
Autologous reconstruction – using a woman’s own tissue to create a new breast – has become the “gold standard” for breast reconstruction, either immediately following mastectomy or later. Nipple-sparing mastectomy with autologous tissue breast reconstruction delivers a soft, warm, natural breast that is often barely distinguishable from a woman’s original breast. Sometimes, however, the natural… Continue reading Why Feeling is Lost After Mastectomy and How Sensation Can Be Restored
Advances in Breast Reconstruction: Fat Grafting to Improve Outcomes
For many women who have lost one or both breasts to mastectomy, achieving the ideal breast reconstruction may take time and patience. While it is tempting to opt for short-term quick fixes, the reality is that breast reconstruction after mastectomy should be considered a process rather than a single procedure. Even with the most advanced… Continue reading Advances in Breast Reconstruction: Fat Grafting to Improve Outcomes
Advances in Breast Reconstruction: The PAP Flap Reduces Visible Scarring
Women undergoing breast reconstruction after mastectomy have many options. The gold standard of breast reconstruction is natural tissue breast reconstruction, in which a woman’s own tissue is used to reconstruct the breast. Unlike implant-based breast reconstruction, a restored breast made of your own tissue is soft, warm, and grows or shrinks as you gain or… Continue reading Advances in Breast Reconstruction: The PAP Flap Reduces Visible Scarring
Nipple Reconstruction: Creating a Natural Breast After Mastectomy
Breast reconstruction recreates a breast mound either with implants or with the woman’s own tissue. In either case, nipple reconstruction can be performed in a separate surgery from the original breast reconstruction. Modern techniques in mastectomy and breast reconstruction offer women many options. Many women are candidates for nipple-sparing mastectomy, in which the nipple is… Continue reading Nipple Reconstruction: Creating a Natural Breast After Mastectomy
The High Financial Cost of Breast Cancer
While treatment for early stage breast cancer has significantly improved, the illness still takes an enormous financial toll on patients, according to new findings. A study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found that many patients are concerned about the financial impact of their diagnosis and treatment, and that they… Continue reading The High Financial Cost of Breast Cancer
Obese Women Have Lower Breast Cancer Risk before Menopause
Young women with high body fat have a decreased chance of developing breast cancer before menopause, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their collaborators. The finding, published online in the journal JAMA Oncology, may help researchers better understand the role obesity plays in breast cancer risk. “It is well known… Continue reading Obese Women Have Lower Breast Cancer Risk before Menopause
New Hope for Combating Lymphedema in Breast Cancer Survivors
More than 2.5 million women in the United States have had breast cancer. Many of them were treated with a combination of surgery, radiation, and sometimes chemotherapy that has removed or damaged lymph nodes and left them vulnerable to upper extremity lymphedema, a condition that can be disfiguring, painful and profoundly impair quality of life… Continue reading New Hope for Combating Lymphedema in Breast Cancer Survivors
Landmark Study Finds More Breast Cancer Patients Can Safely Forgo Chemotherapy
A 21-gene test performed on tumors could enable most patients with the most common type of early breast cancer to safely forgo chemotherapy, according to a landmark study done at Loyola University in May wood IL and published in June 2018 in the New England Journal of Medicine. A release from the university notes that… Continue reading Landmark Study Finds More Breast Cancer Patients Can Safely Forgo Chemotherapy
Multigene Testing Replacing BRCA Tests for Breast Cancer Risk
The use of genetic tests aimed at detecting mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in women with breast cancer is declining in favor of tests that can detect multiple cancer-associated mutations, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and five other U.S. medical centers. Some researchers had wondered whether multigene… Continue reading Multigene Testing Replacing BRCA Tests for Breast Cancer Risk
Breast Cancer Places Greater Financial Burden on Black Women than White Women
Having breast cancer placed a significantly greater financial strain on black women than white women, according to study by researchers at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, surveyed women who were diagnosed with breast cancer in North Carolina between 2008… Continue reading Breast Cancer Places Greater Financial Burden on Black Women than White Women
Mammography: What You Need to Know
Mammograms are still the best tool for breast cancer screening, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration certifies facilities that perform mammography—and clears and approves new mammography devices—to help keep you safe. How Does a Mammogram Work? A mammogram is a low-dose X-ray picture of the breast. Getting a mammogram is the best way to… Continue reading Mammography: What You Need to Know
Screening mammography for women 40-49 detects more cancers compared with older age groups
When compared to the screening population ages 50 and over, screening mammography in women ages 40-49 detects 19.3% additional cancers at the expense of an overall 1.5% increase in callbacks and 0.1% in increased biopsies, according to a study to be presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), set… Continue reading Screening mammography for women 40-49 detects more cancers compared with older age groups
Prepectoral Breast Implants: New Options to Save the Muscle
In the United States, only 30% of women who undergo mastectomy also undergo breast reconstruction. Of those women who undergo breast reconstruction, about 80% decide to undergo breast reconstruction with implants. Most women undergo implant-based breast reconstruction because it is simpler, scars are limited to the breasts, and the recovery is often faster immediately after… Continue reading Prepectoral Breast Implants: New Options to Save the Muscle
“Liquid Biopsy” Can Help Predict Outcomes in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
A clinically relevant “liquid biopsy” test can be used to profile cancer genomes from blood and predict survival outcomes for patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), according to research published in the February 20th 2018, print issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology by a multi-institutional team of researchers with The Ohio State… Continue reading “Liquid Biopsy” Can Help Predict Outcomes in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
MRI Technique Differentiates Benign Breast Lesions from Malignancies
An MRI breast imaging technique that requires no contrast agent, combined with sophisticated data analysis, could reduce the number of unnecessary breast biopsies, according to a study appearing online in February 2018 in the journal Radiology. A release from the Radiological Society of North America explains that breast MRI currently is used to screen women… Continue reading MRI Technique Differentiates Benign Breast Lesions from Malignancies
Weighing Screening Options for Older Women with a Family History of Breast Cancer
Family history of breast cancer continues to significantly increase chances of developing invasive breast tumors in aging women — those ages 65 and older, according to research done at Georgetown University School of Medicine and published in February 2018 in JAMA Internal Medicine. The findings could impact mammography screening decisions later in life. A release… Continue reading Weighing Screening Options for Older Women with a Family History of Breast Cancer
Biopsies after Breast Cancer
In an analysis of more than 120,000 women diagnosed with and treated for early-stage breast cancer, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have determined the rate of additional breast biopsies needed for these patients during follow-up care. The findings were reported in JAMA Surgery. “The important message is that the rate… Continue reading Biopsies after Breast Cancer