Tag: Breast Cancer

A New Hope for Breast Cancer Survivors

Most women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer today can expect to become long term cancer survivors, according to a study published in June in the British Medical Journal (BMJ). finds a study The findings, by a group of British and Canadian researchers, show that the average risk of dying from breast cancer in the… Continue reading A New Hope for Breast Cancer Survivors

Mammogram Guidelines Are Changing

An influential health panel has issued a “draft recommendation” that all women be screened for breast cancer every other year beginning at age 40. The draft recommendation is sharply at odds with earlier ones. In its announcement, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (U.S.P. T.) emphasized that their action today is one step short of… Continue reading Mammogram Guidelines Are Changing

Depression And Breast-Cancer Survival

In a recent study, having depression before or after a breast cancer diagnosis was associated with a lower likelihood of survival. The findings are published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.  For the study, Bin Huang, DrPH, of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, and his colleagues… Continue reading Depression And Breast-Cancer Survival

Nipple-Sparing Surgery is Safe for Women with Gene Mutations

For women with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer, it is shocking to learn that you carry a gene mutation that dramatically increases the chance you will develop breast cancer at some point in your life. Perhaps just as shocking is learning that your best way to prevent breast cancer is to undergo a double… Continue reading Nipple-Sparing Surgery is Safe for Women with Gene Mutations

Using Fat Grafting for Breast Reconstruction

Fat grafting is an innovative form of breast reconstruction that avoids both the artificiality of breast implants and the scarring and complexities of flap surgery. A form of natural tissue breast reconstruction, fat grafting is an option for women with the time and patience to accept its limitations. The most common type of breast reconstruction… Continue reading Using Fat Grafting for Breast Reconstruction

Considerations for Having a Preventive Mastectomy

While all women are at risk for breast cancer, particularly those over 50 years old, there are particular factors that considerably raise the risk for women at any age. Understanding and becoming aware of these factors allows those at high risk to explore their options for reducing their risk. The most common risk factor is… Continue reading Considerations for Having a Preventive Mastectomy

Advances in Breast Cancer Research

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among American women. Breast cancer death rates have been falling over the past 30 years. But nearly 13% of women are still diagnosed in their lifetime. Men can get breast cancer too, although it’s rare. Researchers are studying the risk factors for different types of breast cancer.… Continue reading Advances in Breast Cancer Research

Think Twice Before Your Tummy Tuck: The Abdomen is the Best Donor Site for Natural Tissue Breast Reconstruction

Every year, hundreds of thousands of women undergo surgical procedures to reshape their abdomens. For many, diet and exercise cannot correct the loose skin, stretch marks, and loss of elasticity that result from pregnancy, weight loss, or the aging process. Some women also suffer a weakening of abdominal muscles that causes a bulge that is… Continue reading Think Twice Before Your Tummy Tuck: The Abdomen is the Best Donor Site for Natural Tissue Breast Reconstruction

Post Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction Basics: Understanding Your Options

Breast reconstruction has come a long way. Although breast cancer was known to the ancient Egyptians as far back as 1600 B.C., it was not until the 18th century that it was understood to be a localized disease whose spread could be contained by isolating and removing the affected cells, and it was not until… Continue reading Post Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction Basics: Understanding Your Options

Lumpectomy vs. Mastectomy: How to Decide

Few fingers decorated as few person. Suitable to be used for anything about lumpectomy surgery.

While coping with the emotional turmoil that follows a breast cancer diagnosis, a woman must absorb a seemingly vast amount of information that will help her make important decisions about the treatment options available to her. Many women with early-stage cancer learn that while surgery will be needed, the decision of whether to attempt to… Continue reading Lumpectomy vs. Mastectomy: How to Decide

What to Expect When Recovering from Breast Surgery

Hundreds of thousands of women undergo breast surgery every year. Whether these procedures are reconstructive, cosmetic, or therapeutic, surgery itself is traumatic to the body. The body’s reaction to surgery depends on many factors. Most important are the patient’s overall health, type and location of the surgery, and the aftereffects of anesthesia. Before surgery, each woman… Continue reading What to Expect When Recovering from Breast Surgery

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

Prophylactic Mastectomy: Reducing the Risk of Breast Cancer

Every woman is at risk for breast cancer just by being female and growing older. Many women are diligently attentive to the lifestyle factors that can reduce their risk: They don’t smoke, eat a plant-based diet, control their weight, exercise regularly, avoid hormone therapy, and limit exposure to radiation and environmental pollution. For some high-risk… Continue reading Prophylactic Mastectomy: Reducing the Risk of Breast Cancer

Statins May Help Protect Breast-Cancer Patients from Chemotherapy-Related Heart Damage

Statins, common cholesterol-lowering medications, may protect women’s hearts from damage caused during chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer, according to new research published in January 2021 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association (AHA). “Two types of cancer medications, anthracyclines and trastuzumab, are effective treatments for… Continue reading Statins May Help Protect Breast-Cancer Patients from Chemotherapy-Related Heart Damage

Some Breast Cancer Patients May Not Benefit from Chemotherapy

Postmenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer that has spread to a limited number of lymph nodes, and whose recurrence risk is relatively low, do not benefit from chemotherapy when it is added to hormone therapy, according to initial results from a clinical trial presented at the… Continue reading Some Breast Cancer Patients May Not Benefit from Chemotherapy

Managing Expectations for Breast Reconstruction

Breast reconstruction has come a long way. Advances in surgical technique have made it possible to use a woman’s own tissue to construct a breast that is soft and warm and often very similar to the breast she has lost to mastectomy. This “autologous reconstruction” has become the gold standard in breast reconstruction and can even… Continue reading Managing Expectations for Breast Reconstruction

Men with Breast Cancer Need More Treatment Options

Although breast cancer is a disease usually associated with women, men can get it too. Because male breast cancer is rare, there is very limited information on how to treat men diagnosed with the disease. “In the absence of better information to guide us, we tend to treat men with breast cancer the same way… Continue reading Men with Breast Cancer Need More Treatment Options