On Thursday, the morning session of the Symposium focused on the best treatment options for hormone sensitive tumors (tumors that are ER and/or PR-positive).Today, the focus turned to tumors that are HER2-positive.Trastuzumab (brand name Herceptin) was a breakthrough when it was first introduced as a treatment for HER2-positive tumors. But [...]
The Senate and the House have approved 138 million in 2008 funding for the Department of Defense peer-reviewed Breast Cancer Research Programs (DOD BCRP). The appropriated funding is a 10.5 million increase over 2007’s 127.5 million appropriation.“This funding increase is a major victory for the continuation of innovative and [...]
There’s now yet another reason not to use hormone therapy to treat menopausal symptoms any longer than necessary–if at all.
A new study published in this week’s Journal of the National Cancer Institutefound that women who use estrogen alone to decrease menopausal symptoms may be at increased risk of developing benign [...]
A research paper presented last month at the American Association for Cancer Research attracted significant media attention because it linked alcohol use to breast cancer risk.
Previous studies have also provided some evidence that alcohol may increase breast cancer risk, and laboratory studies have shown us the mechanism by which alcohol [...]
DeCode Genetics has announced that it will begin selling a new genetic test that, it says, can assess a woman’s lifetime risk of developing the most common types of breast cancer. Currently, genetic testing is primarily used in women with an extensive family history of breast and ovarian cancer to see if they carry one of the breast [...]
One of my favorite topics is back in the news: the relationship between postmenopausal hormone therapy—what we used to call hormone replacement therapy (HRT)—and breast cancer.
As you probably recall, in July 2002 a large randomized study called the Women’s Health Initiative was stopped prematurely found that the risk of taking [...]
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, if you are anything like me, you’ve probably found yourself thinking about the people in your life who matter most—friends, family members, the neighbor down the street who always takes the time to stop and ask how you are.
This year there are some new people on my list: the 250,000 women [...]
I think there is a misconception in the way that the media and some women are interpreting the implications of the new USPSTF guidelines. The alternative to finding your cancer on a mammogram if you are under age 50 is not death. The alternative is finding the cancer by feeling a lump while in the shower, or poking around, or rolling over [...]
The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) is asking individuals to call or fax their Representatives to urge them to support the Dept. of Defense (DOD) Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP). On the NBCC website you can find a list of Representatives by State who have signed on to DOD BRCP letters in the past. If your Representative is [...]
Today I went to the NBC studios to do an interview with Brian Williams for his Nightly News show. We talked about what a new study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, tells us about how best to use chemotherapy to treat breast cancer—and why the more we learn about tumors the more we learn about which chemotherapy [...]
