New drug cuts fracture risk in breast cancer:
An experimental drug has shown promising results in lowering the risk of serious bone complications among patients with advanced breast cancer.

According to a study presented at the 2009 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas, denosumab reduces the risk of serious bone complications including fractures, spinal cord compression and the need for radiation or surgery to bone in breast cancer sufferers by 23 percent.

Denosumab, which acts by targeting a protein that activates bone-destroying cells, significantly postpones the first incidence of such events. Continue Reading »
Breast Cancer New Drug

The goal of complementary medicine is to balance the whole person — physically, mentally, and emotionally — while conventional medicine does its work. For many people diagnosed with breast cancer, complementary medicine has helped to:

relieve symptoms
ease treatment side effects
improve quality of life

Researchers are working to better understand the value and benefit of complementary medicine in breast cancer

Treatment of recurrent breast cancer (cancer that has come back after treatment) in the breast or chest wall may include the following:

surgery (radical or modified radical mastectomy), radiation therapy, or both.
Systemic chemotherapy or hormone therapy.
A clinical trial of trastuzumab (Herceptin) combined with systemic chemotherapy

Treatment of inflammatory breast cancer may include the following:

Systemic chemotherapy.
Systemic chemotherapy followed by surgery (breast-conserving surgery or total mastectomy), with lymph node dissection followed by radiation therapy. Additional systemic therapy (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, or both) may be given.
Clinical trials testing new anticancer drugs, new drug combinations, and new ways of giving treatment

Treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) may include the following:

Breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy with or without tamoxifen.
Total mastectomy with or without tamoxifen.
Breast-conserving surgery without radiation therapy.
Clinical trials testing breast-conserving surgery and tamoxifen with or without radiation therapy. Continue Reading »
Treatment Options by Stage

Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may be repeated. Some tests will be repeated in order to see how well the treatment is working. Decisions about whether to continue, change, or stop treatment may be based on the results of these tests. This is sometimes called re-staging.

Some of the tests will continue to be done from time to time after treatment has ended. The results of these tests can show if your condition has changed or if the cancer has recurred (come back). These tests are sometimes called follow-up tests or check-ups

For some patients, taking part in a clinical trial may be the best treatment choice. Clinical trials are part of the cancer research process. Clinical trials are done to find out if new cancer treatments are safe and effective or better than the standard treatment.

Many of today’s standard treatments for cancer are based on earlier clinical trials. Patients who take part in a clinical trial may receive the standard treatment or be among the first to receive a new treatment. Continue Reading »
Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial

High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant is a way of giving high doses of chemotherapy and replacing blood -forming cells destroyed by the cancer treatment. Stem cells (immature blood cells) are removed from the blood or bone marrow of the patient or a donor and are frozen and stored. After the chemotherapy is completed, the stored stem cells are thawed and given back to the patient through an infusion. These reinfused stem cells grow into (and restore) the body’s blood cells. Continue Reading »
High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplant

Sentinel lymph node biopsy is the removal of the sentinel lymph node during surgery. The sentinel lymph node is the first lymph node to receive lymphatic drainage from a tumor. It is the first lymph node the cancer is likely to spread to from the tumor. A radioactive substance and/or blue dye is injected near the tumor. The substance or dye flows through the lymph ducts to the lymph nodes. The first lymph node to receive the substance or dye is removed. A pathologist views the tissue under a microscope to look for cancer cells. If cancer cells are not found, it may not be necessary to remove more lymph nodes. After the sentinel lymph node biopsy, the surgeon removes the tumor (breast-conserving surgery or mastectomy).

Sentinel lymph node biopsy. First of three panel illustration showing radioactive substance and/or blue dye is injected near the tumor, the injected material is followed visually or with a probe, and the first lymph nodes to take up the material are removed and checked for cancer cells.

Targeted therapy is a type of treatment that uses drugs or other substances to identify and attack specific cancer cells without harming normal cells. Monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors are two types of targeted therapies being studied in the treatment of breast cancer.

Monoclonal antibody therapy is a cancer treatment that uses antibodies made in the laboratory, from a single type of immune system cell. These antibodies can identify substances on cancer cells or normal substances that may help cancer cells grow. The antibodies attach to the substances and kill the cancer cells, block their growth, or keep them from spreading. Continue Reading »
Targeted therapy