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BCAC recently met with MPs from across the political spectrum to deliver a strong message about measures needed to improve breast cancer care in New Zealand.
The BCAC team met with the Minister of Health, Hon. Tony Ryall, Associate Health Minister Jo Goodhew and Health Select committee member Dr Jackie Blue, as well as the Labour and Green Health spokespeople, the Hon. Maryan Street and Hon. Kevin Hague.
BCAC chair Libby Burgess says they had a positive meeting with the Minister of Health and his team. Mr Ryall was responsive to the messages BCAC conveyed and expressed a desire to do more to improve the delivery of cancer services.
The Breast Cancer Support (BCS) 'Young Women's Focus Group'
Member group Breast Cancer Support recently held a discussion group to help provide targeted and appropriate support services for younger women experiencing breast cancer.
BCS Young Women's Support Group is growing ... The Breast Cancer Support Young Women's group has been officially established! Six young women along with BSC Chair Misha Crosbie attended the March meeting. Nicky Foreman and Rosemary Geard are the Group's Co-ordinators and for the time being, Misha will continue in a mentor role.
It’s been a busy season for the Pink Dragons team and ending on a high with us finally winning a gold medal at this year’s National Championships at Blue Lake Rotorua. A number of new paddlers joined us throughout the season with a couple joining only weeks before Regionals and Nationals! Without all our new members we would not have been able to achieve our success this season. Our success is not only measured by the medals won but by the friendship and support given to those new paddlers, often only having just completed their treatment and trying to pick up their lives once again.
New research shows that a 12-month treatment programme of Herceptin is still the best option for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, according to the Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition (BCAC).
The latest data from two large clinical trials investigating Herceptin (trastuzumab) was presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Vienna, Austria overnight.
The French PHARE trial compared a six-month Herceptin treatment programme with 12 months, while the HERA trial compared 12 months with 24 months.
The results of the PHARE trial were inconclusive, but its principal researcher, Professor Xavier Pivot said “there is a trend in favour of 12 months treatment for the overall population”.
Psychologist Dr Geraldine Meechan takes us through the different emotional phases of breast cancer treatment and recovery and provides tips on how to manage the stress and anxiety.
BCAC is excited to see new results from a clinical trial which show that women diagnosed with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer lived longer when they received the experimental medicine T-DM1 (trastuzumab emtansine).
The results come out of the phase III EMILIA study which involves more than 990 women diagnosed with metastatic or advanced HER2–positive breast cancer who had stopped responding to standard treatments.
BCAC applauds a campaign which has seen a massive increase in mammogram screening for Chinese and Korean women in the Waitemata region of Auckland.
Breast screening uptake has soared by an extraordinary 88 per cent among Chinese and Korean women in the Waitemata District Health Board area in the three years to 2011.
The increase follows a campaign by BreastScreen Waitemata Northland (BSWN) and Waitemata Asian Health Support Services (AHSS), which targeted the region’s Asian population.
Around 13 per cent of the region’s population identifies as Asian and in 2007 only 43 per cent of eligible Asian women were getting mammograms.
There are numerous breast clinics throughout New Zealand specialising in breast cancer care. We list a number of them here.
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The Breast Centre, Auckland
An excellent website which contains an information portal that provides details about breast cancer care and treatment, as well as information about general breast health and all manner of breast procedures. Surgeon Trevor Smith also produces a useful book on breast care.
The Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition (BCAC) says women can have confidence in the country’s breast screening programme and must continue to use it.
A group of clinicians and consumers from across the breast cancer spectrum have come together to form a working group to improve breast cancer care throughout New Zealand.
