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Following her trip to the 33rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) in December 2010, BCAC committee member Rowena Mortimer is convinced of the value of the associated advocacy programme.
Rowena was particularly struck by just how much research is currently underway to investigate many aspects of breast cancer and she gained a real appreciation for just how much she didn’t know! For this reason she believes the advocacy programme offered at the Symposium for attendees from around the world and run by the Alamo Breast Cancer foundation, is an invaluable way of upskilling.
This year the Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZ BCTG) combined its 2010 Annual Scientific meeting with COSA (Clinical Oncological Society of Australia) in early November in Melbourne, Australia.
Libby Burgess, BCAC chair, attended this conference as a member of IMPACT, the programme for Improving Participation and Advocacy for Clinical Trials associated with ANZ BCTG’s Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP).
As always this meeting provided an excellent opportunity to network and Libby met up with many of the New Zealand and Australian oncologists, breast surgeons, physicians and nurses with whom BCAC communicates on a regular basis.
BCAC Deputy Chair Chris Walsh and committee member Sue Ellis attended a day forum in Wellington in December organised by the Cancer Society and Central Cancer Network.
Titled ‘Survivorship – from discharge through follow up and beyond’ it attracted about 90 health professionals and survivors from around New Zealand.
Chris made the following observations:
As a Māori or Pasifika woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer, you may like to know about support groups in which you can share and talk with other women of your culture. Many Māori and Pasifika women are diagnosed later with breast cancer and/or have more aggressive forms of the disease.
Some Māori and Pasifika women find it an unfamiliar or uncomfortable experience dealing with various health and medical professionals and asking questions. If you find it difficult to talk to your doctor or to understand what they're saying, here are some ways you can help yourself:
For BCAC, the care of our Māori and Pasifika women with breast cancer is of great concern because we are seeing some disturbing statistics.
Recent Ministry of Health reports show that Māori women are 21 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, 30 per cent less likely to be diagnosed early (1) and 72 per cent more likely to die from breast cancer than non-Māori (2). Other data suggests Māori women tend to get breast cancer at a younger age(3). Pasifika women also have higher rates of breast cancer than Pākehā/European women.
The deeper researchers dive into the genetics of breast cancer, the more complicated their discoveries. And the latest, and deepest, dive is no exception.
The SOLE trial, involving 4,800 women worldwide, aims to determine whether taking the hormonal drug letrozole for a prolonged period helps to prevent or delay breast cancer recurring.
Studies have already shown that using the drug Letrozole can help to slow or stop the growth of oestrogen sensitive breast cancers. Women usually take hormone therapy, such as Tamoxifen or Letrozole, for five years after surgery. However, there is still a risk of breast cancer returning after this time.
The aim of this study is to determine whether the risk of recurrence can be reduced further by taking Letrozole for a another five years.
The SOLE trial will also confirm whether having a three-month break from taking Letrozole each year helps to improve its effectiveness.
New Zealand women are invited to participate in the LATER study, which looks at whether a particular drug can prevent breast cancer from recurring.
More than 1,700 post-menopausal women who have been treated with hormonal therapy for more than four years are invited to take part in this clinical trial run by the Australia New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG).
The study examines whether being given the drug Letrozole a year or more after completing hormonal therapy can prevent or delay breast cancer from recurring in postmenopausal women.
By Jenni Scarlet, Research Nurse, Breast Care Centre, Waikato Hospital, Hamilton
What is a clinical trial?
Clinical trials are research studies where a new treatment is tested against a best available or standard treatment. Clinical trials involve people working with research staff (including doctors and nurses) to help find ways to improve health and care of people with diseases such as breast or other cancer.
In cancer care, a clinical trial is one of the last stages of a lengthy and careful process that often starts many years earlier in a laboratory. Trials are a link between discoveries made in the cancer research laboratory and making new treatments available for people diagnosed with cancer.
Women at increased risk of developing breast cancer are needed to participate in a clinical trial which aims to identify a drug to help prevent the disease.
The IBIS-II trial is being run by the Australia New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group and Cancer Research UK and focuses on the drugs Anastrozole and Tamoxifen and whether they are beneficial in helping to prevent breast cancer.
Waikato breast surgeon, Associate Professor Ian Campbell, says around 6000 New Zealand, Australian and British women are needed to participate in the study.
“Prevention is better than cure and the IBIS-II study is all about identifying ways of preventing breast cancer, so it’s very exciting from that point of view,” Professor Campbell says.
