When a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer it is not only she who embarks on an unexpected and unwelcome journey – her partner will also inevitably experience their own challenging cancer journey.
It has been very exciting to track down Dr Elizabeth Iorns – a scientist who is conducting ground-breaking experiments in America to reduce the genetic transmission of BRCA – and realise that she grew up in New Zealand!
New research shows that a lack of clinical trials aimed specifically at younger breast cancer patients leaves knowledge gaps that could be partly to blame for their poorer survival rates.
The study, by Cancer Research UK study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, analysed almost 3000 British women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40.
A Missouri University of Science and Technology researcher has developed a new screening method that uses urinalysis to diagnose breast cancer – and determine its severity – before it could be detected with a mammogram.
UK scientists have discovered a number of genes which are responsible for developing resistance to a targeted medicine used in the treatment of HER2-Positive breast cancer.
The team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London examined a number of genes that were overactive in women with HER2 Positive breast cancer who had developed a resistance to the drug Lapatinib (Tykerb).
A new study shows that there’s been a small, but significant increase in the incidence of advanced breast cancer in young American women aged 25 to 39, without a corresponding increase in older women.
A recent study has found a further link between low vitamin D levels and premenopausal breast cancer.
New research results show that women with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer who take the drug tamoxifen for ten years rather than five, have a reduced risk of breast cancer recurring and better overall survival rates.
The findings of the ATLAS (Adjuvant Tamoxifen – Longer Against Shorter) study were presented this week at the renowned San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
A clinical trial comparing a shorter course of partial breast irradiation with standard whole breast irradiation has found that those who received the faster partial treatment were more likely to report side effects and poorer cosmetic outcomes.
New Zealand women were involved in the RAPID clinical trial which compared partial breast irradiation given twice daily over five to eight days with whole breast irradiation given daily over three to five weeks.
The quality of a woman’s social networks — the personal relationships that surround an individual — appear to be just as important as the size of her networks in predicting breast cancer survival, scientists report in the current issue of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.
