Breast cancer News

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) -- A highly targeted biologic drug called cetuximab (Erbitux) is the first to extend the survival of patients with advanced colon cancer who have otherwise proved resistant to conventional chemotherapy, Canadian researchers confirmed.

Sixty-three percent of American women think that if there's no family history of cancer, you're not likely to develop the disease, a new survey found.

HealthDay - WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) -- The addition of the chemotherapy drug, docetaxel, to the standard two-drug regimen used for head and neck cancers improved the efficacy of the treatment while reducing the toxicity, two new studies report.

AP - More women who have cancer in only one breast are getting both breasts removed, says research that found the trend more than doubled in just six years. It's still a rare option: Most breast cancer in this country is treated by lumpectomy, removing just the tumor while saving the breast.

Reuters - More U.S. women diagnosed with breast cancer are choosing to have both breasts removed, even though it is usually not necessary or even recommended, researchers reported on Tuesday.

Women diagnosed with breast cancer who have a mastectomy are increasingly choosing to have their other, healthy breast removed as a preventive measure.

As women live longer lives, the number of breast cancer cases among older patients is rising, too.

Researchers say they've identified a protein that could play a key role in the development of pancreatic cancer.

Reuters - An analysis of the results of several studies confirm previous reports suggesting that chemotherapy offers little or no survival benefits for young women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers and, if given, it should not be the sole second-phase, or "adjuvant" therapy.

A new chemotherapy drug called Ixempra has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to treat women with advanced breast cancer who haven't responded to three other types of chemotherapy.

The United States isn't making the grade when it comes to women's health, a new report contends.

Death rates from cancer are dropping more quickly across the United States, offering what an expert called a "glimmer of hope" against a leading killer.

Neither of two commonly used radiation treatments for early-stage breast cancer has any negative effect on a patient's immune system, concludes a Loyola University Health System pilot study.

When added to a standard chemotherapy, the drug paclitaxel (Taxol) cuts the recurrence of breast cancer by 41 percent in women with a particular form of tumor, a new study finds.

Black women with breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes are less likely to undergo supplemental, potentially lifesaving, therapies such as tamoxifen or chemotherapy than white women with the same level of disease are, a new study finds.

The size and shape of a woman's hips may affect her daughter's breast cancer risk, an international group of researchers report.

AP - Breast cancer survivors may face increased risk of heart disease — and doctors are debating if it's time to largely abandon a chemotherapy mainstay that is one reason for the problem.

Older women looking for a medication to help lower their risk of invasive breast cancer now have another option available to them.

Three or more drinks a day boosts a woman's risk for breast cancer by 30 percent. And it doesn't seem to matter which form of alcohol -- wine, beer, or spirits -- is consumed, researchers report.

Breast cancer death rates continue to decline more than 2 percent annually, a long-running trend that can be traced to early detection and better treatments, according to a new American Cancer Society report.