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Breast
Cancer: Better Treatments Save More Lives
By Carol Lewis Star
Community Newspapers – August 27, 2003
Two different women. The same deadly disease. One thought she couldn’t get it. The other was told she
didn’t have it. Both opinions were wrong. In 1994, one week before
turning 35, Cathy Young received the devastating news. ”I thought you had
to be in their 50s to get cancer,” the Oak Grove Mo., resident says “And then it
happened to me.” Linda Hunter, 42, recalls that in 1995, her mammogram results came
back normal. But skin changes in one of her breasts compelled her to seek
a second, third and fourth opinion – all of which supported the initial
mammogram findings. Her tenacity paid off when the fifth doctor she
visited detected a rare form of the disease.
Every three minutes, a woman
in the United States learns she has breast
cancer. It is the most common cancer among women, next to skin cancers,
and is second only to lung cancer in deaths in women. Only 5 to 10 percent
of breast cancers occur in women with a clearly defined genetic
predisposition for the disease! The overall risk for developing breast
cancer increases as a woman gets older.
Although treatment is
initially successful for many women, The American Cancer Society (ACS)
says that breast cancer will return in about 50% of these
cases.
“It’s hard to say that things are back to normal when
one survives breast cancer,” says Young, “because a survivor always has
the fear that one day the cancer will return.”
New drugs, new treatment
regimens and better diagnostic techniques have improved the outlook for
many, and are responsible, according to the ACS, for breast cancer death
rates going down.
Women have greater options
in breast treatment compared to a decade ago,” says Harman Eyre, M.D.,
chief medical officer at the ACS. New drugs and procedures open up a whole
new era of effective treatment.”
Breast cancer can be
treated with surgery, radiation, and drugs (chemotherapy and hormonal
therapy). Doctors may use one of these or a combination, depending on
factors such as the type and location of the cancer, whether the disease
has spread, and the patient’s overall health.
Most women with cancer will
have some kind of surgery, depending on the stage of the breast cancer.
The least invasive, lumpectomy (breast conserving surgery), removes
only the cancerous tissue and a surrounding margin of normal
tissue. Removal of the entire breast is called a mastectomy. A
modified radical mastectomy includes the entire breast and some of the
underarm lymph nodes. The very disfiguring radical mastectomy, in which
the breast, lymph nodes, and chest wall muscles under the breast are
removed, is rarely performed today because doctors believe that a modified
radical mastectomy is just as effective.
While removing underarm lymph nodes after surgery is important in order
to determine if the cancer has spread, this procedure may add chronic arm
swelling and restricted shoulder motion to the discomfort of the overall
treatment. But a new method, sentinel node biopsy, allows physicians to
pinpoint the first lymph node into which the tumor drains ( the sentinel
node), and remove the only nodes most likely to contain cancer cells.
To locate the sentinel node, the physician injects a radioactive tracer
in the area around the tumor before the mastectomy. The tracer travels the
same path to the lymph nodes that the cancer cells would take, making it
possible for the surgeon to determine the one or two nodes most likely to
test positive. The surgeon will then remove the one or two nodes most
likely to be cancerous.
Radiation therapy is treatment with high-energy rays or particles
given to destroy cancer. In almost all cases, lumpectomy is followed by
six or seven weeks of radiation, an integral part of breast-conserving
treatment. Although radiation therapy damages both normal and cancerous
cells, most of the normal cells are able to repair themselves and function
properly.
Radiation therapy can cause side effects such as swelling and heaviness
in the breast, sunburn-like skin changes in the treated area, and lymphedema (swelling of the arm due to fluid buildup) if the underarm
lymph nodes were treated after a node dissection.
Drug
Options Expanded
Drugs are used to reach cancer
cells that have spread beyond the breast -- in many cases even if no
cancer is detected in the lymph nodes after surgery.
Doctors once believed that the spread of breast cancer could be
controlled with extensive surgery. Now, they believe that cancer cell may
break away from he primary tumor and spread hrough the bloodstream, even
in the earliest stages of the disease. These cells cannot be felt by
examination or seen on x-rays or other imaging methods, and they cause no
symptoms. But they can establish new tumors in other organs or bones. The
goal of drug treatment , even if there's no detectable cancer after
surgery, is to kill these cells. This treatment, known as adjuvant
therapy, is not needed by every patient. Doctors will make recommendations
regarding specific types of therapy based on he stage of the breast
cancer.The Food and Drug Administration has approved several new drugs and
new uses of older drugs in recent years that improve the chances of
successfully treating breast cancer. These drugs include Herceptin (trastuzumab),
which binds to HER2 and kills the excess cancer cells, theoretically
leaving the healthy cells alone, Novadex (temoxifen citrate), used for
breast cancer risk reduction in high-risk women, Xeloda (capectabine), for
the treatment of breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body
(metastasized) in its resistance to both paclitaxel and an anthracycline-containing
regimen and Taxotere (docetaxel) to treat patients whos locally advanced
or metastasized breast cancer has progressed despite treatment with other
drugs.
In addition to these drugs, combinations of the anti-cancer drugs Cytoxan
(cyclophosphamide) and Adriamycin (doxoribicin), with or without Adrucil (fluorouacil)
, may be used to treat breast cancer.
Chemotherapy (drug Treatment) is given in cycles, with each
period of treatment followed by a recovery period. The total course of
chemotherapy can last 3 to 6 months, depending on the drugs and how far
the cancer has spread.
Kelly Munsell of Tuscon, Ariz., took the combination Adriamycin and
Cytoxan in six cycles, spaced 3 weeks apart, after doctors diagnosed her
breast cancer in 1996 at age 27.
"Chemo for me was torture," Munsell recalls, describing profuse
vomiting and severe weight gain as two serious side effects. But
despite the discomfort, Munsell, whose mother and grandmother died of
breast cancer, is glad she underwent the grueling treatment two years ago.
"My recent battery of tests came back negative for cancer," she says.
In addition to the drugs, actually battling the disease, there also is
help for patients in severe pain from cancer. FDA approved Actic (oral
transmucosal fentanyl citrate) in November 1998 as a treatment
specifically for cancer patients with severe pain that breaks through
their regular narcotic therapy. A narcotic more potent than morphine,
Actic is in the form of a flavored lozenge that dissolves slowly in the
mouth.
Looking Ahead
It is important for every
woman to consider herself at risk for breast cancer, the ACS says, simply
because she is female. At the same time, however, studies continue to
uncover lifestyle factors and habits that can alter the risk, and many new
chemotherapy drugs and combinations continue to be developed and tested in
clinical trials. Drugs and procedures currently under investigation
include bisphosphonates (a group of drugs routinely used to treat
osteoporosis), monoclonal antibodies (similar to Herseptin), and
angiogenesis inhibitors (drugs that block the development of blood vessels
that nourish cancer cells). "While death rates for breast cancer are
falling, and while there are a number of new strategies being developed,"
says Dr. Michael A. Friedman, a former FDA deputy commissioner and cancer
research specialist, "we recognize that a great deal more needs to be
done."
Mammography: A
Lifesaving Step
The ACS says that the best strategy for successfully
beating breast cancer is to follow guidelines for early detection.
Currently, the most effective technique for early detection is screening
mammography, an x-ray procedure that can detect small tumors and breast
abnormalities up to two years before they can be felt and they are most
treatable. (See "FDA Sets Higher Standards For Mammography" in the
January-February 1999 FDA Consume.)
Studies show regular screening mammograms can help decrease the chance of
dying of breast cancer. Finding a breast tumor early may mean that a woman
can choose breast saving surgery. Furthermore, she may not have to undergo
chemotherapy.
To find a certified mammography facility near you, go to
www.fda.gov/cdrh/mammography/certified.html on FDA's Website, or call
the National Cancer Institute at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-4226237).
Carol Lewis is a staff writer for FDA Consumer.
Related Links:
Chemo Brain | Case Managers | Organize The Chaos | Helpful Tips | Cancer Stages | Better Treatments
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