On the pulse...for people affected by breast cancer

In the news…

Breastlight

The Daily Telegraph reported on this hand held ‘torch’ (on sale at Boots) which shines a light through breast tissue and can light up tumours as small as 7mm, which would not be detected by a physical examination. Trials of the Breastlight in Ghana reported a very high success rate of 96%. There, the Breastlight was used as part of their screening process of women in rural areas. In this country, it is unlikely to be used in hospitals in place of mammograms, but rather by women at home, who find it difficult to do checks on themselves and perhaps more particularly by women under 50, who do not qualify for the national screening programme. Trials of the Breastlight at Sunderland City Hospital picked up 67% of a malignant tumours (mammography typically picks up 60 – 85%) and reported high satisfaction among women using the Breastlight. However critics are concerned that use of this ‘torch’ may result in needless anxiety. Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK said: "There is no clear evidence to show this sort of home-testing kit could reliably detect breast cancer. There's a danger that use of the device could leave some women with increased levels of anxiety and others with false reassurance." Read more: Daily Telegraph

Personalised breast cancer care

While many patients respond well to adjuvant chemotherapy, up to 20% do not. Scientists based at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute identified two genes that, when abnormally active, enabled cancer cells to resist anthracyclines.[1] It is hoped that this may be a step towards developing a genetic test of breast cancers to help doctors choose the best chemotherapy treatment for each patient. In so doing, they would be able to avoid using more or less the same treatments for all, and a patient suffering the side effects of a drug that was most unlikely to be effective anyway. Meg McArthur, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This research is a step towards discovering why some patients benefit more than others from a common form of chemotherapy. Research like this is important for identifying the appropriate treatment for individual patients.” Oliver Childs, from Cancer Research UK, said: "It is too early to say whether this research will lead to a predictive test, but work like this inches us a little closer towards an age of personalised cancer treatment."
Read more here: Daily Telegraph Mail Online and for any medics among you at Nature Journal

Breast Screening – pros and cons

The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine published an opinion piece this month levelling various criticisms at the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Review 2008. One of the main issues in a screening programme is balancing the benefits and harms of the procedure. The benefits include identifying and treating cancers at the earliest possible stage, thereby giving patients the best possible chance of long term survival. The harms include over-diagnosis, over-treatment and false positives[2]. The opinion piece says that undue emphasis has been placed on the benefits, but many believe that the complexity of the evidence makes this issue difficult to judge.
Read more about this at NHS Choices and also a comment piece in The Guardian: click here Guardian comment

Red lentil Soup

You may be wondering what this has to do with breast cancer, but as I like to introduce a lighter hearted note where I can, this is a recipe from the Daily Mail for the cooks among you, using lentils and celery – both of which are claimed to contain compounds that can fight cancer. Click, cook and enjoy…Soup

Nicky Waldman (n.waldman@cancerkin.org.uk) 27th January 2010


[1] Class of drugs commonly used in chemotherapy for breast cancer.
[2] A result that is wrongly positive when a situation is normal.