On the pulse

Cancerkin’s News….

Cancerkin’s East London project well under way
On 22 March 2010, Cancerkin held the last of our five pilot outreach events in East London at the Central Stratford Library. Throughout the last month Cancerkin have visited a variety of venues across Limehouse, Canning Town, Plaistow and Stratford, taking with us a selection of complementary therapy sessions, and breast awareness information services. The events were attended by a number of women spanning across a range of ethnicities and age groups. The sessions were extremely successful, particularly tapping in to the lack of breast awareness and support currently on offer in East London. Indeed some women attended more than one session, testament to the benefits our services could provide for these women.

Cancerkin has not worked alone in its East London outreach and would like to thank its partner organisations and all those who have offered their support and encouragement for making this stage of the project such a success. Cancerkin now aims to take the experiences and knowledge from these events forward, to further develop breast awareness, support and collaboration in the East London region.

Book Club: dates for the diary
After a successful first session the book club has now confirmed its next two dates:
• Tuesday 6th April 11-12noon- Half of a yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
• Tuesday 4th May 11-12noon Playing in the light (Zoe Wicomb)
There is now an area on our website where you can post up your responses to the book before the meeting. To do so please go to the News and Media section and follow the book club link. We will use these issues, feelings and questions as directives for the meeting. I have also posted a list of book suggestions to start following our May meeting. I would really like all who attend to post up there own suggestions with a short synopsis of the book. These suggestions will then be put to vote, with the most popular 3 becoming our reading list from May-July. To add your suggestions just click on the ‘comment here’ link.

If you would like to come to any of the book club sessions listed above please read as much of the chosen book as you can and email me the Monday of week’s session confirming your attendance at l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk


In the News….

From two operations, to one
Like the thousands of women diagnosed with breast cancer every year, Barbara Hobson faced major surgery. First there was the removal of the tumour itself and then a potential second operation if the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. The lymph nodes help to drain fluid from tissues all over the body and if they are affected by cancerous cells the risk of the disease spreading is much greater.

Previously it has been normal practice to remove the primary lymph node and then send it for testing in the laboratory- if the result proves to be cancerous a second operation will then be needed. With around 20 lymph nodes in each armpit this is an extensive and serious operation. Barbara became the first woman in the UK to undergo a new test which reveals prior to any surgery whether the lymph nodes have been exposed to cancerous cells, negating the need for a second surgical operation. The new technique injects microscopic bubbles of gas into the breast which are then tracked by ultrasound. A biopsy sample is then taken of the lymph node and tested for cancer. If tests reveal that cancer has spread to this first lymph node, then all the lymph nodes would be removed. The technique is not completely new and has been used since the 1990s to identify heart abnormalities or live tumours. It is hoped that by using it to track changes in the lymphatic system waiting times of up to 2 weeks for results will be a thing of the past.

Sue Jones, a breast surgeon working at Maidstone Hospital, explains: 'This is incredibly exciting, because we don't have to break the bad news of a further operation, and we're not clearing the nodes unnecessarily either. Often saying that the cancer had spread and they needed more surgery hit women harder than the cancer diagnosis itself.'

If you would like to find out more please read the whole article here

New research into the relation between aspirin and breast cancer
After investigating 740 postmenopausal women, a team of Harvard researchers have found that those who took painkillers for 15 days per month, had a 10% lower oestrogen level (on average), than those who did not take the drugs. This survey’s results suggest that the use of painkillers can reduce the levels of oestrogen in the body. The female hormone oestrogen has previously been associated with the development of breast and other forms of cancer.
The study's leader, Margaret Gates, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, said that: "Although the overall risks and benefits would need to be weighed, analgesics could be implemented as a chemo preventive and may decrease the risk of several cancers."

Find the whole article here

CRT announces partnership with Cephalon to co-develop a new class of anti-cancer drugs
Cancer Research Technology (CRT) and Cephalon Inc., an international biotechnology company, have announced their collaboration in the development of small molecule inhibitors, which have been shown to be associated with the development of cancer. It is hoped that the pairing of these two biochemical giants will help the development of innovative cancer drugs and treatments. Dr John Mallamo, Vice President of Worldwide Chemical R&D at Cephalon saying: “This collaboration creates a critical mass of biology and chemistry expertise, capable of quickly advancing the high quality lead series CRT has identified’. Watch this space!

The whole article can be found here

Lauren Newton 24th March 2010 l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk