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

On the pulse

Cancerkin news…
Patient Support Group: Breast Cancer Awareness Month talks…
As part of our awareness programme throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Tim Davidson and Alison Jones will be giving talks about current issues surrounding breast cancer. The talks will be held in the board room of the Cancerkin Centre. Refreshments will be provided on both occasions so please:

Dr Alison Jones MD FRCP : Wednesday 13th October 4pm
(Please arrive at 3.30pm for tea and cakes)
Mr Tim Davidson ChM MRCP FRCS: Friday 15th October 11am
(Please arrive at 10.30am for coffee and croissants)

This will be a great opportunity to find out about any new developments in breast surgery and oncology and to ask any questions you may have. To register your attendance for these talks please email info@cancerkin.org.uk. Due to the capacity of our boardroom, numbers will be limited to 40/50 patients. To ensure you don’t miss out please register your name as soon as possible.

Gina Swims for Cancerkin….
This Sunday, October 3rd, Cancerkin patient Gina Atherton will be swimming 1 mile to raise £1,000 for Cancerkin. The swim will also help celebrate Gina’s 50th birthday, raise awareness of issues surrounding breast cancer and promote the services of Cancerkin during national Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Gina has been busy fundraising and has raised over £600 so far. If you would like to help her meet her £1,000 target, support her personal challenge and help Cancerkin in the process please visit her JustGiving site here to offer a donation. In the meantime we wish her all the best for Sunday!

Music Therapy…
Unfortunately music therapist Karinna is starting a permanent role with the NHS and thus sadly will not be able to run the taster sessions originally planned at Cancerkin. We are currently looking into the possibility of other therapists, so keep your eyes peeled for more musical news to come!

In the news…
Being a partner of a breast cancer sufferer is hard…
It is widely acknowledged that being the support network to those suffering with breast cancer can often be tiring, confusing, stressful and emotional, as partners, parents and friends too battle with the outcomes of living with a breast cancer diagnosis. However a Danish study published in the news this week has gone so far as to say that for men whose partners suffer with breast cancer, the impact could be potentially health damaging. The study found that men watching their partners fight cancer were 39% more likely to need hospital care for mood problems – thought to be triggered by the feeling that they need to be the strong one and therefore often deal with their feelings in silence.

The research was carried out at the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen and used the records of more than 1million men aged 30+. All of the men had no history of mental illness and had lived with their partners for more than 5 years. Over the next 13 years, breast cancer was diagnosed in the partners of 20,538 of these men and subsequently 180 of them were hospitalised with severe mood disorders - a greater proportion than from men whose partners were healthy. The study also found that the likelihood of hospitalisation on these men was affected by: (a) the severity of the breast cancer and (b) if the breast cancer returned after treatment.

Professor Christoffer Johansen, who led the study, said: ""We suggest that some sort of screening of the partners of cancer patients in general and those of breast cancer patients in particular for depressive symptoms might be important for preventing this devastating consequence of cancer." Cancerkin’s body of Experienced Patients are always available to talk through any issues patients or their family members and close friends may be experiencing. Having been through breast cancer themselves, our experienced patients can sympathise with most issues and offer advice or simply listen to your concerns. To talk in confidence with one of our Experienced Patients please contact the office on 0207 830 2323.
To read the rest of the article please click here.

Genetic link between breast cancer in young women and their relatives…
A study published in the British Journal of Cancer (BJC) has found a genetic link between both male and female relatives of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 35. Studying the parents and siblings of 504 women, scientists found an increased risk of relatives developing prostate, lung, brain and urinary cancers. Interestingly, the risk was largely similar among the relatives of women who did not carry known faulty genes that increase the chance of breast cancer, suggesting that there may be other undiscovered gene disorders causing cancer in young women and their families. This finding suggests that there is further work to do to help identify more people who might be susceptible. Women who inherit one of the faulty genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 have a 55% to 85% risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. However this only accounts for between 2-5% of all breast cancers – the remaining women affected do not carry these high-risk genes.

Professor John Hopper, from the Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology at the University of Melbourne, who led the study said: "These results are surprising and novel, and could be pointing to a new cancer genetic syndrome. Just as the link between male and female breast cancers in some families led UK researchers to find the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2, the results of this study could help scientists discover new cancer susceptibility genes." Dr Lesley Walker, the director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, which owns the BJC, largely agreed saying: “This study is important in suggesting a strategy to help identify other genes which significantly increase a woman's breast cancer risk. More studies with larger numbers will help confirm these risks."
Read the full article here.

Breast cancer rates fall as the use of HRT dwindles…
A study conducted in Canada and published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has found that as the use of HRT treatment dropped in recent years, so too did the number of cases of breast cancer. Results showed that that use of HRT dropped from 12.7% in 2002 to 4.9% in 2004, during which time breast cancer rates also dropped by 9.6%, even though the same number of women were having mammography tests. However, between 2004 and 2006 the use of HRT remained stable but breast cancer rates began to increase again. Researches on the project have attributed this latter surge in breast cancer to the fact that the decreased use in HRT did not stop breast cancer, but rather lead to tumours growing at a slower rate.

Dr Prithwish De of the Canadian Cancer Society said "Such a rebound might be expected if occult hormone-sensitive tumours were merely slowed by the withdrawal of hormone replacement therapy rather than prevented by it. If so, hormone replacement therapy may be thought to act as a promoter rather than as a putative cause of breast cancer. However, further follow-up data as well as information on the incidence trend of oestrogen receptor–positive breast cancer are needed to confirm this hypothesis and trend." Dr Sarah Rawklings, Head of Policy & Education at the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer agreed saying: "This study supports existing research into the link between HRT and breast cancer. It will be important to continue to study the effects of HRT on breast cancer incidence and development. Women who are concerned about this should contact their GP before starting, stopping or changing their HRT."
Read the full story here

Lauren Newton 30th September 2010
l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk