On the pulse
Cancerkin’s News….
A big Thank You from Cancerkin!
Breast Cancer Awareness Month at Cancerkin is now drawing to a close and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been busy raising money for Cancerkin this October. We would like to give a special mention to….
· Philippa Drew, who has raised £3000 from some talks she has been giving.
· Gina Atherton, who raised an amazing £800 for Cancerkin when she swam a mile earlier this month. Well done Gina.
· Alison Swan, who organised a charity Pilates day, raising £460 for Cancerkin. It was an impromptu decision on Alison’s part to stage this year’s event, but next year she is planning bigger and better things – watch out here for more information nearer the time.
· Linda Newton (Lauren Newton’s mum), who held a cake sale in aid of Cancerkin and was able to raise an impressive £450.
· Priya Mehta, a former intern at the Cancerkin office, who is donating the proceeds of a fundraising breakfast at Shaftesbury High School to mark breast cancer awareness month.
· Rada Ristic, who we would like to thank again for generously leaving her book collection to Cancerkin. Her donation helped to make our annual October stall a huge success, raising over £800.
Drama therapy starting next week…
Do you want to work creatively? Have fun? Explore ideas through music, drama games and improvisation? Maybe hone the acting skills last exercised at school? Well now’s your chance! This November we are holding weekly drama workshops, beginning Thursday 4th November at 12 - 1.30pm and continuing on the 11th, 18th and 25th. To reserve a place, please call 0207 830 2323 or email Laura, at l.smith@cancerkin.org.uk.
Cancerkin’s East London Programme…
Since June 2010 Cancerkin has been running free monthly information and complementary therapy sessions in East London at St Joseph’s Hospice, Hackney. Nearly 40 women from all over East London have participated in these sessions benefiting from a range of Cancerkin’s complementary therapies. The days have consisted of one-to-one sessions of massage, reflexology, reiki and soul therapy plus group sessions of art therapy, dance therapy and/or tai chi. Cancerkin has received extremely positive feedback from all the participants, many of whom have never experienced any of these therapies before. We scored top marks from the responses to our questionnaire (ranking the day on a scale of 1 (not helpful) to 10 (brilliant) - most gave us 10! Click here to see pictures of the sessions, taken by Chloé Meunier ©.
Cancerkin has not worked alone in this East London outreach programme. We would like to thank St Joseph’s Hospice for providing the most stunning venue plus a team of helpful and obliging staff members who supported us throughout the programme. In addition, we also wish to thank Newham, Homerton, St Bartholomew’s and Whipps Cross hospitals along with our local partner organisations for all their support in making these sessions such a success.
In the news…
MRI scans counter-productive for early stage breast cancer patients?
Much has been written in the press this week about the use of MRI scans on early stage breast cancer patients, following criticism of the screening technique by Malcolm Kell, a consultant surgeon and senior lecturer at the Eccles Breast Screening Unit, University College Dublin. Writing in the British Medical Journal, he questioned the increasingly routine use of the Magnetic Resonance Mammography (MRM) in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, arguing that it could do more harm than good and may lead to unnecessary surgery.
Using strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce a detailed image of the breast, the MRM is a highly sensitive technique, capable of picking up difficult to spot tumours that may be missed by the traditional X-Ray Mammography. Used in conjunction with ultrasound and X-ray, the screening technique is most frequently used for monitoring patients with advanced breast cancer and for assessing a patient’s response to chemotherapy. MRM may be also be offered to young women with a genetically high risk of developing breast cancer, as breast tissue in women of a younger age is firmer and consequently harder to screen using other methods.
Mr Kell’s criticisms, however, lie in the technique’s implications for patients in the early stages of breast cancer. Research suggests that, due to its sensitivity, the MRM picks up harmless growths in such patients at an early stage of the disease that will have no effect on the patient’s prognosis. As a result, he warns that patients may be opting for surgery and mastectomy too quickly. A trial of its use in early breast cancer patients found that the technique did not reduce the number of women returning for further surgery after initial surgery failed to remove all potentially cancerous tissue. The number who consequently had a mastectomy was seven times higher (seven per cent compared to one per cent) in those who had an MRM, while there was no evidence that the increased rate of more aggressive surgery had saved lives. Mr Kell stated that MRM’s ‘routine use in the management of patients with early stage breast cancer may be unwarranted. We have no evidence to support a clear benefit in this setting.’ In response, however, a spokesperson from Breast Cancer Care highlighted that MRI scans are not routinely used on these patients and that few women are likely to be affected by the issues raised by Mr Kell. To read The Telegraph and The Daily Mail’s reports on Mr Kell’s comments, please click here or here.
Breast Cancer Genes are passed on by fathers too…
As we know, a family history of cancer can play an important role in determining the risk of cancer development. In women diagnosed with breast and ovarian cancer, as many as 30% will have a family history of the disease and 5 to 10% will carry the BRAC1 or BRAC2 genes. While emphasis is often put on the mother’s family tree, a study published this week in the online edition of The Lancet Oncology is encouraging us to think more about our father’s family history of breast and ovarian cancer. The study suggests that overlooking paternal family history can lead to some women’s risk of cancer development being underestimated.
Using patient records to compare referrals of patients with maternal and paternal family histories of breast and ovarian cancer, researchers at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada, found that women with a familial predisposition on the mother’s side were five times more likely to be referred to a specialist. The breast cancer genes BRAC1 and BRAC2 however are carried by both men and women and have the same 50% chance of being passed on by each sex, a fact of which many are unaware. Researchers wrote: “deficits in knowledge among healthcare providers and the general population about the inheritance patterns of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations could result in missed opportunities for genetic testing and cancer prevention in individuals with a paternal family history.” Commenting on the study’s findings, Elizabeth A. Poynor ,MD, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said: “the study reinforces the importance of obtaining the appropriate three generation family history of cancer and other illnesses as well as the importance of educating primary care providers and women about cancer risk identification.” To read the article in full, click here.
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