Cancerkin's News Update.....

Hyde Park Walk this Sunday!

After months of planning and preparation, Cancerkin’s big walk around Hyde Park is finally here! We have been taking last minute entries all week and are expecting a turn out of over 200 walkers. The weather forecast is set for sunshine (fingers crossed no rain!) and the Cancerkin team is looking forward to seeing you all there.

If you have not yet registered but still want to get involved, do not worry, you can register on the day. Just come along to the Hyde Park Bandstand from 9am to sign up and receive you free Cancerkin T-shirt. The walk will then start at 10.30am. Drinks from Sainsbury’s and Ocean Spray will be provided and marshals will be around the course to answer any questions. Please do be sure to bring along sun-cream, hats and anything else you may need and you are welcome to bring a picnic for afterwards. We are able to store this for you but please note there are no refrigeration services available.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at anytime on

l.smith@cancerkin.org.uk.

June lectures at Cancerkin

On Tuesday 28th June from 11am – 1pm Dr Anmol Malhotra MB BS BSc(Hons) MRCP FRCR, Consultant Radiologist and Clinical Lead at the Royal Free Hospital will give a lecture about recent developments in breast imaging here at the Cancerkin centre. He will then be taking questions from the audience. This special event is open to all patients and supporters.

If you would like to attend the lecture, please contact Una on 0207 830 2323 or u.reynolds@cancerkin.org.uk.

Therapies update…

We would like to thank our Drama Therapist Christine Fox for her efforts in running such a fantastic series of Drama workshops here at Cancerkin, with all those who took part saying how much they enjoyed the sessions. Classes have now finished but we hope to see Christine back at Cancerkin again in the near future.

We would also like to send our congratulations to Alexander Technique Therapist Kate Fun, who gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Benjamin, on Saturday. We wish Kate and Benjamin all the best!

In the News.....

As has been reported in On the pulse in recent months, much research has been published about breast cancer surgery and age. Research has found that the older a patient is, the less likely they are to have surgery, and further data presented this week at the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) conference supports these findings and has found that differences in surgery rates by age cannot be fully attributed to age-related ill health caused by other diseases.

A team of researchers led by Dr Katrina Lavelle at the University of Manchester examined the records of over 23,000 women with breast cancer, to discover the extent to which women over the age of 70 were less likely to receive surgery was due to other illnesses. The women examined were all diagnosed with the disease between 1997 and 2005 and lived in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East of England. Results showed that overall rates of surgery dropped off with age and that women who did have other illnesses were less likely to have surgery. However, even once ill health related to other diseases had been taken into account, researchers found that the likelihood of surgery still decreased with age. More than 85 per cent of women aged 65 to 70 received surgery as part of their treatment. This figure fell to 70 per cent in those over 70, and to only 50 per cent in those over 80. Older patients were also less likely to have surgery if they were from a deprived area.

Dr Katrina Lavelle said of the findings: “Previous research has shown that older women are less likely to have surgery for breast cancer compared with younger patients. Surgery to remove breast tumours is one of the most effective ways to treat this cancer so it’s important to get a better understanding of what lies behind these differences. This research suggests that the presence of other illnesses, which we know increases with age, does not fully explain the difference in treatment between older and younger patients. The good news is that over the time period we looked at, the numbers of women over 65 having surgery did rise from 68 per cent to 75 per cent.

Our ongoing research, funded by the Breast Cancer Campaign and the National Institute for Health Research, is investigating the extent to which the lack of surgery amongst older women is due to things like overall frailty or patient choice. We are also developing statistical techniques to help to decide which treatment is likely to be the most appropriate based on patient choice, health and acceptable risk, rather than age”

To read more, please click here.

Laura Smith