On the pulse

Cancerkin’s news…


September Talk…

Karen Bernard is known to many of our patients as one of Cancerkin’s massage therapists. On Tuesday September 27th at 11am, Karen will be speaking to our monthly patient support group about the benefits of relaxation in relieving stress and improving overall wellbeing. She will lead the group on an exercise in guided relaxation to show how, with regular practice, anyone can use these techniques in their everyday life to create a more relaxed mind and body. If you are interested in attending, please contact Una on u.reynolds@cancerkin.org.uk.


Cancerkin’s East London Project Update…

Last Friday, we returned to the Bromley by Bow Centre with women benefiting from a range of Cancerkin’s individual and group therapies along with breast awareness sessions throughout the day for those visiting the centre. Feedback continues to be overwhelmingly positive from the sessions at both our venues in East London, and we would like to thank the wonderful staff at St Joseph’s Hospice and the Bromley by Bow Centre for their continued support.

This week, we were also invited to give two presentations at the University of East London in order to recruit students to be trained for our upcoming awareness project. The students were extremely enthusiastic and passionate about the project. We would also like to thank the staff at the university for all their help and support.


In the news…


Breast Cancer found to develop earlier in today’s generation of women with BRCA gene...

A study published this week in the journal Cancer and cited in ThirdAge has reported that breast cancer develops years earlier in women with BRCA-1 or -2 mutations compared to their relatives in previous generations.

The study, conducted by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, found that of the 132 female participants who had breast cancer and BRCA gene mutations, 106 had a family member in the previous generation that had also been diagnosed with BRCA breast or ovarian related cancer. When they looked at the average age each generation was diagnosed with breast cancer, they found it went from age 48 in the older generation to 42 in the younger generation.

Dr Jennifer Litton, breast medical oncologist at the University of Texas, commented that whilst women with a known BRCA -1 or -2 gene develop cancers earlier than the rest of the population, it is still unclear as to why the disease develops earlier in the younger generation. Dr Litton hopes to extend the study to larger groups of women to determine whether the cause is environmental or due to better testing.

However, Dr Litten believes this study “validates a lot of the guidelines out there for us to start looking at least five to ten years earlier than the youngest diagnosis in the family”.

To read more on this topic, please click here.


Breast and Cervical Cancer on the rise in Developing Countries...

The first ever global review of the scale of breast and cervical cancer has reported that about two million women are developing breast or cervical cancer every year.

Reported in the Guardian this week, the analysis from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation has found that much of the growth in numbers is in poorer countries and that breast cancer in particular is growing in women aged 15 to 49.

The review warns that deaths from breast and cervical cancer could soon overtake deaths in pregnancy and childbirth as a leading cause of mortality in the developing world. The review comments that “as high-income countries enjoy the benefit of early cancer screenings, drug therapies and vaccines, the burden of breast and cervical cancer is shifting to low-income countries in Africa and Asia... adding more pressure on societies already suffering from high rates of infectious disease and child mortality”.

The review calculates that breast cancer diagnosis has increased by more than two and a half times between 1980 and 2010, from 641 000 to 1.6 million a year. Whilst the rise is happening in every country, cases have risen slowest in wealthier, developed countries. As Christopher Murray, lead author of the review, commented; “there is a perception that breast cancer is a disease of older women in developed countries... part of the analysis says it is already a big issue for younger women in the developing world. In many countries it may be a bigger issue than maternal mortality”.

The review has been published ahead of a high-level summit on non-communicable or ‘lifestyle’ diseases due to take place next week at the UN in New York, which aims to focus world leaders’ attention on a plan to bring the mortality rate numbers down.

To read more on this topic, please click here.

Laura Smith
16th September 2011