Breast cancer

[Al-khiyal]

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Scientists who have proposed a controversial theory that surgery to remove a breast tumor may actually help the cancer to spread said on Wednesday their ideas may also explain why black women have been more likely to die of breast cancer in the past.

While they stressed that women should always get screening and quick treatment for breast cancer, they said their theory could also help explain the belief, widespread in parts of Africa and the United States, that removing a tumor can hasten death.

"I must say that I am sure there is more to this than just a myth," said Michael Retsky of Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. His latest hypothesis, which he admits is not supported by any new direct research, is published in the International Journal of Surgery.

He stressed that any woman with breast cancer should get the tumor removed. And he noted that in the United States, the women who could be considered at risk of having their cancer spread now get chemotherapy anyway, which would stop cancer's spread.

"At this time we are not suggesting any change in clinical practice. We think this is a subject that needs far more research," Retsky, who has worked with other scientists in South Carolina and Italy, said in a telephone interview.

The American Cancer Society also stressed that women should always get mammograms, and questioned the theory.

"No woman should delay getting treatment for breast cancer," oncologist Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society said in a telephone interview.

"What we do know ... is that by early detection, we find the cancer early, we have less risk of lymph node involvement, we have greatly improved the outlook for women with breast cancer," Lichtenfeld added.

"Whether or not the theory is correct, I have difficulty with the logic that they employed to get there."

Retsky and colleagues studied several databases on women who have had breast cancer surgery. They published one study in 2005 suggesting that surgery might cause the activation of tiny tumors that had already spread.

Retsky believes there may be two mechanisms at work. One idea is that surgery itself, by wounding the body, causes it to produce growth factors that fuel the growth of the other, tiny tumors.

The other holds that a primary, or main tumor, secretes some sort of factor that holds the other tumors in check. When the main tumor is removed, the smaller tumors - which had already spread - are free to grow.

This creates the appearance that the cancer has come back, and with a vengeance.

These factors are known as anti-angiogenesis factors. Angiogenesis means the development of blood vessels, and several new cancer drugs employ anti-angiogenesis factors, literally starving tumors of their blood supply.

However, black U.S. women are diagnosed with breast cancer at an average age of 46, versus 57 for white women, he noted. Their higher death rate first appeared in the mid-1970s, just when mammography for early detection was introduced.

It might be that some black women have a genetic tendency to a particular form of breast cancer that becomes more aggressive after surgery, Retsky said.

"When we looked for breast cancer in Africans, a common word that shows up is aggressive," he said.

Breast cancer theory supports African folklore

[Al-khiyal]

International Journal of Surgery

[Bent_Bladi]

Sub7anAllah -- I wonder how many of our Arab myths are true...

[amalgamate]

This makes sense because biologically when the body experiences trauma in a certain area, the systems of the body (circulatory, digestive, etc) work simultaneously to heal and reverse the effect of the damage. Upon an open wound, the circulatory system works to expand blood vessels to the damage sight for distribution of oxygen and nutrients. Limph vessels do the same-they distribute nutrients and also white blood cells to fight off foreign particles introduced through surgery that come in contact with the open flesh. I see how it can induce angeogenesis... but hey, if one were to decide whether to remove a tumor or not, i think (depending on the size of the tumor and how much of it is distributed) it best be removed. the numbers found in the study are not so drastic (only 0.11 early deaths occur per 1000 screaned women) but of course important enough to continue studying and doing research on the paradox.

[Bent_Bladi]

um wow, muleh... mashaAllah 7olek ou 7awalaiki

[liberte]

A major study appears to provide hard evidence that eating a high-fat diet increases a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer.

Animal research has found a high fat intake boosts cancer risk, but other studies in humans were inconclusive.

This work, by the National Cancer Institute, asked 188,700 women about their diets, and found a link between breast cancer and eating more fat.

UK breast cancer campaigners said women should eat a healthy diet.

All the women in the US study were aged between 50 and 71 when they became involved in the research.

The US researchers asked the women, who were all postmenopausal, how often they ate 124 different foods, ranging from never to up to six times a day, and about the portion size.

The women were then followed up for an average of four years.

Body fat

The amount of fat the women took in was measured as a percentage of their total energy intake, ranging from 20% in the fifth which ate least fat to 40% in the fifth that ate most.

Out of all the women surveyed, 3,501 developed invasive breast cancer during the course of the research.

Those who ate the most fat had an 11% higher incidence of breast cancer than those who ate the least.

The increase in risk was similar whether the women were eating saturated, monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.

Taking into account family history of breast cancer, smoking, body mass index and alcohol intake did not affect the results.

However, those women with the highest fat intake were more likely to have been taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) - which has been linked to breast cancer - when they joined the study.

Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the authors, led by Dr Annie Thiebaut, said: "In this large cohort of postmenopausal US women, we detected a direct association between dietary fat intake and the risk of invasive breast cancer."

They suggest the reason other studies have sometimes failed to find the link is because they did not have participants who obtained 20% or less of their energy from fat, making it harder to establish the difference.

And they suggest fat may affect breast cancer risk by stimulating hormone production.

The researchers say more work is needed to further understand the risk.

'Effects uncertain'

But in an editorial in the same journal, Stephanie Smith-Warner and Meir Stampfer, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said it was more important to control the amount of body fat a woman had, rather than her fat intake in order to prevent breast cancer.

They added: "The modest associations that have been observed for dietary fat and breast cancer risk in observational studies and clinical trials stand in sharp contrast to the robust evidence for a strong link between [body fat] and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer."

Dr Emma Pennery, nurse consultant at the UK charity Breast Cancer Care, said: "The effects of a high fat diet on a woman's risk of developing breast cancer are still uncertain.

"Whilst this research adds to existing evidence in this area, other studies have not reached the same conclusions so we are still some way off understanding its exact influence."

She added: "However a high fat diet can lead to weight gain and it is widely accepted that being overweight, particularly after the menopause, does increase the risk of breast cancer."

Dr Sarah Rawlings, head of policy and information at Breakthrough Breast Cancer added: "Whether you have been through the menopause or not, being overweight is associated with a variety of health problems, including increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and several types of cancer.

"Maintaining a healthy weight throughout life can help reduce the risk of many diseases as well as promoting good health."

BBC NEWS | Health | Fatty diet link to breast cancer

[amalgamate]

hmmm.. interesting. although by reading this article i could already see some drawbacks on the accuracy of such a study. I'm not saying that the results are wrong, but i'd say there could be a better way of producing more accurate results. I'd question their 'materials & methods' part of this experiment.