Monday, June 11, 2001

Psychological Distress in Cancer Patients Often Unrecognized by Oncologists

Breast Cancer Awareness and Solutions Network
posted by Karen Weber Monday, June 11, 2001

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Breast Cancer: Help Me Understand It! - a very basic page written by a couple of MDs

HCFA study challenges PET's efficacy in breast cancer. The title for this article is misleading. They don't recommend using PET in place of mammograms. But "In terms of staging the disease and looking at patients who are suspected of having recurrence, PET demonstrates an ability to detect disease superior to CT and MRI, according to Dr. Peter Conti, director of the PET Imaging Science Center at the University of Southern California."
posted by Karen Weber Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Friday, June 15, 2001

Breast Cancer Risk Calculator

Down-Regulation of the erbB-2 Receptor by Trastuzumab (Herceptin) Enhances Tumor Necrosis Factor-related Apoptosis-inducing Ligand-mediated Apoptosis in Breast and Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines that Overexpress erbB-2

Prognostic significance of the number of lymph nodes examined in patients with lymph node-negative breast carcinoma

In a new study, the researchers compared the blood levels of carotenoids in 270 women who developed breast cancer up to 11 years after the blood samples were taken with the levels seen in 270 similar women who remained cancer-free. Carotenoids are chemicals derived from vegetables and fruits.

On average, women who developed breast cancer had significantly lower levels of a variety of carotenoids before they were diagnosed with cancer than did women without breast cancer--11% to 21% lower, in fact, according to the report in the June 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"Our hypothesis is that blood levels of carotenoids are an indicator of habitual intake of vegetables and fruits, and that the protection from breast cancer that we observe is the result of a diet rich in these foods," Toniolo told Reuters Health. "The fact that we observe a protection not only for beta-carotene, but also for other compounds, and for total carotenoids, seem to offer some support to our theory."

Toniolo's advice? "Eat as much fruits and vegetables as possible."

Glucosamine for osteoarthritis: magic, hype, or confusion? Given that undergoing chemotherapy accelerates "aging" of the joints, many survivors take glucosamine. My orthopod told me it seems to work for about 2/3 of his patients that use it - anecdotal. This is a review of the research, and it's not encouraging.
posted by Karen Weber Friday, June 15, 2001

Next - June 17, 2001