Cancer Will Be the #1 Killer by 2010

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, part of a trend that should more than double global cancer cases and deaths by 2030, international health experts said in a report released Tuesday. Rising tobacco use in developing countries is believed to be a huge reason for the shift, particularly in China and India, where 40% of the world's smokers now live."

This prediction is in spite of all the strides that have been achieved in early detection of cancers.

Read the whole article in USA Today.

Can Breast Tumors Disappear on Their Own?

I've seen this story in several newspapers recently, but I think today's USA Today article is easier to read and understand.

We know that one rare type of cancer found through screening sometimes disappears on its own, but in this study, researchers asked: do more invasive breast cancers found in mammograms disappear on their own?

Researchers in Norway and the U.S. compared the number of breast cancers found in more than 100,000 Norwegian women who were screened every two years with an equal number who received only one mammogram after six years.

They found that 22% more breast cancers were discovered among the women who got more frequent mammograms. This discovery raises the possibility that mammograms found cancers that eventually went away, and thus never needed to be treated.

It's important to note that doctors may more easily find cancers on repeat mammograms, and that most doctors believe that frequent mammograms save lives.

Group Therapy Helps Cancer Patients Cope Better, Live Longer

Reuters Health news agency released a new study led by Ohio State University that supports the idea that psychological support groups can help women with breast cancer not only cope better with the disease, but live longer.

Researchers studied 227 women with breast cancer. About half took part in a year of therapy in groups of 8 to 12 patients led by two clinical psychologists, while the others did not.

After 11 years, the women who participated in the group therapy were 56 percent less likely to die of breast cancer and 45 percent less likely to have their cancer return, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer.

"Survival is kind of the bottom line when it comes to cancer. So we have people being healthy, productive people for longer -- and that's a huge health outcome," Barbara Andersen, who helped lead the therapy groups, said in a telephone interview to Reuters.

The women had Stage II or Stage III breast cancer in which the tumor may have spread to the lymph nodes near the breast or chest wall or skin, but not to more distant parts of the body.

Andersen said the group sessions, among other things, aimed to reduce the women's distress, train them how to relax and improve coping skills, improve their diet and exercise habits and discourage smoking and drinking alcohol.

The improved survival may stem from better immune function resulting from stress reduction, the researchers said.

What You Need to Know About the Relationship between Hormones and Breast Cancer

After skin cancer, breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women. 178,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths occur each year. Lung cancer, however, claims more women's lives each year.

More and more research points to hormones as playing a part.

From the moment we women start to menstruate to the point of menopause, women are exposed to estrogen and progesterone in their bodies.

“These hormones stimulate the breast duct and lobular cells, and it’s that repeated monthly stimulation, where the levels of the hormones go up and down, that can lead to mutations or alterations in the breast cells’ DNA,” says Julie Gralow, M.D., associate professor of medicine, department of oncology, at the University of Washington School of Medicine and associate program head of the Breast Cancer Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “So if you start menstruating early (before age 12) or stop late (after 52), your risk for breast cancer goes up.”

I'm quoting from an article by Remedy magazine. They go on to say that family history also affects breast cancer risk, and that it's "a solid factor in about 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers. Maintaining a healthy weight through menopause, exercising and limiting alcohol consumption may reduce a woman's risk, says Dr. Gralow." (Most of the below information is from this article.)

But cancer rates fell by 7 percent in 2003. The National Cancer Institute believes this may have been due to two factors: a drop in mammogram screening (and thus a drop in detection of early-stage cancer), and a decline in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use. The drop in HRT occurred in 2001 after the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) found a potential relationship between HRT and slightly higher breast cancer rates.

My mother underwent a hysterectomy early in life after I was born. She was on hormone replacement therapy, specifically estrogen, for most of her life after 30. She claims she just didn't feel right if she didn't have her estrogen every day. I often wondered why my doctor didn't offer me the option of HRT after I hit menopause. I think I now know.

Obviously, if you're considering HRT, you and your doctor need to look at your risk for breast cancer. If you have a strong family history of cancer, you might want to consider other ways to manage menopause.

Group Therapy: It Works

A few minutes ago, a young friend of mine called me to wish me a happy birthday.

While we got to talking, he informed me that he started attending a local group in southern California for under-40 cancer patients. He suffered from and continues to deal with a brain tumor. He's 39.

He told me that he didn't think he'd like the group at all, and I'm guessing that's because he would feel their pain. However, after stalling for a month, he finally got there, and told me he's glad he did. "We can bitch and gripe about stuff," he told me, laughing. "Yeah, I used to play sports and now I can't. They took my driver's license away from me. Stuff like that."

Just knowing there are other people out there, he added, really helps him. Some are in worse shape than he is, some are in better.

He added that it's amazing to him that all the women in the group are breast cancer patients. ALL of them. And many of them are in their early 30's. It's just not fair, we both agreed.

I am so proud of him, proud that he recognized he needed this kind of help. I'm tearing up now just thinking about it, thinking about him and his struggle.

If you're in the Bay Area, consider the groups that the Women's Cancer Resource Center offers.

The WCRC is at 5741 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. If you are interested in attending or signing up for a group, please call the Helpline at (510) 420-7900 during their business hours: Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm. A volunteer will give you the name and number of the group you are interested in. Please wait to attend the group until you have spoken to the facilitator.

• Adults with Blood Cancers and their Families and Friends
1st Monday of the month, 7:30 – 9 pm
Facilitators: Gail Splaver, Ph.D., LCSW (510) 527-3871
Nancee Hirano, RN, MS, AOCN (800) 232-9997+3, ext. 37720

• African American Women with Cancer
2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month
6:30 pm – 8 pm

• Amigos y Familiares de Mujeres con Cancer (en espanol)
2do sabado por mes
1 a 3 pm

• Friends and Family
1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month
7 pm – 8:30 pm

• Latinas con Cancer (en espanol)
2do sabado por mes
1 a 3 pm

• Post Treatment
1st and 3rd Mondays
7 pm – 8:30 pm

• Teen Support Group for teens who have a parent or guardian with cancer – This group is on hold due to low attendance. If you are interested in joining this group, please contact Dolores at (510) 420-7900 x112.

• Women with Cancer
1st and 3rd Wednesdays
7 pm – 8:30 pm

• Women with Cancer
2nd and 4th Tuesdays
6 pm – 7:30 pm

• Women with Metastatic Cancer
Every Tuesday, 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Please contact the facilitator, Connie Holmes, for more information at (510) 898-0548; this is not a drop-in group.

More Bad News for Smokers: Nicotine May Spread Breast Cancer

I've read several reports on the fact that nicotine may spread breast cancer. The one below is by Amanda Gardner on HealthDay Reporter as posted by Yahoo! news.

"Nicotine may help push breast cancer cells from the original tumor to other parts of the body, contributing to the metastasis that so often kills patients.

Besides serving as yet another warning against smoking, the finding may also point to new targets for cancer drugs. However, the study's lead author stressed it is still too early to pinpoint the exact role nicotine may play in breast cancer's spread.

"I don't know what the potential is," said Dr. Chang Yan Chen, of the department of radiation oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston.

"This adds to the whole body of literature on how things that we ingest could potentially be harmful in terms of causing breast cancer or making existing breast cancer worse," added Dr. Julian Kim, a breast cancer surgeon and chief of oncologic surgery at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.

The findings were published in the Oct. 15 issue of Cancer Research.

Nicotine, a component of tobacco, has been connected with a variety of malignancies -- not only lung cancer, but also head and neck cancer, prostate cancer, and more.

"It has been known that there are 10 to 12 nicotine receptors that express on the surface of various cells," Chen explained. "We do not know why nicotine receptors express in all the cell surfaces from various tissue origins, but we do know that nicotine is an important neuron transmitter in the central nervous system. It has been reported that nicotine can promote certain intra-cellular signaling in lung cancer."

So, while much of the research on nicotine has focused on its effects on the body's nervous system, recent research indicates that nicotine can also activate signaling pathways in non-neuronal cells, including tumor cells.

In a series of lab experiments, Chen and colleagues discovered that certain breast epithelial-like cells produce different subtypes of the nicotine receptor nAChR, as do certain breast tumor cells.

When these receptors were bound with nicotine, they started signaling the cells to grow and migrate. The findings were confirmed in mice.

Nicotine did not appear to be enough to spur tumor migration on its own, although scientists don't yet know which molecules nicotine partners with to do so.

"I took two cell lines and checked to see if the cells expressed the nicotine receptor, and I found they did," Chen said. "I found that certain signaling is upregulated, but [nicotine] itself cannot push the cell to undergo tumorigenesis [cancer formation]. The conclusion is, it probably can activate a certain intracellular signaling, but really, it depends on an individual's genetic background."

"Nicotine had some effects on these tumor cells that could eventually be harmful to a patient," Kim added. "It made breast cancer cells grow more vigorously. It made them have a higher capacity to become invasive, and it made cells that are sort of precancerous turn in a direction towards cancer."

Save Lids to Save Lives

Help fight breast cancer in an effortless way: mail in pink lids from yogurt cups to Yoplait.

During their annual drive, for every pink lid you send in Yoplait® will donate 10 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, up to $1.5 million. And they guarantee a donation of at least $500,000. Save Lids to Save Lives is celebrating its 10th anniversary. You have until December 31, 2008 to mail in the lids.

Almost 500,000 lids have been sent in already. There's a counter on the Yoplait website.

So grab your friends, coworkers, yoga class or neighbors and start getting involved today. You can use their tools, start a team or just pick up a spoon and you can help fight breast cancer.


About Susan G. Komen for the Cure(R)
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cure. Owing to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, we have invested nearly $1 billion to fulfill our promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer,
visit www.komen.org or call 1-877-GO-KOMEN.

National Denim Day

Lee National Denim Day is tomorrow, Friday, October 3, 2008.

Since its inception in 1996, Lee National Denim Day has adhered to a simple philosophy: one day, one cause, one cure®. In 12 years, that philosophy has become a mantra for millions and has made an impact Lee Jeans never dreamed possible.

It all started when several Lee Jeans employees realized that each of them, in one form or another, had been touched by breast cancer. An everyday conversation sparked an idea and led to the creation of Lee National Denim Day, which has become one of the largest single-day fundraisers nationwide for breast cancer.

In its first year, Lee Jeans set a goal of raising $1 million on Lee National Denim Day. To do this, Lee Jeans invited companies to go casual for a cause, inviting employees to wear their jeans to work on Denim Day in exchange for a $5 contribution to the fight against breast cancer. The underlying concept behind the program was simple—by convincing enouhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifgh people to take one small step, together they could reach an incredible goal.

The response to the inaugural Lee National Denim Day program was astounding. That year, more than 3,000 companies signed up to participate, raising $1.4 million dollars for the fight against breast cancer, setting the stage for what would become one of the most captivating social action campaigns in the country.

Since its first year, Lee National Denim Day has raised more than $70 million for the fight against breast cancer and unites nearly one million supporters nationwide each year.

So, support Lee's cause to find a cure for breast cancer: donate if you can, and wear denim on Friday!

Mammograms: The Long and Flat of It

I had a mammogram today. I’ve always wondered: if mammogram x-rays are so powerful, why can’t they see through deodorant?

Actually, they can, but deodorant and other creams and gels may show up at white spots on the x-rays. Not a good thing when the technician is looking for spots indicating breast cancer. So, the instructions of the day included not wearing deodorant today. I dutifully took a shower and soaped off the deodorant from yesterday.

Most women should have their first mammogram upon the age of 40, and every one or two years after that. Since they had to do a biopsy last year due to something they found on the right side of my right breast, I’ve been going in every six months for a mammogram. Well, add to that my history of colon cancer, and it’s a good thing to be tested.

The technician I got today at the Imaging Center on Telegraph was nice, professional, and attempted to get every ounce of mammary tissue up there on the glass. At one point I wondered if she wanted me to climb up there, but, no. There should be a way of unhinging the left and right breasts, placing them on the slab, and then stepping away and sitting down to read the newspaper while she takes her shots. But, alas, it doesn't work that way, and so I endure her attempts at maneuvering tissue that doesn't want to stretch that far. And, all kidding aside, I'm thankful that they are, indeed, still attached.

Is it painful? Yes, a little, especially for large-breasted women, as the tech has to flatten the breast between two sheets of metal. And especially on the side “views.” (There are six "views," or x-rays, needed during the mammogram.) But each one only lasts about a minute. Compared to the alternative, I can bear that.

Woman Finds Cancer Smaller than a Grain of Rice: Buddy Check 12

On September 13, 2008, Florida news agencies reported that a woman found a cancer smaller than a grain of rice in the course of a breast self exam.

Marilee Howland (on the right in the photo), the article says, is good at Buddy Check 12. Buddy Check 12 is a system where you check yourself for lumps in your breasts once a month, 12 times a year.

Marilee, a mother of 3 kids, “was doing her self exam, and her fingers were in a spot that typically feels sore to her. Then, she says, she felt moved to slide her fingers to another place. And that’s where she found her cancer. She sees a little miracle in it.

“That tiny lump -- half the size of a grain of rice – turned out to be stage 2 breast cancer. That means it had already spread into her lymph nodes. Doctors explained to Marilee the position was just prime to travel.”

Marilee went through a year of chemo treatment, and now has her hair back.

Obviously this is a lesson about prevention.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure website tells us that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes. Breast cancer is the leading cancer cited among American women, and is second only to lung cancer in deaths.

The national website, www.komen.org, has an excellent downloadable library of breast health education information, including self-exam techniques, lifestyle changes to help reduce cancer risk factors, and treatment options for newly-diagnosed patients.

Buddy Check 12 has now saved more than 300 Florida women from dying of breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the Oakland A's

The Oakland Athletics held their 10th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day today, September 13, 2008, as 500 cancer survivors came onto the field at McAfee Coliseum. The women, who were wearing pink baseball jerseys, formed a human pink ribbon on the field to the tune of ABBA's "Dancing Queen" as those in the stands cheered.

As the women were filing onto the field, some limping, some with walkers, a young African American woman walked past me yelling, "I'm still here!" and pointing to herself. I found it to be quite an emotional moment.

The woman in front of me did, too, as she kept standing to applaud in the almost-empty stadium. (The fans would come in later for the game, which started 15 minutes later, but during this moment, it seemed that the women on the field outnumbered those of us in the stands. I think it's safe to say that many in the stands were supporting those on the field.) And it was a great thrill to watch Kaki Sakson Moyce, a 56-year-old cancer survivor herself, throw out the first pitch. She leaped with joy with the strong throw as the rest of us cheered!

Ten years ago, the wife of Oakland A's president Michael Crowley learned that one of her best friends had breast cancer. Since then, the A's have held an annual event where part of the ticket revenues have gone to education and research regarding breast cancer. Today, the A's displayed a large check showing the $116,750 they collected this year in that effort, with the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society and Northern California Cancer Center; all together, the A's have raised over $1 million for the cause over the last decade.

The players from both the A's and Rangers took the field wearing pink sweat bands and ribbons on their jerseys in a tribute to those battling breast cancer.

Some 200,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and 40,000 die.

A's pitcher Kirk Saarloos caught that pitch from Moyce. His mother has had several bouts of both colon and breast cancer in the past two years.

"It's a tough deal," Saarloos told reporters afterwards. "She caught it early, and she's had a 100-percent clean bill of health right now. She's doing great. But today is a big deal, and it is a special day for me and my family. It's something I never forget."