News and Events

By: Teresa Snow

Organizations such as the Susan G. Komen Foundation have put breast cancer in a national spotlight, with the attention focused on warning women about the disease. But men can get it too.

Male mammogram

The American Cancer Society estimates about 2,190 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. Last year, three cases were diagnosed at Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia. That’s an uncommonly high number, and one that has a Columbia doctor and his patients spreading the word about this rare disease.

86 year old George Bacalakis of Columbia runs a thriving internet business selling his artwork. But now, he must add appointments for chemotherapy to his schedule. When he found a lump on his side last fall, the diagnosis of cancer was shocking. It was the first time he had cancer. The second shock came when he found out it was a breast cancer that had spread.

“They said I want you to consider having a complete mastectomy and of course being a man I thought to myself, what is this, are they joking?”

After the surgery, and removal and testing of 8 lymph nodes, Bacalakis says he is now cancer free.

Bacalakis didn’t feel a lump in his breast, but another patient, JR Renick of Jefferson City did. His doctors were not concerned until it grew.

“It started kind of small, about the size of a quarter,” remembers Renick. “By the time they noticed it and sent me for a mammogram, it was like two silver dollars on top of each other, that’s how large it got.”

Like most men, Renick never thought it could be cancer.

Read more at Connect Mid Missouri

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Oncologists have known that in order for cancer cells to spread, they must transform themselves so they can detach from a tumor and spread to a distant organ. Now, scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have revealed critical steps in what happens next — how these cells reverse the process, morphing back into classical cancer that can now grow into a new tumor.

Their findings, now published online and in a upcoming issue of Cancer Research and funded through a National Cancer Institute grant to the Cornell Center on the Microenvironment and Metastasis and the Neuberger Berman Foundation, show that a single protein, versican, is key to this process in breast cancer, the tumor they studied. When researchers stopped versican from functioning in mice, breast cancer could not “seed” themselves into the lungs and form secondary tumors.

“Our findings both help us understand how breast cancer metastasizes to the lungs and ways to possibly prevent that deadly spread,” says the study’s senior investigator, Dr. Vivek Mittal, an associate professor of cell and developmental biology in cardiothoracic surgery and director of the Neuberger Berman Lung Cancer Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medical College.

“These are exciting insights into a poorly investigated area,” Dr. Mittal says. “There are no clinically approved drugs now that can effectively target metastatic lesions, which is why more than 90 percent of human cancer-related deaths come from spread of the disease from a primary tumor.”

“The results of this study are a critical step in deconstructing the process of metastases — which is critical to curing our patients,” says co-author Dr. Linda T. Vahdat, professor of medicine, chief of the Solid Tumor Service and director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Weill Cornell. “As a direct result of this study, we are working on ways to interrupt the process by which tumors co-opt the infrastructure in our bodies to grow and spread.”

Read more at News-Medical

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By: Rachael Rettner

Scientists have identified a new gene that may increase the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study from Finland.

In the study, mutations in this gene, called Abraxas,were linked to cases of hereditary breast cancer.

Researchers have now identified more than 10 genes that increase breast cancer risk; perhaps the most well-known of these are the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. But only about 20 percent of women with a family history of breast cancer have mutations in BRAC1 or BRAC2 — meaning in many cases, it’s likely other genes are at work.

The mutation does not appear to be common — it was found in 2.4 percent of families with a history of breast cancer. But importantly, the mutation was not found in anyone without breast cancer in the study.

Because the study was conducted in Finland, future studies will need to investigatehow common the mutation is in other countries, said study researcher Roger Greenberg, an associate professor of cancer biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

In the future, women with a family history of breast cancer might be tested for the Abraxas mutation, Greenbergsaid.
Read more at Fox News.

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By: Judy Creighton

Two bouts of breast cancer were just the impetus Gail Compton needed to turn her life around by starting to eat better and to get fit.
“I used to eat junk food and fast food constantly, so when I found a second lump in my breast I got scared and made the decision to change my lifestyle completely,” the 54-year-old Tennessee mother of one said in an interview. “It has been five years and the cancer is gone.”

While she was undergoing treatment, which included a mastectomy, Compton got in touch with California nutritionist Tiffany McCauley, 34. They shared their aspirations for better lives through their interest in nutrition and fitness and the result is the publication of “Skinny Ms. Slow Cooker: Natural Recipes for a Healthy Lifestyle” (Quail Ridge Press, paperback, $24.95).

The pair, who compiled the book using email, Skype and phone calls, thought creating healthy recipes for slow cookers was a unique way to help other busy cooks like themselves.
“When we started doing research into slow cooking we found that most books on the market used a lot of packaged foods and processed products that are high in sodium, refined sugars and artificial sweeteners,” says Compton.
Not wanting to go that route, she and McCauley sourced alternatives such as sucanat, an organic sugar, raw honey, maple syrup and an array of fresh and dried herbs and spices.
Readers will find mainstream recipes like Spicy Chili, which is made with lean ground beef and the usual kidney and black beans as well as fire-roasted tomatoes, but there is no added salt, just plenty of spice.
“In any of our ground meat recipes, cooks can substitute with ground turkey, chicken or pork,” says Compton.

Read More at Fort Frances Times.

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By: Janell Ross

Government budget cuts may prove deadly for low-income women who are increasingly unable to get critical cancer screenings that once were offered free by state governments.

Lanajh Jones, 2, waits patiently as her grandmother Rozeann Gorman, of Minneapolis, registers for a free screening at North Point Health & Wellness Center's See, Test & Treat™, a program that provides free breast and cervical cancer screening and same day diagnosis and care, for patients 40 and older in Minneapolis, Minn. African American women have a 24% higher mortality rate for breast cancer then non-Hispanic white women in Minnesota.

Shrinking state and federal budgets, the elevated cost of top-notch testing and growing demand are leaving millions of uninsured women unable to access breast and cervical screening programs. (Click here to view the number of women screened for breast and cervical cancers through government programs in each state).

In Illinois, where a government-funded program screened more than 70,000 low-income women from 2005 to 2010, program administrators said they fear money for higher-cost but more accurate digital mammograms will run out before the July 1 start of a new funding year. Mammograms have been suspended at five program sites and a waiting list is developing, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday. And officials in Rhode Islandtemporarily suspended the state’s screening program in 2010 due to funding shortfalls.

“The problem is that there is absolutely an inverse relationship between funding and need,” said Cynthia Pearson, the National Women’s Health Network executive director.

Read more at Huffington Post. 

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Washington Radiology Associates (WRA) is the first imaging center in the metro DC area to offer breast tomosynthesis, a breakthrough technology in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Breast tomosynthesis produces 3D mammography images, which help radiologists more clearly identify and characterize individual breast structures, allowing for earlier and more accurate diagnosis.

Conventional mammography is two-dimensional and may not detect small cancers that are hidden by overlapping tissue. During a breast tomosynthesis exam, multiple, low-dose images of the breast are acquired at different angles. These images are then used to build a series of one-millimeter-thick slices into a 3D reconstruction of the breast. Because the problem of overlapping tissue is reduced, breast tomosynthesis can make a tumor more visible and easier for a radiologist to see. While tomosynthesis is useful for all breast types, the multi-slice technology is particularly beneficial in imaging dense breasts where overlapping structures make reading the images difficult.

“Tomosynthesis provides a 3D image, which can better visualize an area that looked questionable on a traditional 2D mammogram,” says Edward R. Lipsit, MD, breast imaging specialist and President of WRA. “This leads to fewer callbacks and less anxiety for our patients.”

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Statistics indicate that one in eight women will develop breast cancer sometime in her lifetime. The stage at which breast cancer is detected influences a woman’s chance of survival. If detected early, the five-year survival rate is 97 percent.*

Tomosynthesis technology is available at WRA clinical offices in Potomac, Maryland and Fairfax, Virginia. Additional WRA sites in DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Sterling will go live in the next 30 days. WRA’s decision to convert all of their mammography equipment to the new technology makes WRA the largest provider of breast tomosynthesis technology in the world, according to Hologic, the equipment manufacturer.

Read More at Market Watch.

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By: Andrea Torres

The body image issues continued. How could they not? After breast cancer treatment, the woman in the mirror looked like a damaged mannequin. And even with breast implants, I felt like a creature that belonged on a different planet.

“I pity the guy who checks me out and dares to come up to me,” I told a guy friend over a text message. And when he asked why, I replied, “It’s like feeling sorry for a man who hits on a drag queen thinking he is a she.” He said I didn’t make any sense.

Three weeks after radiation therapy had ended, the injuries in my chest were starting to look like a sunburn. And nearly four months after the last chemo, my eyelashes were back, my nails were starting to grow stronger and my head had enough hair for people to assume that I was going for a rebellious punk look.

Never has the link to beauty and health been more obvious. I weighed 144 pounds; my ideal is 125. I hadn’t exercised in months, so I decided to show up to a spinning class at a gym in Miami Beach. I walked out of the class after 15 minutes and nearly fainted while walking back home.

“Are you kidding me? Why would you do that?” a friend asked. “You are not well. You really need to take care of yourself. Yes, now you don’t have to go to the hospital as often. Let’s keep it that way.”

She was right.

The past five months had felt like some one had thrown me into a pool, and I had been doing my best to swim back to the surface. But as much as I wanted to think that I was getting closer to the surface, I wasn’t.

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By: Fran Visco

There is nothing like a presidential campaign to convey a sense of urgency. There is the need to fix the economy; to show Americans how their lives can be better; to demonstrate leadership. We need the presidential candidates to step up on another urgent issue: Ending breast cancer. We all know that breast cancer is a political issue and a bipartisan one at that. The level of federal funding for breast cancer research, access to care for the underserved and the drug approval process are just some of the issues vital to breast cancer that are addressed through public policy and the political process.

Now, there isn’t a candidate who would not pin on a pink ribbon and embrace a survivor. But at the National Breast Cancer Coalition we demand much more than that. We demand a commitment and a plan of action to end breast cancer. We demand leadership that will bring the world of public policy together to save lives. One of these candidates will become President of the United States. He needs to know now that ending breast cancer must be part of his agenda. It is up to us to educate the candidates about this issue. About the fact that in the United States more than 2.5 million women are living with breast cancer today and this year alone close to 40,000 women and 400 men will die of the disease. We need strong leadership everywhere — including the White House — if we are to finally change these statistics.

Read More at Huffington Post. 

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