Young breast cancer patients test super-hormone treatment

Young women are getting a shot of a male hormone testosterone often used to treat prostate cancer as part of a super-hormone treatment that new research suggests may improve their survival odds for breast cancer. This chemical equivalent of ovary removal has one big advantage over surgery: it's not permanent, so it may preserve a woman's ability to have children. In premenopausal women, the drugs suppress the pituitary gland, which produces hormones that control the ovaries and cause a woman to have a period every month. Side effects of this induced early menopause are similar to those of natural menopause _ hot flashes, night sweats, etc., according to new research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which ended Sunday. The drugs are most often used in two situations:

• As an alternative to chemotherapy for women who have had surgery for small, hormone-fueled tumors and are considered at relatively low risk for recurrence.
• As a way to keep the ovaries suppressed in women whose periods return after temporarily stopping during chemotherapy.

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As Postmenopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy Drops, Breast Cancer Recurrence Rates Drop

One year after millions of post-menopausal women in the United States stopped using Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in 2002, the number of new breast cancer cases dropped by 7% nationwide. Researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center believe the two are linked - that the incidence of breast cancer went down largely because so many older women stopped using HRT. The investigators are reporting their findings at the 29th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Zometa (zoledronic acid) Prevents Bone Loss in Premenopausal Breast Cancer Patients

In a study of premenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer treated with a combination of hormonal therapies, use of the bisphosphonate drug Zometa® (zoledronic acid) prevented bone loss. These results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--

Extra weight lowers Breast Cancer risk before menopause, increases it afterward

Women who are heavier in young adulthood have a lower risk of developing breast cancer before they reach menopause, new research shows. The finding, published in the Nov. 27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, confirms and expands on previous research suggesting that larger body size before menopause helps fend off breast cancer. That's not a license for women to gain weight, however, experts stressed. "We have to remind women that obesity is pretty much bad for everything else and, as soon as you become postmenopausal, obesity is one of the strongest predictors of breast cancer," said lead researcher Karin B. Michels, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. --Click the title of this post to read the full article from its source--