“In the United Kingdom, more than 40,000 women are diagnosed with an oestrogen-positive breast cancer each year”. Unfortunately many survivors suffer adverse effects on the heart caused by powerful drugs and radiation.
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While giving chemotherapy after radiotherapy has improved survival and is now standard care for these patients, the benefits of chemotherapy at the same time as radiotherapy are still unclear and need further follow-up.
“Using metformin as a cancer prevention strategy has been controversial and results have been inconsistent, but our analysis reveals that use of the drug is time-dependent, which may explain the disparity”, said Yun Rose Li from University of Pennsylvania.
Both chemotherapy drugs and radiation given to the chest increase the risk of heart attack, coronary heart disease and weakening of the heart muscle.
Scientists found that a daily brisk walk of 25 minutes nearly halved the mortality among breast cancer patients while a waistline larger than 35 inches rose death rates by a third.
Women with early-stage breast cancer could benefit from taking an estrogen-suppressing drug for 10 years rather than the standard five, researchers reported here on Sunday, citing the results of a new study. “The new immunotherapy treatments also convey the risk of unpredictable, possibly severe, and potentially irreversible autoimmune toxicities affecting a variety of organs”.
This approach, especially immunotherapy, which boosts the immune system to destroy tumor cells – is revolutionizing oncology, according to the study released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). “These data do not justify telling all of our patients to continue letrozole beyond 5 years, but in a patient with high-risk features who has thrown off unpleasant early side effects, I would discuss the data and help them make a choice”.
Some pre-menopausal women also receive prior treatment with another drug, tamoxifen, for three to five years.
In the study, presented at the Asco conference in Chicago, 666 women were split into two groups.
While drugs are traditionally discontinued at the first evidence of disease progression, immunotherapy response patterns differ from responses to other treatments.
Dr Paul Goss, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School said: ‘It will help tens of thousands of women.
“For millions of women around the world these data will support the practice of anti-oestrogen therapy (aromatase inhibitors) which will reduce the risk of their cancer coming back”. “Future studies may better identify women for which metformin may be most beneficial, as well as the most effective dosing regimens”, she said.
It would be a significant move away from the “one size fits all approach” often used for treating cancer, and academics believe it will boost survival rates and prolong patients’ lifespans without the disease progressing. However, the greater the levels of consumption, the greater the risk for breast cancer.
Findings showed that fewer subjects who were on letrozole for a decade experienced either recurrence or new cancer in the other breast.
While there were differences in how many women had their cancer return, and who therefore needed more treatment, there was no overall difference between the groups in how long women lived.
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A total of 1,227 participants enrolled in the first 3 months; 96% (n = 1,178) of these initial participants completed a 16-question survey about their cancer and treatments. In his own clinic, some women have the date when five years is up ringed on the calendar, he said, because they are keen to stop.
