What's Going On In The News

Breast Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines Updated
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an organization of 19 leading cancer care centers in the United States, updated its Breast Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines in December 2005 to reflect recent advances in breast cancer treatment.

The guidelines are meant to provide direction for healthcare professionals who treat women with breast cancer. The updated guidelines cover several new areas in breast cancer research. For example, the NCCN now recommends that clinicians take into account hormone receptor status (i.e., whether a patient's cancer is dependent upon estrogen) when determining breast cancer treatment options. The guidelines also provide guidance to clinicians on the use of new breast cancer drug therapies.   FULL STORY

from Imaginis.com
Website: www.imaginis.com

Understanding The types of Breast Cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases in which cells in the body grow, change, and multiply out of control. The term, breast cancer, refers to a malignant tumor that has developed from cells in the breast.

This article provides general information on breast cancer and explains terminology and classifications of the disease. Topics include invasive and non-invasive breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), infiltrating ductal carcinoma, infiltrating lobular carcinoma, inflammatory breast cancer, Paget's disease of the nipple, and more.   FULL STORY

from Imaginis.com
Website: www.imaginis.com


Benefits of being Smoke-Free

• People who stop smoking cigarettes generally live longer than those who continue to smoke.
• After 15 years of being smoke-free, an ex-smoker's risk of death is comparable to a nonsmoker's.
• Becoming smoke-free decreases your risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic lung diseases and respiratory illnesses.
• Ex-smokers have fewer health complaints, better self-reported health status and reduced rates of bronchitis and pneumonia.
• Women who stop smoking before they become pregnant reduce the risk of miscarriage, having a baby with low birth weight or having a newborn die of SIDS.

Learn more about how your health improves (even in a matter of hours) when you stop smoking...FULL CHART

from the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Centers on the
Website: www.MayoClinic.com

Hormones Associated with Puberty May Influence Breast Cancer Risk
According to a study of identical twin pairs, the age a woman begins menstruating may influence her risk of developing breast cancer, if her disease is caused by genes. However, researchers know that not all breast cancer cases are caused exclusively by genes; some may be caused by other factors too, such as hormones, diet, etc.

In the study, the age that a woman began menstruating was significant, if her cancer was hereditary. On the other hand, the age of first menstruation was not important in women with non-hereditary breast cancer (i.e., breast cancer thought not to be caused by genes). Instead, in these cases, other factors, such as the number of children the women had, or the age at which they reached menopause, were more important in determining their risk of breast cancer. According to researchers, this study helps show that different types of breast cancer may be influenced by different risk factors.FULL STORY

from Imaginis.com
Website: www.imaginis.com

Study: Heat May Be Effective at Treating Breast Cancer
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center are experimenting with a novel way to treat breast cancer that involves heating the tumor while the breast lies in a pool of water. The therapy, called hyperthermia, is administered immediately after chemotherapy and helps the drugs reach cancer cells quickly and effectively. Hyperthermia worked surprisingly well in an early clinical trial of patients with inflammatory and locally advanced breast cancers. Because only the tumor cells of the breast are heated during treatment, hyperthermia enables physicians to use significantly higher doses of chemotherapy to kill cancer cells while minimizing harm to healthy cells...FULL STORY

from the Imaginis Breast Health articles on the
Website: www.imaginis.com/breasthealth

For tons of information on Breast Cancer Survival and Treatment including ideas and info for everyday living check out www.mamm.com. Mamm is a magazine that focuses on breast cancer before, during and after diagnosis. It's a great site and even greater magazine, and NOT "pricey".

To stay updated on legal issues in the GLBT community go to: www.nclrights.org. This is the website for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. They work for GLBT youth in Foster Care, Title IX, Transgender Issues, and fight legal battles for many in our community.

Summer 08 Newsletter
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