Women should be aware that all cancers detected during breast cancer screenings are not necessarily lethal. More intensive screening tends to reveal even cancers that may lie dormant or cause no harm. A recent study in the British Medical Journal shows that nearly 52% of mammograms in areas offering organized screening are over-diagnosed, with one in three overdiagnosed overall. The danger lies in the health problems that may result from unnecessary treatment (such as chemotherapy, radiation or surgery).
A mammogram uses x-rays to detect masses in the breast tissue, allowing doctors to detect breast cancer in its early stages when it’s most likely to be cured. Women over the age of forty are encouraged to get a mammogram every 1-2 years. Although a mammogram is beneficial when lethal cancers are detected, it may be harmful when perceiving those that are not.

It is estimated that one in three breast cancer mammography screenings are overdiagnosed. Overdiagnosis occurs when the patient dies before cancer complications occur, whether it's because the cancer grows too slowly or simply remains dormant.

Because it is impossible to discriminate between types of cancers that will not cause death or symptoms and those that will, all types of cancer are treated. In fact, 37% of women age 40-54 who died from causes other than breast cancer had invasive or non-invasive cancer legions at autopsy, half of which were visible on radiography.

Researcher Karl Julh Jørgensen, co-author and researcher of the study, wrote “The increase in incidence of breast cancer was closely related to the introduction of screening and little of this was compensated for by a drop in incidence of breast cancer in previously screened women.”

Jørgensen, along with director Peter C Gøtzsche, both of The Nordic Cochrane Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, gathered information for the review by compiling several studies from Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, using data seven years prior to screening and seven years after.

Researchers obtained information from women too young to be screened to use as a control. This information was compared with pre-screening trends of the screened group to establish a background incidence.

The rate of diagnosis for women younger than 50 and greater than 74 remained constant, but when the post-screening trend in women age 50-69 was examined, breast cancer diagnosis was almost 42% higher than expected.  This was followed by a 15% decline in diagnosis for women over the age of 70. Over-diagnosis for breast cancer alone was 35%, which jumped to 52% when carcinoma in situ (at its original site) was included.

Although factors such as the use of hormone replacement therapy (associated with an increased risk of breast cancer) and incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) may play a factor in the statistics, researchers still attribute much of this change in diagnosis to organized and more frequent screening.

Other deviations due to the nature of different types of cancer must still be accounted for, but the study’s findings do stress taking precautions in breast cancer screening.

Digital mammography readings, for example, in lieu of traditional mammograms (that tend to detect a higher rate of false positives due to poorer image quality) may be the best procedure, but knowing the facts about breast cancer’s risks can help prevent complications as a result of overdiagnosis.

Visit our Breast Cancer Community.

A recent study by the National Cancer Institute shows that a patient’s blood type may increase his or her risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a rare form of the disease, accounting for an average of only 29,000 diagnoses in the United States every year. There are more than 42,000 estimated cases this year alone. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect, especially in early stages, and spreads quickly. Symptoms include jaundice, abdominal pain, bowel obstruction, and weight loss (because the pancreas is unable to properly metabolize sugar).

Blood type is determined by the ABO gene, found on a region of the 9^th chromosome (typically referred to as “region 9”). Glycoproteins are produced in different combinations to determine an individual’s blood type—either A, B, AB, or O. Blood type dictates how sugars are placed on the cell’s surface. In pancreatic tumor cells, this transference is different.

Although it is relatively rare, pancreatic cancer is extremely life threatening because many people are not diagnosed until after it has already spread. Risk is greater for male smokers over the age of 60 with a family history of the disease.  According to Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), it is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and fewer than 5% of patients survive five years following diagnosis.

The relationship between blood type and pancreatic cancer was first suggested more than half a century ago when research in the 50s and 60s yielded similar results. The results of the study come from Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, associated a 17% greater risk for pancreatic cancer for patients with non-O blood types.

The Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium, an organization of 12 academic medical centers, conducted the study with the help of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers followed 4,353 individuals with pancreatic cancer and 4,593 without, using whole-genome scans to detect similar genetic patterns that may be related to the disease.

“As more variants are discovered and follow-up studies are conducted to examine the biological effects of these variants,” says co-author Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., chief of NCI’s Laboratory of Translational Genomics in DCEG, “a better understanding will emerge of the inherited risk factors and mechanisms that lead to the development of pancreatic cancer."

Both tests showed a greater risk for patients with A and B blood types. The first of the two experiments in March, 2009, showed that blood type A had a 32% higher risk, with type AB increasing by 51% and type B increasing by 72% for risk of pancreatic cancer development.

Co-author Patricia Hartge, Sc.D., also of NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, says much more work is needed to better understand the link between blood type and pancreatic cancer: “This finding may lead to improved diagnostic and therapeutic interventions that are so desperately needed."

The study will be published in this month’s online issue of Nature Genetics. Click here to read the study’s extract, or find more information about pancreatic cancer.

Connect with others and learn more in our Pancreatic Cancer Community, or take the Healia Cancer Quiz!

A follow-up study in Washington shows that although migraines are a real pain, they may spell relief for women at risk for developing breast cancer.

Dr. Christopher I. Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Wash. originally conducted this study with colleagues in 2008. Their original study linked clinically diagnosed migraines with a lower risk for both invasive ductal and invasive lobular breast cancer.

Breast cancer and migraines are both hormonally related conditions—migraines often resulting from unstable or changing hormone levels, especially estrogen. For women, who are 2-3 times more likely to experience migraines than men, this time is typically during the early days of menstruation.

The study found that postmenopausal women with a history of migraines had 32-33% reduced chance of developing breast cancer. These statistics proved to be even more consistent in subtypes of breast cancer that are estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive.

When the original study results were released last fall, the sample group consisted of roughly 3,500 postmenopausal Seattle women between the ages of 55-74. This time, however, Dr. Li and his colleagues were able to paint a much better picture. “Having a larger and more diverse study in its underlying population helps in replicating the findings,” Li says.

By more than doubling the sample size, expanding testing to women of different menopausal stages  (this time including ages 35-64), and adding four locations in Detroit, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, researchers were able to define breast cancer’s connection to migraines more clearly.

In addition to age and menopausal status, many breast cancer risk factors also trigger migraines. Such factors include smoking, alcohol consumption and use of exogenous hormones (such as birth control). These risk factors, however, did not increase the likelihood of women with a history of migraines.

According to the second study, rates among the control and case groups were relatively unchanged, despite differences in use of prescription migraine medications and age at migraine diagnosis. Even among those who did not avoid these triggers, women with a history of migraines were still 26% less likely to develop breast cancer than those without.

It is not clear how migraines “protect” against breast cancer, but researchers hope to further examine the role of hormones, NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and other medications in the development of breast cancer.

The best way to reduce breast cancer risk is to check regularly. For more information on breast cancer and how to do a self-examination, visit NationalBreastCancer.org.

You can also check out Helia's  Breast Cancer Community!

 

Want more information about migraines? Click here .

Five simple lifestyle changes could substantially decrease the incidence of colon cancer, reports a study published in the May issue of the European Journal of Cancer Prevention. Researchers studied how recommended lifestyle changes could affect predicted colon cancer rates of the British population over the next 24 years. The study estimates that 31.5% of colon cancers in British men and 18.4% of colon cancers in British women could be prevented if individuals made changes in diet, exercise, alcohol consumption and weight control.

The five recommended lifestyle changes are:

• Limit consumption of red meat and processed meat to no more than 3 ounces per day
• Eat at least five portions of fruits, vegetables and fiber per day
• Exercise 30 minutes per day, five or more days each week
• Consume less than three alcoholic beverages per day for men, two per day for women
• Control weight to help reduce the total U.K. population’s weight distribution to the rates of 20 years ago

Identified risk factors for colon cancer include:

• Being 50 or older
• Having a personal or family history of colon cancer or colon polyps
• Having ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease
• Smoking cigarettes
• Being overweight or obese

Like in the United States, colon cancer is extremely prevalent in the United Kingdom. It is the nation’s third most common newly-diagnosed cancer, and is second in terms of cancer deaths. Colon cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the United States, and is also the second cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.

Sharon Osbourne, British-borne judge of American Idol and wife of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, was diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2002. Following the surgical removal of the cancer, Osbourne underwent chemotherapy to reduce the likelihood of its recurrence. She has since recovered and returned to her TV career.

United States President Ronald Reagan also famously battled colon cancer. On July 13, 1985, the President had surgery to remove roughly two feet of his colon after a colonoscopy revealed a cancerous tumor. On January 17, 1986, President Reagan again went under the knife, this time to remove colon polyps. He died in June of 2005, at 93, of unrelated causes.

Colonoscopy is the best detector of colon cancer and also aids in prevention. All people 50 and older should have a colonoscopy once every five years. People with a family history of colon cancer should begin having colonoscopies at 45. Diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors also greatly impact colon cancer risk.

Join the Healia Colorectal Cancer Online Health Community and Support Group to share your experiences or to offer tips and advice.

Source:

The European Journal of Cancer Prevention. Volume 19, Issue 3. http://journals.lww.com/eurjcancerprev/Abstract/publishahead/The_potential_for_prevention_of_colorectal_cancer.99995.aspx

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