Category Archives: Breast Cancer

Lower-income US women more likely to miss key breast cancer test, study finds

Posted on by

Isolation and lack of health insurance also correlate to reduced mammogram rates for breast cancer

Women who are low-income, socially isolated and lack health insurance are far less likely to be up-to-date on mammograms, a breast cancer screening tool experts said is critical to reducing breast cancer deaths, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer to afflict American women, and kills an estimated 40,000 Americans each year. Cancer overall kills 605,000 Americans a year and is the second-leading cause of death, a toll the Biden administration aims to reduce through a Cancer Moonshot initiative.

Continue reading...

UK scientists working on breast cancer monitor fitted in bra

Posted on by

Researchers at Nottingham Trent University hope device used at home will improve tracking of tumours

Scientists are developing a device that fits inside a bra and could monitor whether a breast cancer tumour is growing.

Researchers hope the device will provide a new non-invasive method of detecting tumour growth that patients can use “in the comfort of their own homes”.

Continue reading...

Labour MP Foy says she has breast cancer and urges others to get checked

Posted on by

Mary Kelly Foy, the MP for Durham, is recuperating from surgery and is expected to make a full recovery

A Labour MP has urged women to attend breast cancer screenings as she revealed her own diagnosis.

Mary Kelly Foy, the City of Durham MP, said she was recuperating from surgery and was expected to make a full recovery thanks to an early diagnosis.

Continue reading...

Late MP Peta Murphy remembered as ‘brave and loved’ by Anthony Albanese in emotional tribute

Posted on by

‘It was so true to Peta’s character that she channelled her personal battle with breast cancer into public policy’, PM says

Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Labor MP Peta Murphy, 50, has died from breast cancer. The prime minister struggled to hold back tears as he confirmed Murphy’s passing in a short statement from parliament house on Monday afternoon.

Murphy, the member for Dunkley, attended the final sitting week of the House of Representatives last week before returning home for palliative care. The MP died at home in the company of her parents and siblings and her husband of more than two decades, Rod Glover.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Drug that can halve breast cancer risk offered to 289,000 women in England

Posted on by

Anastrozole to be made available to women who have been through the menopause and have family history of breast cancer

Almost 300,000 women at higher risk of developing breast cancer are being given access to a drug that can halve their risk in a “major step forward” in the fight against the disease.

An estimated 289,000 women in England who are at moderate or high risk of breast cancer will from Tuesday be able to take the tablet to try to prevent it from developing, NHS bosses said.

Continue reading...

‘Million megawatt smile’: Friends pay tribute to Victorian MP Jane Garrett at state memorial service

Posted on by

Former Labor minister celebrated as one of the state’s ‘most respected daughters’

Victorian Labor MP Jane Garrett has been remembered as a courageous and principled politician and a doting mother of three during a memorial service in Melbourne.

Family, friends and state and federal parliamentarians from across the political divide gathered at a state memorial at the Brunswick town hall – in the MP’s former electorate – on Friday morning to pay tribute to Garrett.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Jane Garrett, Victorian Labor MP, dies from breast cancer aged 49

Posted on by

Former emergency services minister offered a state funeral to honour her ‘life of service’

The family of Victorian Labor MP Jane Garrett has has accepted the offer of a state funeral to farewell the former emergency services minister who has died from breast cancer at the age of 49.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said the service would be “a fitting way to mark her significant contribution” to the state.

Continue reading...

NHS to offer women in England drug that cuts recurrence of breast cancer

Posted on by

Abemaciclib can improve chances of certain type of cancer not returning after surgery by more than 30%

Thousands of women in England with breast cancer are to benefit from a new pill on the NHS which reduces the risk of the disease coming back.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has given the green light to abemaciclib, which cuts the chance of breast cancer returning after a patient has had surgery to remove a tumour.

Continue reading...

‘Overdiagnosis’: some breast cancer treatments may have been unnecessary, study suggests

Posted on by

Exclusive: Patients tell of screening and surgery they believe they didn’t need, and the effect this has had on their lives

When Jenny* had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she believed the major surgery to remove her breast, although traumatic, had saved her life.

She described feeling “rage” when at a follow-up appointment three years later, she said to her surgeon, “I would probably be dead by now” if she had not received the surgery, to which he replied: “Probably not.”

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Women in England with breast cancer may qualify for drug that buys ‘precious’ time

Posted on by

Nice approves Keytruda, which with chemotherapy can lengthen survival of women with triple negative breast cancer

Women with advanced breast cancer in England will be able to benefit from a new type of immunotherapy on the NHS after a U-turn by the medicines watchdog.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has overturned its draft rejection of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and said women in England can take the drug in combination with chemotherapy.

Continue reading...

Scientists developing single test to detect risk of four cancers in women

Posted on by

Experts may be able to predict risk of developing ovarian, breast, womb and cervical cancers using cells from routine smear test

Scientists are developing a “revolutionary” test to predict a woman’s risk of four cancers using a single sample collected during cervical screening.

Using cervical cells from a routine smear test, experts may be able to spot ovarian and breast cancer or predict their likelihood of developing, according to two papers published in the journal Nature Communications. Further results are due on the ability of the WID-test – women’s cancer risk identification – to predict womb and cervical cancer, researchers said.

Continue reading...

‘Highly effective’ ovarian cancer treatment could help thousands of women

Posted on by

New drug combination shrunk tumours significantly in 46% of patients with treatment-resistant form of disease

Thousands of women with ovarian cancer could benefit from a revolutionary drug combination after it was shown to shrink tumours in half of patients with an advanced form of the disease.

The pair of drugs – which work together to block the signals cancer cells need to grow – could offer a new treatment option for women with a type of ovarian cancer that rarely responds to chemotherapy or hormone therapy.

Continue reading...

Alcohol linked to more cancers than thought, study finds

Posted on by

Imperial College London researchers also find that drinking coffee protects against liver cancer

Consuming alcohol increases the risk of getting more cancers than previously thought, according to a major study, which also found that drinking coffee protects against liver cancer.

Alcohol consumption is linked to several cancers including those of the head and neck – mouth, pharynx and larynx – oesophageal and bowel, along with the more widely known connection with breast and liver cancer, according to an international team led by Imperial College London.

Continue reading...

Alcohol caused 740,000 cancer cases globally last year – study

Posted on by

Researchers behind estimate say more needs to be done to raise public awareness of link

Alcohol is estimated to have caused more than 740,000 cancer cases around the world last year, and experts say more needs to be done to highlight the link.

There is strong evidence that alcohol consumption can cause various cancers including those of the breast, liver, colon, rectum, oropharynx, larynx and oesophagus. Research suggests that even low levels of drinking can increase the risk.

Continue reading...

How race to track mystery gene with links to three cancers saved millions

Posted on by

25 years ago, a mutation was discovered that makes some people susceptible to the disease, and now it has transformed treatment

Ten years ago, Tony Herbert developed a lump on the right side of his chest. The clump of tissue grew and became painful and he was tested for breast cancer. The result was positive.

“I had surgery and chemotherapy and that worked,” he said last week. But how had Herbert managed to develop a condition that is so rare in men? Only about 400 cases of male breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK compared with around 55,000 in women. A genetic test revealed the answer. Herbert had inherited a pathogenic version of a gene called BRCA2 and this mutation had triggered his condition.

Continue reading...

Kelly Preston, actor and wife of John Travolta, dies aged 57 from breast cancer

Posted on by

Travolta says ‘Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered’ after revealing actor’s death after two-year illness

Kelly Preston, who appeared in the hit films Jerry Maguire and Twins, has died, her husband, John Travolta, said. She was 57.

Travolta said in an Instagram post that his wife of 28 years, who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, died on Sunday.

Continue reading...

AI system outperforms experts in spotting breast cancer

Posted on by

Program developed by Google Health tested on mammograms of UK and US women

An artificial intelligence program has been developed that is better at spotting breast cancer in mammograms than expert radiologists.

The AI outperformed the specialists by detecting cancers that the radiologists missed in the images, while ignoring features they falsely flagged as possible tumours.

Continue reading...

Breast cancer risk from using HRT is ‘twice what was thought’

Posted on by

Study prompts medicines regulator to advise all women using HRT to remain vigilant

The risk of breast cancer from using hormone replacement therapy is double what was previously thought, according to a major piece of research, which confirms that HRT is a direct cause of the cancer.

The findings of the definitive study will cause concern among the 1 million women in the UK and millions more around the world who are using HRT. It finds that the longer women take it, the greater their risk, with the possibility that just one year is risk-free. It also finds that the risk does not go away as soon as women stop taking it, as had been previously assumed.

Continue reading...

Inspired touch: how blind women outdo doctors at finding breast cancer

Posted on by

Visually impaired women in Colombia are using their enhanced sense of feel to improve early breast cancer detection

As a child, Francia Papamija started progressively losing her eyesight due to a retinal detachment. Today, everything is darkness for the 36-year-old – except for the job she holds in a clinic in Cali, Colombia, where she contributes to the early detection of breast cancer.

Papamija is a medical tactile examiner (MTE), a role created especially for women who are blind and have higher sensitivity in their fingertips.

Continue reading...

UK breast cancer death rates falling fastest in ‘big six’ of Europe

Posted on by

Study says women aged 50-69 most likely to benefit, while those aged 70-79 will gain least

Death rates from breast cancer are falling faster in Britain than in any other of the six most populous countries in Europe, research shows.

The rate of death from the disease has fallen by 17.7% since 2010-2014 thanks to screening, earlier diagnosis and better treatment, a Europe-wide study [pdf] has found.

Continue reading...