Keeping Abreast with Breast Cancer

Common Risk Factors
While all women are at risk for breast cancer, the factors listed below can increase a woman's chances of having the disease.

Gender: Simply being a woman is the main risk for breast cancer.
Age: The chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older.
Genetic risk factors: About 5% to 10% of breast cancers are thought to be linked to inherited changes in certain genes.
Family history: Breast cancer risk is higher among women whose close blood relatives have this disease.
Race: White women are slightly more likely to get breast cancer than are African-American women.
Dense breast tissue: Women with denser breast tissue have a higher risk of breast cancer.
Menstrual periods: Women who began having periods early, before age 12 or who went through the change of life after the age of 55 have a slightly increased risk of breast cancer.
Lifestyle choices: Women have slightly greater risk of breast cancer if:
- they have had not had children, or who had their first child after age 30
- they are using birth control pills.
- they have never breast fed or for a very short time
- they take alcohol
- they are overweight or obese

Symptoms
Early breast cancer has no symptoms. It is usually not painful. Most breast cancer is discovered before the symptoms are present, either by finding an abnormality on mammography or feeling a breast lump. A lump in the armpit or above the collarbone that does not go away may be a sign of cancer. Other possible symptoms are breast discharge, nipple inversion, or changes in the skin overlying the breast.

It is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women. Last year, approximately 182,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 died from the disease.

Latest Discoveries and Developments
Mention of breast cancer evokes many fears- loss of sexuality, surgery, death, loss of body image etc. These doubts and fears can be managed better by imbibing right information and knowledge. Here’s the result of homework we undertook to keep you abreast with the recent developments vis-à-vis breast cancer.

Walnuts can Curb Cancer
The study undertaken by Marshall University School of Medicine in Huntington, U.S. suggests that walnuts may help curb tumor growth. Researcher W. Elaine Hardman, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry, credits the disease-fighting omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and in particular, phytosterols, in walnuts.

"Phytosterols bind to estrogen receptors, so they would be expected to slow growth of breast cancers," she says. Estrogen fuels the growth of some breast tumors.

Predicting the Spread
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, USA have previously shown that the co-mingling of three cell types can predict whether localized breast cancer will spread throughout the body.

Now, a collaborative study led by investigators at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, has produced a test for metastasis that could help doctors precisely identify which patients should receive aggressive therapy.

Breast Asymmetry Predicts Breast Cancer
Women who develop breast cancer tend to have breasts that are less symmetrical than women who don't develop the cancer. A study published in Breast Cancer Research reveals that breast asymmetry could be a reliable independent predictor of breast cancer.

This study by University of Liverpool, UK found that the relative odds of developing breast cancer increased by 1.5 with each 100ml increase in breast asymmetry.

Improving Immune Response To Cancer
A team of scientists at The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research (CFIBCR) at Princess Margaret Hospital, Canada and international collaborators have discovered how to trigger an improved immune response to cancer. This could be included in new clinical trials that use a patient's own cells to destroy tumors.

Dr. Tak Mak, co-author and CFIBCR director, says: "The promise of using the body's own defenses to fight cancer is enormous. The day is coming when immunotherapy may help spare cancer patients the toxic side effects of traditional therapies and greatly improve their quality of life while treating the disease.”

Some Other Recent Researches
Another study shows that exercising for 45 to 60 minutes, 5 or more days a week reduces breast cancer risk.

A lot of research is being done to learn how the environment might affect breast cancer risk. At this time, researches fail to see a clear link between breast cancer risk and environmental pollutants such as pesticides and PCBs.

Most studies have found no link between active cigarette smoking and breast cancer too.