Research News for 2010
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Some Women Who Choose Contralateral Mastectomy Overestimate Risk
A very small study suggests that women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast who are considering removing the opposite healthy breast overestimated their risk of developing breast cancer in the healthy breast. Once the women took time to carefully consider their actual risk of developing a new breast cancer, they usually decided against removing the healthy breast.
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Getting Pregnant Doesn’t Affect Future Survival
A new analysis suggests that pregnancy doesn't negatively affect the future survival of women who've been diagnosed with breast cancer.
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HER2 Levels Drop If HER2-Positive Cancers Respond to Chemo Plus Herceptin Before Surgery
New research suggests that measuring the drop in blood HER2 protein levels before and after chemotherapy and Herceptin given before surgery may help predict which women are most likely to benefit from Herceptin treatment before surgery.
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Avastin Helps Stop Growth of Metastatic Breast Cancer
Research suggests adding Avastin to chemotherapy as the first treatment for metastatic breast cancer increases the length of time before the cancer grows.
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Adding Genetic Information to Breast Cancer Risk Prediction Tool Doesn’t Improve Accuracy
A new analysis suggests that adding information on about 10 abnormal genes associated with breast cancer risk to the standard breast cancer risk assessment tool didn't really improve risk prediction compared to using only the standard tool.
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Can Cryotherapy Be Alternative to Surgery?
A very small study suggests that cryotherapy may be a safe and effective alternative to surgery to remove breast cancer.
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Genomic Test Results Not Understood by Many Women
A small study found that about a third of women who had genomic testing didn't really understand the test results.
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Benefit of Radiation After Mastectomy Isn’t Clear
A new study tries to offer more information on whether women who have mastectomy to remove early-stage breast cancer (stage I or stage II) can benefit from radiation therapy after surgery. Unfortunately, there isn't a clear answer.
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Can Removing Other, Healthy Breast Improve Survival?
A large study found that women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer who chose to have the opposite healthy breast removed were 16% less likely to die from breast cancer in the 4 years after diagnosis than women who didn't have the healthy breast removed, but it's unclear if removing the healthy breast is the reason for the better survival.
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Exercise Lowers Estrogen Levels in Older Women
A new study found that post-menopausal women who regularly did intense exercise for a year had lower levels of estradiol, a type of estrogen, compared to women who didn't exercise.
