Women Affairs

Pop singer Kylie Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis triggered a surge in women being screened for the disease, according to a new study. But the University of Melbourne study found the increase in testing of women at low risk of developing the cancer did more harm than good, by lowering the capacity of the system to deal with high-risk cases. The study found use of mammography and breast ultrasound procedures soared by more than 30 per cent in women aged 25 to 44, in the six months following Minogue's diagnosis. There was also a sharp rise in women aged 25 to 34 who had breast biopsies but the surge did not lead to the detection of more cases of breast cancer. The study, published this week in the International Journal of Epidemiology, used Medicare data to examine the impact of the publicity surrounding the singer's illness on breast imaging, biopsies and operations to remove breast tumours. Study leader Margaret Kelaher, of the university's Melbourne School of Populati...

Jewish women in Canada to be offered the chance to alter their genetic destiny by taking a test – at no cost to them – that will determine whether they are at high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. By screening for three inherited breast cancer gene mutations common to those of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, Women’s College Research Institute scientists have an ambitious goal: to prevent the dreaded disease before it strikes. They plan to do that by offering adult Jewish women in Ontario, with no known family history of breast or ovarian cancer, the blood test to screen for three specific mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, beginning this Thursday. Jewish women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer who have never been tested are also eligible. If expanding genetic testing to this group proves worthwhile, it could alter the way the testing is offered across Canada by recognizing one’s inherent risk of cancer, simply due to ancestry. The goal of the test is “to p...

A documentary about Kylie Minogue's battle with breast cancer has gone to air in Britain, showing dramatic footage of the pop star's collapse during a show in Manchester. Footage from the concert, filmed before her diagnosis, shows a distressed Minogue trying desperately not to cry as she walks the stage trying to make it through one more song. But the diminutive singer is forced backstage, where she collapses, crying, as her team try to comfort her and cool her as she lies crumpled on the floor. "I hate to let you all down but I'm just going to do one more song," Minogue, wearing a skin-tight catsuit, tells the audience. But she simply could not go on. "I was really weak, dizzy and couldn't sing," she says in the documentary White Diamond: A Personal Portrait of Kylie Minogue , which aired last night on Britain's Channel 4. "I was hyperventilating and panicking and in tears and then we stopped and there was this gap that seemed like i...

Reuter Three or more drinks a day, whether beer, wine or spirits, boost a woman's risk of breast cancer as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes, US researchers say. The relationship between alcohol and breast cancer is known but there has been little data on whether the choice of drink made a difference, they told a European cancer conference in Barcelona. In what the researchers said was one of the largest studies to investigate links between breast cancer and alcohol - found that alcohol itself and the amount a person consumed were key rather than the type of drink. "Studies have consistently linked drinking alcohol to an increased risk of female breast cancer, but until now there has been little data, most of it conflicting, about an independent role played by the choice of beverage type," Arthur Klatsky of Kaiser Permanente in California and one of the researchers said. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer killer of women, after lung cancer. It will be diagn...

The use of contraceptive pill does not increase a woman's chance of developing cancer and could even reduce the risk of getting the killer disease, a major British medical study showed today. Researchers at Aberdeen University who studied the records of 46,000 women over a 36-year period found that taking the oral contraceptive for up to eight years did not lead to an increased risk of cancer over a woman's lifetime. However, doctors said the risks of cancer were greater in women who took the pill for longer than eight years. Researchers, led by Professor Philip Hannaford, found that "there was no overall increased risk of cancer among pill users" and that taking the pill could cut the risk by up to 12 per cent in some cases. Story Continues Below A 12 per cent reduction equated to one fewer case of cancer for every 2200 women who used the pill for a year, the study published by the British Medical Journal showed. "It is pretty small, but if you take that across ...

Champion marathon runner Kerryn McCann has spoken publicly for the first time since being diagnosed with breast cancer, saying there's a tough battle ahead but she's determined to fight. The two-time Commonwealth Games champion and three-time Olympian, 40, is pregnant and was diagnosed with the disease two weeks ago. She has already had surgery to remove a lump from her breast and is due to start 18 weeks of chemotherapy after the birth of her third child, which is expected to be induced on September 5, Fairfax has reported. "It's worth fighting for another little baby," she told Fairfax. "I plan on fighting the cancer and other women have been through it so I can do it too." McCann said the diagnosis had been a shock. She said she had no family history of the disease she didn't think fit and healthy people would ever get cancer. "It has all happened so quickly but I think the good news is it is treatable," she said. "It's ...

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Foods that contain acrylamide are unlikely to cause breast cancer in women, according to preliminary results of a new study involving 100,000 U.S. women. The finding, the largest epidemiological study to date exploring the possible link between acrylamide and cancer in humans, was described today at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society. "At levels consumed in the diet, it appears unlikely that acrylamide in foods is related to breast cancer risk," says study leader Lorelei Mucci, ScD, an epidemiologist at Channing Labs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. In prior work, her group also examined dietary acrylamide and risk of cancer of the colon, rectum, bladder and kidney, and similarly found no association. "Although we do not rule out that very high levels of acrylamide could cause cancer, it appears that at the levels found in the diet, it is unlikely." Natural Cancer Treatments!!! Non-toxic Heal...

Compounds in cranberries may help improve the effectiveness of platinum drugs that are used in chemotherapy to fight ovarian cancer, researchers have found in a laboratory study that will be reported today at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society. The scientists demonstrated in cell culture studies that human ovarian cancer cells resistant to platinum drugs became up to 6 times more sensitized to the drugs after exposure to the cranberry compounds in comparison to cells that were not exposed to the compounds, which were obtained from juice extracts. Although preliminary, the findings have the potential to save lives and reduce the harmful side effects associated with using high doses of platinum drugs for the treatment of ovarian cancer, the researchers say, adding that human studies are still needed. The new study adds to a growing number of potential health benefits linked to cranberries. Natural Cancer Treatments!!! Non-toxic Healing Of Cancer!!! "For the ...

In a search of good health there is a controversial alternative cancer treatment using something that usually goes to babies. Breast milk is filled with all sorts of unique nutrients to help babies grow. For mothers who can't breast feed, there are breast milk banks where donated milk is stored and sold. But now, breast milk is not just for babies as cancer patients have started to drink it. Pauline Sakamoto of Mothers’ Milk Bank said they have sold breast milk to 60 cancer patients. “It may not mean that the cancer is cured, but we're seeing a dramatic change in the quality of life for some of them,” she said. Howard Cohen says it worked for him after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Instead of traditional treatments, he turned to purchased breast milk that he mixes with fruit and yogurt. “If you drink it straight, it has a bit of a yucky, oily under taste,” he said. Some Swedish research says a protein in mother's milk can kill cancer cells in Petri dishes. “That doe...

While illnesses know no discrimination among the various races they afflict, a study suggests that African-American women who feel they’ve been victims of racial discrimination are more likely than their peers to develop breast cancer. The study, which followed 59,000 African-American women for six years, found that those who reported more incidents of racial discrimination had a higher risk of breast cancer. Past studies have suggested that over time, perceived racial discrimination can take a toll on a person’s health. A possible explanation is that unjust treatment serves as a source of chronic stress, which itself has been linked to poorer physical health. In the current study, women were asked how often they faced “everyday” discrimination, like receiving poorer service than other people at stores, or feeling that people are “afraid” of them or act superior to them. They were also asked whether they’d ever been treated unjustly on the job, in trying to get housing, or by the p...

The symptoms of ovarian cancer can appear months before the cancer is found. Unless a woman is getting the tests that would reveal the cancer these symptoms many times wont be diagnosed. This alone is one of the problems with detecting ovarian cancer in its early stages. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are quite often dismissed due to the fact that they can be rather benign. Stomach swelling and digestive problems for instance which are common symptoms of the presence of ovarian can be easily dismissed and ignored. Stomach problems are something everyone experiences at various times in their life. Ovarian cancer afflicts more than twenty-two- thousand women annually in the U.S. If caught in the early stages this cancer is treatable as goes for many other cancers.If detected in its early stages, before it has spread from the ovaries a woman has a ninety percent chance of living for at least another five years. Unfortunately, less than twenty percent of ovarian cancer is detected in its e...

There’s no one big way to reduce your risk for breast cancer, but a combination of approaches could make a difference. In recent years the statistical picture of breast cancer has brightened, thanks to early detection and advances in treatment. More tumors are being caught at an early stage; the rise in incidence of the disease has slowed; and the death rate has dropped. Nevertheless, breast cancer is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and the second most likely (after lung cancer) to take their lives. Data aside, breast cancer looms large in our health concerns because most of us know it personally. Some of us have had the disease ourselves, and others have experienced it through friends or relatives. Particularly unsettling is its seeming randomness: Nothing seems to explain why one woman develops breast cancer and another doesn’t. Granted, family history and certain gene mutations can substantially increase risk. But such factors aren’t involved in most...