Vienna, Austria: A Dutch study of the effectiveness of breast cancer screening shows that, even with improved treatments for the disease, population-based mammography programmes still save a significant number of lives. The finding, presented at the eighth European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-8) in Vienna, will add further fuel to the debate about whether or not […]
Category: Cancer
MRI screening for women with a family history of breast cancer but no genetic predisposition is expensive but could be cost-effective for some
Vienna, Austria: Adding magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to standard breast cancer screening approaches is expensive, though it could be cost effective for a group of women who may not have inherited the breast cancer susceptibility genes, but who have a familial risk of developing the disease. This is the conclusion of research presented at the […]
Twenty-year results from national breast cancer screening programme show a significant drop in deaths, limited harm and reasonable costs
Vienna, Austria: Results from one of the longest-running national breast cancer screening programmes have shown that it has contributed to a drop in deaths from the disease, that any harm caused by the screening, such as false positives and over-diagnosis, has been limited, and that the costs have been reasonable. The Dutch population-based mammography breast […]
Dense breasts can nearly double the risk of breast cancer recurrence
Vienna, Austria: Women aged 50 and over with breasts that have a high percentage of dense tissue are at greater risk of their breast cancer recurring, according to Swedish research presented at the eighth European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-8) in Vienna. Dr Louise Eriksson and her colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) found that […]
Pregnancy is safe for women with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer
Vienna, Austria: New research has shown for the first time that it is safe for women who have been diagnosed with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer to become pregnant, despite doctors’ previous fears that pregnancy could boost levels of oestrogen in the body and cause the cancer to return. In fact, the findings, to be […]
New estimates predict nearly 1.3 million deaths from cancer in the EU in 2012, but the rate of people dying from the disease is declining
New figures estimate that there will be nearly 1.3 million deaths from cancer in 2012 in the European Union (EU) – 717,398 men and 565,703 women. Although the actual numbers have increased, the rate (age-standardised per 100,000 population) of people who die from the disease continues to decline. Writing in the cancer journal Annals of […]
Researchers find a way to screen for broad range of cancer-causing genetic changes as part of routine clinical practice, bringing effective personalised medicine a step closer
Researchers in the United States have shown, for the first time, that it is possible to screen cancer patients for a broad range of cancer-causing genetic mutations as part of normal clinical practice. By identifying patients’ individual genotypes within a relatively short time frame, doctors are able to target tumours with the most appropriate therapy. […]
Researchers discover gene that is mutated in some blood cancers and predicts better survival
Stockholm, Sweden: Geneticists have discovered that a gene involved in the modification of ribonucleic acid (RNA) is mutated in a significant proportion of people with a collection of blood cancers called myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The researchers found that mutations in the SF3B1 gene tended to be associated with a better prognosis, raising the possibility that […]
Chemotherapy during pregnancy does not seem to cause developmental problems in children
Stockholm, Sweden: Children born after their mothers were treated with chemotherapy during pregnancy appear to be unaffected by the experience in terms of the development of their mental processes and the normal functioning of their hearts, according to new research presented at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress [1]. Professor Frederic Amant told the congress: […]
High blood pressure is linked to increased risk of developing or dying from cancer
Stockholm, Sweden: Raised blood pressure is linked to a higher risk of developing cancer or dying from the disease according to the findings of the largest study to date to investigate the association between the two conditions. Dr Mieke Van Hemelrijck told the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress [1] in Stockholm that there had been […]