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Breast Reduction May Lead To Cancer Detection In Patients

October 27th, 2009

From ScienceDaily.com:

There may be some new added benefits to breast reduction surgery. Testing tissue and fat removed during the procedure may lead to increased cancer detection, reports a new study presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2009 conference, Oct. 23-27, in Seattle.

Two-hundred-two cases were evaluated. Cancerous or pre-cancerous cells were found in 12.4 percent of patients. Age was significantly associated with negative pathologic findings. The rate of cancer was 6.2 percent in women 40 years or older and 7.9 percent in women 50 years or older. None of the lesions were identified on pre-operative mammograms.
The authors suggest that increased testing in breast reduction patients can help to identify at-risk patients, especially in breast reduction patients over 40.
Nearly 90,000 women had breast reduction surgery in 2008, up 5 percent since 2000, reports the ASPS.

Hot flashes: Hormones outperform botanicals, but take a toll on memory

August 12th, 2009

From LATimes.com:

The botanical remedies black cohosh and red clover, widely taken by middle-aged women to tame night sweats and hot flashes, took third place behind hormone replacement therapy and — surprisingly — a placebo pill in their ability to provide relief from menopausal symptoms, a government-sponsored study has found.

But a second study by the same researchers found that women taking Prempro, the hormone-replacement medication used in the clinical comparison, fared worse on a key cognitive complaint about menopause: memory.

The studies are published in the August issue of the journal Menopause.

University of Illinois at Chicago psychiatry professor Pauline Maki called the additional memory decline that came with Prempro use “slight.” But, she added, the effect leaves researchers on the hunt for medication that can ease hot flashes and night sweats without worsening memory problems for women making the menopausal transition.

Among the 89 women with moderate to severe hot flashes related to menopause, those who were given the second-place finisher — a dummy pill — had a powerful response, the study found. Over the 12-month study period, during which the women recorded the frequency and intensity of their surges, those on the dummy pill observed a 63% reduction in hot flashes. That made placebo more effective than red clover, which reduced women’s hot flashes by 57%, and black cohosh, which decreased the bothersome symptoms 34%.

Hormone therapy drove down hot flashes 94% in subjects given Prempro.

A smaller group — 66 women — participated in the second study, which found that of the four treatments tested, only Prempro use had a measurable decline in a memory as a side effect. Black cohosh and red clover, though no more effective in reducing hot flashes than placebo, had no negative impact on memory, nor on liver enzymes, lipid profiles or measures of breast and endometrial safety.

“Botanicals were safe,” said Stacie Geller, a professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Which is good, because many women will continue to use them,” Geller added.

Asian Spice Could Reduce Breast Cancer Risk In Women Exposed To Hormone Replacement Therapy

July 18th, 2009

From ScienceDaily.com:

Previous studies have found that postmenopausal women who have taken a combined estrogen and progestin hormone replacement therapy have increased their risk of developing progestin-accelerated breast tumors. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that curcumin, a popular Indian spice derived from the turmeric root, could reduce the cancer risk for women after exposure to hormone replacement therapy.

“Approximately 6 million women in the United States use hormone replacement therapy to treat the symptoms of menopause,” said Salman Hyder, the Zalk Endowed Professorship in Tumor Angiogenesis and professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center. “This exposure to progestin will predispose a large number of post-menopausal women to future development of breast cancer. The results of our study show that women could potentially take curcumin to protect themselves from developing progestin-accelerated tumors.”

In the study, researchers found that curcumin delayed the first appearance, decreased incidence and reduced multiplicity of progestin-accelerated tumors in an animal model. Curcumin also prevented the appearance of gross morphological abnormalities in the mammary glands. In previous studies, MU researchers showed that progestin accelerated the development of certain tumors by increasing production of a molecule called VEGF that helps supply blood to the tumor. By blocking the production of VEGF, researchers could potentially reduce the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Curcumin inhibits progestin-induced VEGF secretion from breast cancer cells, Hyder said.

“Curcumin and other potential anti-angiogenic compounds should be tested further as dietary chemopreventive agents in women already exposed to hormone replacement therapy containing estrogen and progestin in an effort to decrease or delay the risk of breast cancer associated with combined hormone replacement therapy,” Hyder said.

Symptoms may be absent in 80 percent of patients with ovarian cancer, study indicates

July 15th, 2009

FromLATimes.com:

In recent years, women have been urged to learn the symptoms of ovarian cancer, such as bloating and abdominal pain, because the disease is difficult to detect in its early stages. Symptoms might tip off a woman and her doctor that a more specific test, such as transvaginal ultrasound, is needed.

While it’s important to pay attention to symptoms, a new study has found that symptoms are absent in 80% of patients with ovarian cancer and that ultrasound alone was considerably better as a screening tool than symptoms alone. No combination of symptoms and ultrasound findings improved the detection of ovarian cancer compared with ultrasound alone.

The study, by researchers at the University of Kentucky, examined 272 women who had surgery because of an abnormal ultrasound test that indicated either a benign or cancerous tumor. The women were asked to recall any symptoms they had prior to surgery. The researchers found only six of 30 women with ovarian cancer had symptoms. The only value of using symptoms and ultrasound together was when both screening results were negative. In this case, negative findings in both could reduce unnecessary surgeries in women with benign conditions.

No one is saying that symptoms should be ignored, however. In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Ilana Cass of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles noted that the women in the study already had advanced-stage disease. It’s possible that women with early-stage disease have a different cluster of symptoms than women with advanced disease. The earlier ovarian cancer is detected, the greater the chances of long-term survival. In addition, previous studies have found that using the CA 125 blood test — a modestly accurate screening tool for ovarian cancer — along with evaluating symptoms enhances the detection of the disease.

Symptoms should not be ignored, said the authors of the study, which was published online Monday in the journal Cancer.

“It is important to educate patients that informative symptoms should not be ignored and that the degree to which symptoms are a resultant indicator of early stage ovarian malignancy has yet to be determined,” they wrote.

Moreover, checking for symptoms is easy, quick and inexpensive. The major symptoms linked to ovarian cancer are:

Pelvic pain
Abdominal pain
Increased abdominal size
Bloating
Feeling full
Difficulty eating

Review finds no effect of soy on testosterone

July 2nd, 2009

From FoodNavigator.com:

A review of 15 studies into the influence of soy proteins or isoflavones on male hormones has found no evidence of an estrogen-like effect. Soy has garnered attention as a healthy source of protein, and has been linked to a multitude of health benefits, including protection from breast cancer, prostate cancer, menopausal symptoms and heart disease. But some studies have suggested that soy isoflavones could affect male testosterone levels, due to their similarity in chemical structure to estrogen, which means they bind to estrogen receptors and can exert estrogen-like effects.

The meta-analysis of data was carried out by researchers at the University of Minnesota who wrote: “Because of the increasing popularity of soy foods and the availability of isoflavone supplements, there is an important public health need to understand the impact of soy isoflavones on reproductive hormone levels in men.”

Low levels of testosterone in men can lead to depressed mood, loss of muscle mass, weight gain, erectile dysfunction and osteoporosis.

‘No significant effects’

Although two of the studies examined did assert that testosterone levels were lowered as a result of soy consumption, the authors wrote: “No significant effects of soy protein or isoflavone intake on T [testosterone] or SHBG [sex hormone-binding globulin] were detected…There was no significant pooled effect of isoflavone consumption on the hormonal profile, T and SHBG.”

Contradictory studies

Furthermore, the authors criticized the studies that reported lowered testosterone levels for their methodology.

Referring to one study that showed such an effect in response to isolated soy protein, the authors wrote: “There were only 12 subjects in this study, it did not include a control group, and it did not describe the method used to assess hormones.”

Another study found a response to 120mg a day of isoflavones from soy flour, in which the researchers reported that serum testosterone decreased by five percent over six weeks.

Reviewing this study, the authors wrote: “Baseline and final T values from the control group fed wheat flour were not presented…Without these data it is not possible to know whether the change in T levels that occurred in the soy flour group was significantly different from the change in the wheat flour group.”

They also noted that for all of the studies, soy protein and isoflavone intake “greatly exceeded” typical Japanese dietary intake.

They concluded: “These results suggest that consumption of soy foods or isoflavone supplements would not result in the adverse effects associated with lower [testosterone] levels.”