Overweight and obese women at greater risk of breast cancer recurrence
“Obesity is a modifiable factor, and although there is not yet enough evidence to say with certainty that losing weight or exercising more regularly will decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence, there are consistent links between lifestyle factors such as diet, weight and physical activity patterns and breast cancer prognosis. If future studies show that making changes in lifestyle behaviours for women with early breast cancer will improve survival rates, then lifestyle interventions may one day become a standard part of breast cancer care,” Dr. Ligibel will conclude.
Professor David Cameron, from the University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, UK) and chair of EBCC-8 said: “Whilst these are important findings for women with breast cancer, we need to recognise that the reason overweight women have poorer outcomes is not clear. There are a lot of health reasons why overweight women should try and get back to a normal weight, but this is not always easy, and as the authors acknowledge, we don’t yet know that losing weight after a breast cancer diagnosis will make a difference.”
How Would a Recurrence of Breast Cancer Be Treated?
The type of treatment for local breast cancer recurrences depends on your initial treatment. If you had a lumpectomy, local recurrence is usually treated with mastectomy. If the initial treatment was mastectomy, recurrence near the mastectomy site is treated by removing the tumor whenever possible, usually followed by radiation therapy.
In either case, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and/or radiation therapy may be used after surgery. If breast cancer is found in the other breast, it may be a new tumor unrelated to the first breast cancer. Treatment would include a lumpectomy or mastectomy and possibly radiation and/or systemic therapy (chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy).
Women with distant recurrence involving organs such as the bones, lungs, brain, or other organs are treated with systemic therapy. Radiation therapy or surgery may also be recommended to relieve certain symptoms.
Immunotherapy with Herceptin alone or with chemotherapy may be recommended for women whose cancer cells have high levels of the HER2 protein.
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[1] Data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
Abstract no: 413, Friday 10.30 hrs, Proffered Paper session “Patient Related Factors and Responsive Therapy”, Hall F1
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Mary Rice
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ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation