Beware Smoking Women: Lung cancer 'overtaking breast cancer in European women'

Breast cancer had been so far the biggest health concern of the women so far.

But now researchers find that incidence of Lung Cancer is overtaking breast cancer in women of European countries.

This is already the case in the UK and Poland, the Annals of Oncology reports.

The trend is increasing in women who started smoking in the 60s and 70s. The lung cancer death rate will continue on its upward trend for the next few years - but with fewer young European women now starting to smoke, it should decrease with time.

In 2013, some 82,640 European women will die from lung cancer, while 88,886 will die from breast cancer.

And by 2015 the balance will have shifted and lung cancer will take the lead, according to Prof Carlo La Vecchia and colleagues.

Read more about it at: BBC Health
Follow us on Facebook

Read more »

Gene test 'to predict breast cancer'

A genetic test could help predict breast cancer many years before the disease is diagnosed, experts hope.


The scientists from Imperial College London analysed blood samples from 1,380 women of various ages, 640 of whom went on to develop breast cancer. Ultimately the findings, in the journal Cancer Research, could lead to a simple blood test to screen women, they say.

The test looks for how genes are altered by environmental factors like alcohol and hormones - a process known as epigenetics.

One in five women is thought to have such a genetic "switch" that doubles breast cancer risk.

Read details: BBC News

Read more »

Breast Implant Disaster: 50,000 women may have to get breast implants removed

[ via Mail Online ] 2 Jan

All women with faulty breast implants should have them removed given the 'uncertainty and lack of knowledge' about the extent of the problems, a leading surgeon warned today.

Tim Goodacre, a member of the Government-commissioned panel investigating the scandal, said the latest estimate of rupture rates was "very much higher" than he would consider acceptable

.

About 50,000 British women are thought to have received the silicone implants made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) filled with gel meant for mattresses.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said the risk of rupture is only  one per cent, but a cosmetic surgery chain told ministers privately that the figure could be as high as eight per cent.

Read more »

FDA warned PIP on implant safety in 2000

[ via Yahoo News ] 27 Dec

Much to the disgust of PIP breast implant users, the report that U.S. health authorities had raised concerns about the French breast implant maker as early as 2000, adds injury to the insult.

The news would be a sad day for hundreds of thousands of women worldwide, who spent perhaps their fortunes to have the PIP implants.

The Food and Drug Administration sent an investigator to inspect a plant run by the manufacturer, Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), at La Seyne Sur Mer in southeastern France in May 2000. Shortly afterwards, the FDA sent the company's founder, Jean-Claude Mas, a warning letter saying the implants were "adulterated" and citing at least 11 deviations from good manufacturing practices.

While breast cancer suffering would suffer more, no one has been charged for the poor quality implants by the French government so far.

Read more »

French breast implant fears spread around world

[ via Reuters ] 22 Dec

Fears over the safety of breast implants made by a now defunct French firm spread to Australia, South America and across Europe on Thursday as French officials prepared to decide if thousands of women should have their implants surgically removed.


The silicone gel implants, made by a company called Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) that was shut down in 2010, appear to have an unusually high rupture rate and have sparked an investigation in France into possible links to cancer.

About 300,000 PIP implants, used in cosmetic surgery to enhance breast size or replace lost breast tissue, were sold worldwide before PIP went bust last year.

read more at: Reuters

Read more »

Cancer fears as fatty diets trigger 50% surge in heartburn in just a decade

[ via Mail Online ] 22 Dec

Obesity could be driving a 50 per cent rise in people suffering acid reflux over the last decade, research suggests.

Concern is mounting because the condition can trigger oesophageal cancer, which is also on the increase.

Reflux – where acid from the stomach leaks into the gullet, or oesophagus, causing heartburn – has been linked to obesity, diets high in fatty foods, alcohol and smoking.

Experts say that by not smoking or drinking alcohol, and by choosing a healthy diet, most of the 8,000 oesophageal cancer cases diagnosed each year could be prevented.

Read more: Mail Online

Read more »

Thousands of British women told to 'have breast implants removed

[ via Mail Online ] 21 Dec

The French government is to foot the bill for tens of thousands of women to have their breast implants removed, amid fears they are at a heightened risk of cancer.

But a similar number of British women who also have the controversial implants face hefty surgical bills for the same treatment.

The row comes amid growing concern about the safety of the French-made implants, the Poly Implant Protheses, or PIPs, filled with a silicone gel believed to have been made for mattresses.

Read more: Mail Online

Read more »

Former Miss Venezuela dies of Breast Cancer at 28

[ via Huffington Post ] 19 Dec

Former Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall, whose struggle with breast cancer has died at age 28.

Ekvall was crowned Miss Venezuela at age 17 in 2000, and the following year she was third runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico. She went on to work as a model, actress and television news anchor.

She also authored a book, "Fuera de Foco" ("Out of Focus"), about her struggle with cancer, which included images by Venezuelan photographer Roberto Mata.

Read more at Huffington Post 

Read more »

Breast cancer patients 'stop drugs' due to side-effects

[ BBC Health ]

About a third of breast cancer patients stop taking medication because side-effects are more severe than they expect, US researchers suggest.

The Northwestern University team questioned 686 women who were taking aromatase inhibitors as treatment for oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer. It found 36% stopped their medication because of symptoms such as joint pain, hot flushes, weight gain and nausea.

Read more »

Maria: 8 Second Scan can detect breast cancer

Mail Online 1 Dec

There has been a major breakthrough reported in the detection of breast cancer, using landmine technology. The new system called Maria - a pain-free radio wave scanner that is being dubbed as the most accurate and with least side effects as compared to mammography or x-rays presently in use.

Using radio waves makes it easier to find problems in all tissue. The breast is held in a ceramic cup-shaped scanner while data are transferred to a computer within eight seconds to produce a 3D image.

Read full story at Mail Online for more on Maria.

Read more »