Breast Cancer Patients

Breast cancer survivor Taryn Heeber-Doody faced tough choices earlier this year when her doctor felt troubling changes in the tissue of her healthy breast. The doctor suggested a double mastectomy to reduce the chance that the cancer removed six years ago would return to threaten her life. That part was a no-brainer for the Enfield, Conn., paralegal. She was 39 with a husband and two sons; of course, she would do anything to safeguard her life.

Breast cancer patients who take the drug docetaxel instead of the older medicine fluorouracil cut their risk of death by 30%, a new study has found. Among the women who received the Sanofi-Aventis drug docetaxel, said study author John Mackey of the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Canada, "there's no group of patients that didn't benefit, so you can't pick out someone who's not a winner from the new treatment."

Breast cancer patients who walk briskly for three to five hours a week or perform equivalent amounts of other exercise reduce their risk of dying by 50%, Boston researchers reported in a study to be released today. Even those who walk for as little as an hour a week increase their chances of survival, but walking for more than five hours a week does not provide additional benefit, according to the study, to be published in today's Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said Monday that its experimental cancer pill Lapatinib was effective as a first-line breast cancer treatment but regulatory approval would not be sought before late 2006 or early 2007 after more data were collected. London-based Glaxo said interim results from a mid-stage trial of the drug in 40 women with advanced breast cancer showed that 35% had their tumors shrink by at least 30%.

Nearly two years ago, Mary Vaughan was diagnosed with a recurrence of an aggressive breast cancer that had invaded her skin and lymph nodes. Because she already had had a mastectomy, surgery was not an option, so Vaughan entered a research study testing a combination of two drugs that target cancer cells. Today, her disease has all but disappeared. Vaughan, 56, is still on medication but is strong enough to work as a nurse near her home in Santa Barbara.

Genentech Inc. said Monday that its drug Herceptin prolonged the lives of breast cancer patients in two large clinical trials, setting the stage for a new way to treat the disease. The drug, which is used to treat advanced breast cancer, also showed effectiveness in preventing recurrence of the disease in patients who had undergone surgery for early breast cancer.

A report that Genentech Inc.'s cancer treatment drug Avastin prolonged the lives of breast cancer patients in a large clinical trial sent shares of the biotech giant soaring 18% on Friday. The results of the trial were announced by the National Institutes of Health six months ahead of expectations, an indication of the importance of the findings. "This is quite exciting and could quite possibly save lives," said Dr.

Women 65 and older with breast cancer should consider chemotherapy even though doctors have been reluctant to use it in that age group because of the side effects, researchers say. Doctors at the Vermont Cancer Center in Burlington analyzed cases between 1975 and 1999 and found that otherwise "healthy older patients are likely to derive similar treatment benefits as younger patients" from chemotherapy.

When Marsha Dale was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2001, she called her husband, Marc Silver, with the biopsy results. Ordinarily, Dale considered her husband to be the epitome of sensitivity. So his initial response to the news -- "Ewwww, that doesn't sound good" -- left her stunned and angry. "If I could've jumped through the phone and strangled him at that moment, I would've," said Dale, 56, a teacher in Virginia. "I thought, 'Ewwww? Who is this guy?'

A new family of drugs known as aromatase inhibitors is more effective at treating breast cancer in older women than the current gold-standard drug, tamoxifen, researchers said Wednesday. The drugs also reduced recurrence of the disease and eliminated the most severe side effects associated with breast cancer treatment.