Effective Drug For Breast Cancer

Posted by in Medical Breast cancer on November 20, 2011

By James Goodridge

If you or any of your loved ones has been suffering from breast cancer and the medical practitioner has recommended Arimidex, this article will be useful to you in creating a clear and complete understanding about the drug.

Arimidex, also known as Anastrozole or Liquidex, can be best classified as an aromatase inhibitor recommended by medical practitioners all over the globe as adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women afflicted with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer; this drug can also be used as a first-line treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor unknown locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. It is, however, important to note that Arimidex is not recommended to women of premenopausal endocrine status, and individuals with existing hypersensitivity to Arimidex or any of its excipients.

The recommended dose of Arimidex is one tablet of 1 mg per day or as per medical advice. The doses should not be changed at will and must be under strict regulation and management of a qualified medical practitioner. It is also worth noting here that Arimidex use should not be combined with other breast cancer therapies such as Tamoxifen. It is important to note that overdose of Arimidex or Arimidex abuse can lead to side effects such as hypertension, depression, nausea, insomnia, headache, and arthritis. Arimidex is required to be stored at a controlled room temperature of 25°C (77°F) with excursions permitted to 15-30°C (59-86°F). In short, Arimidex can be considered as a wonder drug but only when used as per qualified medical advice and used for legal purposes such as treatment of breast cancer.

James Goodridge has been in the health industry for more than three decades. He had a bent for bodybuilding in the college years and went on to win state-level bodybuilding championships for three consecutive years. Starting his career as a medical assistant, he soon completed his medical studies and worked with some of the biggest names in the world of medical care, health, fitness, and health supplements. Now James is all here with us to offer his specialized advice for all of us who want to redefine health and fitness with health products and supplements.

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Personalized Medicine for Breast Cancer

Posted by in Medical Breast cancer on November 20, 2011

By Scott Deamond

Personalized Medicine is a rapidly advancing field of health care that emphasizes the tailoring of all treatments and interventions to a specific individual. One of the first areas that the concept of personalized medicine has been applied to is breast cancer. Breast cancer is a widespread disease, that can currently be treated with several different drugs. However, until recently, there was no way to determine which drug worked best for an individual cancer patient. Now several tests based on genetics and proteomics have reached the market. These tests, particularly proteomic based tests, can predict which drugs will work for an individual with a high degree of accuracy. As new technologies emerge and mature, oncologists will be able to prescribe treatments specific to an individual, resulting in better effectiveness and avoiding wasted time, and undo side effects. Being able to pinpoint effective treatments will also result in substantial cost savings.

Cancer is a highly individualized disease The American Cancer Society estimates that close to 1.5 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually in the U.S. and more than 550,000 die as a result of the disease. In 2009, the National Institutes of Health estimated the 2008 direct medical costs (total of all health expenditures) were $93.2 billion with the total cost (including lost productivity due to illness and death) of $228.1 billion. These costs are growing, driven by increases in early detection and an aging population.

Since every tumor has distinct characteristics, targeted drug treatment is the preferred approach. Effective treatment relies on selecting a specific drug that targets a patient’s unique tumor(s). Unfortunately, there are often significant side effects, as well as costs that can exceed $30,000 per year for one patient. The need for multiple target identification is critical. It is no longer sufficient to merely identify a person who may or may not have cancer. Now, the challenge is to develop individualized treatment regimens that will effectively treat that patient’s disease.

Anticancer drugs are approved by FDA on the basis of the clinical trial results from a population of cancer patients. A 20-30% response rate may win a drug regimen FDA approval. These population-based results cannot be applied directly to individual patients because cancer is a highly individualized disease.

Currently, there is no standard procedure for optimal chemotherapy treatment selection.

A number of commercialized prognostic and predictive tests based on the genomic classification of breast cancer have entered the expanding market for diagnostics. Tests based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (Fish) currently dominate the breast cancer diagnostic testing landscape. In this context, these two techniques are most often used to evaluate HER-2 or hormone-receptor status. Evaluations of test results allow clinicians to accurately select patients likely to benefit from the corresponding therapy. This market is currently dominated by large, established companies offering FDA approved products.

More recently, a number of commercialized prognostic and predictive tests based on the genomic classification of breast cancer have entered the expanding market for diagnostics. Genomic assays examine the expression of a unique set of genes that may indicate the recurrence of cancer or potential response to treatment. These assays are currently used primarily to predict recurrence of breast cancer and are being extended to indications of hormonal and HER-2 receptor status. Competition in this segment is based on introduction of assays using different and more numerous gene sets.

The leaders in the current genomic market are Genomic Health, which offers the Oncotype Dx assay and Agendia, which offers the Mammaprint assay. These tests analyze gene expression and are currently geared towards predicting the recurrence of breast cancer. Although genomics are a promising technology, certain limitations exist. These assays are, in general, applicable to only a subset of cancer patients and are far from being standardized. They demonstrate significant variability and, since tissue is homogenized for this type of analysis, all sense of tissue topography and heterogeneity are lost. Interpretation of gene based assays may also prove to be difficult. A single gene can produce a variety of different proteins, indicating the potential of a given cancer cell.

Another type of diagnostic test is based on proteomics, or analysis of proteins in a breast tumor. The study of proteomics is important because proteins are responsible for both the structure and the functions of all living things.Direct analysis of proteins yields a better picture of a tumor cell’s true response to a given therapy. Proteomic based tumor testing is available from CCC Diagnostics,who markets the DirectHit Panel for Breast Cancer (directhittest.com). The DirectHit Panel for Breast Cancer is a quantitative assay based on immunofluorescence technology. In contrast to other tests, the DirectHit can be standardized with specific reference standards for operator to operator and lab to lab reproducibility. DirectHit offers simultaneous quantitative analysis of 5 biomarkers in one viewing area of interest and can be applied to predicting the efficacy of cytotoxic drugs. DirectHit dichotomizes the treatment decision with a high degree of accuracy. Recent clinical trials have shown that the DirectHit Panel for Breast Cancer displayed a higher predictive accuracy for treatment outcomes with anti estrogen drugs and Trastuzumab than IHC. In addition DirectHit displayed exceptional predictive accuracy for chemotherapy response (88%). DirectHit also displayed an extreme specificity for predictions of drug resistance (100%).

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Conventional Medical Treatment for Breast Cancer

Posted by in Medical Breast cancer on November 20, 2011

By Robin Brain

Description

Current statistics report that one woman in nine will get breast cancer in her lifetime. This does not mean that a 30-year-old woman is at high risk of developing breast cancer at that point in her life, but rather that she has a one-in-nine chance of developing the condition at some point in her life. In actuality, a woman has a I-in-5900 chance of having breast cancer at age 30, and a risk of 1-in-800 at age 80. Men rarely develop breast cancer.

Heredity plays a large role in determining a woman’s risk for breast cancer. People who have three or more close relatives with the condition, and people whose families have breast cancer in more than one generation are at increased risk. People who have relatives with early onset of breast cancer, cancer in both breasts, or ovarian cancer also have an elevated risk of developing breast cancer. Women who have mutations of the BRCAI or BRCA2 genes have up to an 85 percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 70. This genetic mutation occurs most often in Jewish women of Ashkenazi descent.

Yet, heredity is not the only risk factor for developing breast cancer. A high-fat diet, excessive alcohol intake, obesity, giving birth to a child after the age of 30 or not giving birth at all, an early onset of menstruation, and menopause after age 52 are all thought to increase breast cancer risk. Exposure to environmental toxins are another suspected risk factor. On the other hand, some women develop breast cancer without being in any of the high-risk groups.

Signs and Symptoms

A lump or thickening in the breast or the tissue surrounding the breast

Tenderness in the breast

Swelling in the armpit area

Change in the appearance of the breast (one may be higher than the other, or take on a different shape)

An area of flattening or indentation of the skin of the breast Change in color or texture of the breast

Change in the nipple (nipple may be retracted, dimpled, itchy, or flaking)

Clear or bloody discharge from the nipple

Conventional Medical Treatment

If you notice even a slight change in one or both breasts, visit your physician immediately, since breast cancer can spread to the lymph nodes and to other parts of the body. Your doctor physically examines your breasts and takes a mammogram, or breast X-ray. If the mammogram reveals a mass of tissue, or is unclear, your physician may recommend an ultrasound test. This diagnostic test uses sound waves to create an image of interior breast tissue. It is used not only to pinpoint the location of a mass, but to help determine whether the mass is cancerous. In many cases, a needle biopsy is required to confirm diagnosis. There are two types of needle biopsies. During fine needle aspiration, a small needle is inserted into the breast lump. If the lump is a cyst and not a tumor, fluid will drain from it when pierced with the needle. If the lump is a tumor, cells are removed for examination. During a core needle biopsy, actual breast tissue cells are removed for examination.

If the tumor is less than 4 centimeters in size, it can be surgically removed with a lumpectomy (removal of the lump), followed by radiation. If the tumor is large, mastectomy (removal of the breast and underlying tissue) is necessary. After mastectomy, the breast can be reconstructed either at the time of surgery or at a later date. During breast cancer surgery, lymph nodes from the underarm are removed and examined for the presence of cancer cells. Women with positive lymph nodes require follow-up chemotherapy or hormone therapy with tamoxifen. There are several treatment options for breast cancer, depending on ,the size of the tumor, lymph node involvement, and whether the tumor cells have positive or negative estrogen receptors. Women should discuss the various options with their physicians.

Hormone therapy is another common method of treating breast cancer. The hormone tamoxifen blocks the effects of estrogen on the breast, which in turns stops the growth of cancerous cells. Unfortunately, tamoxifen has been shown to raise the risk of uterine cancer, so women are screened carefully before being given the drug.

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