An Update on Breast Cancer Treatment

(Photo caption: A mammogram shows a malignant tumor. Source:http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/sept/mammograms)

"Breast cancer is the second most common cancer killer of women, after lung cancer. It will be diagnosed in 1.2 million people globally this year and will kill 500,000."

"The Philippines has one of the leading breast cancer incidence in Asia. "

My only sister, Ate Lorie, died of breast cancer in 1995. She was already in stage 4 (advanced stage) when she had her mastectomy and chemotherapy. Ate Lorie died at the age of 39.

My sister's death had a great impact in my life. At the time when she was confined in the hospital (for two months) I was her "caregiver." I practically lived with her in the hospital during her confinement. At that time, I was teaching fulltime while doing my doctoral thesis revisions.

My Ph.D. thesis (at Monash University, Australia) deals with mathematical modeling and computer simulations of muscle contraction and cell motility. This is somehow related to cancer research, considering that my supervisor (Dr. David Smith) and I investigated a model of amoeboid movement which has implications to T-cells and the immune system.

It has been said that early detection of breast cancer increases the chance of cure from the disease. This makes me wonder always: If the tumor in my sister's breast was detected early, then she might have survived from the disease and she would have been alive today.

The death of my sister due to breast cancer is one of the significant factors why I am doing work related to cancer. So far, I have done modeling studies on tumor growth using cellular automata and investigated algorithms for image segmentation of digital mammograms.

Today (9/26/07) I encountered an article on the NET about a medical procedure developed by German cancer researchers. The report was presented at the European Cancer Conference held on September 23-27, 2007 in Barcelona, Spain.

The title of the article is "Simple test may help predict breast cancer return" and it was written by Michael Kahn (See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/cancer_cells_dc;_ylt=An7jzXEaPEdMfA1X4fUoW3Mo.YMA).


Below is a summary of the report:

• A simple test to measure tumor cells circulating in the blood could make it easier to tell which breast cancer patients are at greatest risk of their cancer returning after treatment.
  

• Detecting these cells might also help doctors tailor chemotherapy treatments to make them more effective and reduce healthcare costs along the way.
  
  
• The study is important because it is one of the largest of its kind to investigate whether measuring such tumor cells can help predict the chances of cancer returning.
  
  
• Researchers have known about these cells for about 20 years and are now exploring the role they may play in cancer and studying ways to measure them. The cells themselves are considered dormant and are not believed to be harmful until they leave the bloodstream and settle on an organ.
  
  
• The researchers think that the level of circulating tumor cells will predict the recurrence in cancer. This implies that in low risk patients, an oncologist could use less aggressive treatments.

• The German team has so far analyzed blood samples taken from 1,767 breast cancer patients at diagnosis and during chemotherapy and compared the results to those obtained from 852 of the same patients when they finished their treatment.



• The results show that of the patients who initially tested positive for circulating tumor cells (CTCs), 10 percent tested positive for them after chemotherapy. Of those who were initially negative, 93 percent remained negative after treatment.
  


• The researchers think that the persistence of CTCs after chemotherapy treatment is likely to be predictive of the likelihood of recurrence of cancer in these patients.
  


• Researchers have also used bone marrow to detect circulating tumor cells but that technique is more difficult to use so it is not performed widely. It can also be painful for the patient. A simple blood screen could mean that patients who need extra chemotherapy will get it, while those who do not will not have to endure weeks or months of extra treatments.
  


• Final results may be attainable in the next five years. If they are as what the researchers expect, there could be an improvement in breast cancer treatments.
  

Raffy
9/26/07