For as long as researchers have known about disparities in cancer treatment, they’ve sought to explain them. Do some patients receive different care than others because of race, age, wealth, or gender? Or does the region where they receive treatment matter most? Only by answering questions like these can researchers know where to focus their … Read more
A diagnosis of breast cancer can be a shock at any age, but breast cancer in young people often presents a unique set of issues. In addition to managing a serious illness, younger people diagnosed with breast cancer may also be early in their careers and raising families or planning to start a family in … Read more
Like many people, Caroline McGuirk knew that lumps can be a symptom of breast cancer, even if most of them end up being noncancerous. What she wasn’t aware of is that the redness and swelling she had noticed in her right breast months before finding two lumps there can be indicators of inflammatory breast cancer … Read more
What is osteoporosis? Osteoporosis is a condition that thins and weakens the bones in a way that makes them more likely to fracture, especially the bones in the hip, spine, and wrist. Are there any risk factors for osteoporosis? Osteoporosis can occur to anyone, but it is more common in older women. Risk factors include: … Read more
Clinical trials are research studies that test new therapies or existing treatments to better understand their safety and efficacy. Every treatment that is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was tested in a clinical trial involving patients who volunteer, usually after a discussion with their physician. The clinical trial system is … Read more
When breast cancer spreads, or metastasizes, it’s more likely to travel to some parts of the body than others. The most common sites of metastasis include the bones, brain, liver, or lungs. It’s rare for patients with early-stage breast cancer, which has not spread beyond the breast or adjacent lymph nodes, to develop a brain metastasis: The … Read more
A relatively small proportion of breast cancers are caused by alterations in inherited genes that sharply increase the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. One of these genes has recently been receiving new attention: PALB2, a potent breast cancer susceptibility gene related to the better-known BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Someone who inherits a PALB2 mutation faces … Read more
Treatment for breast cancer is generally based on the type of breast cancer, its stage, and other factors. Increasingly, care teams are devising treatment plans by looking at the molecular subtype of each breast cancer. The various subtypes of breast cancer behave and grow in different ways, and can be divided based on different genes … Read more
Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare, very aggressive form of breast cancer that occurs when cancer cells block the flow of lymph in the skin of the breast. This causes the breast to swell and become red or purplish, often in a short period of time such as a few weeks. IBC accounts for … Read more
The first time they met, in the break room at work, Raunada Bryant remembers struggling with her heavy Southern accent to pronounce Kristen Donoghue’s first name. Giving up with a laugh, she took to calling her new colleague “K” — not knowing the critical role they would soon play in each other’s lives. Donoghue was … Read more
Michael Tichnor still wonders what might have happened if his primary care physician did not ask him one last question during his annual physical two years ago: “Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Until that moment, Tichnor, then 66, had no plans to mention the pebble-sized bump he accidentally discovered on his … Read more
The majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have early-stage disease that is confined to the breast or nearby lymph nodes and is effectively treated by lumpectomy or mastectomy. Nevertheless, small clusters of cancer cells remaining after surgery — called micrometastases — have the potential to spread at some point and cause a cancer recurrence, … Read more
Joy Albi has encountered plenty of surprises during her long career as a defense attorney, but she was still caught off-guard when her HER2-positive breast cancer diagnosis took an unexpected twist last year. The way things turned out, however, made her appreciative for the new evidence revealed in her case. Albi, a Cincinnati resident, had … Read more
Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD, physician-scientist in the Breast Oncology Program of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers, provided an update on treatment of ER-positive breast cancer, including the roles of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and ovarian suppression, in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article. What is ER-positive breast cancer? Of the … Read more
As a multi-sport athlete growing up, Allison Rebello loved being part of a team. Today, living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), she credits three teams for helping her stay active and optimistic in the face of an incurable but treatable disease. Rebello’s care team at Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber/Brigham and … Read more
It’s impossible for Jenn Thompson to forget the low moments of her experience with cancer — her diagnosis, her hair falling out, and the sense that she lost a piece of herself. But now, more than five years after completing treatment, Thompson can say that these aren’t the memories that have defined her. “It wasn’t … Read more
In their quest for effective targeted therapies to treat triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) — an aggressive disease that often doesn’t respond to standard chemotherapy — researchers at Dana-Farber and elsewhere have recently focused on the potential of drugs known as BET bromodomain inhibitors. BET inhibitors target a family of proteins including BRD2, BRD3, BRD4, and … Read more
As a nurse, Nadege Vilnaigre has devoted her professional life to helping those facing serious medical challenges. Her determination to stay on the job hasn’t waned — even in the face of her own experience with cancer. Vilnaigre is being treated at Dana-Farber for inflammatory breast cancer, which she was diagnosed with in September 2019. … Read more
Breast cancer is a family of diseases with a variety of different subtypes, some of which are often treated with chemotherapy. The treatment a patient receives depends on a variety of factors, including the subtype and stage of the disease — how far it has advanced — as well as genetic factors, the presence of … Read more
When Yvonne Frazier was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2019, she had three school-age children, a 2-year-old toddler, and a full-time job. She also had options. Lawrence General Hospital, where Frazier works, is 30 miles and an hour in traffic from the major cancer centers of Boston. It was next door, however, to a … Read more