See Abramson Cancer Center related links to more information about Breast Cancer Awareness events, treatments and questions. Also visit our Rena Rowan Breast Center and Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program.
Life After Breast Cancer: Reflections on the Journey - In recognition of October as Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Abramson Cancer Center presents this video.
VIDEO: Being Proactive and Understanding Your Risk for Breast Cancer
17th Annual Life After Breast Cancer Conference
Living Well After Cancer Program
The Integrated Breast Center at the Joan Karnell Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital
Breast Cancer Patient Education Materials
Penn Medicine's Breast Cancer Campaign Brochure
Events
OncoLink Brown Bag Chat
Topic: Understanding Breast Cancer Supportive Care Issues
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009
Time: 12:30 - 1:30PM
Join us for a LIVE web chat with OncoLink's breast cancer supportive care experts! Our experts will address:
Visit http://www.oncolink.org/blogs/index.php/brown-bag-chat/
Breast Cancer: Early Detection is the Key [PDF]
Please join us for a community education program. Experts from the Joan Karnell Cancer Center will provide the latest information in prevention and early detection of breast cancer.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
5:00 - 8:00 PM
To Register, call 1-800-789-PENN
OncoLink Patient Education
Breast Cancer In the News
Twenty Ways Women Can Lower Their Risk for Breast Cancer - Dahlia Sataloff, MD, a clinical professor of Surgery and director of the Integrated Breast Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, is quoted in the latest issue of Woman's Day magazine in an article which offers 20 ways they can lower their risk of breast cancer. Sataloff comments on how removing the ovaries of women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations can reduce their breast cancer risk.
Beating Breast Cancer Drug Side Effects Aromatase inhibitors, the same drugs that have buoyed long-term survival rates among breast cancer patients, also carry side effects including joint pain so severe that many patients discontinue these lifesaving medicines. In a recent University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study published in the journal Cancer, researchers found that women who stopped getting their periods less than five years ago were three times more likely to experience these pains -- suggesting that estrogen withdrawal may play a role in the onset of side effects. Patients studied were taking drugs including Arimidex and Femara, which prevent recurrence of the cancer after patients go into remission. In a separate study published in the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies, the researchers found that among women experiencing these symptoms during treatment, those who received electro-acupuncture – a technique that combines traditional acupuncture with electric stimulation – reported a reduction in joint pain severity and stiffness, and said they suffered less fatigue and anxiety. The physicians hope the findings will lead to better early identification and management of women who may be at risk of discontinuing their treatment due to side effects.
Pumping Iron Reduces Arm Swelling After Breast Cancer In news that reverses decades of advice given to breast cancer patients, new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reveals that survivors who lift weights are less likely than their non-weightlifting peers to experience worsening symptoms of lymphedema, the arm- and hand-swelling condition that plagues many women following surgery and radiation for their disease. The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, bring new hope to the nation’s 2.5 million breast cancer survivors, who are typically told to avoid lifting grocery bags, heavy handbags and children for fear of exacerbating their symptoms.
Protein Predicts Development of Invasive Breast Cancer Women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) – which accounts for more than 20 percent of all breast cancer diagnoses in the United States -- who exhibit an overexpression of the protein HER2/neu have a six-fold increase in risk of invasive breast cancer, according to a new study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The results, published recently issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, may help clinicians distinguish between DCIS that requires minimal treatment with lumpectomy and DCIS that should be treated more aggressively. The researchers are also testing anti-HER2/neu vaccines, which may help a woman’s immune system eliminate HER2-overexpressing tumor cells.
Planning for Life After Cancer The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and Penn Medicine have announced a new partnership to provide cancer patients with a free online tool to map out a plan to keep them healthy as they transition to life as one of the nation’s 12 million cancer survivors. The LIVESTRONG Care Plan Powered by Penn Medicine’s OncoLink gives cancer survivors, their families and physicians the ability to create an individualized plan of care – including tips for future screenings, fertility care, management of late-effects of chemotherapy and other treatments. Since many patients rely on their primary care physicians to deliver this multidisciplinary “survivorship care” after they’re released from treatment with oncologists, communication is essential to helping patients get the care they need. Previous Penn research has shown that breast cancer survivors – the nation’s largest group of cancer survivors – give low marks to their primary care doctors’ knowledge of late effects of cancer therapies and ways to manage symptoms related to their disease or its treatment. In Penn study of patients who used the care plan site personal guides, just 13 percent said they had received survivorship information in the past.
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