http://drktruddy.wordpress.com/
Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer: the Same Disease, Expressed Differently in Women and Men?
When I was doing my Fellowship on the Breast Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1995 I made an accidental but interesting discovery. The epidemiologic curves of breast cancer and prostate cancer appeared to be nearly identical. That is, the statistics for the incidence and growth of breast cancer and prostate cancer appeared to be super imposable. I wondered then, “Were these cancers the result of identical environmental causes?” or “Were these cancers variations of one another, expressed differently in men and women?”
One evening that year I had dinner with a Fellow on the Urology Service at MSK. We got to talking and I shared my thoughts and hypotheses with him. He agreed that the diseases seemed quite similar. We both agreed that it would be great to work on this issue once we were done with our training, but he went to Virginia and I went to New Jersey and we have since lost track of each other. But the question remains: are these diseases related and, if so, how?
I can’t answer that question, but there I have discovered a “smoking gun” in the chemical, bisphenol A. If you have been following my blogs, you know that I am very concerned about the carcinogenic effects of BPA, a chemical hardening agent found in plastic containers – and ubiquitous in our environment. Two million tons of BPA are used annually to make plastic bottles (baby bottles, sippie cups, water bottles) and create liners for soda cans. It is a $6 billion dollar business, one that does not want to go away easily.
BPA was originally created in 1936 as an ESTROGEN REPLACEMENT product, but since the 1940’s it has been used to harden plastic. In essence, we are all taking a miniature birth control pill every time we bump into BPA – which is all the time. The Canadians found the 96% of soft drinks contain BPA. Other researchers have found the 97% of newborn babies show BPA metabolites in their urine.
There are now more than 130 studies that link BPA exposure, even at low levels, to early onset BREAST and PROSTATE cancer. I am now ready to postulate that BPA is the secret ingredient in the rise on both breast and prostate cancer, and I hope that men will join the army of women who want BPA out of the environment, not later when policy-makers and politicos get around to it, but now – today.
God made twitter so that we can use it to get critical information out into circulation quickly. So, pass this on: NO MORE BPA. NONE. Get rid of it. When you see plastic, “see” breast or prostate cancer – and avoid it.
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Health
health : the condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit ; especially : freedom from physical disease or pain
Mens Health
We all know our own bodies - some of us too well, but that's another story. This section of the site deals with issues none of like to speak about or think aboutFrom bedwetting, and how to help your kid through it, to what you need to know about taking yourself or your father for his Prostate exam. We are working with a few expert dads (some physicans, who can explain some of these issues to give us a better understanding), and dads from every walk of life, that have been in the trenchs first hand. Who every knew anything about cord blood and cord banking until, they were having a baby Please tell us what subjects you want to hear about, by posting on our blog
Womens Health:
Okay we all think we are experts on the female body and we are all wrong. So let's talk about things we need help with from a dad's point of veiw - Girls and sports: from knee and hip injuries, what if your a single dad and you have to deal with talking about training bras and other traditional mother daughter talks - what is the best way to have these conversationsWho can you speak with to help guide you through these and other topics? - again daddyoutpost is looking to bring in dads who have had to go through this as guest blogger to help deal with female health issuesand let's try and have a basic understanding of breast cancer, menopause, and even the birth control from a woman's point of view.
Mens Health
We all know our own bodies - some of us too well, but that's another story. This section of the site deals with issues none of like to speak about or think aboutFrom bedwetting, and how to help your kid through it, to what you need to know about taking yourself or your father for his Prostate exam. We are working with a few expert dads (some physicans, who can explain some of these issues to give us a better understanding), and dads from every walk of life, that have been in the trenchs first hand. Who every knew anything about cord blood and cord banking until, they were having a baby Please tell us what subjects you want to hear about, by posting on our blog
Womens Health:
Okay we all think we are experts on the female body and we are all wrong. So let's talk about things we need help with from a dad's point of veiw - Girls and sports: from knee and hip injuries, what if your a single dad and you have to deal with talking about training bras and other traditional mother daughter talks - what is the best way to have these conversationsWho can you speak with to help guide you through these and other topics? - again daddyoutpost is looking to bring in dads who have had to go through this as guest blogger to help deal with female health issuesand let's try and have a basic understanding of breast cancer, menopause, and even the birth control from a woman's point of view.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sorting Through the different types of Breast Cancer
Sorting Through the Different Types of Breast Cancer
http://drktruddy.wordpress.com/
June 8, 2009 by drktruddy
Years ago doctors grouped women with breast cancer into four “stages” depending on three measures: the size of the tumor (T), the number of lymph nodes involved (N) and whether there was any evidence of metastatic disease (M). This was referred to as the TNM Staging System – and it was used to predict prognosis and tailor treatment for the individual patient. It was crude, at best; but it was all there was for many years.
Also during the last century, three other “markers” were discovered that became useful for determining treatment and gauging prognosis. They were: estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and Her2-neu. Tamoxifen, and then aromatase inhibitors (e.g., Arimidex), were used to “target” those patients whose tumors expressed ER and/or PR, and then Herceptin was created to treat those women whose tumors expressed Her2-neu.
Although TNM staging remains entrenched for grouping women with breast cancer, much-needed modifications are underway. Breast cancers have now been reclassified into four types, based on the receptors they do, or do not, express:
Luminal A – ER or PR positive, low grade (best prognosis)
Luminal B – ER or PR positive, higher grade (not great prognosis, but not terrible either)
Her 2 - expresses this receptor, associated with more aggressive disease and worse prognosis
Basal - does not express any of the receptors: poor prognosis (although responds well to chemotherapy)
The New Millennium has arrived and with it an entirely new way of understanding the “language” of cancer: this is done by gene array analysis. In short, this is the newest and best way to understand how cancers behave AT THE LEVEL OF THE GENES THEY EXPRESS. Wonderful, except it is very expensive and time-consuming. Good news: researchers have identified an “old-fashioned” laboratory way to distinguish Luminal A from Luminal B tumors (this can be tricky) based on a test called, Ki67. This additional test is a marker for proliferative potential of the tumor, a way of gauging how aggressively it may grow.
Dr. Chang has published a paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that shows that Ki67 levels are a good way to tell a typical Luminal A from a typical Luminal B breast cancer – in addition to the parameters given above: 14% is the cutoff.
If the Ki67 is below 14%, the tumor can be considered Luminal A; if the Ki67 is over 14% then it can be considered a Luminal B.
It is not certain what difference this will make for treatment at the moment. But women, and the physicians who care for them, will have another piece of cost-effective and readily available information that, in the near future, might help design an even better fit between the patient and her treatment.
Chang, JNCI 2009. 101: 736-750
http://drktruddy.wordpress.com/
June 8, 2009 by drktruddy
Years ago doctors grouped women with breast cancer into four “stages” depending on three measures: the size of the tumor (T), the number of lymph nodes involved (N) and whether there was any evidence of metastatic disease (M). This was referred to as the TNM Staging System – and it was used to predict prognosis and tailor treatment for the individual patient. It was crude, at best; but it was all there was for many years.
Also during the last century, three other “markers” were discovered that became useful for determining treatment and gauging prognosis. They were: estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and Her2-neu. Tamoxifen, and then aromatase inhibitors (e.g., Arimidex), were used to “target” those patients whose tumors expressed ER and/or PR, and then Herceptin was created to treat those women whose tumors expressed Her2-neu.
Although TNM staging remains entrenched for grouping women with breast cancer, much-needed modifications are underway. Breast cancers have now been reclassified into four types, based on the receptors they do, or do not, express:
Luminal A – ER or PR positive, low grade (best prognosis)
Luminal B – ER or PR positive, higher grade (not great prognosis, but not terrible either)
Her 2 - expresses this receptor, associated with more aggressive disease and worse prognosis
Basal - does not express any of the receptors: poor prognosis (although responds well to chemotherapy)
The New Millennium has arrived and with it an entirely new way of understanding the “language” of cancer: this is done by gene array analysis. In short, this is the newest and best way to understand how cancers behave AT THE LEVEL OF THE GENES THEY EXPRESS. Wonderful, except it is very expensive and time-consuming. Good news: researchers have identified an “old-fashioned” laboratory way to distinguish Luminal A from Luminal B tumors (this can be tricky) based on a test called, Ki67. This additional test is a marker for proliferative potential of the tumor, a way of gauging how aggressively it may grow.
Dr. Chang has published a paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that shows that Ki67 levels are a good way to tell a typical Luminal A from a typical Luminal B breast cancer – in addition to the parameters given above: 14% is the cutoff.
If the Ki67 is below 14%, the tumor can be considered Luminal A; if the Ki67 is over 14% then it can be considered a Luminal B.
It is not certain what difference this will make for treatment at the moment. But women, and the physicians who care for them, will have another piece of cost-effective and readily available information that, in the near future, might help design an even better fit between the patient and her treatment.
Chang, JNCI 2009. 101: 736-750
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
