Herbal Health » Cancer

BREAST CANCER: IS A CURE IN SIGHT?

admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:28:16 +0000

The scientists maintain that a cure for many, but not all, now incurable breast cancers soon may be realized.

That’s because several hundred incredibly courageous women are putting their lives on the line for science. They also will be doing it for the 183,000 American women stricken with breast cancer each year. The disease, which often is discovered as a lump in the breast, kills 46,000 women annually in this country.

The women volunteering to test the promising cure all have advanced breast cancer. Some already have begun to take into their systems the strongest known combination of anticancer chemicals.

And, if all goes as the scientists hope, the anticancer drugs being tested by these heroic women will rout the cancer while leaving all other organs mostly unharmed. The results will be known by 1997 or 1998.

Hazel Greaves, 39, mother of two young daughters in Delray Beach, Florida, stands on the front lines of the research. “I suppose I am a guinea pig,” she says, “but I am quite happy to be one – I feel a great deal better already.”

In the summer of 1989, Mrs. Greaves had lost 25 pounds for no known reason. Severe, constant fatigue laid her low. In October, physicians told her that a quickly growing cancer was spreading in her: breast. The doctors sent her to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland.

There, in twelve 3- to 4-week cycles, medical scientists dispensed high doses of four chemicals known to kill cancers. Mrs. Greaves, however, could not tolerate the doses needed to kill the cancer. Those same drugs also destroy the bone marrow – the soft tissue in the bones that makes blood. And without bone marrow, she soon would have no red blood cells, no protection against germs.

“In between cycles, at home in Florida, I injected what doctors called a growth factor serum with a small insulin-type syringe,” she says. That growth factor, found naturally in tiny amounts in blood, safeguarded Mrs. Greaves’s bone marrow. Her chemotherapy has ended; doctors have found no sign of cancer.

Dr. Andrew Dorr, senior investigator at the NCI, reports that the kind of therapy given to Mrs. Greaves also partially or completely shrank the cancers in 20 other patients with advanced breast cancer. “This is all very preliminary,” Dr. Dorr says cautiously. “But this is the direction we are going in.”

Dr. Paul A. Marks, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, says, “We don’t need statistics to know we have the real thing, at last. Still, we do have to prove it.”

Dr. Marks and I were high school classmates 45 years ago and are still friends now. I do not doubt his estimate of the future of breast cancer. He credits the latest advance to other researchers at Memorial and around the world.

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In particular, Dr. Marks cites the work of Drs. Janice Gabrilove and Malcolm Moore, the Memorial scientists who first identified and purified the growth factor. Called granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), it stimulates blood cell growth. It protected the blood system for 20 women in Dr. Dorr’s care.

The next step is being planned by Dr. Larry Norton, also of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He will enroll women with high-risk cases of breast cancer in a study of granulocyte macrophage CSF. The women first will get GM-CSF and high doses of anticancer drugs. Months later, half the women will get GM-CSF and anticancer drugs. The others will get drugs but no GM-CSF.

Since this was first written, however, the game plan has changed. GM-CSF has proved to be lifesaving on its own. So, all the women will get GM-CSF. But Dr. Norton’s patients will continue as planned. Dr. Norton is testing a one-two punch against breast cancer. That means that the women will get a big dose of combination therapy (i.e., several drugs at once). This is followed up at a later time with another treatment with a combination of different drugs.

Dr. Norton’s theory is that the cancer cells that survived the first set of cancer drugs will be picked off by the second treatment. Dr. Norton told me that 82 percent of the women in this group were still alive 3 years after the one-two punch treatment.

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ABDOMINAL SWELLING (BLOATING) – PREVENTING THE FLUID

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:53:54 +0000

Another means of preventing the fluid from building up again is to inject either a chemotherapy drug or a radioactive substance into the peritoneal cavity. This is likely to cause fever and pain over the next day or so. Although some cancer cells may be killed, this method acts mainly by sealing the peritoneal cavity, so that there is no space left between the two layers of the peritoneal membrane for the fluid to collect in. Unfortunately, the stuff that is injected doesn’t usually spread right through the peritoneal cavity, so this method is rarely successful in completely stopping fluid from reforming.

Another alternative is just to have the fluid drained off whenever it builds up enough to cause you unpleasant symptoms. This can result in loss of a lot of fluid, protein and minerals, depending on the type of fluid you are forming. Ask your doctor if this is likely to cause a problem in your case and if so, what should be done to replace what you are losing.

*206/40/1*

BREAST CANCER: PROCEDURES BEFORE THE OPERATION

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:30:31 +0000

Visit by the surgeon

The surgeon who is to perform your operation may also visit you on the ward to check that all is well.

Visit by the anesthetist

The anesthetist will probably come to see you to ask you about anything that may be relevant to the choice of anesthetic given to you.

Anesthetics have improved considerably during the last few years, and a ‘premed.’ is now not always given routinely. If you or your anesthetist feel that you are very anxious and need something to relax you, you may be given some form of sedative, by mouth or injection, 2 or 3 hours before the operation. If you enter hospital the day before your operation and think that you will be too anxious to sleep that night, you can ask the house surgeon or senior house officer for something to help you.

False teeth

If you have any false teeth or dental bridges, you should tell the anesthetist as these will have to be removed before you go into the operating theatre. A broken or loose tooth can be inhaled into the lungs during surgery. You should also point out any teeth which are crowned.

Visit by the breast care nurse

If your hospital has a breast care nurse, she will visit you on the ward before and after your operation as often as is necessary. She will be able to answer any questions you may have and will be happy to talk to members of your family. Do discuss with her anything that is worrying you; she will be very experienced and will be able to explain things clearly and simply.

‘Nil by mouth’

This is a term which means that neither food nor drink must be swallowed. In order to prevent vomiting and the risk of choking on your vomit while you are anaesthetized, you will be told not to eat or drink anything for 4 to 6 hours before your operation, although you will be able to have a few sips of water with any tablets you need to take. If you are admitted the night before surgery, you will be able to have supper on the ward. If you enter hospital in the morning and your operation is to be that afternoon, you should not eat or drink for about 6 hours beforehand.

Shaving

Many women will already have shaved their armpits before coming in to hospital. If you have not done so, you will probably be given either a disposable razor or clippers to shave the hair from the entire armpit area. Although hair clippers are preferable, and prevent the skin being ‘nicked’ by leaving a layer of short hair on it, thus reducing the risk of post-operative infection, they are quite expensive. Disposable razors are therefore more commonly used. Occasionally, you may be given a hair-removing (depilatory) cream.

Apart from allowing the surgeon a clear view of the area of operation, shaving also makes the removal of the adhesive wound dressing less painful.

If you are anxious about doing the shaving yourself, do ask a nurse if someone can do it for you. Arthritis of the hands, for example, can make this a difficult task.

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