One in 3 breast cancer victims ‘may be being treated unnecessarily’

MORE than one in three breast cancer patients diagnosed through screening may be enduring unnecessary emotional distress and treatment for low-risk tumours, a leading cancer expert has warned.

Writing in the British Medical Journal today, Dr Laura Esserman of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center in San Francisco, California, said low-risk cancers should be renamed to distinguish them from more serious forms.

The clinical definition of cancer is “a disease that, if untreated, will grow relentlessly and spread to other organs, killing the host”, she said.

But many forms of thyroid, prostate and breast cancers can have less than a five per cent chance of progression over two decades. Up to 35 per cent of screen-detected breast cancers may fall into this “ultra low” risk category.

Dr Esserman said: “No medical diagnosis evokes such universal fear as one with the word ‘cancer’.

“Women with low risk DCIS [ductal carcinoma in situ – an early form of breast cancer that has not spread to surrounding tissue], most of whom will live long and productive lives without any intervention, are being rushed to the operating room, precipitating a lifetime of anxiety. Instead, we should offer the option of trials of active surveillance.”

Quality

Once patients have been told they have cancer they may be keen to undergo treatments that could be unnecessary, rather than waiting to see whether or not the disease progresses.

Relabelling low-risk cancers could spare patients needless physical and psychological trauma, Dr Esserman said.

She went on: “Overtreating people who are not at risk of death does not improve the lives of those at highest risk. The refinement of the nomenclature for cancer is one of the most important steps we can take to improve the outcomes and quality of life of patients with cancer.”

However Dr Murali Varma, of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, said renaming low-risk cancers could lead to patients being undertreated.

He said: “Removing the cancer label from low-risk tumours requires knowledge of the natural course of the tumour to ensure that patients are not undertreated.

“However, biopsies provide information about only the tiny fraction of the tumour sampled. To be sure that the tumour lacks unsampled higher risk components would require complete excision.

“Alternative terminology may also induce confusion and anxiety. Rather than focusing on semantics, the key is to educate everyone from the healthy Fried food daily puts women at increased risk of heart-related death

public to health professionals about the meaning of a diagnosis of cancer.”

Martin Ledwick, Cancer Research UK’s head information nurse, said: “Working out how to tell slow-growing cancers apart from more aggressive forms of the disease is a critical area WOMEN who regularly eat deep-fried chicken or fish and chips are risking their lives, a study shows.

One serving or more of any fried foods each day increases the risk of death for women by eight per cent compared to eating none, experts found.

The findings, published in the BMJ, came from a study of 107,000 women aged 50 to 79 and their consumption of foods such as fried chicken, fish, shellfish and chips.

Daily fried chicken eaters saw a 13 per cent risk of death from any cause and a 12 per cent greater chance of a heart related death.

One or more servings of fried fish a day was linked to a 13 per cent higher risk of heart-related death.

of research, and something Cancer Research UK-funded researchers are investigating.

“As these studies progress, we may be able to definitively say more often whether a person’s condition can be safely monitored without intervening

Lifestyle

The 24-year study was carried out up to 2017 in the US where a third of adults eat fast food every day.

At the end of it 31,588 deaths occurred, including 9,320 heart-related, 8,358 cancer deaths and 13,880 from other causes.

Researcher Yangbo Sun, of the University of Iowa, said: “We have identified a risk factor for cardiovascular mortality that is readily modifiable by lifestyle.

“Reducing the consumption of fried foods, especially fried chicken and fried fish, may have clinically meaningful impact across the public health spectrum.”

Those eating the most fried foods also tended to eat fewer vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and consume more sugary drinks.

– something that’s often done for men with low-grade prostate cancer.

“Research will help us understand the best approach to ‘renaming’ low-risk forms of cancer.” A COMMON gum bug plays a central role in the development of Alzheimer’s, scientists claimed yesterday.

Evidence that infectious bacteria drive the development of Alzheimer’s could potentially transform thinking about how the disease can be tackled.

Porphyromonas gingivalis is one of the chief causes of gum disease and tooth loss.

There have been earlier suggestions that it may play a role, but the latest study by a US-led international team based in San Francisco appears to put the link beyond doubt.

Memory

Researchers made the discovery after analysing brain tissue, spinal fluid and saliva from dead and living patients.

But the good news is that the scientists tested drugs able to halt the neurodegeneration.

One drug, given to mice, prevented the loss of memory neurons.

The team has now developed a new drug, COR388, that could form the basis of a human Alzheimer’s treatment.

A large-scale clinical trial is planned for later this year.

Study co-author Dr Stephen Dominy said: “For the first time, we have solid evidence demonstrating the potential for a class of small molecule therapies to change the trajectory of the disease.”

The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

The Alzheimer’s Society said: “There hasn’t been a new drug for dementia in 15 years. The upcoming clinical trial will be crucial.”