Breast Cancer Information

Are Obese Women Getting Short-Changed By Chemotherapy Treatments?


How much chemotherapy does an obese woman need? Typically an obese woman with breast cancer would receive reduced doses of chemotherapy as they battle breast cancer.

Back in June of 2005, a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that obese women should receive chemotherapy based on their actual weight, and not in reduced as amounts as it the standard practice.

And now again a study presented in the August 2005 edition of Lancet claims that doctors should not reduce chemotherapy doses for obese women when no receptors for the hormone oestrogen have been found on the breast cancer cells. This type of cancer is called oestrogen-receptor negative.

Clinicians often reduce chemotherapy doses for obese patients because of worries about how the treatment may react with the patient and affect their overall health.

According to the study's director Marco Colleoni of the European Institute of Oncology, Italy, and his colleagues, reducing the first course of chemotherapy for obese patients with oestrogen-receptor negative breast cancer proves "detrimental".

Colleoni and his team looked at the relation between body-mass index (BMI), chemotherapy dose reduction, oestrogen receptor expression, and outcome for pre-menopausal women with breast cancer by examining data from four randomized trials.

They found that 97 out of 249 obese patients received less than 85% of protocol specified dose during the first course of chemotherapy compared with patients with normal and intermediate BMI.

Obese patients with oestrogen-receptor negative disease that received 85% or more of the first protocol specified dose had significantly better disease-free survival and overall survival than those who received less than 85% of the normally recommended dosage.

Yet, obese patients with oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer who had reduced doses of chemotherapy did not have a significant difference in their outcome compared with those given the recommended chemotherapy doses.

And contrary to popular practice, the researchers also noticed that obese patients initially treated with protocol doses of chemotherapy did not have more toxicity than patients who received reduced doses.

Dr Marco Colleoni concluded that, "Our findings suggest that for women with ER-absent or ER-low tumours, reduction in chemotherapy dose should be avoided."

The message for obese women coping with cancer is to be aware of your risks and rights. Ask your doctor will she recommend lower doses of chemotherapy for you based on your weight and ask why.

Resources: Lancet, Archives of Internal Medicine

Health author and Stanford University graduate Naweko San-Joyz lovingly writes from her home in San Diego. Her works include Acne Messages: Crack the Code of Your Zits and Say Goodbye to Acne (ISBN: 0974912204) and Skinny Fat Chicks, Why We're Still Not Getting This Dieting Thing (ISBN: 0974912212). Naweko created the Noixia philosophy to help people enhance their lives by connecting with their inner-mysteries and inner-selves. Her works take often over-looked, yet viable research and transforms in into practical tools that people can use to improve their health. Get useful, but too often ignored women's health news by visiting http://www.Noixia.com, Where Beauty Means Health.


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Supplementary Article

Has The Cure For Cancer Been Here All Along?

11/21/08

 by: Jane Jarvis

Cancer treatment and medication is a multi-billion dollar industry--so why would hospitals and pharmaceutical companies want a cure?

Have you ever heard of a doctor giving someone with stage 4 or 5 cancer a 90-100% chance of success at beating the disease? I didn't think so. Well, there is a way you can beat these dismal odds. If you, a friend, family member, or even an acquaintance has cancer, wouldn't you like to know the cure?

If you want to know how to beat cancer, you may need look no further than cancercuresecrets.com. They provide information that has been put under wraps for years. Did you know there is a doctor in Mexico who has a 98% success rate with curing bone cancer? Did you know clinics exist that can offer a 90-100% success rate with curing 4 and 5 stage cancers? Did you know there is a new form of super supplement that helps people quietly cure themselves of cancer? Most of us didn't know that there exists a cancer treatment so effective, it kills cancer cells 100% of the time, anywhere in the body, with no toxic side- effects! Unfortunately, most cancer patients don't know about this treatment... and they continue to suffer through hours of debilitating chemotherapy.

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have developed new drugs to help treat the symptoms of diseases such as cancer and AIDS. What about the cause? Why haven't their efforts been aimed at prevention, the cure before the disease? The answer is simple. If you have cancer, the average cost of treatment is $250,000-$750,000. If people didn't get cancer and other serious diseases, these companies would lose huge amounts of money. Their main interest, right or wrong, is staying in business.

Many people scoff at these disturbing ideas. They want to believe that they are in control of their own lives. But if you believe there aren't immoral and unethical people out there just sitting around thinking of ways to make money at the expense of others, you are wrong. We live in a world where people cannibalize their neighbors and blow up buildings full of people, so is it that hard to believe that there are people willing to let you stay sick so they can make billions of dollars?

The answers you need may have been suppressed, but they are out there. Visit http://www.cancercuresecrets.com and find out how you can save your own life and the lives of others.

About The Author

Visit http://www.cancercuresecrets.com and find out how you can save your own life and the lives of others.


jljarvis@libero.it

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