Hold Your Breath, Spare Your Heart
The University of Virginia Health System is empowering women with an easy and painless way to spare the heart damage associated with radiation for breast cancer. The technique, known as voluntary deep inspiratory breath hold (DIBH), requires that patients take and hold a deep breath for up to 20 seconds, allowing their care providers to target radiation to exactly where it is needed while avoiding cardiac tissue.
Environmental Factors and Breast Cancer
In addition to the traditionally acknowledged risk factors for breast cancer (age, reproductive history, genetic profile, obesity, alcohol intake, smoking, etc.), scientists are increasingly coming to understand that many chemicals commonly found in products we use daily may also be contributing to the very high incidence of breast cancer.
Advanced Breast Cancer Cases Inching Up in Young Women
More young women are being diagnosed with advanced, metastatic breast cancer than were three decades ago, according to a U.S. study, with the metastatic breast cancer rate in particular rising about two percent each year.
More Evidence Shows Hormone Therapy May Increase Breast Cancer Risk
Women who take hormone therapy that includes estrogen and progestin are at increased risk of developing breast cancer and dying from it, especially if they start taking the therapy just as menopause begins, a new analysis confirms. Researchers followed nearly 42,000 women, all of whom were past menopause, for an average of more than 11 years.
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