Chemotherapy and COVID-19: Are you at risk?
B cells are cells that make antibodies against bacteria and viruses. Chemotherapy and COVID-19Before coronavirus, we really didn’t see patients getting more severe infections in the months after chemotherapy. However, we don’t know if patients might be more at risk for severe COVID-19 infections in the months after chemotherapy. There is also a very interesting study about cigarette use and immune system recovery after chemotherapy. In the study, smokers and nonsmokers have about the same number of B cells on average before chemotherapy, and about the same two weeks after chemotherapy.
Cancer survivors tell all: ‘I woke up from surgery missing a third of my right breast’
For someone who has never had to experience or endure breast cancer, it might be understandable that there are questions involved. Does a diagnosis typically come as a surprise, or do people often suspect that something feels not quite right?
Genetic Testing at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Rachel Silva-Smith is a genetic counselor with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information about cancer genetic counseling and testing, click here to visit the UHealth health news blog. Rachel Silva-Smith, a genetic counselor at Sylvester, explains what genetic testing is and who is a good candidate. If a woman is diagnosed at age 60 or under, they typically have to have a specific type of breast cancer, known as triple-negative breast cancer. Any male with breast cancer, also qualifies for genetic testing.
Rare but aggressive form of breast cancer can strike without warning
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Inflammatory breast cancer is a very aggressive form of the disease that can develop suddenly which makes it important to know the symptoms of this rare type of breast cancer which can strike anyone at any age. “I still to this day go, ‘I can’t believe I have breast cancer,’” she said. Although her mammogram showed no evidence of disease, experts said that’s not unusual with inflammatory breast cancer, which can appear suddenly. “Inflammatory breast cancer is different because it’s not the traditional presentation where you have a mass, you feel a lump in your breast, you don’t have that, you have a breast that looks inflamed, is red and angry,” said Dr. Alejandra Perez with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Patients can be cured of inflammatory breast cancer but it’s very important that they come to us right away,” she said.
Breast cancer survivors tell all: ‘Don’t let anyone say you’re too young, because it can happen to anyone’
For someone who has never had to experience or endure breast cancer, it might be understandable that there are questions involved. Does a diagnosis typically come as a surprise, or do people often suspect that something feels not quite right?
FDA approves pill for aggressive breast cancer that’s spread
WASHINGTON – U.S. regulators on Friday approved a new drug for an aggressive type of breast cancer that’s spread in the body — including into the brain, where it’s especially tough to treat. The Food and Drug Administration said Tukysa, a twice-daily pill developed by Seattle Genetics, is for people with what's known as HER2-positive breast cancer that has spread and resisted multiple other medicines. This type of cancer is driven by an overactive gene that makes too much of the HER2 protein, which promotes cancer growth. Each year, about 50,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. Among the participants whose cancer spread to the brain, 25% were alive after a year versus none in the placebo group.
Local 10’s Janine Stanwood shares her breast cancer survival story
I also have a history of breast cancer in my family: my mom had it, my dad’s sister had it, and it has struck numerous cousins, too. It was the MRI that saw what the mammograms and breast ultrasounds missed: a nearly eight centimeter area of cancer in my left breast. So it was a very extensive area,” said Susan Kesmodel, M.D., director of breast surgical oncology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center/University of Miami Hospital and Clinics. I can’t believe how lucky I was to hear from others who unflinchingly shared their own cancer stories with me. Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Miami Dolphins are teaming up again to fund cancer research.
Permanent hair dyes linked to breast cancer, study says
NEW YORK – Two common beauty products -- permanent hair dyes and chemical straighteners -- may be associated with an elevated risk for breast cancer. The study published in the International Journal of Cancer tracked more than 46,000 women over several years. Overall, women using permanent dye had a 9% higher risk of developing breast cancer. Black women who used permanent dye had a 45 percent higher risk of breast cancer, compared to non-users. And those who used these products every eight weeks or more often had a 60 percent higher risk.