CBC Breast Imaging Center

New Prognostic Test for Breast Cancer Could Improve Patient Treatment

A study by researchers in Nottingham has developed a new clinical test for breast cancer which aims to improve patient treatment.

The Nottingham Prognostic Index Plus (NPI+) could be available to patients within two years.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Cancer, could significantly improve the way in which breast cancer patients are treated by giving clinicians more detailed information about a patient's breast cancer type and its likely behaviour, which will help them create a more personalised treatment plan.

The research, funded by the Medical Research Council, was led by Professor Ian Ellis in The University of Nottingham's Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, in collaboration with colleagues at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Nottingham Trent University's John van Geest Cancer Research Centre.

The current Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI) was developed over 30 years ago and is a world-recognised tool used by clinicians treating patients with breast cancer to decide on the risk of the disease returning. However, breast cancer is now known to be a biologically complex disease and its various forms can have very different outcomes so the more information that doctors have about each patient's cancer, the better they can plan effective treatments. The new NPI+ test has been developed from the existing NPI by incorporating the measurement of 10 proteins (biomarkers) found in breast cancer cells. These biomarkers include ER and HER2, the two biomarkers currently tested for in clinics, but also others that are not currently tested.

Click here to read complete story
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/273878.php

New prognostic test for breast cancer could improve patient treatment A study by researchers in Nottingham has developed a new clinical test for breast cancer which aims to improve patient treatment.

Health history can affect the risk of developing breast cancer.

Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn't mean that you will not get cancer. Talk with your doctor if you think you may be at risk. Risk factors for breast cancer include the following:

- Menstruating at an early age.

- Older age at first birth or never having given birth.

- A personal history of invasive breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), or benign (noncancer) breast disease.

- A family history (first-degree relative, such as mother, daughter, or sister) of breast cancer.

- Having inherited changes in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

- Treatment with radiation therapy to the breast/chest.

- Having breast tissue that is dense on a mammogram.

- Taking hormones such as estrogen and progesterone for symptoms of menopause.

- Having taken the hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) during pregnancy or being the daughter of a woman who took DES while pregnant.

- Obesity.

- Not getting enough exercise.

- Drinking alcoholic beverages.

- Being white.

NCI's Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool uses a woman's risk factors to estimate her risk for breast cancer during the next five years and up to age 90.

FYI

Smoking tied to increased risk of common type of breast cancer Young women who smoke may have an increased risk of a common type of breast cancer, according to a new study.

Breast cancer - Symptoms and treatment Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. In this animation we explain what cancer is and how it can develop in the breasts. Furthermore, we ...

Breast Cancer and African American Women Worta McCaskill-Stevens, MD, Program Director of the Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program, at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), speaks to Af...