Suffering from BC increases the Risk of Another Tumour by 39%

cp418

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131017080254.htm

Suffering from Breast Cancer increases risk of antoher tumor by 39%

Women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer are 39% more likely to develop a second cancer in a different part of the body. Such is the conclusion of a recent study, pioneered by female Spanish researchers. The study suggests that this increased risk could be due to the similar risk factors involved in both cancers, or to the side effects of the treatment received by breast cáncer patients.

LittleMelons

CP418 Thanks for posting these studies which are very informative.  This one is rather depressing, but the good news I take from reading it is that people with bc are surviving longer, so have more opportunity to get more tumours than previously, although the increased risk for another tumour is not happy news. "The breast cancer survival rate has increased significantly in recent years.. According to data published in the Eurocare study, the relative survival rate at the five-year mark increased from 76% in the period 1990-1994 to 82.8% in the period 2000-2007.

According to Sánchez, the data produced by the study demonstrate that the number of women who survive breat cancer will continue to increase with time and that it is consequently necessary to evaluate the risk these women face of developing a second cancer in comparison with the general population."

cp418

Yes - Although I don't care for the news in many of these articles - I feel as patients that we need to be informed to better communicate with our doctors.

jenrio

Interesting. the BRCA+ patients automatically get higher probability of gynecology cancers due to genetic susceptibility. I do not know how many in this patient population are BRCA+. There may be other mutations that increases both breast cancer probabilities and other cancers' probabilities

But it's a reminder that the early breast cancer patients who elected to "fight" cancer with the "strongest" chemo they could find, should be informed of possibly lethal side effects of these choices down the road. And they need to demand a real cure for metastatic breast cancer, because that's the only endgame for winning the breast cancer fight. Everything else, mammograms, prevention strategies, adjuvant therapies etc, just buy time at great expense and kick the can down the road, probabilistically speaking. And we have been buying time for the last 30 years with very little to show for it.

Anonymous

Since this may terrify the newly dx who are reading this study, may I remind all that these studies DO not take into consideration diet, exercise, unique physiological makeup, overall health, and the environment in which you live. Truth is, we really can't predict such accuracy in recurrence, so don't let these stats get to you.

Hugs

Claire

MelissaDallas

Claire, there are plenty of healthy, ideal weight, nondrinking, nonsmoking, vegetarian runners here who got cancer anyway. That is just blaming the victim.

Claire_in_Seattle

I realize that having had Adriamycin increases my risk of leukemia, yada, yada, yada. However, without having had aggressive treatment at the get-go, all this would be a moot point.

It is also a moot point compared to heart disease which is the one all of us need to worry about as we get older. So while secondary cancers and a larger susceptibility to other cancers are a possibility, I still believe that we need to focus on the big items. That said, all the healthy diet and exercise helps stave off those as well!

The other Claire.....whose butt is hurting from cycling 60 miles yesterday. - Claire

Beesie

I don't find the overall conclusion of this study - that women diagnosed with breast cancer have a greater risk to develop another cancer - to be at all surprising.

But I think that there is some important information in this report.

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"A national team of researchers has analysed the risk that women diagnosed with a first case of invasive breast cancer face of developing a second primary cancer in a part of the body other than the breast."

I can't tell you how many times on this board I've seen someone post that they are having a BMX "because I never want to deal with cancer again". In the past I've sometimes tried to explain that removing one's breasts doesn't offer that protection. A BMX will not stop the development of breast cancer mets, if that is in the cards for you. And a BMX will not stop the development of any other type of cancer that you might be susceptible to, particularly now that you've been diagnosed with one type of cancer and therefore are higher risk to possibly develop another. I appreciate that for some women, having a BMX offers peace of mind and a sense of security, but if they don't understand these other risks, it may be a false sense of security - and that might lead to less diligence and watchfulness. That's not to say that a BMX isn't the right decision for many women, and that many women do make the decision fully educated and fully aware of the other risks. But I worry when I see women making this decision because they think it's a way to avoid cancer in the future.

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"Sánchez affirms that the risk of developing a second cancer was high in the first five years following the first diagnosis of breast cancer, and almost 3.5 times higher than that faced by other women. However, the researcher states that more than five years after this first diagnosis, the risk of developing a second cancer was not significantly higher than that of those unaffected by the disease."

Now that surprises me. I would not have expected that the risk would go back down after 5 years, and I think that's very good news. I'm skeptical though, and I would love to see this verified in the future by other studies.

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"According to the study's data, women under the age of 50 who had previously suffered from breast cancer were almost twice as likely to develop a second cancer than the general population (the risk was 96% greater). In women over the age of 50, a second cancer was 29% more likely. In the latter age group, the risk of developing an endometrial cancer was three times higher if breast cancer had been previously diagnosed....

...The authors of the study examined a total of 5,897 cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed between 1985 and 2007 in women resident in the province of Granada. In 314 of the cases, the women developed a second primary cancer."

All in all, it's important to understand that the risk levels remain pretty low. In this study, overall just 5.3% of women who'd had breast cancer developed another cancer. For women under 50, who are almost twice as likely to develop a second cancer (other than breast cancer), the risk remains well under 10%. For women over 50, the risk of endometrial cancer, even being 3 times higher than average, is likely still in the low single digits and at most is around 6% or 7% (that would be assuming that the risk extends for the rest of one's life, well beyond the 5 years).

Very interesting information, but we need to be careful in how we interpret it.

Anonymous

Melissa, I'm not blaming the victim. I'm reminding everyone that studies don't consider our unique physiological make up, whether we were exposed to radiation fall out, whether we were exposed to pesticides, whether we realize that exercise 3-5 hours a week reduces recurrence rates in the double digits, etc. etc. I am NOT blaming the victim! I am reminding that studies generalize to a whole, and that we should remember that we are all unique and simply because we have had bc. doesn't mean automatically that we are at risk for a 39% chance of recurrence in the future, instead of being freaked out by this potentially downer study and headline. Especially for the newbies.

rozem

I can't tell you how many times on this board I've seen someone post that they are having a BMX "because I never want to deal with cancer again". In the past I've sometimes tried to explain that removing one's breasts doesn't offer that protection. A BMX will not stop the development of breast cancer mets, if that is in the cards for you. And a BMX will not stop the development of any other type of cancer that you might be susceptible to

Bessie -you know how much I appreciate you on the boards. You offer sound advice. I know in reading your posts that you try to present the facts on the real risks of developing another bc in the hopes that women wont remove a healthy breast or opt for a lx instead of msx. This is great because I think a lot of women come to these boards and see so many very early stagers having this surgery and think its safer to do so. BUT I doubt very much that very many women (if any) would think that by removing their breasts they cant get any other type of cancer. Ive been on the boards a long time aswell and ive never seen this reason given for choosing a bmx