Be Wiser About Breast Cancer

it is HARDER to lose the weight after treatment and it negatively impacts self-image, quality of life and overall health * excess weight is associated with an INCREASED CHANCE of the breast cancer coming back and poorer survival rates According to one study, the average weight gain of women within year 1 after diagnosis was 3.3 lbs, year 2 was 5.94 lbs, and year 3 was 6.16 lbs. In multiple studies, chemo has been shown to be associated with weight gain compared to hormonal therapy (also called endocrine or anti-estrogen therapy) or no therapy at all. In some studies, chemo is associated with a median of 17-22 pounds of weight gain with the only notable difference being fewer women impacted and lower weight gain (3-11 lbs) associated with taxane (chemo) based therapies.

According to one analysis, being overweight does not negatively impact your risk for breast cancer if you are pre-menopausal. For a long time, we have heard that body fat or BMI directly correlates with a woman’s risk of breast cancer coming back. In the largest of its kind, pooled analysis of nearly ¾ of a million pre-menopausal women, there appears to be an INVERSE or OPPOSITE relationship to body mass and the likelihood of developing breast cancer. The inverse association of body mass and breast cancer risk was evident in all pre-menopausal women, but was most strongly present in women with hormone-receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer. The analysis was conducted by The Pre-menopausal Beast Cancer Collaborative Group and looked at women divided into four age groups, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, and 45-54.

However, most breast cancer is diagnosed in women who are postmenopausal, and for these women, the recommended initial anti-estrogen treatment is an AI for 5 years. Recent studies have evaluated the benefit of adding 5 more years of AI beyond the initial 5 years of treatment (for a total of 10 years of AI), but have had mixed results. (BCI) Risk of Recurrence & Extended Endocrine Benefit Test is intended for use in patients diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), lymph node-negative (LN-) or lymph node positive (LN+; with 1-3 positive nodes) early-stage, invasive breast cancer, who are distant recurrence-free. BCI provides: 1) a quantitative assessment of the likelihood of both late (post-5 years) and overall (0-10 year) distant recurrence following an initial 5 years of endocrine therapy (LN- patients) or 5 years of endocrine therapy plus adjuvant chemotherapy (LN+ patients), and 2) prediction of likelihood of benefit from extended (>5 year) endocrine therapy.

* “… at least one of these tests, BCI, has also been shown to predict response to endocrine therapy, and many participants reported having used BCI, at least on occasion (or more frequently) to further inform their treatment decisions for patients whose need for an additional 5 years of endocrine therapy was less certain (most notably, node-negative patients)” Recently reported results from EA endocrine therapy trials suggest an overall modest benefit of extending endocrine therapy beyond 5 years; the currently available genomic biomarker assays may be useful to further inform treatment decisions in patients where uncertainty may exist (e.g., node-negative and/or poor tolerability). – Breast Cancer Index Intended Use and Limitations – The Breast Cancer Index (BCI) Risk of Recurrence & Extended Endocrine Benefit Test is intended for use in patients diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), lymph node-negative (LN-) or lymph node positive (LN+; with 1-3 positive nodes) early-stage, invasive breast cancer, who are distant recurrence-free. BCI provides: 1) a quantitative assessment of the likelihood of both late (post-5 years) and overall (0-10 year) distant recurrence following an initial 5 years of endocrine therapy (LN- patients) or 5 years of endocrine therapy plus adjuvant chemotherapy (LN+ patients), and 2) prediction of likelihood of benefit from extended (>5 year) endocrine therapy.