Archive for October, 2009
October 28th, 2009 -- Posted in Uncategorized |
Transcendental meditation reduces stress and improves the emotional and mental well-being of breast cancer patients, new study findings suggest.
The two-year trial included 130 patients at Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago, aged 55 and older, randomly assigned to either a transcendental meditation group or to a usual care control group. Quality of life was assessed every six months.
“Emotional and psychosocial stress contribute to the onset and progression of breast cancer and cancer mortality,” study author Sanford Nidich, senior researcher at the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, said in a news release from Saint Joseph Hospital.
“The transcendental meditation technique reduces stress and improves emotional well-being and mental health in older breast cancer patients. The women in the study found their meditation practice easy to do at home and reported significant benefits in their overall quality of life,” Nidich added.
“It is wonderful that physicians now have a range of interventions to use, including transcendental meditation, to benefit their patients with cancer. I believe this approach should be appreciated and utilized more widely,” study co-author Dr. Rhoda Pomerantz, chief of gerontology at Saint Joseph Hospital, said in the release.
The study, published in a recent issue of the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies, received funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
– Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
SOURCE: Saint Joseph Hospital, news release, October 2009
Technorati Tags: breast cancer, Breast Cancer News, emotional, meditation, quality of life, stress
October 16th, 2009 -- Posted in Breast Cancer News, Breast Cancer Signs |
The finding, presented at the 2009 Breast Cancer Symposium, held last week in San Francisco, could potentially affect how women are screened for breast cancer.
About 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be connected to a genetic mutation that’s also linked to ovarian cancer. Women with the mutations, known as BRCA1 or BRCA2, have an increased risk of developing breast tumors. Over a lifetime, 60% of them will develop the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. By comparison, 12% of women in the general population will develop breast cancer.
Women who have the genetic mutation — or whose mothers or aunts have it — are advised to be screened for breast cancer starting when they are 25. Mammography and MRI are now recommended for these women.
In the new study, the researchers examined the medical records of 132 women with the genetic mutation who took part in the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s clinical cancer genetics program between 2003 and 2009. Of those, 107 had a mother or aunt with breast or ovarian cancer.
The median age of diagnosis in the newer generation was 42, but 47 in the older women. The study authors report that this is worrisome because it could mean that the cancer is developing earlier.
“These findings are certainly concerning and could have implications on the screening and genetic counseling of these women,” said study co-author Dr. Jennifer Litton, an assistant professor at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in a news release from the center. “In BRCA-positive women with breast cancer, we actually might be seeing true anticipation — the phenotype or cancer coming out earlier per generation. This suggests more than the mutation could be involved, perhaps lifestyle and environmental factors are also coming into play.”
– Randy Dotinga
Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
SOURCE: University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, news release, Oct. 16, 2009
Technorati Tags: BRCA1, BRCA2, breast cancer, M.D. Anderson, mammography, MRI, ovarian cancer, screening, tumor
October 14th, 2009 -- Posted in Breast Cancer News |
Cancer Chemo Less Exhausting for Patients Getting Intense Exercise
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
Oct. 13, 2009 — Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy feel less exhausted if they enroll in an intense program that exercises the mind as well as the body, a Danish study finds.
Fatigue is one of the most troubling side effects of cancer chemotherapy. Patients don’t feel like doing anything, either physically or mentally. And the less they do, the weaker and more depression-prone they become.
Earlier studies showed that moderate exercise can help. So can psychosocial programs. Could both kinds of programs be combined — and intensified — for greater impact?
To find out, Lis Adamsen, PhD, and colleagues at Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, asked 269 adult cancer patients to enroll in a nine-hours-a-week exercise program for six weeks. Half the volunteers were randomly assigned to a control group and were asked to wait six weeks to join the program.
Although the program was designed to appeal to men and women, women were much more likely to volunteer. In the end, 196 women and 73 men volunteered for the study; 235 of them completed the program.
The program included:
- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: High-intensity physical training (30 minutes of warmup, 45 minutes resistance training, and 15 minutes of cardiovascular training).
- Tuesdays: 90 minutes of body-awareness training (stretching on week 1, yoga breathing on weeks 2-3, and Pilates movement on weeks 4-6).
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday: 30 minutes of relaxation training to follow physical training or body-awareness training.
- Monday and Friday: 30 minutes of massage
Patients weren’t allowed to pick and choose — they had to show up for the entire program, regardless of how they felt after their chemo treatments.
One patient with a brain tumor had a seizure after cardio training, so Adamsen and colleagues warn brain cancer patients not to try this kind of exercise. Ill effects were not seen in other patients.
Instead, those completing the program felt better. Although improvements were small to medium in size, the exercise program significantly reduced fatigue and increased patients’ sense of vitality. They felt fewer limits in their daily activities than did patients who did not exercise.
“The range of exercise components used … has been shown to be feasible, safe, and beneficial to various patients with cancer during chemotherapy — even patients with advanced disease,” Adamsen and colleagues conclude.
They note, however, that a program with more appeal to men needs to be developed.
The findings appear in the Online First edition of BMJ.
SOURCES: Adamsen, L. BMJ, Online First edition, Oct. 14, 2009.
Technorati Tags: cancer, chemo, chemotherapy, depression, exercise, fatigue, vitality
