LiveWorld Transcripts

iBreast presents

Dr. Marisa Weiss and Kathy D. Miller, M.D.
New discoveries in breast cancer research

December 21, 2000

Read about new breakthroughs in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment presented at the December San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium from two doctors who attended. Learning about the continued progress experts are making in this area will help you face the longest night of the year--tonight and every night--with increased courage and resolve.

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Ibreast: Welcome, everyone, to ibreast.org's(TM) Third Thursday Night Chat, held in collaboration with Living Beyond Breast Cancer(r). We will only be taking questions that relate to our topic this evening - What does current and future research hold in the areas of breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment? So please hold other questions for future Third Thursday Chats at ibreast.org(TM). If you sign up for free e-mail Updates at www.ibreast.org/res news signup.html, you will receive advance notice of all live events as well as a valuable monthly update. We'd also like to hear your ideas for future chats. Click here www.ibreast.org/contact.php3 to send us an email, or go to www.ibreast.org and click on the Tool Kit at the bottom of most pages, then click Contact. Welcome! We have two distinguished guests this evening who will share with us the exciting information they learned at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which brings together hundreds of the top breast cancer researchers and doctors in the world. Kathy D. Miller, M.D., a member of the ibreast.org Professional Advisory Board, and assistant professor of medical oncology at Indiana University, has a special interest in new cancer treatments, including clinical trials of biologically based therapies. She has been the principal investigator on a number of high-level grants, a recipient of the Career Development Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and author of numerous journal articles. Dr. Marisa Weiss is a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer. She is also widely known as an author ("Living Beyond Breast Cancer," Random House), patient advocate, and founder of both the nonprofit education organization Living Beyond Breast Cancer(r) and the Web site ibreast.org(TM).

Dr. Weiss: Welcome everyone. The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium that Dr. Miller and I attended two weeks ago was a whirlwind of papers, presentations and hallway conversations about where breast cancer research is going and what the future holds for patients. From the latest drugs, to new diagnosis and treatment techniques, to studies on living life fully after breast cancer, the conference provided a wealth of information we will share with you tonight. Then you, in turn, can use this knowledge in making your own health, treatment and lifestyle decisions. We will post a full update about the conference later this month at www.ibreast.org/res news arc 2000 12.html. (If you want to know when it's available, sign up for our free email announcements at www.ibreast.org/res news signup.html.)

Dr. Miller: You're so right, Dr. Weiss. The symposium was exciting, and I'm looking forward to sharing what we learned with everyone in the audience.

Dr. Weiss: Let's go to questions.

Carolee: I imagine that a lot of research concentrates on the physical aspects of treatment, but is there any good news coming about prospects for patients' emotional well-being with and after breast cancer?

Dr. Miller: There actually were several sessions specifically talking about emotional aspects of breast cancer and the importance of complimentary medicine. Dr. Charles Loprinzi of the Mayo Clinic has really been a leader in this field. His group has specifically studied many treatments for hot flashes and will be continuing that work with several other herbal supplements. The other exciting area includes studies on depression in women with breast cancer and on the effects of chemotherapy on short-term memory. I think the most exciting thing for patients is that researchers now recognize the importance of emotional health and the long-term complications of many of our therapies and are starting to study ways to decrease the impact of those on our patients.

Dr. Weiss: An example of this is research showing that women who are supported by their significant others or by support groups seem to have less anxiety, feel more in control of their decision making, and feel more optimistic about their future. Depression is not uncommon. And it is often temporary. It can respond very nicely to medication. Being connected to family, friends, information and experts can really help speed your recovery.

Dr. Miller: There's been one specific study using a soybean extract to treat hot flashes. While that study didn't find any significant improvement in the hot flashes of those patients, it's not clear if other soybean products might be helpful or increasing the amount of soy in a woman's diet. That might be helpful.

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