Best time for breast cancer surgery.A separate study by Senie's group adds to evidence suggesting that breast cancer surgery is best performed during the last half (luteal phase luteal phase n. The portion of the menstrual cycle that begins with the formation of the corpus luteum and ends with the start of the menstrual flow, usually 14 days in length. ) of a woman's menstrual cycle menstrual cycle n. The recurring cycle of physiological changes in the uterus, ovaries, and other sexual structures that occur from the beginning of one menstrual period through the beginning of the next. . Last year, British researchers reported a similar finding and speculated that women who undergo breast surgery during the luteal phase may fare better because the production of estrogen tapers off then (SN: 6/8/91, p. 365). Estrogen promotes the growth of some breast tumors, and any cancer cells cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping. See also: Cancer that escape from such a tumor during the luteal phase may be less likely to get estrogen's message to proliferate pro·lif·er·ate v. To grow or multiply by rapidly producing new tissue, parts, cells, or offspring. . Senie's new data support that controversial view. In a study of 283 women, she and her colleagues discovered that women who had undergone breast surgery during the luteal phase were less likely to suffer a recurrence than women who had surgery during the estrogen-rich first half of their cycle. The study may spur skeptical surgeons to take a second look at the evidence on this issue, says Helene Smith of the Geraldine Brush Cancer Research Institute in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion