Breast Cancer

In a recent article in “The Guardian” I read about an interesting new discovery that has been made concerning Breast Cancer and I want to share it with you. The article informs about a study that has recently been published in “The Lancet” and in the study scientists found out that a drug, named anastrozole, is able to halve the chance of breast cancer for women that have a high risk for developing the disease. Therefore, the lives of thousands of women at high risk of breast cancer could be saved with the help of that drug. The discovery was branded ‘remarkable’ by the science community.

What are “women at high risk of breast cancer”?

Women at high risk of breast cancer are women with a family history or other risk factors for the disease. For example, a woman would be at high risk of breast cancer if her mother, her grandmother or her sister also had breast cancer in the past. Breast cancer risk is higher among those women. Other risk factors for breast cancer are, for example, aging, genetic risk factors (mutations), race and ethnicity or a dense breast rissue.

According to the study that has been published, the drug has been found to not only halve the likelihood of high-risk women developing the disease but to also have fewer side-effects. The study tracked almost 4000 postmenopausal women (which means women that have already had their menopause) at high risk of breast cancer. The scientists found out that those who took anastrozole for five years were 53% likely to develop the disease than women who took a placebo. A placebo would be a drug that a doctor gives to patients who believe that it was a real drug, but in fact it has no active component in it. Therefore, the placebo has no real effect of a drug on people. However, it can have a positive effect on some peoples’ diseases simply because they believe in the action of the placebo.

What does anastrozole do?

Anastrozole works by preventing the body from making oestrogen. Oestrogen is helping breast cancers because it strengthens the cancer.

The problem concerning anastrozole is that it is yet not available on the NSH (National Health Service). Therefore, the study is now leading to urgent calls for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to make it accesible immediately. Professor Jack Cuzick is the lead researcher in the study and he said about it that is was an “exciting development” in breast cancer prevention. I strongly agree with him. I think that it is a great discovery because it shows clearly that the National Health Institute should pay their attention to this drug and do their best to make it available at the market as soon as possible.

I hope that with the help of this study breast cancer can soon be more opposoble as it is one of the most common forms of cancer that appear in womens’ bodies. For this reason, I wanted to share this discovery with you all.