A recent report from the National Cancer Institute suggests that older women who are over weight increase their risk for breast cancer. The study looked at the health histories from nearly 100,000 postmenopausal women and examined their change in weight, or body mass index (BMI), over their adult lifetime.

Women who were not obese or overweight at age 18 but were at ages 35 to 50 had almost double the risk of developing breast cancer compared with women who maintained a normal weight, according to a Science Daily report on the study.

"Only a third of patients with breast cancer get to discuss their breast reconstruction options with their general cancer surgeon before the tumor is removed," claim researchers in a University of Michigan study described in HeathDay News.

Clinical scientists at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Care Center interviewed 1,178 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer to see if reconstruction was suggested as an option to them.

Scientists are working on ways to target smaller amounts of radiation to the tumor cells in breast cancer patients. This approach could improve the outcome of radiation therapy by shortening treatment times and minimizing the exposure of healthy breast tissue to damaging X-rays.

Many studies demonstrate the value of exercise in everyday life, but exercise during breast cancer therapy may make a difference too.

Studies published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggest that physical activity positively affects patients’ self esteem, body conditioning and ability to complete chemotherapy treatments. This helps patients endure and benefit more from their therapies.

Women who get breast cancer before the age of 40 tend to develop more aggressive tumors that are harder to treat. Using chemotherapy in some of these younger patients, however, may not provide much benefit to their survival, according to a study from researchers at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Opting for other treatments, such as those that stop tumor cells from responding to estrogen may end up being more effective for this group of patients.

The FDA, after a priority rapid review, approved a new drug for the treatment of advanced breast cancer. This drug will benefit women whose cancer has spread (metastasized) as well as women with localized breast tumors that have become resistant to standard treatments.

The study showed that the new drug, Ixempra, stopped tumor growth when combined with another standard anti-cancer drug treatment, Xeloda. Even when given alone, however, Ixempra shrunk breast tumors in 12% of the patients.

An independent panel of leading cancer clinicians was brought together to evaluate and summarize the cancer risks for women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Health risks associated with HRT came to public attention in 2002. A widely publicized report linked the common menopause treatments (estrogen and progestin pills) with an increased risk for heart disease, stroke and breast cancer in some women.

Since then, there has been much debate about the value and potential hazards of taking hormones for alleviating menopausal symptoms.

In a University of Arizona analysis of more than 25,000 women with breast cancer, researchers found that Hispanic women were more likely than their white female counterparts to develop advanced breast cancer. Hispanic women also had larger tumors and a higher rate of metastasis to lymph nodes at the time of diagnosis.

Statisticians have come up with a new and more accurate way to determine whether an African American woman is at risk for developing breast cancer. Researchers from the National Cancer Institute found that previous risk assessment tools for breast cancer, based on only large groups of white women, actually underestimated the risk for African American women.

The new analysis, called CARE, checked three factors to determine risk for breast cancer in African American women:

•Age at first menstrual cycle
•Family history of breast cancer (mother or sisters)

FRIDAY, Aug. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Canadian researchers are challenging the widely held belief that flu shots help protect older people from potentially deadly diseases such as pneumonia.

While the researchers say the vaccine does protect against certain strains of influenza, its overall benefit seems to have been exaggerated by so-called observational studies that found a big reduction in "all-cause mortality" among older patients who'd gotten a flu shot.