IMPORTANT: Another breast cancer warning — especially for seniors

In recent years, we’ve seen recurring evidence of breast cancer overtreatment. Sometimes it’s chemo, sometimes it’s radiation — and this time, it’s surgery.

The newest issue concerning breast cancer treatment is the removal of lymph nodes under the armpits of women with early-stage breast cancer. This procedure is called axillary node dissection, and can result in long-term side effects, including:

  • Limited arm or shoulder movement
  • Numbness
  • Pain
  • Stiffness
  • Swelling in the arm

When a surgeon removes an early-stage breast tumor, he also removes sentinel lymph nodes to examine them for cancer. If these nodes are cancerous, the surgeon removes the remaining nodes to help prevent the spread of cancer.

When excessive cancer has advanced into the lymph nodes, surgical removal is a must because follow-up treatment with radiation and/or drugs won’t be enough to control it.

But recent evidence has shown that when only one or two sentinel nodes are found to have microscopic traces of cancer, the other nodes (which may number between 20 and 40) don’t need to be removed if follow-up treatment is planned.

In fact, that evidence was so conclusive that the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) changed its guidelines in 2014. Now, according to ASCO, axillary node dissection is unnecessary — unless cancer has clearly invaded the nodes. (In early breast cancers, multiple lymph nodes are unlikely to be affected.)

Sidelining the guidelines

To find out how persuasive the guideline change has been, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York surveyed more than 375 breast surgeons, asking them how they would proceed if they removed an early tumor and found just one or two sentinel lymph nodes to be cancerous.

Almost half said they would definitely or probably perform the axillary node dissection if a single node was affected. And 63 percent said they would proceed with the dissection if two sentinel nodes were cancerous.

Clearly, this is a red flag warning for all women.

But it’s also important to illustrate how important it is to thoroughly discuss breast cancer treatment procedures with oncologists, seek a second opinion, and talk to other women who have undergone similar treatments.

And the study also revealed one more interesting detail: Breast surgeons who performed the highest volume of procedures were more likely to tell women with early stage cancer that axillary node dissection was unnecessary.

Generally, it seems, the seasoned pros know what they’re doing…

Disease management changes as we age

It should be noted that all these considerations take on a different level of concern for women in their senior years.

In his new Essential Protocol to a Cancer-Free Future, Dr. Fred Pescatore warns that older women “really need to have their guard up” when it comes to breast cancer treatment. That’s because disease management standards change as we age, but many conventional oncologists don’t waver from the one-size-fits-all treatment approach.

Dr. Pescatore explains why this is crucial: “For the most part, cancer in older people tends to be much less aggressive — especially when we’re talking about hormone-related diseases, like breast and prostate cancer. And less aggressive cancer means a much better prognosis.

“My clinical experience speaks to this fact. I have many older patients living with their breast cancer. These patients have refused drastic treatments like surgery — a personal decision that I’ll always support. And they are still alive many years later to tell the cautionary tale that, in some cases, any conventional cancer ‘treatment’ is, in fact, overtreatment.”

This is why Dr. Pescatore says that the most important question that you and your doctor should be asking — no matter what your age — is this: “Will this treatment increase my life expectancy?”

Obviously, the answer to that question may be much different at age 70 than age 40.

Dr. Pescatore isn’t suggesting that conventional treatments should be refused out of hand. But they do need to be carefully scrutinized.

You can learn many more insights for preventing and treating cancer in Dr. Pescatore’s brand-new Essential Protocol to a Cancer-Free Future. Click here to read more details on this groundbreaking learning tool or to enroll today.

SOURCES B PIECE

reuters.com/article/us-health-breastcancer-nodes/half-of-u-s-breast-surgeons-may-advise-unneeded-lymph-node-removal-idUSKBN1KG2LN
Half of U.S. breast surgeons may advise unneeded lymph node removal
Reuters Health News
July 26, 2018