Word: breast
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...Times "breast" or "breasts" is mentioned...
...first case, the advisory panel recommended that the FDA expand its current approval of the breast-cancer drug tamoxifen to include women who don't have the disease but are at high risk of developing it. The panel did not endorse the idea, however, that tamoxifen actually "prevents" breast cancer, saying only that it might help reduce the risk over the short term. In the second, more straightforward decision, the panel urged approval of herceptin, a gene-based treatment for some forms of advanced breast cancer...
...start with the more complicated case. Doctors have used tamoxifen, first of the so-called designer estrogens, to treat breast cancer for 25 years. In that time, they've learned that the drug works by starving tumors that feed on estrogen. But could tamoxifen also stop a tumor before it starts? Last spring U.S. researchers reported with great fanfare that tamoxifen can indeed decrease the risk of developing breast cancer as much...
There are two things to keep in mind as you try to sort this out. Many women think they're at high risk when they're not; just because your aunt developed breast cancer doesn't mean you'll get it. Moreover, researchers are starting a new breast-cancer-prevention trial comparing tamoxifen with raloxifene, another anti-estrogen, which in limited testing showed fewer side effects...
...herceptin, anything that can help women in the advanced stages of breast cancer is good news. It's not a cure and does nothing for the 70% of cases that don't involve the so-called HER-2 gene. But the drug has been in desperately short supply, and FDA approval should improve that situation...