Fewer women in the United States are dying from breast cancer, but disparities in death rates still exist according to a new study.

Aromatase inhibitors, the same drugs that have buoyed long-term survival rates among breast cancer patients, also carry side effects including joint pain so severe that many patients discontinue these lifesaving medicines. New University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research, however, has uncovered patterns that may help clinicians identify and help women at risk of these symptoms sooner in order to increase their chances of sticking with their treatment regimen.

A new study of New York State data finds that the number of women opting for surgery to remove the healthy breast after a cancer diagnosis in one breast is rising, despite a lack of evidence that the surgery can improve survival.

As rumors and misstatements continue to swirl about death panels and government limitations on insurance coverage, these are the stories insurance companies do not want you to hear. They are stories of insurance companies, their own death panels, and their own health care rationing. Would any woman out there, waking to a shirt soaked with blood and blood coming from their nipple, not rush to the ER?

A new study finds that there is little information available about the use of new testing technologies and targeted therapies in breast cancer, specifically the anti-cancer drug trastuzumab (Herceptin). Published in the November 15, 2009 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the review suggests that many breast cancer patients who may benefit from trastuzumab are not receiving it, and that some women receiving the drug have never been tested for the receptor it targets.

Vaccinating women against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may prevent some forms of breast cancer and save tens of thousands of lives each year, new Australian research suggests.

The largest review of research into lifestyle and breast cancer ever conducted has confirmed that women can reduce their risk by maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, drinking less alcohol and breastfeeding their children.

Breast MRI allows physicians to evaluate suspicious lesions using a variety of variables. Researchers have found though that computer-aided kinetic information can help significantly in distinguishing benign from malignant suspicious breast lesions on MRI, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).

A new review says using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before surgery to assess the extent of early breast cancer has not been shown to improve surgical planning, reduce follow-up surgery, or reduce the risk of local recurrences. The review, appearing early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, says evidence shows that MRI increases the chances of more extensive surgery over conservative approaches, with no evidence that it improves surgical care or prognosis.

A new review says using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before surgery to assess the extent of early breast cancer has not been shown to improve surgical planning, reduce follow-up surgery, or reduce the risk of local recurrences. The review, appearing early online in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, says evidence shows that MRI increases the chances of more extensive surgery over conservative approaches, with no evidence that it improves surgical care or prognosis.

Cancer researchers have long studied the role of diet on breast cancer risk, but results to date have been mixed. New findings published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest the method by which calories are restricted may be more important for cancer protection than the actual overall degree of calorie restriction.

When doctors are managing care for women with breast cancer, the information available to them profoundly influences the type of care they recommend. Knowing whether a woman's cancer has metastasized, for instance, directly affects how her doctors will approach treatment -- which may in turn influence the outcome of that treatment.