Posts Tagged ‘Breast Cancer’

Rocks Against Cancer benefitting EIF

July 9th, 2010

We thought you might want to know why we chose EIF for our Rocks Against Cancer benefit. The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), as a leading charitable organization of the entertainment industry, harnesses the collective power of the entire industry to raise awareness and funds for critical health, educational and social issues in order to make a positive impact in our community and throughout the nation.

Thanks to the commitment of an extraordinary number of people and companies, EIF is able to champion a wide variety of worthy causes.  EIF’s national initiatives raise awareness and crucial funds to address leading health and social issues to include:

EIF’s National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA ) which is dedicated to the eradication of colorectal cancer by promoting the importance of early medical screening and funding research to develop better tests, treatments, and ultimately a cure.  The initiative was co-founded in March of 2000 by Katie Couric, Lilly Tartikoff, and EIF.

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) founded by EIF on the belief that there is now sufficient knowledge of the basic science of cancer and that technologies are available to allow the focused practical application and proximal translation of even more basic science knowledge to patients with cancer. Furthermore, the successful application of this knowledge will result in more rapid advances in the treatment of patients and the prevention of cancer in those individuals who are at risk. The purpose of SU2C is to establish and support a focused and intense effort to effect these advances as rapidly as possible. SU2C believes that it can benefit the most patients by accelerating the course of cancer research through raising philanthropic dollars and developing unique mechanisms to utilize these funds. SU2C will utilize mechanisms to foster collaboration of the most talented and promising researchers across institutions; a team-oriented approach that promotes the sharing of information; and a goal-oriented focus on key problems in cancer designed with measurable milestones of progress.

Through its Women’s Cancer Programs, the Entertainment Industry Foundation created and funds two distinct, cutting-edge research projects: one to develop an early detection blood test for breast cancer; and the other to fast-track more effective, less toxic treatments for breast cancer. Annually, EIF runs two of the largest single-day women’s cancer fundraisers in the country — EIF Revlon Run/Walk for Women and Lee National Denim Day.

EIF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in Los Angeles and meets all 20 rigorous Better Business Bureau charity standards. To learn more about EIF cancer programs please visit the Entertainment Industry web site.

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Mayo researchers find that obesity-related biological factors can influence clinical outcome in colon cancer

March 15th, 2010

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Minnesota have found that obesity is associated with worse outcomes in patients who have already been diagnosed and treated for the cancer.

Their data also showed that depending on a patient’s gender, varying levels of obesity were associated with an increased risk of death ranging from 19 percent to 35 percent, compared to non-obese patients.

“We found that obesity is associated with more aggressive colon cancers, with the effect being stronger in men than in women,” says the study’s lead author, Frank Sinicrope, M.D., a Mayo Clinic medical oncologist. “Our data suggest that a little extra weight is okay, but body weight in the obesity range puts a patient at increased risk for cancer recurrence and spread and, based upon other studies, also would be expected to increase the risk of precancerous colon polyps and a second colon cancer.”

to read more on this study go here: Mayo Clinic News Feed

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Prosthetic Nipples for Breast Cancer Survivors

October 1st, 2009

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Each year more than 254,000 American women face breast cancer. Breast reconstruction is a type of surgery for women who have had a breast removed (mastectomy). The surgery rebuilds the breast so that it is about the same size and shape as it was before. The nipple and the darker area around the nipple (areola) can also be added. Most women who have had a mastectomy can have reconstruction. Women who have had only the part of the breast around the cancer removed (lumpectomy) may not need reconstruction. Breast reconstruction is done by a plastic surgeon.

Without nipple reconstruction surgery, a reconstructed breast has the skin of a normal breast, but the nipple and areola are not present. Patients who opt to have nipple reconstruction surgery typically do so at a later date than the reconstruction surgery.

A nipple reconstruction is performed by taking tissue from another part of the body and grafting it to the breast, suturing it into place in such a way that a nipple is formed. At this point, the nipple graft is skin colored unless the graft was taken from the other nipple, and there is no areola surrounding the nipple. If an areola or a skin color matching the original nipple color is desired the color is applied permanently by tattooing the color onto the skin.

Breast cancer survivors who have reconstruction have a new option. It is the only advanced nipple prosthesis on the market today and I was very impressed.

click here to SEE THE VIDEO or find out more

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