Breastcancer.org Podcast

Marián Castanondo has been with Breastcancer.org since the Spanish language discussion forums launched 11 years ago. Listen to the podcast to hear Marián discuss: how she came to be a moderator what she’s learned from community members why it’s important for Breastcancer.org to have a Spanish site and a Spanish community

Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) is the preferred term for many of the symptoms that menopause can cause, including vaginal dryness and irritation, urinary tract infections, and incontinence. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Rojas explain: why many people still use the term vaginal atrophy rather than genitourinary syndrome of menopause the symptoms GSM encompasses treatments for GSM sym...

The 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium featured five days of research presentations, educational sessions, and advocacy meetings. Dr. Matthew Goetz, noted breast cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic, explained the top research presented that will make an immediate difference for people diagnosed with breast cancer. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Goetz explain: a study on inavolisib, a pro...

In 2022, the American Society of Clinical Oncology released guidelines on exercise for people being treated for early-stage cancer. But when those guidelines were developed, there wasn’t enough research on exercise in people with metastatic cancer. So Dr. Anne May decided to do that research. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. May explain: the design of the study the type of exercise the people did...

The Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score test is used to help people and their doctors make decisions about whether radiation after lumpectomy surgery to remove DCIS would offer more benefits than risks. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Seema Khan presented results from the E4112 study, evaluating the ability of the Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score to accurately predict which women would...

Dr. Kelly Shanahan, trained as an OB/GYN, has been living with metastatic breast cancer for 10 years. For many years, she tried to join a clinical trial. In 2021, she finally did. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, she told us about her experience. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Shanahan explain: why and how she joined a trial what she’s experienced while being in the trial why cl...

Dr. G. Thomas Budd, an oncologist and Dr. Justin Johnson, an immunologist, are collaborating on research looking at a vaccine to prevent triple-negative breast cancer. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, they presented a poster on the encouraging first results from three small studies. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Johnson explain: how the people in the study are responding to the...

At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Hatem Azim presented a new analysis of information from the POSITIVE trial, which found that younger women diagnosed with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer could safely pause hormonal therapy to try to become pregnant. His new analysis looked at whether the women could use fertility preservation and assisted reproductive techn...

Scalp cooling can help people keep some or quite a lot of their hair when receiving a chemotherapy regime that can cause hair loss. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Richard Paxman, CEO of Paxman Scalp Cooling, explained the updated patient assistance programs his company offers. Listen to the podcast to hear Richard explain: the Paxman Patient Assistance Program other resources Pax...

Breast cancers that are lymph node-positive are usually treated with chemotherapy before surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy). If those cancers become lymph node-negative after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, there’s been a debate about whether to treat the nodes or not. A new study has practicing-changing results: Nodal radiation isn’t need. Dr. Marisa Weiss, Breastcancer.org chief medical officer and fo...

CDK4/6 inhibitors are used to treat both early-stage and advanced-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.  The CDK4/6 inhibitors are: Ibrance (chemical name: palbociclib) Kisqali (chemical name: ribociclib) Verzenio (chemical name: abemaciclib) At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Stephanie Graff moderated an educational session to help people and their doctor...

Living with metastatic breast cancer can bring many losses: not being able to ride bike, missing events, losing friends, just to name a few. This podcast is the audio from a special Virtual Community Meetup featuring guest moderator Kelly Grosklags. Listen to the podcast to hear Kelly and Community members discuss: how to move away from the “what if” to the “what is” what to say to friends that do...

Lobular breast cancer is cancer that starts in the lobules, the glands in the breast that produce milk. Lobular breast cancer is the second most common breast cancer, accounting for about 10% of breast cases in the United States. Lobular breast cancer doesn’t always form a lump and can spread to areas of the body different from ductal breast cancer, such as the abdominal lining or the tissue aroun...

At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2023 Congress Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, chaired a session titled, “Pregnancy After Breast Cancer: Is It Safe?” Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Partridge discuss: why oncologists are concerned about pregnancy after breast cancer what the most recent research shows, including results from the POSITIVE trial, which she led the things women need to c...

At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2023 Congress in Madrid, Spain, Dr. Henry Kuerer presented results from a study looking at whether some women diagnosed with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer or early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer could skip surgery if they had a pathologic complete response to chemotherapy before surgery. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Kuerer exp...

At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2023 Congress Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, presented results from the TROPION-Breast01 trial, which is comparing a new antibody-drug conjugate, datopotamab-deruxtecan (dato-DXd), to doctors’ choice of chemotherapy for inoperable or metastatic, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that had grown while being treated with hormonal thera...

Finding the words to talk to children about metastatic breast cancer can be very difficult. This podcast is the audio from a special Virtual Community Meetup featuring guest moderator Kelly Grosklags. Listen to the podcast to hear Kelly explain: why it’s important to use words like “cancer” and “medicine” when talking to children what children of different ages need to know and hear how to discuss...

Biomarkers are molecules that help doctors distinguish breast cancer cells from healthy cells. In general, there are three broad categories of breast cancer biomarkers: biomarkers that every breast cancer is tested for biomarkers that may be tested for, depending on the characteristics of the cancer biomarkers that are being studied Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Tripathy explain: biomarker tes...

Many people diagnosed with breast cancer decide to use cannabis to ease side effects such as pain, nausea and vomiting.  Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Weiss explain: the two main compounds in cannabis the symptoms and side effects cannabis has been shown to help how to find a dispensary that meets your needs the top three things to consider if you want to try medical cannabis

There are several genomic tests -- also called genomic assays -- that analyze a sample of a breast cancer tumor to see how active certain genes are. The results of these tests help people and their doctors decide if more treatments after surgery would offer more benefits than risks. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Wojciechowski explain: what each test does and when it might be recommended how do...

At the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, Dr. Christina Dieli-Conwright gave a presentation entitled “Resistance exercise is medicine: Applications to improve health and cancer outcomes.” Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Dieli-Conwright explain: how she came to study exercise as medicine the exercise benefits for people diagnosed with cancer she’s seen in her research h...

Dianne Hyman founded Sister Will You Help Me, a breast cancer support group for women of faith and color, nearly 22 years ago.  Listen to the episode to hear Dianne talk about: why it was important to her to include faith in the support group how she sees faith and spirituality helping the women in her group how different beliefs can give people a new perspective on things

The 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting featured five days of research presentations, educational sessions, posters, and networking events. The amount of research presented can be overwhelming, so we asked Dr. Stephanie Graff to break down the key takeaways for people who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Graff explain: the results of the...

Hormonal therapy can cause a number of troubling issues for women, including loss of libido, hot flashes, and pain during sex. At the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Dr. Kristin Rojas chaired a session called “A Juggling Act: Managing the Toxicity of Estrogen Deprivation for Patients With Breast Cancer.” Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Rojas explain: some of the most p...

At the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting Dr. Marisa Weiss, founder and chief medical officer of Breastcancer.org, presented results from her study looking at cannabis to ease peripheral neuropathy caused by chemotherapy. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Weiss explain: how chemotherapy causes peripheral neuropathy the cannabis product she studied and how it can be obtained...