Breastcancer.org Podcast

At the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Dr. Slamon presented results from the NATALEE trial, showing that Kisqali plus an aromatase inhibitor after surgery for early-stage, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, reduced recurrence risk by 25% compared to an aromatase inhibitor alone. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Slamon explain: why he thought Kisqali...

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, also called BIA-ALCL, is a rare type of cancer of the immune system that can develop in the scar tissue capsule and fluid surrounding a breast implant. In some cases, it can spread throughout the body. BIA-ALCL is curable in most patients if it’s diagnosed early and treated appropriately, but a small number of women have died from the illne...

Cancer ghosting – when friends and loved ones cease all contact after a cancer diagnosis – is a common and extremely painful experience for many people diagnosed with breast cancer. Listen to the podcast to hear Kelly explain: why some people ghost people with cancer how frequently cancer ghosting happens the best ways to respond to cancer ghosting

Dr. Ashley Henneghan explains her research showing listening to classical music helped ease memory and thinking problems in people who received breast cancer treatment.

Dr. Thaddeus Pace is one of the leaders of the Breast Cancer SUPORT (Survivors and Partners Online Research Together) Project, which is studying how cognitively-based compassion training, a specific type of guided meditation, can help women with a history of breast cancer, as well as their partners. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Pace explain: the differences between cognitively-based compassio...

In a paper published in JAMA Oncology, Dr. Erik Eckert, of Stanford, and his colleagues found that LGBTQ people with breast cancer faces delays in diagnosis and have a three times higher risk of recurrence than heterosexual cisgender people. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Eckhert discuss: the discrimination LGBTQ+ people face when going to doctor’s appointments and other healthcare visits why h...

Although Black women are less like to be diagnosed with breast cancer than white women, they are more likely to die if they do develop the disease. Much of Dr. Kent Hoskins’ research focuses on trying to figure out the factors behind this difference in survival. He was the lead author of a paper in the journal JAMA Oncology that found that both the characteristics of a breast cancer, as well the e...

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. Their very early studies in mouse models were successful and now they’ve started two small, early studies in people. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Budd and Dr. Johnson explain: how a cancer vaccine would work in general how thei...

Dr. Sarah Tevis recently conducted a study that found that many women who receive breast cancer treatment have side effects that affect their sexual health. While doctors usually talk to women about possible fertility and menopausal side effects, other common side effects, including vaginal dryness, body image issues, and lack of desire aren’t mentioned. The results also showed that women have spe...

Medical aid in dying laws, also called death with dignity laws, physician-assisted suicide laws, and right-to-die laws, are difficult for some people to think about, but for others they’re hugely important. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. McGeehan explain: the history of how medical aid in dying laws came about the checks and balances in place to ensure the laws are used ethically the costs asso...

Women with a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer often take tamoxifen to reduce that risk. There are a number of reasons why a woman might have a higher risk of breast cancer, including receiving chest radiation for childhood cancer, such as Hodgkin lymphoma. Dr. Sandhya Pruthi joined us to discuss a study looking at whether a lower dose of tamoxifen helps reduce breast cancer risk in women...

At the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, metastatic breast cancer advocate Beth Fairchild sat down with us to talk about her new organization, Cancer Culture, and what it aims to do. Listen to the podcast to hear Beth discuss: why being an advocate is important to her how and why Cancer Culture was created the work Cancer Culture created for the #ThisIsMBC campaign

Researchers are always looking for new treatments for advanced-stage breast cancer. Dr. Nicholas Turner explains the results of the CAPitello-291 trial, looking capivasertib, an experimental targeted therapy medicine, in combination with Faslodex (chemical name: fulvestrant) as a treatment for advanced-stage, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that has become resistant to the a...

GRASP – Guiding Researchers and Advocates to Scientific Partnership – connects patients, doctors, and researchers to exchange ideas and learn from each other. At the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, we asked advocates and researchers who are part of the program what they have learned from the program. Listen to the episode to learn about: plans for launching a Spanish version of the progr...

The 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium featured five days of research presentations, educational sessions, and posters. The amount of research presented can be overwhelming, so we asked Dr. Stephanie Graff to break down the key take-aways for people who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Graff explain: updated results from the monarchE study updated resul...

Vanessa Onsurez, who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2021, explains the #ThisIsMBC project at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and the benefits she gets from the Breastcancer.org Virtual Community Meetups. Listen to the episode to hear Vanessa discuss: how she got involved in #ThisIsMBC how she found Breastcancer.org and what she’s learned in the Meetups what she wants t...

2021 results from the DESTINY-Breast03 study showed that Enhertu (chemical name: fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki) more than doubled the 12-month progression-free survival rate compared to Kadcyla (chemical name: T-DM1 or ado-trastuzumab emtansine) in people diagnosed with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer that had been previously treated. At the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. S...

Doctors are looking for new treatment options for people diagnosed with metastatic hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that has grown during treatment with hormonal therapy and a CDK4/6 inhibitor. Dr. Virginia Kaklamani is part of the team investigating elacestrant, an oral medicine, to see if offers more benefits than Faslodex (chemical name: fulvestrant), which is the current...

A number of issues affecting people diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, including financial toxicity, support, and early palliative care, were discussed at an educational session on the first day of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Metastatic patient advocates Christine Hodgdon and Stephanie Walker talked about what they want researchers and clinicians to know about day-to-day li...

We know that disparities exist in healthcare, including in breast cancer outcomes and in general care before someone is diagnosed. Evidence suggests that structural racism, including how doctors talk to their patients and what they talk to them about, may be at the heart of some of these disparities. A study led by Dr. Jennifer Griggs found that coaching patients to talk to their doctors about the...

If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, eating nutritious food is an important part of your treatment plan. What you eat can affect your recovery from treatment, your energy levels, and how severe some side effects may be. Listen to the podcast to hear Amy explain: her definition of healthy eating how to wade through all the conflicting stories in the media about nutrition research ways to ea...

In September 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put out a safety alert about reports of squamous cell carcinoma and other lymphomas in the scar tissue that forms around breast implants. Listen to the episode to hear Dr. Wojciechowski explain: what squamous cell carcinoma is and how it’s different from anaplastic large-cell lymphoma  what he thinks about squamous cell carcinomas bein...

The concept of survivorship is complicated and means different things to different people. Still, in most cases, we’re usually talking about the time after initial treatments for breast cancer are completed. Evelyn Robles-Rodriguez joined us to explain why the term can be controversial, as well as how a survivorship care plan can monitor for late and long-term side effects. Listen to the episode t...

Joanna Morales and Loriana Hernandez-Aldama talk about the common issues people face when paying for cancer care and offer solutions for them. Listen to the podcast to hear Joanna and Loriana discuss: the four most common issues people face when paying for cancer care their personal experiences helping people overcome financial issues advice on how to solve financial issues resource recommendation...

At the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2022, Dr. Matthew Goetz presented interim overall survival results from the MONARCH 3 study showing that adding Verzenio to an aromatase inhibitor improves overall survival by 12.6 months for advanced-stage, hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Goetz explain: how Verzenio works the aims of MO...