Re: NCI Abstract related to Thyca & Breast Cancer

[Guest guest]

This is pretty scary. I know I'll be checking myself more regularly and

going for that mammogram in September!

NCI Abstract related to Thyca & Breast Cancer

> I know the question about a link between Breast Cancer and Thyroid

> Cancer gets revisited on occasion, so I thought I'd post info from a

> recent NCI Cancerlit Abstract. Just think of it as a reminder to do

> your monthly breast exam and to have mammograms as suggested by your own

> physicians.

>

> Marilyn

>

> Multiple primary breast and thyroid cancers: role of age at diagnosis

> and cancer treatments (United States).

> Unique Identifier: 20525127

> Author: Li CI; Rossing MA; Voigt LF; Daling JR

> Source: Cancer Causes Control 2000 Oct;11(9):805-11

> Address: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Program in

> Epidemiology, Division of Public Health Sciences, Seattle, Washington

> 98104, USA. cili@...

>

> ABSTRACT:

> BACKGROUND: Breast and thyroid cancer have been observed to occur more

> frequently than expected as multiple primary tumors in women. The study

> presented herein focuses on the effects of age at diagnosis and

> treatment for the first cancer on the development of the second cancer.

>

> METHODS: This retrospective cohort study used a study population

> consisting of 38,632 women diagnosed with primary invasive breast cancer

> and 2189 women diagnosed with primary invasive thyroid cancer between

> 1974 and 1994. Cases were identified from records of the Cancer

> Surveillance System of western Washington and followed for subsequent

> cancer development through 1995.

>

> RESULTS: Seventy-one women were diagnosed during their lives with both

> breast and thyroid cancers. Including cancers diagnosed during the same

> month as or after the initial cancer, the relative risk (RR) of breast

> cancer among women with thyroid cancer was 1.5 (95% confidence interval

> [CI] 1.1-2.0), and the RR of thyroid cancer among women with breast

> cancer was 1.5 (95% CI 1.1-2.2). Among women with thyroid cancer, risk

> of breast cancer was greatest when the latter cancer was diagnosed under

> 45 years of age (RR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.1-4.4). First course of treatment,

> including radiation or hormonal therapy to

> treat thyroid cancer, and radiation, chemotherapy, or hormonal therapy

> to treat breast cancer, did not alter a woman's risk of developing the

> second cancer.

>

> CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that the incidence of breast and thyroid

> cancer may be related, and that in particular women with thyroid cancer

> may be at a moderately increased risk of developing breast cancer before

> age 45.

>

>

>