If you or a woman you know has early stage breast cancer that's HER2-positive, she needs to know about some new research published yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

An early stage tumor that's as tiny as one centimeter or smaller still has a high risk of deadly recurrence if it's HER2-positive, new data show.

Researchers from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center reviewed recurrence data on breast cancer patients whose tumors were one centimeter or smaller -- typically considered to present a very low recurrence risk. (See size chart; one cm is about the size of a black-eyed pea.) What they found was that if a woman's tumor, no matter how tiny, was HER2-positive, her 5-year recurrence rate was 23 percent -- almost one in four.

Led by Ana Gonzalez-Angulo, MD, the researchers analyzed the center's breast cancer research database, which contained data on 965 women whose tumors were less than one centimeter when diagnosed, and who did not receive treatment with Herceptin...  Read more

Going through cancer treatment is traumatic enough, and no one expects cancer patients to do anything more than try to get well. But some cancer survivors and their families turn around and use their experience with cancer to create foundations and services to help other cancer patients. And many times these services are among the best, because they're created with the insights that only another cancer patient can have. Here are a few inspirational -- and useful --- stories about cancer services created by cancer-stricken families. They're my cancer heroes and heroines of the day.

A Matching Service to Help Breast Cancer Patients Find the Right Clinical Trials

A new and incredibly valuable service,BreastCancerTrials.org was conceived by two San Francisco breast cancer patients, Joan Schreiner and Joanne Tyler, who met when a breast surgeon put them in touch with each other. Joan, whose cancer had metastasized before it was detected, found out firsthand how hard it was to find information on treatments that might help her...  Read more

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It's scary to think about cancer, but even scarier to think that we might unknowingly be doing things that put our families at risk.

I'll never forget the day I was cleaning my mom's bathroom, and her caregiver arrived. She smelled the bleach spray I was using all the way from the front door and asked me what I was doing, then gently admonished me that the harsh chemicals weren't good for my mom's lungs, already weak from a lifetime of cigarette smoking. I felt terrible, of course, but also bewildered. After all, I'd been trying to do something nice. Using my experience as a starting point, I thought I'd round up the latest thinking on household chemicals and the risk of cancer and other serious illness. Here are my top five tips.

1. Spring clean the cleaning products. The number one rule of thumb, doctors and environmental safety experts say, is read the ingredient list carefully on anything you're going to be spraying in the air or wiping on touchable surfaces...  Read more

What with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the pink ribbons everywhere, breast cancer is even more on our minds than usual. What better time to think about prevention and awareness? Are you worried about the possibility of breast cancer in your future, or in the future of someone you love? Here are the top ten things you can do to ensure a breast cancer-free future for yourself and your loved ones.

Detection:

1. Get regular mammograms. It sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many women don't. Last week an Australian study found that women who get regular mammograms had a 4 percent risk of dying of breast cancer; women who weren't screened had a 56 percent mortality rate. Ready to make that appointment?

2. Find out whether you or women close to you have dense breasts. What does this mean? It means the breast cells grow and multiply more rapidly, raising your risk. Plus dense breasts make it harder for a mammogram to "see" through the tissue and detect a tumor...  Read more

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The supplement resveratrol, a key ingredient in red wine and grapes, has been endlessly touted as an alternative treatment for preventing and treating many conditions. I wrote about its anti-cancer benefits in a previous post, and it's also thought to help with general anti-aging. Now experts are saying it may be particularly beneficial for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes.

I know from tough experience that when you or a family member has diabetes or pre-diabetes, it feels like a constant struggle -- and source of tremendous worry -- to keep blood sugar under control.

Recently, studies have suggested that taking the supplement resveratrol could be a safe and simple way to do this. Research shows resveratrol appears to boost insulin sensitivity, helping the body process sugar into energy.

The latest study, released this week, was important for people with diabetes and their families because it proved definitively that resveratrol activates sirtuins, which are proteins in the brain that have immediate control over glucose metabolism...  Read more

Today is LiveStrong Day, the day Lance Armstrong's powerful organization has set aside to focus awareness on cancer, cancer research, and cancer survivors continuing to live healthy lives.

It's a great day to take a few moments and think about the people in your life living with cancer (including you!), how strong and brave they are, and what we can all do to support one another better. LiveStrong Day isn't about feeling sad -- it's about feeling empowered to go out and do something to make people think about the presence of cancer in their lives, no matter how small.

The LiveStrong Foundation has a cool interactive map that you can use to find LiveStrong Day events near you. I checked out my area and found a wonderful and inspiring collection of grassroots happenings, including a motorcycle gang and an equestrian team riding in support of LiveStrong, elementary schools planning health awareness days, and bike teams everywhere planning "LiveStrong Loops" decked out in yellow...  Read more

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The average general health article on pancreatic cancer states flatly that there are no early symptoms of pancreatic cancer. People diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are typically already in advanced stage of the disease by the time it's caught, and the typical prognosis is death within five years.

With pancreatic cancer much on everyone's mind due to the untimely death of Patrick Swayze, it seems like a good time to ask the question that's on all of our minds:

Are there any early warning signs of pancreatic cancer?

The answer is yes, there are. But to understand these signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer, it's important to understand where the pancreas is, and what it does.

Located deep inside the abdomen, the pancreas is only 4 to 6 inches long and shaped like a tadpole. In the "tail" of the pancreas are cells that produce insulin, and tumors at this end are usually endocrine tumors...  Read more

Patrick Swayze lost his battle with pancreatic cancer Monday night, after waging a brave battle during the 20 months since he announced his diagnosis. It may be Swayze's romantic turns in Dirty Dancing and Ghost for which he's best remembered, but cancer patients will never forget how Swayze turned his own battle into a public plea for help for all those affected by this terrible disease.

It's his own words that provide the best memorial for Swayze, who was only 57. "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life, a life not lived in the shadow of cancer, but in the light," he said in the live television event "Stand Up to Cancer," which aired in September, 2008.

In February of this year, Swayze published a straight-talking op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled, "I'm Battling Cancer. How About Some Help, Congress?" He urged senators and representatives to vote...  Read more

Taking a low dose of a daily aspirin can lower the risk of death from colorectal cancer significantly, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study investigated aspirin use among patients with Stage I colorectal cancer, and found they reduced their risk of cancer death by 29 percent. Aspirin use also lowered risk of dying from any condition -- not just cancer -- by 21 percent. The researchers then looked at people with Stage II and Stage III tumors and saw a similar effect.

Here's the thing: Aspirin use is not without its own risks. Aspirin irritates the lining of the stomach, so some people experience indigestion, cramps, or nausea after taking it. It's known to cause stomach bleeding or ulcers, and because it thins the blood can also cause bleeding problems. More rarely, regular use of high doses of aspirin can cause liver or kidney damage...  Read more

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When Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with aggressive glioma, a brain tumor, he made up his mind to fight it. He had brain surgery to remove the tumor, although it's a risky choice and doctors knew all it would likely do was buy him time. He had chemo and radiation, also fighting for more time. And how did he use that time? Right up until the very end--when he would have been forgiven for retiring to be with his family--he continued to work doggedly for a national health care plan. News reports say he was still making phone calls, still briefing staffers on the most effective outreach efforts, in his last weeks, when he must have been a very sick man.

Two close friends of mine, a brother and sister, lost their father, also in his seventies, to a brain tumor last year. Listening as they described their dad's last days, when he could no longer eat, no longer see, and no longer walk, I tried to picture Kennedy in the same state, still working doggedly as a U...  Read more