UPMC educates on breast cancer at South Hills Village
Some survivors saw the pink ribbons and stopped by to share their story.
“We’ve had a few women stop by, but most were those who haven’t been diagnosed and were looking for information on prevention,” Caron Boyer, a UPMC case manager said.
Boyer was among a handful of women giving out practical tips to prevent breast cancer at the South Hills Village mall Oct. 10. UPMC set up other information kiosks at Century III, Millcreek Mall, and the Ross Park Mall.
“The easiest thing to do is up your vitamin D intake,” she said. “Especially in Pittsburgh, coming into the fall and winter months, when we’re not getting vitamin D from the sun.”
According to a 2011 study in the journal “Anticancer Research,” women with regular or high levels of vitamin D had a 50 percent increased survival rate than those who were deficient or had lower levels.
“Vitamin D metabolites increase communication between cells by activating a protein that halts aggressive cell division,” study author Dr. Cedric Garland said. “As long as vitamin D receptors are present, tumor growth is prevented and kept from expanding its blood supply.”
Boyer also said excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer.
“For women who have two to five alcoholic drinks a day, the risk is increased by one and a half times.”
Other factors, like obesity and hormone therapy, are becoming part of the awareness campaigns popularized in October, Boyer said.
“If you’re overweight later in life, you’re producing more estrogen. It’s not necessarily your body composition, but that because you’re obese, more estrogen is flowing and that directly contributes to an increased cancer risk,” Boyer said.
According to 2010 research at Cornell University, estrogen stimulates breast cell division, leading any “normal” cancerous growth to increase and size and spread to other breast tissue.
“Normal estrogen levels are fine, but that’s why you need get your levels checked, especially on the cusp of menopause and if you go through hormone therapy,” Boyer said, “So some birth control methods, while they decrease other cancer risks, may incrementally increase breast cancer risks.”
“For hormone therapy, anything less than four years is ideal.”
Boyer said she reminds men that they, too, can be diagnosed with breast cancer.
“The first patient I was seeing as a studying nurse had it, and he died because he wasn’t getting it checked out.”
About 2,360 men will be diagnosed in 2014, according to the American Cancer Society, and 430 men will die from the disease. Over 200,000 women will be diagnosed this year, and about 40,000 will die.
“The good news is the survival rate is increasing. The five-year survival rate after treatment is now at 90 percent,” Boyer said, “but the caveat is early detection. You need to know what’s going on in your body.”
Amid the awareness campaign for breast cancer, Boyer said other cancers particular to women’s physiology are tougher to detect.
“Most breast cancer is caught in stage one. Cervical, ovarian cancer – often patients aren’t seeing it until it’s into stage three, and that’s a difficult treatment path if that far along.”