Yesterday, I shared some big news that could rescue tens of thousands of women with early breast cancer from the ravages of chemotherapy.
Now, you might think that the benefit here is self-explanatory. And it is — chemo has a long list of notorious side effects, from nausea and fatigue to immune depletion. But women who receive conventional breast cancer treatments face a lot more risks than meet the eye. And that’s what I want to talk about today.
Specifically, I want to share the results of a new study, recently published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Researchers looked at the individual and combined effects of conventional cancer treatments on long-term heart disease risk in nearly 15,000 breast cancer patients. Among the findings…
- Radiotherapy to lymph nodes located behind the sternum nearly doubled the risk of heart disease.
- Heart attack rates were 50 percent higher in this group.
- Chemotherapy with anthracyclines — a class of drugs that includes Adriamycin — quadrupled rates of heart failure compared to other types of treatment.
- When treatments combined this type of chemo with lymph node radiation, it caused a nine-fold rise in the risk of heart disease.
Now, this study tracked patients between 1970 and 2009. Obviously, there have been advances in treatment since then — especially where radiation techniques are concerned. And drugs like taxane are often used to blunt the damage caused by anthracycline-based chemo.
But at the end of the day, lower risk is a far cry from no risk. And no woman should have to choose between saving her life today and losing it tomorrow.
This choice is especially cruel when the chemo isn’t providing any benefit — which is why yesterday’s news is such a big deal. But if nothing else, it’s a good reminder that, as with most diseases, knowledge is power in your fight against cancer.
That’s exactly why I wrote my Essential Protocol to a Cancer-Free Future — to prevent it, to fight it, and to navigate the hurdles of conventional treatments. This is vital information that no one can afford to begin—much less win—their fight without.
I just released my Essential Protocol to a Cancer-Free Future, but because the response was so large, we had to shut it down. I’ll let you know as soon as it opens back up.
Source:
telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/31/breast-cancer-treatment-can-double-heart-risks/