According to the National Women's Health Information Center, about 10 percent of patients who receive a lumpectomy and radiation therapy for breast cancer will experience a recurrence within the following 12 years. While there is no way to completely eliminate the possibility of breast cancer recurrence, there are a number of things that can be done to greatly lower the risk.
Instructions
Prevent Breast Cancer Recurrence
1. Have your films and pathology reports looked at by a breast cancer specialist to make certain your margins are clear following a lumpectomy. Not all oncologists and imaging professionals are experienced in diagnosing and treating breast cancer. Making sure your original surgery was successful drastically reduces your risk of a recurrence.
2. Reduce your intake of fat. A study conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles showed that a low-fat diet reduced the recurrence rate of breast cancer in women who limited their daily fat intake to 33.3 grams, the equivalent of just more than 1 oz. of fat.
3. Increase your level of activity by exercising or walking three to five hours each week. According to a study published in the May 2005 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association," the risk of death for breast cancer patients decreased by 50 percent when regular exercise was added to their daily routine.
4. Lose weight if you are overweight or have put on weight following your initial breast cancer diagnosis. Being overweight raises your risk for a breast cancer recurrence for a variety of reasons. In addition to putting strain on your heart and immune system, fat cells produce and store estrogen, which has been linked to breast cancer.
5. Avoid using hormone replacement therapy following menopause to prevent breast cancer recurrence. This includes oral, tropical and transvaginal medications. If you must take estrogen replacement medications, make certain to take progesterone supplements at the same time. Progesterone may decrease the risks that estrogen poses to the breasts.
6. Stop drinking alcohol and using tobacco products. According to Breastcancer.org, both have been linked to a higher recurrence rate in breast cancer survivors.
7. Get tested for the BRCA gene mutation. Only women with a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer need to undergo this genetic test, according to the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.
8. Take breast cancer chemoprevention medications. Drugs such as tamoxifen, raloxifen and aromatase inhibitors block the effects of estrogen on breast tissue or disrupt estrogen production, which reduces the risk of breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence in women with BRCA2 mutations.
9. Ask your doctor about taking bisphosphonate zoledronic acid to reduce your risk of breast cancer recurrence. This medication is traditionally used to maintain bone density in cancer patients, but studies presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology look promising.
10. Try brachytherapy, a procedure that uses radiation to target lingering cancer cells in the breast following lumpectomy. The procedure involves placing a catheter into the breast with an inflatable balloon attached to the end. A radioactive source is then placed into the catheter, according to the University of Virginia Health System.
11. Undergo preventative surgery to reduce breast recurrence. While a bilateral mastectomy cannot eliminate the risk of a recurrence, it can reduce the risk by as much as 90 percent. Preventative surgery to remove the ovaries may also reduce breast cancer risk by as much as 50 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
Tags: breast cancer, cancer recurrence, breast cancer, breast cancer recurrence, risk breast, risk breast cancer, your risk
