Tackling Breast Cancer | Florida Magazine

Tackling Breast Cancer

Posted by wmillward on Monday, October 22, 2012 ? Leave a Comment?

How the University of Florida is fighting against one of the deadliest diseases in the nation.

UF&Shands held the the Pink Pumpkin Fest Oct. 13 to raise awareness for breast cancer research. Health care professionals were available to provide free screenings and general health counseling. Photo by Maria Belen Farias/University of Florida Health Science Center.

Every three minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Every 13 minutes, a woman dies from the disease, totaling nearly 40,000 women a year.

The seriousness of breast cancer can?t be understated. Yet according to the University of Florida Academic Health Center?s Breast Center, one of six Centers of Excellence in Florida, death rates from the disease are steadily decreasing. More than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors live in the U.S.

Increased awareness, improved treatments and early detection have been key, and UF is helping attack the disease head-on.

In the community, UF has raised awareness through events such as the Pink Pumpkin Fest held during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In the lab, UF researchers launched more than 4,200 clinical research studies in the last four years with vital results.

For instance, studying how women?s genes and the environment affect cancer could lead to new drugs and treatments that prevent and kill the disease, says Lindy Brounley, UF Shands Cancer Center communications director.

Patients can extend long-term survival and cut down tumors through a UF-pioneered autoimmune response induced by radiotherapy. The process vaccinates women against their own cancer.

And UF researchers are leading the world?s first surveillance imaging trial to monitor breast cancer patients at a high risk of cancer spreading to their other organs, Brounley says.

See how else UF has been involved this year:

UF researchers developed tubes small enough to travel through the body, carrying cancer patients? medicine. The tubes come from a plant substance and byproduct of bioethanol production. Photo courtesy of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Looking to the future, UF Academic Health Center researchers are studying how to diagnose breast cancer through minimally invasive procedures and how groups can foster proper prevention behaviors among women.

???? Wade Millward (3JM) and David Williams (3PR)

Get involved

UF is helping fight cancer yearround, and you can be a player against one of the deadliest diseases in the country. UF Shands Cancer Center accepts gifts for specific research areas and unrestricted gifts for flexible responses to the greatest needs. Visit its website to learn more.

Source: http://magazine.ufl.edu/2012/10/tackling-breast-cancer/

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