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Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a method for assessing the effect of tamoxifen, a common drug to prevent the relapse of breast cancer. The key lies in monitoring changes in the proportion of dense tissue, which appears white on a mammogram, during treatment. Women who show a pronounced reduction in breast density during tamoxifen treatment have a fifty per cent reduction in breast cancer mortality. This tool provides doctors with the possibility to assess whether a patient is responding to tamoxifen at an early phase of treatment.

Researchers have for the first time calculated by how much radiotherapy for breast cancer increases the risk of heart disease and the findings can now be used by doctors to help treat patients more appropriately, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine today (Wednesday).

Results from a new American Cancer Society study support the hypothesis that smoking is associated with increased breast cancer risk for women who initiate smoking before first birth. The study, which appears online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggests that smoking might play a role in initiating breast cancer.

Herceptin may be effective against more types of breast cancer than previously thought, according to US research.

Physical activity is associated with reduced breast and colon cancer mortality, but there is insufficient evidence on the association for other cancer types, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.