Breast Cancer Survivors Under 50 Have High Risk for Ovarian Cancer

Embargoed until March 23, 1999

Contact: Johanna Spangenberg (703) 527-424 jmsdc@aol.com
Donna Krupa (703) 527-357 djkrupa1@aol.com

Newsroom: March 20-24, 1999

Hyatt Embarcadero

San Francisco, CA

(415) 291-6640

BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS UNDER 50 HAVE

HIGH RISK FOR OVARIAN CANCER

Medical researchers from the University of California-Irvine have determined that women who have survived breast cancer have an elevated risk for ovarian cancer. Their findings will be presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Some of the factors that lead to the development of breast cancer are similar to those responsible for the development of ovarian cancer. Consequently, women who survive breast cancer, especially those under the age of 50, should be aware that they are at higher risk for this gynecologic cancer.

This is a conclusions reached by six medical researchers in their new study, "A Population-Based Analysis of the Risk of Ovarian Cancer after Breast Cancer." The participants in this research effort were Wendy R. Brewster, MD; Argyrios Ziogas, PhD; Thomas H. Taylor, PhD; Krishnansu Tewari, MD; Alberto Manetta, MD; and Hoda Anton-Culver, PhD, all from The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California-Irvine Medical Center and The Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California-Irvine, Orange, CA.

Dr. Brewster will represent her colleagues as she presents her research results on March 23, 1999, at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) being held at the Hyatt Regency in Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA, March 20-24, 1999.

Dr. Brewster Page 2

Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. Last year alone, it was estimated that 180,000 new cases of breast cancer would be diagnosed and 43,500 women would die from the disease. Heightened public awareness and increased breast cancer screening has resulted in a significant increase in the number of cases diagnosed at localized stages. These early diagnoses have contributed to improved cure rates, and today more women than ever are surviving this deadly disease.

In contrast, ovarian cancer accounts for four percent of all cancers in women. In 1998, it was estimated that new ovarian cancer cases numbered 25,400 and 14,500 women died from this disease. Ovarian cancer has been shown to be a malignancy that shares many of the same risk factors found in breast cancer.

The University of California-Irvine medical research team believed that the environmental, behavioral, and genetic interactions that influence the breast cancer disease process would also be involved in the development of subsequent malignancies, specifically ovarian cancer. Therefore, they suggest that breast cancer survivors may be susceptible to ovarian cancer; their study set out to estimate that risk.

Methodology: The population based study obtained its data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of the National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Surveillance Program.

Women diagnosed with breast cancer between the ages of 15 and 80, between the years 1980-1990, were identified based upon their unique patient registration numbers. These same registration numbers were used to identify all other cancers found in these patients; codes were programmed to identify these individuals with an ovarian cancer diagnosed after the breast cancer. Under the search criteria, 120,380 subjects were identified. They were categorized by age at diagnosis, stage of breast cancer upon discovery, and ethnic/racial background,

Results: Of the 120,380 subjects, 104,617 (87%) had breast cancer as their only malignancy. The remaining 15,763 women (13%) had reported at least one malignancy after their breast cancer in the ten year time period. Other significant findings included:

* Of the women with more than one malignancy, 478 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Of that group, 417 acquired the disease subsequent to breast cancer; 61 had ovarian cancer diagnosed as the third or later primary malignancy.

* Those diagnosed with breast cancer between ages 15 and 39 demonstrated a significantly elevated risk of ovarian cancer. A significant but modest risk was identified among women diagnosed with breast cancer between ages 40 and 50. For women older than 50, only those diagnosed at ages 71-80 demonstrated a significant risk for ovarian cancer.

Dr. Brewster Page 3

* The highest risk for ovarian cancer was found among women of Hispanic and Asian descent and a history of breast cancer under the age of 50. African-American women had the next highest risk; non-Hispanic whites had the lowest relative risk for ovarian cancer of the groups studied.

* Women under 50 years with a diagnosis of stage I/II breast cancer had a higher risk for ovarian cancer than women more than 50 years in an advanced stage of breast cancer.

* The most frequent malignancies found subsequent to breast cancer were a second breast cancer (8,194 women), cancer of the digestive system (1,716), respiratory tract cancer (1,109) and female genital tract cancer (1,181).

Conclusion: Women diagnosed with breast cancer younger than 50 years are at a significant risk for ovarian cancer.

The Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) is a professional society of physicians who specialize in gynecologic oncology. SGO is the only U.S. based medical organization dedicated to the prevention, detection and cure of female cancers. Gynecologic oncologists are cancer specialists trained in all the effective forms of treatment of gynecologic cancers (surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and experimental treatments) as well as the biology and pathology of gynecologic cancers. The organization is comprised primarily of gynecologic oncologists as well as medical oncologists, radiation therapists and pathologists all of whom have a primary professional commitment to the treatment of women with gynecologic malignancies including those of the ovaries, endometrium, uterus, cervix vagina, vulva and trophoblastic disease.

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(Editor's Note: For a complete copy of the complete manuscript or to schedule an interview with Dr. Brewster contact Johanna Spangenberg (703) 527-7424.)