The Question of Your Period and Surgery
I don't believe in throwing out loopy ideas or quack medicine, but I found this interesting, and as you may or may not know, through a series of events, I ended up using both allopathic (regular medicine)and alternative treatments in dealing with the cancer. I found both to have their place...although this particular idea originated in the allopathic community and more research needs to be done.
So, let me say that I'm not saying this is true or not true, nor am I advising any particular course of action. I'm putting the information out there with arguments on both sides.
This is information I had not heard of or run across in my research...probably because I wasn't even thinking about timing the surgery with my period for better post-op results. Once I decided on surgery, I just wanted it over and done with. The only thing that had to be coordinated was the schedule of two doctors and the operating room...which took some time to pull off.
The only consideration I gave to my period was that I didn't want to be having it at the time of surgery or too close afterwords. Just didn't want to mess with it.
Well, someone just sent me this blog entry on "The Moon, Breast Cancer Surgery, and Menstrual Cycles". Interesting thoughts. Basically, it's saying that timing your surgery with your cycle may have a positive effect on cure rate.
It says that the reasons are the high levels of estrogen in the first half of the cycle verses the second half. If this logic is true then the cure rate would affect estrogen positive cancers I would think. - Cancers are like people or jelly beans. There's all kinds and flavors. Breast cancers can be intimately related to hormones. That's why they say ER+, for example. This means that the tumor receptors are estrogen positive, i.e. the cancer "feeds" off of estrogen. In other words, a cancer that's not estrogen sensitive may not be affected one way or the other.
According to the above post, the survival difference doesn't seem huge. Although, when facing cancer treatment, all odds in your favor are most welcome.
- 75% survival five years later for those who had surgery in the last half of their cycle
- 63% survival five years later for those having surgery in the first half of the cycle
Here's a little history...
Apparently, this link between menstrual cycle and breast cancer surgery comes from an article by Dr. Hrushesky in The Journal of Women's Health. Here's a summary of that article.
This article from Oncology, 1997, describes the original and follow-up research, the need for more studies, as well as the controversy surrounding this information. (WARNING: It reads like the research article that it is, but it's worth it to wade through.)
The big problem with the original study and ones sited in this article is that they all look at results and patient information after the fact. They aren't specialized studies measuring one outcome or objective.
These are the highlights:
- There seem to be results on both sides, both for and against the original suggestion that menstrual cycle affects recurrence rate.
- It sounds like Dr. Hrushesky was saying he saw a pattern and thought there needed to be some controlled studies. The studies here, at least some, are a matter of people going back and reviewing their data after the fact. Then you get people guessing the date of their last period.
- The correlation between survival rate and menstrual period seem to be most noticeable in those with affected lymph nodes.
- There hasn't been a study singling out menstruation and recurrence as it relates to the type of treatment (lumpectomy, radiation, mastectomy)
- There was suggestion that if the effect of the hormones and surgery is true, then prescribing an estrogen or progesterone suppressor might be warranted pre-surgery
- One study of 122 patients showed that cell proliferation rates change throughout the cycle. The thinking here is that if cell proliferation is at it's lowest during the luteal phase...after ovulation and before menstruation...then there may be a chance that cancer cells wouldn't proliferate as much during this time, either. This would make it more ideal for surgery.
- Controlled studies need to be done that can measure the effect of menstruation and hormones on surgery...and make sure it's not one of the other treatments that is affecting outcome.
Finally, here's a short article from 2001 that says menstruation has nothing to do with breast surgery from the American Cancer Society.
Like I've said, I believe in advocating for yourself. Once all the information is taken in, all that's left to do is digest it and then listen to what you want to do, what you feel is best. It's your body, your health. If this feels right to you, great. If not, then it's not. After all, I've already made my decision, had my surgery. I did find this worth a read, though. Raises interesting questions, even if it doesn't answer any.
I'm not being a downer, but the fact is that this would affect younger women, and there simply isn't a great amount of research being done on young women with breast cancer. That's why it's that much more important to take the bull by the horns if you're young and facing breast cancer.
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