European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To your health treatment of breast cancer Mastectomy is. Lumpectomy by Daniel  associated Pressi n 1985. When a pills Burgh surgeon reported in i he new England journal of Medicine that breast cancer could be treated by removing Only the cancerous Lump rather than cutting off the entire breast american women were Given new Hope. Two years later however change is slow in coming As Many surgeons remain sceptical. Whether a woman survives breast cancer with one breast or iwo depends largely on what Hospital she enters and which doctor she seas. At a prestigious cancer Hospital in Boston her surgeon will almost surely remove the diseased Lump and spare her breast at a renowned cancer Hospital in Mew Vork the Odds Are High that he will Cut off the whole breast. And at the Small Lown hospitals across the country where this operation is so Ollen done it s All but certain that breast cancer will be treated As it has been Tor decades by amputating the breast. The disparity reflects the seemingly haphazard Way in which the rules of Medicine change. New ways of dealing with disease emerge not by Fiat or by acclamation but by evolution. Two Yeara ago or. Bernard Fisher of the University of Pittsburgh published a Long awaited study in the new England journal of Medicine. His team concluded that cutting out the cancerous Lump and following up Wilh radiation was just As Good As modified Radical Mastectomy Tang the surgery of Choice. It was important news or women for ii seemed to suggest that the fearsome disease that strikes one american woman in 10 could be curbed without mutilation. Expert agr the study is changing the practice of american Medicine. But slowly. Many surgeons remain sceptical about its recommendation. Bui Many other considerations ranging from fear of malpractice suits to the urgings of other Mastectomy patients affect the decision. The reasons Why this has not been accepted Are not scientific contends or. I Craig Henderson. It has to do with psychological  Henderson a director of the breast evaluation Center at the Dana Farber cancer Institute in Boston where to Pei cent of breast cancer patients receive Lumpe Tomies end radiation. To him there is no question about the Wisdom of breast sparing surgery. I eel that the data supporting the use of Lumpectomy and radiotherapy is so overwhelming that i do not believe Here in a scientific basis for not encouraging most patients to consider this option he said. Of course not even Henderson advocates Lumpectomy for every women with breast cancer. Some women have tutors go Large or diffuse thai then to it enough breast Issue left to save. Some doctors especially younger ones blame stodgy colleagues for the continuing dominance of mastectomies. Just remember the old adage you can l teach an alcohol May increase risk of breast cancer associated Pressw conclude. Omen who take three alcoholic drinks a week have an increased Chance of breast cancer and just one drink a Day is associated with a 50 percent increase in the risk of this disease two studies Page 16 the stars and stripes the findings suggest that alcohol could be responsible for 10 percent to 15 percent of All breast cancer a disease that strikes about one in 10 women at some time during their lives. One expert recommended that women who Are already at increased risk of the disease such As those with a family history of breast cancer Cut Back their alcohol use. The studies published in a recant Issue of the new England journal of Medicine found that women who drink modest amounts of liquor or Beer or wine Are More Likely to get breast cancer eater in their lives than those who Don t drink. However such statistical links do not prove thai alcohol actually causes the disease. I think to can t be completely sure there is a cause and it fool association said or. Waller c. Wife of the Harvard school of Public health who directed one of the studies. Nevertheless the consistency Between the different studies is rather remarkable. So one has to give this possibility of a cause and a Fleck relationship very serious  a Fairty substantial proportion of breast cancer can be attributed to alcohol consumption should this relationship turn out to be causal said or. Arthur Schatzkin of the National cancer Institute director of the other study. It does have a lot of Public health implications Given How common drinking is and How important breast cancer  tuesday july 28,1987 the Harvard study found that women who consume a drink or More a Day have a 50 percent higher risk of breast cancer than do those who never drink. Those who average Hall a drink a Day have a 30 percent increased risk. Below Throo drinks a week there was no increased danger. The National cancer Institute study broke Down women s drinking habits differently and reached slightly different conclusions. In general. Ii found that those who drink Are so percent More Likely to get breast cancer than Are those who never drink. For those who consume More than three drinks a week it found a 60 percent to 100 percent increase in risk. Both Willel and Schatzkin said the data Are too Uncertain to be used As the basis of alcohol recommendations for the majority of women. To would be a a on but for a woman to Wail until More information is available before deciding whether to change her drinking habits Wiiret said. But i also think it s a rational decision to say yes there is some uncertainty but i m going to play it Safe and reduce my drinking " or. Lynn Rosenberg of the Boston University drug epidemiology unit noted that the two studies could not assess the effects of alcohol and diet Early in life. Some experts now believe that diet Deroig women s teens and Early 20s, when breast tissue is forming plays a role in breast cancer risk later in life the Harvard study was based on a review of the eating and drinking habits of 89,536 women nurses in 1980. During the next four years 601 of them Gol breast cancer and their habits were compared with those of women who remained healthy. The cancer Institute study was based on 7,188 women who were examined in the Early 1970s and again in the Early 1980s during hat period. 121 of them got breast cancer