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22. Breast Cancer Awareness with Dr. Cynthia Owusu
81 Plays8 months ago
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!
In this insightful episode, I am joined by Dr. Cynthia Owusu, a leading expert in geriatric oncology. Together, we discuss proactive steps women can take to reduce cancer risk, the emotional toll of a breast cancer diagnosis, and the importance of early detection.
Dr. Owusu shares valuable tips for lowering the chances of developing breast cancer:
- Maintain a Healthy Body Weight: Learn how maintaining a normal weight can significantly impact your health and reduce cancer risk.
- Increase Physical Activity: Dr. Owusu explains how regular exercise is crucial not only for boosting mood but also for lowering cancer risk. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days.
- Limit Alcohol Consumption: Find out how reducing or eliminating alcohol can make a big difference in your overall health.
Dr. Owusu also dives into the emotional challenges women face post-diagnosis, including anxiety, depression, and stress, particularly around the uncertainty of treatment options like chemotherapy. However, she reassures listeners that many women diagnosed with breast cancer do not require chemotherapy.
The episode emphasizes that breast cancer is curable, especially when detected early. Dr. Owusu also sheds light on the common use of surgery and other treatments for breast cancer patients.
Dr. Cynthia Owusu is a renowned expert in geriatric oncology. She is currently the principal investigator on a $2.8M research grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities. This important study explores the impact of physical activity on functional status, body composition, and biomarkers of breast cancer prognosis among African American and socially disadvantaged breast cancer survivors. Dr. Owusu is also actively working to improve participation of all women in clinical trials to help enhance breast cancer outcomes in this vulnerable population.
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Transcript
Introduction to Dr. Cynthia Ousu, Geriatric Oncology Expert
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome back to our romantic. I am so excited to have with us here, Dr. Cynthia Ousu. She is a renowned expert in geriatric oncology.
Research on Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prognosis
00:00:11
Speaker
She's a principal investigator of a huge research grant awarded by the National Institute on Minority Health Disparities that she's researching physical activity on functional status, body composition, and biomarkers of breast cancer prognosis among African American and socially disadvantaged breast cancer survivors. She is an expert in breast cancer treatment, in research, and so much more. So I'm so excited to have her here. Welcome, Dr. Ousu. Thank you, Dr. Pooh, for such a generous introduction. I'm delighted to be here. Yes. Oh, great. We're so happy to have you. And basically what I want to kind of pick your brain about is, you know, you are talking to women every day about their treatment for breast cancer and
00:00:56
Speaker
They've already been diagnosed when they come into your
Lifestyle Modifications for Breast Cancer Prevention
00:00:59
Speaker
office. But what is it that you want the average woman who doesn't necessarily yet have that diagnosis, like what do you want them to know about breast cancer and risks for breast cancer? Okay, thank you for that question. of What I want women to know is that breast cancer is actually the commonest cancer In women, by the time a woman is 80 years old, one out of eight will have breast cancer. And women need to be a aware that this is quite common. However, there are many things that we could do to prevent breast cancer from occurring. And these things that can prevent breast cancer hinge
00:01:48
Speaker
on lifestyle modification, which is in our control. Yes. So the American Cancer Society has shown from research that many people have done that three things could reduce your risk of getting breast cancer. If you take any 10 women If they did these three things, three of them who otherwise may have gotten breast cancer will not. So it's a three out of 10 chance of reducing your risk. And these include maintaining a normal body weight, not being physically inactive and not drinking alcohol. Not drinking alcohol at all or not drinking alcohol a lot. Of course, if you abstained, that would be better, but two to three glasses of alcohol has been shown to increase your risk. So definitely drinking less than that. Okay, would that makes sense. Abstention would be the best. That's so interesting because I think a lot of women are really nervous about their family history. They're really nervous about estrogen containing products, which of course we do know that those things are going to increase a person's risk, but you're saying
00:03:11
Speaker
physical activity, keeping a normal body weight and reducing your alcohol intake actually, it sounds like are more important, right? Yes, but they are all related to estrogen and hormones. Yes, when you exercise, you reduce the level of estrogen and other hormones that are related or may be related to breast cancer, when you maintain a normal body weight. Estrogen, for instance, is stored in your fat cells. So it is such a thing of too much of a good thing. Exactly. So it all falls back to estrogen level, being lowered through these activities. Yes.
00:03:59
Speaker
So what do you notice when you have a patient who is diagnosed and you're taking her through
Addressing Chemotherapy Anxiety in Patients
00:04:04
Speaker
treatment? What are some of the biggest struggles that you find women dealing with or trying to cope with? At initial diagnosis, there's a lot of anxiety, depression, sadness, anxiety about their diagnosis, their stage, their treatment options. A lot of women are very fearful about chemotherapy. They come in not knowing that actually less people get chemotherapy. They are coming in thinking you're going to be telling them they are going to be getting chemotherapy. So all of that makes them very, very anxious. But once they come in and have a discussion with
00:04:48
Speaker
us and we are laid that anxiety and most of them find out they don't need chemotherapy after all. Then you see that a lot of them will tell you they are ready to fight.
00:05:00
Speaker
the disease. As time goes, the biggest struggle is actually with the side effects of the treatment itself.
Importance of Early Detection in Breast Cancer Recovery
00:05:09
Speaker
Be it surgery because usually everybody who gets breast cancer has to go through surgery. Some of the women have to go through radiation therapy and some will need to get chemotherapy. So the side effects of chemotherapy as time goes on becomes the main issue that they struggle with. However, they keep forging ahead knowing that breast cancer is curable. It is really curable. And that's important for women to know that breast cancer is curable. The earlier it is caught, the more likely you're going to be cured. Cure means once you've gone through all the treatment that we prescribe,
00:05:53
Speaker
This cancer is never coming back and it's behind you. That's what cure means. And for instance, a woman who comes in and her breast cancer is caught early, has almost a greater than 9 out of 10 chance of being killed. For closer to 100% I would say, yeah, of being here if you catch your breast cancer at a very early stage. Yeah, so catching it at an early stage is important to improve your outcomes and you recommend mammograms
Advancements in Screening and Treatment
00:06:28
Speaker
on a regular basis. I know the OBGYN Society, ACOG recommends yearly mammograms starting at age 40.
00:06:35
Speaker
I know we've kind of gone back and forth on recommendations for self-exams. I don't know if you have opinions about screening. I know you really specialize in the after component of when someone is diagnosed, but do you have any particular opinions or any strong feelings about screening? I think every breast on color does well. Yes, if you look at the trend,
00:06:59
Speaker
in breast cancer mortality. You're going to see that the trends are done. Meaning, if you look over the past several years, since 1980, you're going to see that consistently the number of women dying from breast cancer is reducing constantly over the years across all races. And it has been found that two things have been responsible for the improving survival or the reduction in death from breast cancer and one is
00:07:39
Speaker
Screening, screening to cut it early and it boils down to what I said. If we cut it at stage one, you are rest assured or almost likely to be killed. The second reason why breast cancer mortality is reducing are the advancements in treatment. So now we have more effective treatments with less side effects making it easy for women to be able to undergo recommended treatment. So these two things. And so I want women to know that yes, if you can modify your lifestyle, you might be able to prevent breast cancer altogether. However, even if you get breast cancer and it's caught early, your likelihood of being cured is so high. Cutting it early means
00:08:33
Speaker
being consistent with your mammogram because take it up real early when you cannot feel it. Yeah. That makes sense. And I do see a lot of women who post breast cancer are on medications that affect, unfortunately, even like their vaginal dryness or they feel a lot more vaginal dryness. They start to have pain with intercourse and we have lots of options for them. I think it's, I just want to mention that as from the gynecologist.
00:08:59
Speaker
gynecologist perspective that we do have lots of options and people should speak up to their oncologist or their primary care physician or their gynecologist if they're having pain or difficulties just to let them know. And every single person is different and what's possible and what's safe and and what they'll feel comfortable with but we do have lots of options. So I wanted to ask you a little bit about your research study because it sounds really interesting and I would love to learn a little bit more about
Focus on Older Survivors and Physical Function Post-Treatment
00:09:27
Speaker
it.
00:09:27
Speaker
So the kind of research that I do, I'm known as a health outcomes research, which means that I look at the health of patients, for instance, breast cancer survivors, after they've gone through treatment for breast cancer to see what is happening to them. And because of the importance of physical activity and maintaining normal body weight,
00:09:50
Speaker
That is where the focus of my research has been. So talking about that research that was funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities,
00:10:01
Speaker
The focus of that research was on older women who had completed treatment for breast cancer because, as you mentioned, I'm a geriatric oncologist. All my studies focus on older women. And the goal was to find out what would happen to their physical function or their physical performance once they had finished treatment and if we intervened with an exercise program We designed this because a few years prior to this, we had simply observed and followed about 200 women, older women who had completed treatment and found that one in five developed a decline in their physical function.
00:10:52
Speaker
Wow, so just going through treatment and maybe even the cancer itself or a combination of the cancer plus treatment really affected women's physical function. Wow, this is such interesting work and really impactful work and I'm so grateful to have you here in our community. in Cleveland helping the women who are dealing with a scary new diagnosis of breast cancer, but you are really helping them to thrive and to continue through their survivorship. And well, thank you so much, Dr. Wasu, for your time and for all that you're doing for the women who are dealing with breast cancer. Thank you so much for being here.