President's Report Nurse News
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IA13326 Breast and Prostate Cancer Association of Queensland Incorporated | Newsletter | Autumn 2020 Dr Glenda Powell (Patron) President’s REPORT Kay McGrath (Vice-Patron) Board Members We are mindful that in these The BPCAQ is pleased to announce We would like to thank unprecedented times and until new members for our Brisbane and acknowledge our Dr Marie Burke the COVID-19 pandemic has been committee. We welcome Mrs Dinie generous supporters, we (President) eradicated, life will be difficult for McConnel, Mr Sydney Williams QC simply could not provide our everyone. Those being treated for and Dr Chris Pyke. We look forward Sandy Cassidy services without your help cancer will be particularly vulnerable. to their contribution and input (Vice President) and donations. Our work is Please use your technology to keep towards the management of the ongoing and requests for our Michael Crouch (Secretary) in touch with all of your loved ones association. services grow each year and Jilanne Elliott (Treasurer) who you may not be able to physically The Brisbane office has recently we are certainly going to be visit. Follow instructions from the Gina Fairfax relocated. We are now located at called upon to help people Government and Health Authorities as 292 Water Street, Fortitude Valley. through this difficult time. If Luke Anderson they are given. This will help slow the you can donate, no matter Adrian Seiffert transmission rates, keeping our most The Board is pleased to announce that following our seminar in how small, we would greatly Tracey Plumridge vulnerable love ones safe and staying well. Mackay last year, we applied for appreciate your support! a community seeding grant from Sub-Committees Our subcommittee volunteers are QCoal Foundation to assist us in Barcaldine: Heather Morton, situated in rural, regional and remote establishing a patient grants and Queensland. Through their community Helen Barrett & Sharon Rose nurse education fund. In February involvement they are proactive in QCoal very generously awarded us a Blackbutt: supporting patients in their own district $15,000 grant and we are thrilled to Nick and Laraine Aniftos by fundraising for financial assistance announce that we can now provide grants and in some districts, putting Chinchilla: Joanna Embry services to the Mackay and Bowen together patient pamper packs and Basin region. Our goal is to identify Emerald: Tiffany Pulford funding nurses. It truly is an important volunteers and supporters in the Fraser Coast: Penny Kilner service, and we are very grateful to all region who will help us to establish of those individuals and our supporters. Goondiwindi: Gloria Cory a subcommittee so that we can grow our services there permanently. Mackay We have included some information about each of the towns where we have We have also been exploring the Miles: Ann Gibbons volunteers and subcommittees. Please investment of funds into a Prostate Mitchell: Jenny Hockey consider visiting these towns after Cancer research project. A number of Rockhampton: travel restrictions have been lifted our board members attended a QUT President Helen Gudmann or for your next vacation. We do have a Institute of Health and Biomedical Dr Marie Burke such glorious State! Innovation lab tour in February. St George: Amelia Sevil & Emily Martin NURSE NEWS Toowoomba: Jayne Gentry Weengallon: As part of our Connecting the Unconnected Nurse In September 2019, McGrath BCN Nancy Scott from Emma Montgomery Networking program we had intended on sponsoring Bundaberg had the pleasure of attending the 5th World eight nurses from across Queensland to attend the Cancer Congress on Controversies in Breast Cancer (CoBrCa), in Office Secretary Nurses Society of Australia Annual Congress that was San Francisco, California, USA. This was possible with the scheduled to be held in Brisbane in 18-20th June this year. assistance of a travel grant from the Breast and Prostate Tracey Plumridge However, due to the COVID-19 restrictions the Congress Association of Queensland, the McGrath Foundation and PH: 07 3666 0614 had to be cancelled. We continue to share information personal funding. E: [email protected] with cancer nurses across Qld and are encouraging them Four hundred delegates were present and represented to establish and maintain strong peer support networks 30 countries from around the world. www.bcaq.com and meetings. NURSE NEWS The focus of the meeting was debates, covering controversial In Bundaberg we still tend to follow guidelines and do axillary clearances clinical questions that apply to day to day practice. for larger tumours for eg, greater than 3cm. What has changed is treating Some of the topic covered included: a LSN with a micromet under 2mm in a SLN as node negative disease and treating it with radiation therapy rather than an axillary clearance. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) role for ER +, HER2 Negative breast cancer. New Strategies In Early triple-negative breast cancer This debate created great interest and particularly relevant to Australia, as - Stacy Moulder MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, USA, spoke on triple we are increasingly using NACT as a common approach to treatment in negative breast cancers are typically aggressive, impact younger women larger tumours. This is also common approach to people wanting to avoid and can be associated with breast cancer gene mutations such as BRCA. mastectomy. We are increasingly seeing pathology reports at the time of She discussed the PARP inhibitor trail with Talazoparib in BRCA associated core biopsies including receptor status in their reports. This is enabling cancers, which showed a complete response rate of over 50%. She decisions about treatment to be made earlier. The majority of the congress discussed immunotherapy in the early setting, describing the I-SPY trial with agreed a pathological complete response allows de-escalation of further the combination of pembroluzumab and paclitaxel with is estimated to therapies. have a complete response rate of 60%. Genetics - Panel testing for breast cancer patients. Testing would enable; She concluded that immunotherapy in the neoadjuvant setting should Surgical procedure decisions, Assessing neoadjuvant therapy efficacy, be considered investigational in localized disease. She suggested that Informing follow up surveillance frequency. Interplay of lifestyle and the ideal sequence of therapy and optimal combination strategies genetics in Breast Cancer. remain undetermined. Patient selection for immunotherapy needs to be improved. Important considerations for toxicity include hypothyroidism, Bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction has high hyperthyroidism, adrenal or pituitary insufficiency, pneumonitis and acceptance. renal failure. • Mutation carriers with breast cancer may be more open to bilateral Magtrace - Magnet liquid used to map lymphatic system. mastectomies than mutation carriers without cancer • Survey study of women with genetic mutations (100 with prior breast Tracer that maps quickly, in approximately 5 mins.. Easy to detect where it cancer and 104 without) found that those with breast cancer were: collects in the axilla. Detectable for many days after injection. Iron oxide, sugar, salt & H2O. No nuclear radiologist required 1. significantly more concerned of screening failure than women without breast cancer & Advantages: Seeds can be placed days prior to surgery. Allow uncoupling of 2. Less concerned about cosmetic result of risk reducing mastectomy. radiology. Seed can remain in place. Availability of nipple sparing mastectomy may improve outcomes. Interestingly enough, there are very few hospitals in Australia doing the Significantly better psychosocial and sexual well-being in nipple sparing Magseed. Bundaberg are about to come on board with this and drop the versus skin sparing. hookwire. Dr Emila Dauway has been using this technique in Gladstone. Optimal lifestyle medicine program - Whole foods plant-based Visions for Breast Cancer in 2025. Pathology: DCIS will have diet naturally low in fat and refined carbohydrates, Stress management, a completely different name & that the histopathology report could have Moderate exercise, Psychosocial support was highlighted as beneficial. a completely new look. Systemic Therapy: Immunotherapy will become a standard of care in Breast Cancer. Prevention of metastatic disease In 1,500 women with early stage breast cancer, higher consumption of development – giving enough treatment fruits and vegetables, walking at least 30 mins six days per week and not to cure and reducing side effects at the being overweight were associated with a 50% reduction in the risk of same time. death from Breast Cancer. In Australia, we are seeing an increase in the use of PET scans, however, Thank you again to The Breast and unlike other overseas countries, PET scans have become a standard of care. Prostate Cancer Association of QLD for It was a relevant debate with upcoming changes to funding for PET scans providing me with a grant to attend this for patients with breast cancer. wonderful conference. Extract from The debate highlighted the fact that there is a role for PET/CT in staging report by Nancy Scott. higher risk breast cancer patients. The other major benefit is that this type Nancy Scott of staging is stopping unnecessary surgery. McGrath Breast Care Nurse Issues in locoregional management. With the growing use of neo-adjuvant Bundaberg chemotherapy, there is still indication for Axillary lymph node dissection Phone: 07 4150 2979 (ALND) but