Living Beyond Breast Cancer Releases New Guide to Understanding Breast Cancer

PHILADELPHIA, March 25, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) has announced the release of Hormonal Therapy, the newest title in this national nonprofit's library of Guides to Understanding Breast Cancer. It joins nineteen other LBBC publications available in print and electronic formats designed to address the needs of women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The guide provides insight and answers about the complexities of hormonal therapy, treatment that reduces estrogen in the body, for women with breast cancer. Hormonal therapy for breast cancer is sometimes referred to as endocrine or anti-estrogen therapy. Breast cancer hormonal therapy can reduce the risk of disease recurrence, prevent new breast cancers and improve survival. Approximately 70% of breast cancers are hormone-sensative¹ and many women are likely to receive hormonal therapy as adjuvant therapy - treatment given after primary therapy.

The Guide to Understanding Hormonal Therapy was co-authored by Janine E. Guglielmino, MA, LBBC's director of publications and strategic initiatives, and medical writer Robin Warshaw. "At Living Beyond Breast Cancer, we know women face many choices when it's time to begin treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer," Guglielmino states. "This guide was developed to help women ask their providers informed questions about how hormonal therapies and their side effects may impact their day-to-day lives. And since hormonal therapy lasts for many years, the guide aims to address the questions women have today - as well as those that may arise tomorrow - as those concerns may very well change over time."

In addition to Guglielmino and Warshaw, a committee made up of more than a dozen oncology professionals, LBBC staff and women affected by breast cancer reviewed and contributed stories to the sixty-six page guide, which is divided into eight sections and written in clear and easy-to-understand language.  Section topics include hormonal therapy options, common questions about treatment decisions, coping with side effects, what to expect when treatment ends and additional resources.  

The guide focuses on hormonal therapy for early-stage (ed. note - stage 0-II) or locally advanced (ed. note - stage III) hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Hormonal therapy is also used to treat recurrent and metastatic (stage IV) hormone positive disease and to prevent first breast cancers in women at high risk for developing breast cancer.

"We believe women can play a powerful role in their treatment when they have the resources to help them make informed decisions and be full advocates for their own health," say LBBC CEO Jean A. Sachs, MSS, MLSP. "In addition to this guide, LBBC has additional resources at lbbc.org." 

Free, individual copies of the Guide to Understanding Hormonal Therapy are available online or by calling (610) 645-4567. Larger quantities may be ordered for a small shipping and handling fee.

About

For over 20 years, Living Beyond Breast Cancer has been providing educational resources and support services to women of all ages who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.  LBBC helps improve the quality of life for these women by empowering them with the information they need to make the best and most informed decisions for themselves and their families. National conferences, monthly webinars, regional community meetings, the Guides to Understanding Breast Cancer and a toll-free Survivors' Helpline are just a few examples of the services that are provided, always at little or no cost.

If someone you know has recently been diagnosed, is in treatment, recovery, years beyond their diagnosis or living with metastatic breast cancer, LBBC can help. For more information, visit lbbc.org, call (610) 645-4567 or download a free copy of Empower, LBBC's general information brochure.

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