Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Breastfeeding and scheduled for a breast biopsy?

breast cancer braceletsI feel a little behind on this, but Motherwear's Breastfeeding Blog posted about an ongoing study based at the University of Massachusetts concerning potential early detection of breast cancer through breast milk. The researchers are looking for women who are breastfeeding and are scheduled or have recently undergone a biopsy.

Dr. Kathleen Acaro is analyzing epithelial cells in breast milk "to determine if it's possible to create a non-invasive, early way of assessing our breast cancer risk through our breastmilk. If it's successful, it would also establish 'molecular biomarkers' for breast cancer risk" (quote from the original post). It would also reduce the chances of doctors advising women with unfamiliar lumps to wean in order to be diagnosed.

The project's site is BreastmilkResearch.org. If you qualify for and consent to the study, you'll be asked to donate a breastmilk sample from each breast.

Visit the Motherwear blog post or the project website for more information or to participate, and spread the news about this exciting research to any breastfeeding mamas you know through your blog or word of mouth.

Photo courtesy of Alice Wycklendt on stock.xchng

2 comments:

tanya@motherwearblog said...

Thanks so much for posting about the study! :)

Lauren Wayne said...

Happy to! It sounds so promising.

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