While experts have suspected for years that stress increases the risk for heart disease, a new study offers the first concrete link between mental anguish and impaired functioning of the blood vessels. In the study, the blood vessels of patients who experienced stress were less able to respond to changes in blood flow—a condition which the researchers say increases the patients’ risk of heart attack or stroke. The study also found that blocking a certain chemical (called endothelin-A) returned the blood vessels to normal functioning. They believe this technique may be a new approach to help prevent blood vessel impairment.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center are experimenting with a novel way to treat breast cancer that involves heating the tumor while the breast lies in a pool of water. The therapy, called hyperthermia, is administered immediately after chemotherapy and helps the drugs reach cancer cells quickly and effectively. Hyperthermia worked surprisingly well in an early clinical trial of patients with inflammatory and locally advanced breast cancers. Because only the tumor cells of the breast are heated during treatment, hyperthermia enables physicians to use significantly higher doses of chemotherapy to kill cancer cells while minimizing harm to healthy cells.

A large clinical trial designed to learn the true benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was stopped early after U.S. government health officials found that study participants on one type of HRT were more significantly more likely to develop invasive breast cancer and other health problems compared to women who did not take the hormones. While the HRT regimen that consisted of combined amounts of estrogen and progesterone (progestin) was associated with the health risks, the women in the study who took estrogen alone faced an unchanged risk of health problems. Therefore, the estrogen-only leg of the study will continue. However, experts say the findings are alarming and should prompt women on HRT to seriously discuss the therapy with their physicians to determine whether it is an appropriate option for them.

A new study finds that treating breast cancer patients with radiation therapy does not increase the risk of heart attack. Some previous analyses have found a link between radiation therapy and heart attack, but the researchers of this latest study say those results are likely incorrect. Radiation is commonly used on breast cancer patients after breast-conserving therapy (lumpectomy) to help destroy any remaining cancer cells and prevent the cancer from recurring. The researchers say that while older versions of breast cancer radiation therapy may have been damaging, the treatments used today are not harmful.

A new study finds that removing the ovaries and fallopian tubes of women who are at genetically high risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer significantly reduces the likelihood that they will develop either cancer. Researchers have known for years that women who carry abnormal forms of BRCA1 (breast cancer gene 1) or BRCA2 (breast cancer gene 2) are at higher risk of developing both breast cancer and ovarian cancer, compared to women without these genetic mutations. This is the first time that research has shown that surgery can reduce this risk.

A new study finds that women who gain a large amount of weight during pregnancy face a higher risk of developing breast cancer after they reach menopause. The researchers attribute the increased breast cancer risk to a higher amount of estrogen that is produced in fat cells, which may be especially harmful as the breast undergoes rapid changes during pregnancy. Still, the researchers acknowledge that the risk of breast cancer appears to be relatively small for women who gain a significant amount of weight during pregnancy. Furthermore, women who retain the extra weight after pregnancy tend to be at higher risk of post-menopausal breast cancer than those who lose the excess pounds after childbirth.