Breast most cancers remedies that may save a girl’s life can critically hurt her sexual well being, says Dr. Kristin E. Rojas, a breast most cancers surgeon at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center on the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Although medical doctors haven’t traditionally been ready to assist sufferers handle these poisonous unintended effects, Rojas is main efforts to show the tide.

Rojas, each a fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist and a gynecologic surgeon, is a nationwide chief in treating sexual dysfunction in feminine sufferers present process most cancers remedy. Other, extra broadly acknowledged unintended effects of lifesaving estrogen-blocking drugs – also referred to as endocrine remedy – embrace challenges with being pregnant planning for premenopausal sufferers and lowered bone mineralization. According to Rojas, all three of those topics must be addressed as early as attainable when planning a course of remedy for a breast most cancers affected person with an estrogen-sensitive tumor.

Rojas will establish dangers posed by endocrine therapies, outline signs and talk about remedy choices in a presentation on the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

“By using endocrine therapy to treat hormone-positive breast cancers, we’re putting many young women into menopause, but we’re not doing a great job preparing them for it,” mentioned Rojas, who created a program to deal with ladies’s sexual well being after most cancers remedy, the Menopause Urogenital Sexual Health and Intimacy Clinic (MUSIC) at Sylvester. Faced with unexpectedly excessive demand, the clinic wanted to increase quickly after opening in 2020. Since Rojas expanded this system by coaching further specialists to accommodate this nice want, the MUSIC program has change into a prototype for related packages throughout the nation. It stays the one ladies’s oncology-focused sexual well being program led by a dual-trained surgeon within the United States.

Patients are sometimes hesitant to deliver up sexual well being points with their suppliers, and that is why we created this groundbreaking program the place sufferers can brazenly talk about these points in a one-on-one survivorship program. If we do not handle these frequent issues skilled by greater than 80% of feminine survivors of most cancers, affected person adherence to endocrine remedy decreases, and the progress we’ve made in enhancing breast most cancers survival is impeded.”

Kristin E. Rojas, breast most cancers surgeon at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center on the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Rojas’ ASCO presentation will assist suppliers anticipate and deal with the commonest unintended effects skilled by sufferers on endocrine remedy (or estrogen-blocking drugs), formulate a customized remedy plan, information sufferers towards evidence-based practices and away from probably dangerous “fringe” therapies, and troubleshoot frequent pitfalls encountered within the remedy of menopausal signs.

Among particular matters:

• Hot flashes – causes, triggers and coverings.
• Vaginal dryness and painful intercourse – causes, irritants, and adjustments to the vaginal microbiome.
• Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) – causes, remedies, lubricants, gadgets and drugs choices.
• Products, “therapies” and gadgets to keep away from.
• Infertility danger and choices for fertility preservation.
• Reduced bone mineralization and elevated fracture danger – monitoring and prevention methods.

Rojas’ presentation is a part of a session she’s going to chair: “A Juggling Act: Managing the Toxicity of Estrogen Deprivation for Patients With Breast Cancer,” Education Session E451. It will start at 8 a.m. June 5, 2023 (CDT), a part of the annual assembly of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.