NBOCC News - October 2010

In this issue...

Starting a conversation about secondary cancer

he Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing at the Pink Ribbon Lunch At National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre’s Pink Ribbon Lunch in Melbourne (15 October), over 350 guests gathered to hear about the information and support needs of women living with secondary breast cancer in Australia.

New research from NBOCC has found that approximately 7,000 women alive today have been diagnosed with secondary breast cancer.

At the Pink Ribbon Lunch, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing, launched a new NBOCC resource, Finding the words: Starting a conversation when your cancer has progressed. The resource encourages women with secondary breast and ovarian cancer to start discussions about their needs, including quality of life, treatment, emotional and social support with their families and healthcare team.

The new resource is one in a suite of NBOCC resources for women with secondary breast cancer. Guide for women with secondary breast cancer and When the woman you love has secondary breast cancer CD are also available.

NBOCC resources are available to download from www.nbocc.org.au or by phoning 1800 624 973.

Meeting the rural challenge

NBOCC again hosted the popular Pink Ribbon Breakfast in Sydney on Australia’s Breast Cancer Day (25 October), with a focus on Meeting the rural challenge.

Of the 14,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia this year, approximately 30 per cent will live outside major metropolitan cities.

Due to the complexity of cancer treatment and the location of many specialist cancer services, many rural women need to travel away from home for at least some of their care. This may result in them making treatment decisions based on practical or logistical factors such as time spent away from home, rather than on the evidence about best practice care.

For example, women in rural areas are significantly more likely to undergo mastectomy compared to women in cities and the proportion of women who have a breast reconstruction following mastectomy is approximately three times higher in women from major cities compared with women from regional and remote areas.

Through the Supporting Women in Rural Areas Diagnosed with Breast Cancer Program, funded by the Australian Government, NBOCC is undertaking three streams of work to support women from rural Australia diagnosed with breast cancer and the health professionals who care for them:

Providing the latest information on advances in breast cancer care for rural health professionals through educational initiatives
Linking families during treatment via Stay in Touch
Improving knowledge and skills of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women and health professionals.

For further information, visit www.nbocc.org.au.

Helping women in rural areas stay in touch

Stay in touch resource cover NBOCC is pleased to announce the successful roll-out of a new and innovative program, Stay in Touch, to connect families when travel away from home is required for radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

Using online video communication technology via Skype, Stay in Touch provides laptops with access to mobile broadband to connect women face-to-face with their families when their breast cancer treatment requires them to be away for extended periods of time.

The program provides a means of overcoming the emotional impact of separation from their family by connecting them to home when they travel to receive radiotherapy. Families can share daily life, with women able to see and speak to their loved ones back home, bringing them closer during this difficult time.

Stay in Touch is currently available at the following sites:

Adelaide Radiotherapy Centre, Flinders Private Hospital, Southern Adelaide Health Service, Bedford Park SA
Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre, Darwin NT
Bendigo Radiotherapy Centre, Peter MacCallum, Bendigo Vic
Capital Region Cancer Service, The Canberra Hospital, Canberra ACT
Illawarra Cancer Care Centre, Wollongong Hospital, Wollongong NSW
Radiation Oncology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth WA
Radiation Oncology Associates, Mater Hospital, North Sydney NSW
Radiation Oncology Queensland, St Andrews Hospital, Toowoomba QLD
Riverina Cancer Care Centre, Wagga Wagga NSW
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane QLD
Townsville Cancer Centre, Townsville QLD
William Buckland Radiotherapy Centre, Gippsland Cancer Care Centre, Latrobe Regional Hospital, Traralgon Vic

Stay in Touch is a project of the Supporting Women in Rural Areas Diagnosed with Breast Cancer Program, funded by the Australian Government and delivered by NBOCC.

For more information on Stay in Touch please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (02 9357 9414) or visit www.nbocc.org.au/sit.

Well Women Workshop grants awarded

NBOCC has awarded 12 grants for locally-run Well Women Workshops promoting and encouraging breast awareness and early detection of breast cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

The recipients of the grants are:

BreastScreen Victoria (Carlton South, Victoria)
Charleville and Western Areas Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Health – CWAATSICH (Charleville, QLD)
Country Health, South Australia; Yorke and Lower North Health Service; Aboriginal Health Team (Maitland, SA)
Department of Health and Families – Miilikapiti Health Centre (Melville Island, NT)
Department of Health and Human Services Tasmania - Cancer Screening and Control Services and BreastScreen Tasmania (Hobart, Tasmania)
Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service (Geraldton, WA)
Greater Southern Area Health Service Aboriginal Health and Wagga Wagga Cancer Services (Wagga Wagga, NSW)
Laynhapuy Homelands Association (Yirrkala, NT)
Moogji Aboriginal Council (Orbost, Vic)
Mount Isa District Health Services (Mount Isa, Queensland)
Peppimenarti Health Association (Darwin, NT)
Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (Wellington, NSW)

NBOCC’s Well Women Workshop Community Education Resource is also available to health organisations and individual health professionals working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to promote breast cancer awareness in local communities.

For further information about running a Well Women Workshop or to order the resource, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (02 9357 9408).

Investigation of pathways to diagnosis for women in Australia with ovarian cancer

NBOCC, in partnership with the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, has conducted Australia’s first national study of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer to analyse the pathways to diagnosis.

The study of 1500 women, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on 20 September 2010, found that most women with ovarian cancer are investigated and diagnosed promptly.

The key findings include:

Ninety-three per cent of women presented first to their general practitioners and 61 per cent were either diagnosed or appropriately referred by the first doctor they saw.
Sixty-six per cent of women with ovarian cancer were diagnosed within one month and 80 per cent within three months of the initial presentation.

Given the vague nature of the symptoms of the disease, the challenge for GPs is to determine whether the presenting symptoms may be ovarian cancer. To assist with this, NBOCC has developed two resources, Assessment of symptoms that may be ovarian cancer and Appropriate referral of women with suspected ovarian cancer which includes the Risk of Malignancy Index.

The next stage of this research is to investigate if time to diagnosis has an impact on patient outcomes.

For further information on this project, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (02 9357 9413).

Report to the Nation: Breast cancer 2010

Report to the nation cover On 15 October, NBOCC released Report to the Nation: Breast cancer 2010 to provide a comprehensive picture of current knowledge about breast cancer in Australia.

Report to the Nation: Breast cancer 2010 brings together in one user-friendly online document: an overview of key breast cancer statistics, breast awareness and early detection, risk factors and breast cancer research highlights.

Click here to download Report to the Nation: Breast cancer 2010

Clinical practice guidelines: Recommendations for the use of bisphosphonates

NBOCC is currently developing a new topic-specific clinical practice guideline, Recommendations for use of bisphosphonates for advanced breast cancer and is inviting stakeholders to participate in the external review of the guideline.

The guideline recommendations have been developed by a multidisciplinary working group, including clinicians and consumer representatives. They are based on a Cochrane review about the use of bisphosphonates for breast cancer and an NBOCC systematic evidence review.

If you would like to participate in the external review, the draft guideline is available on NBOCC’s website. The external review closes on 22 November.

For further information or to provide comment, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (02 9357 9417).

Staff News

NBOCC welcomes the following new staff:

Sue Sinclair, General Manager
Rachel Grinnell, Personal Assistant to the Deputy CEO and General Manager
Cheryl Cheng, Business Services Administrator

Cancer Australia