Carotid artery angioplasty and stenting represents an exciting new alternative to surgery, and angioplasty may be applicable for other blood vessels leading to the brain. It is less invasive than traditional surgery and patients can go home on the same day of the procedure in some cases. P.V. Malathy Shekhar, PhD, professor of pathology, led a group of researchers who published their findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute . Dr. Shekhar and her colleagues studied the effects of EEs on cell proliferation, competition with natural estrogen, and their effect on estrogen sensitive genes. The tests were conducted in vitro with both precancerous and human breast carcinoma cell lines.
Further research is needed to establish whether EEs are linked to breast cancer risk and incidence.
Dr. Shekhar suggests closely monitoring breast cancer patients with high DDT or other EE levels, as well as patients unresponsive to hormone intervention therapies. We need to find out how these compounds affect breast cells, and the effect of that activity on cancer progression. Dr. Flack also serves as director of cardiovascular epidemiology and clinical applications, a new program at WSU, and he is professor of internal medicine and community medicine. Dr. Flack's areas of expertise are hypertension and cardiovascular epidemiology with a focus on the African-American community. Prior to joining WSU, he was associate professor of surgery, medicine, and public health sciences at Bowman Gray Medical School of Wake Forest.