Also See: Free Pocket Calendar! (10/04) Four Steps to Good Breast Health (10/04) Get On Track or Trails with Missy Kane (10/04) October School of Good Health (10/04) Covenant Health Breast Centers: Oak Ridge Breast Center Fort Sanders Sevier Breast Center Fort Sanders Parkwest Breast Center The Breast Center at Fort Sanders West Thompson Breast Center Other Resources Thompson Cancer Survival Center STAR Clinical Trials National Cancer Institute

The office manager of Covenant Health's Oak Ridge Breast Center, she took a new screening test that confirmed her suspicions. Blattner answered a number of questions, including her age when she began menstruating and her family history of breast cancer. A computer tallied her score.

She came up a 3.9, meaning she has a 3.9 percent chance of developing breast cancer in the next five years. Anything above 1.66 is considered high-risk.

You may have seen the ads in women's magazines. They say something like, "I'd rather be a 1.5 than a 36D."

But Blattner doesn't sound discouraged. Her number qualified her to participate in a free clinical trial at Thompson Cancer Survival Center. National researchers are studying drugs believed to prevent breast cancer.

The two drugs are Raloxifene, also known as Evista, by Eli Lilly & Co., and Tamoxifen, also known as Nolvadex, by Astra-Zeneca. "It is a double blind study. That means they would not know what they were on, and we would not know what they were on either," said Jamie Breeden, RN, and STAR coordinator at the Thompson Center. STAR is an acronym for Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene.

"Both of them have shown promise," she added.

More than 80 women in the Knoxville area participated in a breast cancer prevention trial from 1993 to 1998 in which researchers found Tamoxifen cut the risk of breast cancer in half for high-risk women. Now National Cancer Institute officials want to see if Raloxifene works as well as or better than Tamoxifen.

The drugs also help prevent osteoporosis and decrease total cholesterol, says Breeden. They are estrogen blockers, so participants in the study cannot take hormone replacements for five years. Therefore, possible side effects of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene could include hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and mood swings.

But four months into the clinical trial, Blattner had not experienced any symptoms. "I just feel lucky that they're offering this and that I'm able to participate.

"It could be a real break-through," she noted. "I wasn't doing anything before this, so at least I feel I'm doing something."

The National Cancer Institute is seeking 22,000 high-risk women across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico to participate. They must be 35 or older, have a 1.66 or higher score on the breast cancer risk test, and either have had a hysterectomy or be post-menopausal.

Twenty in the Knoxville area are participating, and a dozen more are on the waiting list. The women receive the trial drugs free for five years, free breast exams every six months, and complete blood laboratory tests every year.

To take the free breast cancer risk assessment, visit any Covenant Health breast center which includes the Oak Ridge Breast Center, Fort Sanders Sevier Breast Center, Fort Sanders Parkwest Breast Center, the Breast Center at Fort Sanders West, and the Thompson Breast Center. Or go to the web site at www.thompsoncancer.com.

Women interested in the clinical trials should call the Thompson Center at 541-1812. A second STAR clinic is opening in Oak Ridge in October which will make participation in the study more convenient for women living in Anderson County.

As Redbook magazine notes this month, "participating in a research study may provide your best access to state-of-the-art proven treatments or the latest and most promising, but yet unproven, approaches."