Breast Cancer

Recently published research questions the need for the advised restriction against the use of soyfoods by women with a history of breast cancer.
• Soyfood Consumption in Breast Cancer Survivors: Don't Overstate the Facts!
• A Fitting Prescription for All: Whole Soyfoods as Part of a Varied Plant-Based Diet

Accelerated partial-breast irradiation is a shorter, alternative radiation technique for select patients with favorable early-stage breast cancer. We review here the different modalities of delivery and discuss the possible benefits and harms associated with these treatments.
• Accelerated Partial-Breast Irradiation: Does the Evidence Stack Up?
• Is Hypofractionation the Solution? The Financial Implications of Treatments

This article reviews clinical data informing the effective management of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, including the optimal sequence of HER2-targeted agents.
• HER2-Directed Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer: Unanswered Questions
• How Can We Optimize Treatment of HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer?

Additional insight into the biology of ER-positive breast cancers, particularly the higher risk luminal B cancers, could aid in identifying potential targets and new, effective therapies. And though the majority of triple-negative breast cancers are the “basal-like” subtype, significant proportions are in other subtypes.
• Omics as Useful Tools in Clinical Practice: Are We There Yet?
• The Evolving Role of Multi-Gene Tests in Breast Cancer Management

With many centers seeking to adopt IORT, there are licensing, proctoring, staffing, technical support, and reimbursement issues that need to be considered. We have reviewed the current international experience and describe one community cancer center’s experience with initiating an IORT breast cancer program.
• On the Road to Intraoperative Radiotherapy: More 'Proceed With Caution' Signs
• Intraoperative Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer: Deceptively Simple?

A 22-year-old female collegiate soccer player complains of a painful palpable area in her right breast accompanied by a straw-colored nipple discharge. Because she is extremely anxious and has had previous excisional biopsies, you decide to perform a lumpectomy.

A 38-year-old female (para 3, gravida 3), complains of persistent bilateral mammary gland pain associated with a “lumpy” feeling when she does a self-examination. She carries a family history of breast cancer in both her mother and older sister.

A 71-year-old woman was receiving a multi-agent chemotherapeutic regimen following a lumpectomy for breast cancer. After the second round of treatment, she presented for medical care due to persistent, intensely painful ulceration of the contralateral breast.

A 31-year-old woman has undergone a lumpectomy for a small, estrogen receptor–positive breast tumor. She acutely develops a painful, hot fluctuant lump on her chin. What would be the most appropriate thing to do first?