Breast Cancer

DALLAS-Responding to a growing body of research that suggests cognitive dysfunction and asthenia are prevalent side effects of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer, Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, of US Oncology is investigating recombinant human erythropoietin as a neuroprotective agent.

Weekly administration of the drug paclitaxel (Taxol) is as effective and well tolerated in advanced breast cancer patients over

Two senators have introduced legislationaimed at exploring potential links between environmental exposure and breast

WASHINGTON-Fear that hormones may increase the risk of cancer recurrence has long discouraged US physicians from recommending estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) to breast cancer survivors, despite its proven advantages for health and quality of life.

Research presented at the 37th annual meeting ofthe American Society of Clinical Oncology

NEW YORK-"I’m going to die," Jerri Nielsen, MD, recalled thinking when she discovered a lump in her right breast while she was the physician at the Admundsen-Scott South Pole Station. "I’m going to die here, or I’m going to die after I get off the ice."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla-Eighty percent of breast cancer survivors were found to have osteoporosis or osteopenia at the outset of a University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing pilot study into preventing osteoporosis among survivors.

SAN FRANCISCO-The addition of docetaxel (Taxotere) to an anthracycline (doxorubicin)-containing regimen may improve response rates in the first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The findings come from a large international trial, TAX 307, presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in San Francisco.

WASHINGTON-Cutting-edge molecular research supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) promises revolutionary changes in the way physicians screen, diagnose, and treat breast cancer, NCI director Richard D. Klausner, MD, told the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees the NCI.

SAN FRANCISCO-Elderly women who survived breast cancer received more preventive health care overall than a matched control group of cancer-free women. This finding was based on a review of financial records by researchers at the Center for Outcomes and Policy Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

SAN FRANCISCO-The impact of achieving amenorrhea during treatment for premenopausal breast cancer is controversial, according to data from the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Clinical Trials Group (CTG). A common occurrence among premenopausal breast cancer patients, treatment-induced amenorrhea is often considered a positive prognostic factor. The NCIC CTG data was unable to demonstrate such an effect.

The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) has launched a new phase III clinical trial that will

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will conduct apriority review of the supplemental New Drug Application submitted by Roche for

SAN FRANCISCO-Anemic breast cancer patients receiving chemoradiotherapy who are also treated with weekly recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin alfa [Procrit, Eprex, Erypo]) have not only better hemoglobin levels but also improved energy, activity levels, and overall quality of life.

SEATTLE-When used as an adjunct to mammography and clinical breast examinations, thermal imaging may help reduce the number of unnecessary breast biopsies, according to Karleen Callahan, PhD, director of Clinical Research for Breast Cancer at Computerized Thermal Imaging, Inc (CTI).

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla-Nurses frequently tell breast cancer patients that they can expect less pain and discomfort following a sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND) than an axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).

Assessing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer starts with obtaining a complete and accurate family history. This can reveal evidence of inherited cancer risk. The highest risk of cancer is associated with germ-line abnormalities

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla-Walking 60 minutes or more a week could have a positive effect on fatigue and sleep disturbance in breast cancer patients, according to preliminary results presented by Barbara Poniatowski, MS, RNC, AOCN, at the Oncology Nursing Society’s Sixth National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research.

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia-Documentation of widespread fraud in a 1985 study supporting high-dose chemotherapy/transplant for metastatic breast cancer patients has led the Journal of Clinical Oncology to retract the influential report and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to recommend that breast cancer patients not receive high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplants outside of clinical trials.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center report that very low doses of a potent new bisphosphonate, zoledronic acid (Zometa), reduces the complications arising from multiple myeloma and breast cancer that have metastasized to the bone. The

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla-Breast cancer survivors experienced significantly worse hot flashes, compared with age-matched healthy women, in a Vanderbilt University study. The Research also raised doubts about the accuracy of hot flash reports in patient diaries.

ASCO-Genomic resequencing of DNA in blood samples from the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) conducted during the 1990s shows that tamoxifen (Nolvadex) reduced the incidence of breast cancer by 62% in women with BRCA2 mutations, but had no effect in women with BRCA1 mutations.

Contrary to speculation, long-term use of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) does not affect mood or sexual functioning, according to British researchers who studied the use of this antiestrogenic drug in women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer

NEW ORLEANS-Pediatric cancer survivors face an increased risk of second malignancies later in life, especially breast cancer, according to a large database of some 14,000 persons diagnosed with cancer before age 21 and alive 5 years or longer.

Drs. Armstrong and Davidson have nicely reviewed the use of dose-intensive chemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic and high-risk early-stage breast cancer, and we agree with the basic premise of the article-that there are no conclusive data

It has been roughly 20 years since chemotherapy dose escalation was proposed as a possible strategy for improving outcomes in patients with breast cancer.[1,2] This concept has sustained a series of remarkable rollercoaster-like controversies, with heated arguments at national meetings, substantial lay press coverage, patients suing their insurance companies seeking coverage, legislative fiats requiring third-party payment long before critical data were available, and a well-publicized episode of clinical scientific fraud that is nearly unprecedented in its audacity. How did we get here from there?

Despite nearly 20 years of study, the importance of chemotherapy dose intensity in breast cancer remains unclear. Substantial preclinical data suggest a dose-response relationship, and consistent data document that

WASHINGTON-The technique of radioactive seed localization presents several important advantages over wire localization for the diagnostic or therapeutic excision of nonpalpable breast cancers, said Richard Gray, MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, at the 54th Annual Cancer Symposium of the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO).

SAN ANTONIO-Chemotherapy dose reduction occurs frequently despite the risk of a poorer long-term outcome when the full dose is not received, according to an analysis of 20,799 patients with early breast cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy. Gary H. Lyman, MD, MPH, reported the results at the 23rd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, for the Awareness of Neutropenia in Chemotherapy (ANC) Study Group.

Tamoxifen (Nolvadex) does not affect cardiovascular risk in healthy women or those with coronary heart disease, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (93:16-21, 2001). The study is part of the National