Patient, Provider and Caregiver Connection™: Addressing Patient Concerns During the Treatment and Management of HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer
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Oncology Consultations®: Next Generation SERDs—Key Data and Practical Takeaways for the Community Physician
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Multidisciplinary Management of TNBC: Immunotherapy, PARP, TROP2, Oh My!
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Medical Crossfire®: Leveraging Multidisciplinary Teams in Early–Stage Breast Cancer When the Goal is Cure
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23rd Annual International Congress on the Future of Breast Cancer® East
July 19-20, 2024
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Community Practice Connections™: 14th Annual International Symposium on Ovarian Cancer and Other Gynecologic Malignancies
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Community Practice Connections™: The Advent of TROP2-Targeted Treatment Approaches in HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer
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Community Practice Connections™: Controversies and Conversations About HER2- Expressing Breast Cancer…Advances in Management of HER2-Low to -Positive Disease
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Show Me the Data™: Do We Have Sea Change for Novel Approaches in HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer? CDK, PI3K/AKT, ADC, and Next-Gen SERD Strategies Assessed
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Cancer Summaries and Commentaries™: Clinical Updates from Chicago in Breast Cancer
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42nd Annual CFS®: Innovative Cancer Therapy for Tomorrow®
November 13-15, 2024
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Community Practice Connections™: 5th Annual Precision Medicine Symposium – An Illustrated Tumor Board
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Community Oncology Connections™: Overcoming Barriers to Testing, Trial Access, and Equitable Care in Cancer
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42nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference®
March 6 - 9, 2025
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The Evolving Tool Box in Advanced HR+/HER2– Breast Cancer: What You Need to Know About Next-Generation SERDs, PI3K/AKT, ADCs, CDK4/6 and Beyond…
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Coffee Talk™: Navigating the Impact of HER2/3, TROP2, and PARP from Early Stage to Advanced Breast Cancer Care
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Adjuvant Paclitaxel Increases Survival in Early, N+ Breast Cancer
July 1st 1998SAN FRANCISCO--Interim results of a major intergroup study of paclitaxel (Taxol) as adjuvant treatment of node-positive breast cancer "will change the standard of care for node-positive breast cancer patients," I. Craig Henderson, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, said at ASCO.
Psychologist Debunks Eight Myths About Breast Cancer
July 1st 1998NEW YORK--There is a soap opera scenario surrounding breast cancer survivors that goes something like this: "Breast cancer ruins the woman’s life. Her husband leaves her for another woman. She loses her job. She considers suicide but bravely goes on, knowing no man will ever want her. Looking in the mirror is her worst nightmare."
Tattooing Before Preop Chemo Aids Surgeons
July 1st 1998ORLANDO--Preoperative chemotherapy in breast cancer patients can leave a surgeon in the dark as to the specific amount of normal tissue to remove if the chemotherapy eliminates the tumor or renders it no longer palpable. A simple tattoo outlining the original tumor site can be a great aid in helping surgeons determine the type of surgery to be performed after the therapy.
Taxanes Increase Breast Cancer Survival
July 1st 1998LOS ANGELES--Taxane therapy lengthens survival in breast cancer patients, both in the metastatic and adjuvant settings, according to the results of two phase III trials presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Disregard of Guidelines Blamed for Low Breast Conservation Rates
July 1st 1998ASCO--Fewer than half of women with early-stage breast cancer are treated with breast-conserving lumpectomy, even though up to 75% are eligible. Almost one-quarter of those who have lumpectomy are not given radiotherapy to improve local control.
Immunotherapy Post-transplant For Metastatic Breast Cancer Studied
July 1st 1998BUFFALO, NY--Studies have shown that only 15% to 20% of patients with metastatic breast cancer have a long-term disease-free survival following administration of high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow or stem cell support. "We have therefore decided to explore immunotherapy for this patient population," said Meir Wetzler, MD, of the Division of Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Older Women Have More Chemo-Induced Neutropenia But Few Clinical Consequences
July 1st 1998BALTIMORE--Adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer are often reduced for patients over age 65 due to concerns about toxicity. These reductions may not be necessary in most cases. Elizabeth Claire Dees, MD, and her colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center found that although older women had more neutropenia, this seldom resulted in clinical complications.
Ice, Water Advised to Help the Elderly Cope With CMF Toxicity
July 1st 1998AVIANO, Italy--Elderly women with node-positive breast cancer are more vulnerable to chemotherapy-related toxicity. Physicians should be prepared to help older patients prevent or manage these problems and should not be too quick to reduce scheduled dosages, Diana Crivellari, MD, said at her ASCO poster presentation for the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) Trial VII.
Prophylactic Tamoxifen Cuts Breast Cancer Risk by 45% in High-Risk Patients
July 1st 1998PITTSBURGH--Five years of prophylactic tamoxifen (Nolvadex) cut the risk of breast cancer almost in half in women at high risk for the disease. D. Lawrence Wickerham, MD, associate chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), gave the first formal presentation of the results of the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) at the ASCO plenary session.
Weekly High-Dose Paclitaxel Produces High Response Rates in Advanced Breast Cancer
July 1st 1998PROVIDENCE, RI--Weekly high-dose paclitaxel (Taxol) produces response rates similar to those seen with combination chemotherapy in patients with advanced breast cancer and merits further study, William M. Sikov, MD, said at an ASCO poster session.
Sentinel Lymphadenectomy: Accurate Histopathologic Staging of the Axilla
July 1st 1998We agree with the need to reexamine the routine use of axillary dissection in the management of breast cancer patients, as advocated by Manjeet Chadha and Deborah Axelrod, in their article, "Is Axillary Dissection Always Indicated in Invasive
Adjuvant Tamoxifen Effective in Younger Breast Cancer Patients
June 1st 1998OXFORD, UK--The latest 5-year metaanalysis by the Early Breast Cancer Clinical Trialists’ Collaborative Group suggests that up to 20,000 additional lives could be saved each year worldwide if physicians prescribed adjuvant tamoxifen (Nolvadex) to all early breast cancer patients who could benefit, including premenopausal women.
HER-2 MoAB Effective in Metastatic Breast Cancer
June 1st 1998ASCO--In two phase III trials, the anti-HER-2/neu monoclonal antibody (MoAB) Herceptin (trastuzumab, Genen-tech) showed significant activity both as a single agent and in combination with traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy in the treatment of HER-2/neu overexpressing metastatic breast cancer.
Cancer Counselors Pleased With Information on Tamoxifen Prevention
June 1st 1998WASHINGTON--Feedback indicates that the National Cancer Institute did quite well in equipping counselors in advance to deal with questions posed by women about the ability of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) to prevent breast cancer, NCI director Richard D. Klausner, MD, told a Senate subcommittee.
Raloxifene and Tamoxifen Reduce Breast Cancer Risk
June 1st 1998ASCO--Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who took raloxifene (Evista) for 2½ years to prevent fractures also had a significant 70% reduction in breast cancer risk, according to results of the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation (MORE), reported at ASCO.
Emotional Support Groups Produce Mixed Results For Breast Cancer Patients
June 1st 1998A Carnegie Mellon University study of women with breast cancer has shown that those with strong social or family networks and a good relationship with their oncologist may not benefit from participation in emotional support groups and may, in fact,
Common Mutations Linked to Increased Breast Cancer Risk
June 1st 1998Women with common variations in the class of enzyme known as glutathione S-transferase (GST), which detoxify carcinogens, are at increased risk of developing breast cancer, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.
Xeloda Available for Resistant Metastatic Breast Cancer
June 1st 1998NUTLEY, NJ--Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. has received accelerated approval from the Food and Drug Administration for Xeloda (capecitabine), making it the first approved oral anticancer drug for patients with metastatic breast cancer whose tumors are resistant to standard chemotherapy with paclitaxel (Taxol) and an anthracycline-containing regimen.
Variations in Charges for Two Major Breast Cancer Surgeries, U.S., 1996
June 1st 1998In 1996, the total in-hospital charges for the primary treatment of women with breast cancer with a modified radical mastectomy averaged $10,000 throughout the United States. The total charge (hospital plus physician’s fees) varied by 95% between the high charge reported in New York ($12,690) and the low charge in Michigan ($6,510). The hospital portion of the bill averaged 65% of the total and ranged from 51% in New York to 74% in Virginia. The average length of stay for these women was 2.39 days and ranged from 3.18 days in New York to 1.69 and 1.66 days in Washington and Arizona, respectively. The average charge for a partial mastectomy was $8,760, with notable variations between states. The Texas total charge was the highest ($12,890, some 47% above the US norm) and more than twice the low charge in Ohio ($6,080, 31% below the US average). The physicians’ charges averaged $3,330 for the country as a whole and accounted for 38% of the bill. This proportion ranged from 46% of the total in New York to 70% in Indiana and Colorado. The average length of hospitalization for a partial mastectomy was 1.84 days. On average, women remained in the hospital for the longest time in New Jersey (2.78 days) and for the shortest time in Oregon and Massachusetts (1.40 days and 1.45 days, respectively).[ONCOLOGY 12(6):889-902, 1998]
Commentary (Frazee)-Stereotactic Breast Biopsy: Indications and Results
June 1st 1998Methods for detecting breast cancer are evolving as new technology provides a wider range of options for screening and definitive diagnosis. In addition to mammography and physical examination, screening techniques now include ultrasonography, technetium-99m sestamibi nuclear scanning, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Commentary (Parker)-Stereotactic Breast Biopsy: Indications and Results
June 1st 1998A decade has passed since the first stereotactic-guided histologic breast biopsy was performed. Initially, the large-scale implementation of this technique met with a great deal of resistance from most surgeons, and more surprisingly, from many breast radiologists in academia.
Marsupial Pouch Houses Surgical Drainage Tubes
June 1st 1998PRINCETON, NJ--The Marsupial Pouch, designed to help women cope with temporary surgical drains following breast surgery, is being distributed nationwide by Derma Sciences Inc. Designed by a two-time breast cancer survivor, the product is an adjustable terry cloth belt with an attachable pouch to house the drainage tubes.
High IGF-I Levels Tied to Increased Prostate Cancer Risk
June 1st 1998NEW ORLEANS--High concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in the circulation identify the men most at risk of prostate cancer as well as the women at highest risk of premenopausal breast cancer, according to results presented at the 89th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Stereotactic Breast Biopsy: Indications and Results
June 1st 1998This paper will address various issues relevant to core-needle biopsy of the breast under stereotactic imaging guidance. Patient and equipment selection, indications, contraindications, complications, limitations, and advantages will be discussed. The role of stereotactic core biopsy in patient management will also be addressed.
Risk Assessment: Who Should Have BRCA Gene Testing
May 1st 1998NEW ORLEANS--Most women with a family history of breast cancer have a familial predisposition to the disease, rather than true hereditary breast cancer. A comprehensive family history should guide the recommendations regarding testing for a genetic mutation, which, at about $2,400, should not be taken lightly, said speakers at an AMA-sponsored program on genetic medicine and the practicing physician.
Nancy Reagan’s Choice of Mastectomy Seems to Have Influenced Many Breast Cancer Patients
May 1st 1998A new study from the Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center has shown that celebrity role models can influence decisions about medical care. The national study of breast cancer treatment patterns following Mrs. Ronald Reagan’s decision to have a mastectomy in 1987 showed that 25% fewer women than expected underwent lumpectomy or breast-conserving surgery.