Breast Cancer

CHICAGO-Ten years ago, breast cancer was a subject women did not often read about in magazines or see on TV. Races had not yet been run, and a pink ribbon was still just a pink ribbon. Then in 1985, three organizations created what was then called Breast Cancer Awareness Week, and the public's demand for information about breast cancer was first recognized.

Available data show that women tend to overestimate their risk of developing breast cancer. Available models allow for the rapid identification of women who are at increased risk for breast cancer, along with a quantitative

NEW YORK--Avon's Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, which has raised $10 million through the sales of its $2 pink ribbon pin, has now introduced a pink-enameled ballpoint pen. The new pen, which bears the ribbon motif on its clip, will be available in October, 1995, at a cost of $3.

NEW YORK--Early detection of breast cancer may be improved when CA 15-3 and tissue polypeptide-specific antigen (TPS) are used in conjunction with mammography and palpation, Vivian Barak, PhD, of Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital, Jerusalem, said at the 12th Annual International Conference on Human Tumor Markers.

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa--Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Inc.'s Taxotere (docetaxel) has received approval from the Canadian Health Protection Branch for use as second-line treatment of advanced breast and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The new drug submission was based on clinical trials involving more than 800 patients worldwide.

DALLAS--Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast has recently generated much excitement as a means of improving the specificity of mam-mography and thus reducing the number of negative biopsies, Steven E. Harms, MD, of Baylor University Medical Center, said in an interview with Oncology News International.

WASHINGTON--Breast cancer leads the list of diseases for which malpractice claims have been filed in the last decade, according to a study from the Physician Insurers Association of America. Of 117,000 claims filed since 1985, about 2,500 involved breast cancer.

NEW YORK--The identification of prostate-specific antigen immunoreactivity (IR-PSA) in some cases of breast cancer has raised the possibility that PSA could be used as a biochemical marker for prognosis of breast cancer.

Endocrine therapy has been shown to be effective therapy for women with all stages of breast cancer, and the nonsteroidal antiestrogen tamoxifen is being evaluated as a potential preventive agent for this disease. Kimmick and Muss review the use of endocrine therapy for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. They discuss the basis for endocrine therapy and potential mechanisms of endocrine resistance, currently available and new agents, as well as new areas of investigation. I would like to highlight a few practical points regarding the use of endocrine therapy in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and some key areas of research.

This year approximately 200,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. Primary surgical treatment plus adjuvant therapy will cure two-thirds of these patients. The remainder, unfortunately, will experience disease recurrence at varying intervals after surgery.

Hormonal manipulation is currently the mainstay of palliative care for metastatic breast cancer because it is well tolerated and produces significant responses in approximately one-third of unselected patients. Tamoxifen, a nonsteroidal antiestrogen, is currently considered first-line therapy. Second-line agents include progestins and aromatase inhibitors.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla--Breast cancer litigation is "a world whose activity is sometimes built upon old science, no science, or junk science," said Kenneth Kern, MD, of Hartford Hospital and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington. In a presentation at the 12th Annual International Breast Cancer Conference, Dr. Kern offered the audience a "road map" for entry into that world.

BALTIMORE--Breast cancer is preventable, says Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Jonathan Samet, MD. "But we don't yet know how to do it."

HACKENSACK, NJ--The use of high-dose chemotherapy followed by bone marrow or stem cell transplantation (BMT) for metastatic breast cancer continues to be controversial, partially because of concerns that it is not cost effective, Christopher E. Desch, MD, said at a conference sponsored by the Northern New Jersey Cancer Center, Hackensack Medical Center.

Even though they may be jeopardizing their future health, nearlyone quarter of women who find lumps or other possible breast cancer

BALTIMORE--Irradiation of the chest wall following mastectomy has had an up and down history as breast cancer therapy. Now, says Allen S. Lichter, MD, director of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan Medical Center, it is time to take another look at its value for patients with local or regional disease after surgery.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla--Between 1 and 2 million women in the United States have received silicone-gel-filled implants for breast augmentation, and, based on the general population risk, about 10% will ultimately develop breast cancer.

PARIS, France--Since 1991, breast cancer has been the most common diagnosis for which bone marrow transplants are performed. Therapy-related mortality has plunged to 6% or less, and the procedure's popularity has grown steadily to the point where more than a quarter of transplants for breast cancer are now done in women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for stages II and III disease.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla--Six studies of women with silicone breast implants and no personal history of breast cancer have all found a relative risk of breast cancer of less than 1.0 (range, .24 to .67).

Dr. Smith's excellent article summarizes the preclinical and clinical data obtained to date on the role of vinorelbine (Navelbine) in women with breast cancer. Introducing a new agent into the arena of breast cancer is fraught with logistic

Vinorelbine tartrate (Navelbine) is a new semisynthetic vinca alkaloid with efficacy against a variety of solid tumors, including non-small-cell lung cancer, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, and Hodgkin's lymphoma.

This is a timely, comprehensive overview of the current status of vinorelbine (Navelbine) in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. For most patients with advanced breast cancer, there is no clear evidence that chemotherapy prolongs survival, although it can achieve clear improvements in quality of life [1].

ATLANTA--The American Cancer Society's research program has awarded a $75,000 planning grant to the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC), based in Geneva, Switzerland, to study the feasibility of conducting a long-term international study on the effects of mammography in reducing breast cancer mortality in women in their 40s.

Payment for bone marrow transplant (BMT) therapy for breast cancer from a managed care perspective will be influenced by clinical arguments put forth by research and clinical communities, outcomes measures over time, and the subscription

ASCO LOS ANGELES--Two multi-institutional phase II studies of recombinant human anti-HER2/NEU antibody (rhuMAb HER2) in heavily pretreated stage IV breast cancer patients show some impressive responses, including some hepatic responses and a 25% response rate in patients given the antibody plus cisplatin (Platinol).

WILMINGTON, Del--Zeneca Pharmaceuticals has filed a new drug application (NDA) for the use of Arimidex (anastrozole) tablets for the treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women who have progressed following therapy with tamoxifen (Nolvadex).

PARIS, France--University of Chicago researchers have discovered that the combination of a molecular marker of tumor virulence and a marker of metastatic potential can be used to reliably predict outcome in women with node-negative breast cancer, Ruth Heimann, MD, PhD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Radium Society.

WASHINGTON--The National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) has announced its intention to lobby against congressional forces that want to reduce NIH funding. The coalition thus allies itself with professional societies that lobby Congress to increase federal funding for biomedical research.

A dose-intensive outpatient regimen of doxorubicin and CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil) with growth factor support proved to be effective and well tolerated in women with advanced breast cancer, Mark L. Graham,

PARIS, France--Radiation therapy is a reasonable alternative to mastectomy in women with stage IIIA and IIIB breast cancer who respond to aggressive chemohormonal therapy, a prospective trial conducted at the University of Michigan has found.