Breast Cancer

Dr Sara Hurvitz provides an overview of HER2+ breast cancer, and Dr Ruta Rao details the frontline treatment options available for metastatic cases.

Ruta Rao, MD, presents the case of a 36-year-old woman with metastatic HER2+ breast cancer and brain metastases.

Bria-IMT has been granted fast track designation by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Between 2004 to 2016, investigators reported that mammography rates decreased among breast cancer survivors.

A significant proportion of patients with nonclonal ductal carcinoma in situ were found to have recurrence that was not genetically linked to the primary tumor.

Prospective data found higher rates of occult signet ring cell gastric cancer among individuals with no family history of gastric cancer but who carried CDH1 P/LP variants.

Patients with clinically lymph node–positive breast cancer who achieved cN0 disease following treatment neoadjuvant chemotherapy with 3 or more negative sentinel lymphoma nodes identified by sentinel lymphoma node biopsy alone had a decrease in nodal recurrence.

A survey of United States breast oncologists suggested that racial differences exist in the perceived barriers to accessing genetic counseling and testing for patients with breast cancer.

The second follow-up analysis of the OlympiA trial showed a statistically significant improvment in overall survival with use of adjuvant olaparib to treat germline BRCA1/2 mutation–associated breast cancer.

The BRACAnalysis CDx test received FDA approval as a companion diagnostic for olaparib for the treatment of patients with germline BRCA-mutated HER2 negative high-risk early-stage breast cancer.

Axillary ultrasound and biopsy appear to be an effective strategy to identify nodal disease in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer.

The FDA approval of olaparib comes from the results of the phase 3 OlympiA trial that tested the treatment vs a placebo.

Treatment with sacituzumab govitecan-hziy in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer who previously received treatment with endocrine therapy, CDK4/6 inhibitors, and 2 to 4 lines of chemotherapy resulted in a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival vs physician’s choice of chemotherapy.

In patients with postmenopausal breast cancer treated with tamoxifen and 2 to 3 years of letrozole, an additional 5-years of letrozole yielded an improvement in disease-free survival.

Compared with a wait-list control group, mindful awareness practices and survivorship education significantly reduced depressive symptoms from preintervention to postintervention in younger survivors of breast cancer.

Assessing adverse effects with a toxicity index and patient-reported outcomes at baseline and treatment-emergent toxicities revealed insights into why postmenopausal patients with ductal carcinoma in situ discontinued endocrine therapy.

Patients with stage II/III HER2-negative breast cancer who were treated with daily high-dose aspirin did not experience an improvement in invasive disease-free survival.

Advice for community physicians treating HER2+ breast cancer.

A phase 3 study from China identified that gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs administered with chemotherapy reduced the risk of premature ovarian insufficiency among premenopausal patients with breast cancer.

Treatment with an aromatase inhibitor appears to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence in patients who are premenopausal and undergoing ovarian suppression vs tamoxifen.

Dr. Virginia Kaklamani discusses the role of maintenance therapies for HER2+ breast cancer.

Virginia Kaklamani, MD, DSc, provides an overview of the goals of care for HER2+ breast cancer.

Breast cancer risk was estimated among survivors of pediatric cancer who were treated with chest radiation with a newly developed and validated breast cancer risk prediction model.

The FDA has given a fast track designation to gedatolisib as a treatment for patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

“If we can understand the mechanisms of resistance to be able to monitor [patients] in real time, then we will be able to turn many cases of cancer into chronic diseases.”