Breast Cancer

Two groups of researchers have separately concluded that use of Herceptin (trastuzumab) in combination with standard anthracycline-based chemotherapy is cost effective as adjuvant therapy for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer

Proliferating macrophages (promacs) in invasive breast tumors predict worse outcomes and are particularly frequent in breast cancers from women in West Africa

Ultrasound-guided placement of a balloon catheter for partial breast brachytherapy can be safely delayed until after the final pathology report has confirmed that the patient is a candidate for the procedure, according to a new study.

Long-term (median, 51 months) follow-up data from the Breast International Group (BIG) I-98 trial support earlier findings that the aromatase inhibitor letrozole (Femara) is more effective than tamoxifen as initial postsurgery therapy for early breast cancer

A planned interimanalysis of a phase II internationalstudy of first-line nab-paclitaxel(Abraxane) vs docetaxel (Taxotere) inchemonaive patients with stage IV breastcancer shows nab-paclitaxel yielded longerprogression-free survival (PFS) at alldose levels tested.

A triplet of biweeklyneoadjuvant gemcitabine (Gemzar),epirubicin (Ellence), and nabpaclitaxel(Abraxane) (GEA) was "exceptionally well tolerated" andproduced a 94% overall pathologicresponse in women with locallyadvanced breast cancer.

A GermanAGO Group multicenter randomizedphase III trial by Volker J. Moebus, MD,et al has confirmed the benefit of dosedense(DD) ETC chemotherapy in highriskearly breast cancer.

In a phase II,multicenter open-label study, Lee S.Schwartzberg, MD, et al evaluated 50patients with metastatic breast cancertreated with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane)at 125 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8 andcapecitabine (Xeloda) at 825 mg/m2 bidon days 1–14 of a q3wk cycle (abstract1096).

Weekly first-linetherapy with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane)was well tolerated and showed strongclinical responses in taxane-refractorylocally advanced or metastatic breast cancer,report researchers from the InternationalOncology Network.

Progress continues in the investigation of cytotoxicchemotherapy for breast cancer, and recentdata have yielded important new insights.

Interest has been growing for several years in determining the prognostic significance of micrometastases and isolated tumor cells (ITCs) in the lymph nodes of breast cancer patients.

Postmenopausal breast cancer patients who received exemestane (Aromasin) after 5 years of tamoxifen cut their risk of relapse by half

Breast cancer patients across the nation will soon have a way to match themselves with a clinical trial

Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) may be an effective and well-tolerated alternative to standard radiotherapy in early-stage breast cancer, and partial breast irradiation with interstitial brachytherapy also appears feasible in women who have had a recurrence after previous breast radiotherapy

An investigational gene-based diagnostic assessment for lymph node metastases may improve intraoperative pathology and surgical decision-making, and reduce the need for second axillary node surgeries

The standard treatment for early breast cancer—AC/T— was not as effective as two regimens used in Canada in preventing recurrences. Specifically, CEF and a novel regimen, dose-dense EC/T, were both more effective than AC/T in the MA.21 study

In younger patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), boost irradiation reduced local recurrences by at least half when added to standard radiotherapy, Gunther Gruber, MD

The investigational agent lapatinib (Tykerb) when added to paclitaxel has significant clinical activity as neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)

This month, we offer an example of persistence by the patient and her family resulting in a reversal of coverage denial.

In the clinical practice setting, almost a quarter of women treated for breast cancer stop tamoxifen within 1 year, a rate twice as high as indicated by previous studies.

Nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel, Abraxane) given weekly outperformed docetaxel (Taxotere) given every 3 weeks as first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

A mind-body technique known as self-hypnotic relaxation performed during certain medical procedures significantly reduces pain, anxiety, drug use, and complications.

Reversing a decades-old trend, the incidence of invasive breast cancer dropped dramatically in 2003, relative to 2002, possibly a result of postmenopausal women discontinuing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) due to breast cancer concerns

Bisphosphonates are an important part of managing bony metastasis of prostate, breast, lung, and other cancers but can cause osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) in some patients.

A random sampling of 2.3% of the imaging centers that meet Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) certification showed that the national median cash price for a screening mammogram is more than double the price that is reimbursed by Medicare.

In a randomized trial, breast cancer patients who underwent postoperative intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) had a markedly reduced incidence of moist desquamation and overall skin toxicity, compared with those receiving standard radiation therapy.

In its second annual "Clinical Cancer Advances" report, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) selected six notable developments in clinical cancer research as most important in 2006.

In a new study, elasticity imaging software was highly sensitive and specific when classifying malignant and benign breast lesions

New subgroup analyses from the Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) Investigators Group confirm previous results that digital screening mammography is significantly more accurate than film screening mammography in young women with dense breasts but not in women overall.

A second interim efficacy analysis of the phase III Breast Cancer International Research Group (BCIRG) 006 study confirmed the benefits reported previously for docetaxel (Taxotere)-plus-trastuzumab (Herceptin) regimens in early HER2-positive breast cancer, and further showed a higher rate of toxicity for anthracycline-based regimens.