Breast cancer

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop computational algorithms to best determine tumor responses early after the start of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, based on quantitative ultrasound (QUS) and textural analysis in patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). METHODS: A total of 100 LABC patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy were included in this study. Breast tumors were scanned with a clinical ultrasound system prior to treatment, during the first, fourth and eighth weeks of treatment, and prior to surgery...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with a high risk of recurrence and generally a bad prognosis. More than one-third of patients with TNBC will present distant metastases during the course of their disease. Although chemotherapy has been the main treatment option for metastatic TNBC for a long time, this scenario has changed recently with the advent of the polyadenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPis) for patients harbouring a mutation in the BRCA genes (BRCAmut) and also with the results of immunotherapy in patients with PD-L1-positive tumours...

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality in early-stage breast cancer survivors. Recent studies suggest that bisphosphonates may decrease CVD risk in older patients. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to assess whether bisphosphonate use is associated with lower rates of incident CVD events among early-stage breast cancer survivors. METHODS: Longitudinal, population-based cohort study was conducted by using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry linked to Medicare claims...

INTRODUCTION: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-obligate precursor of invasive ductal breast cancer, and approximately 20% of screen-detected tumours are pure DCIS. Most risk factors for breast cancer have similar associations with DCIS and IDC; however, there is limited data on the prevalence of the known high and moderate penetrance breast cancer predisposition genes in DCIS and which women with DCIS should be referred for genetic screening. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of germline variants in BRCA2, BRCA1, CHEK2, PALB2 and TP53 in DCIS in women aged less than 50 years of age...

In cancer patients, metastasis of tumors to sentinel lymph nodes (LNs) predicts disease progression and often guides treatment decisions. The mechanisms underlying tumor LN metastasis are poorly understood. By using comparative transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses of primary and LN-metastatic tumors in mice, we found that LN metastasis requires that tumor cells undergo a metabolic shift toward fatty acid oxidation (FAO). Transcriptional coactivator yes-associated protein (YAP) is selectively activated in LN-metastatic tumors, leading to the up-regulation of genes in the FAO signaling pathway...

BACKGROUND: The prognostic equivalence between mastectomy and breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiotherapy was shown in pivotal trials conducted decades ago. Since then, detection and treatment of breast cancer have improved substantially and recent retrospective analyses point towards a survival benefit for less extensive breast surgery. Evidence for the association of such survival data with locoregional recurrence rates is largely lacking. METHODS: The Swedish Multicentre Cohort Study prospectively included clinically node-negative patients with breast cancer who had planned sentinel node biopsy between 2000 and 2004...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The 21-gene Oncotype DX® Breast Recurrence Score® (RS) assay has been prospectively validated as prognostic and predictive in node-negative, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/HER2- breast cancer patients. Less is known about its prognostic role in node-positive breast cancer. We compared RS results among patients with lymph node-negative (N0), micrometastatic (N1mi), and macrometastatic (N+) breast cancer to determine if nodal metastases are associated with more aggressive biology, as determined by RS...

OBJECTIVES: To explore the association between the ultrasound (US) characteristics of breast tumors with axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM) and Ki-67 expression in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: In total, 527 consecutive patients with breast cancer who had undergone US examinations and curative surgery with axillary lymph node evaluations were included. The size, shape, aspect ratio, margin, internal echo, internal calcification, posterior echo attenuation, lymphatic hilar structure, cortical thickness, and blood flow of the axillary lymph nodes or primary breast lesions were observed with conventional US...

The 1st International Consensus Conference for Breast Cancer in Young Women (BCY1) took place in November 2012, in Dublin, Ireland organized by the European School of Oncology (ESO). Consensus recommendations for management of breast cancer in young women were developed and areas of research priorities were identified. This manuscript summarizes these international consensus recommendations, which are also endorsed by the European Society of Breast Specialists (EUSOMA).

IMPORTANCE: Recent data from clinical trials have challenged traditional thinking about axillary surgery in patients with breast cancer. OBJECTIVES: To summarize evidence regarding the role of axillary interventions (surgical and nonsurgical) in breast cancer treatment and to review the association of these axillary interventions with recurrence of axillary node metastases, mortality, and morbidity outcomes in patients with breast cancer. EVIDENCE REVIEW: Ovid MEDLINE (1946-July 2013), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (2005-July 2013), Cochrane Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (1994-July 2013), and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (1989-July 2013) were searched for publications on axillary interventions in breast cancer...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer subtypes (BCS) determined from immunohistochemical staining have been correlated with molecular subtypes and associated with prognosis and outcomes, but there are limited data correlating these BCS and axillary node involvement. This study was conducted to assess whether BCS predicted for nodal metastasis or was associated with other clinicopathologic features at presentation. METHODS: Patients with stage I/II disease who underwent breast-conserving surgery and axillary surgical assessment with available tissue blocks underwent a institutional pathological review and construction of a tissue microarray...

BACKGROUND: The current practice of completion axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) for patients with a positive sentinel lymph node (SLN) is being questioned. This led us to examine the outcomes of patients with positive SLNs undergoing mastectomy who underwent ALND compared with those who did not. METHODS: A retrospective review of cancer registry data identified 561 women with stages 1 to 3 breast cancer with positive SLNs who underwent mastectomy between 2000 and 2010...