Breast Cancer

Data from a brand new survey addressed some of the emotional issues faced by physicians when treating and delivering a diagnosis of advanced breast cancer.

Sara Hurvitz, MD, highlights key points on the PIK3CA mutation, and addresses several other key topics in the field of breast cancer.

Julie R. Gralow, MD, discusses the use of bisphosphonates in early-stage breast cancer.

Elisa K. Chan, MD, discusses improving mammography screening rates with signed letters from physicians. Chan worked for the BC Cancer Agency during the study.

The addition of trastuzumab to fulvestrant prolonged responses compared with fulvestrant alone for certain patients with metastatic breast cancer.

A novel HER2-derived peptide vaccine designed to stimulate CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes reduced the rate of breast cancer recurrence and proved safe and well tolerated in the adjuvant setting.

The PARP inhibitor veliparib exhibits antitumor activity and is safe and tolerable on a continuous dosing schedule when used for the treatment of patients with BRCA-positive and BRCA-wild type tumors.

Long-term follow-up of a phase III clinical trial shows strong trends toward a greater likelihood of resuming menses and becoming pregnant when a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) analog is administered with chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer

Breast conserving therapy (BCT) improves overall survival compared with other local treatments in patients with stage I breast cancer, according to an examination of the National Cancer Database (NCDB).

Mark Sisco, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, NorthShore Univeristy HealthSystem, discusses the results of a NSQIP analysis of 30-day complications after bilateral versus unilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction

Sunil Verma, MD, MSEd, FRCPC, associate professor, University of Toronto, chair, Breast Medical Oncology, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, discusses targeting HER2 in early-stage breast cancer.

Although hormone-targeting strategies have been a mainstay of prostate and breast cancer therapies for decades, an improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying these malignancies has led researchers to focus fresh attention on the complex activity of the androgen receptor (AR) as a point of attack.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has released a new clinical practice guideline on the treatment of patients with advanced HER2-negative breast cancer.

Debu Tripathy, MD, co-leader, Women's Cancer Program, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, provides an overview of the SystHERs registry.

The actress Angelina Jolie's decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation-associated with an increased risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer-apparently sparked an "Angelina effect" on public health.

The combination of multiple independent factors minimized the impact of baseline stage for predicting locoregional recurrence (LRR) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer, according to a large retrospective analysis presented in advance of the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium.

One of the first studies to prospectively examine women's breast surgery preferences has revealed that newly diagnosed women with breast cancer who decide to undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), may be making this decision as result of high anxiety and fear of recurrence, rather than relying on evidence-based information.

Postsurgery complications are infrequent among breast cancer patients undergoing surgery with reconstruction; however, according to a large database study, the rates of certain complications, including reoperation, blood transfusion, and implant loss, are higher with bilateral mastectomy versus unilateral mastectomy.

Women who received signed letters from their family physician along with scheduled postcard reminders are more likely to return for mammography screening than women who only received a postcard

Claudine Isaacs, MD, professor, medical director, Fisher Center for Familial Cancer Research, co-director, Breast Cancer Program, Georgetown University/Lombardi Cancer Center, discusses the importance of genetic counseling and the role of the genetic counselor

Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau, MD, PhD, medical director, Sarah Canon Research Institute, discusses an exploratory analysis of AZD4547 in patients with advanced tumors.

Although advances in endocrine therapy for women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer have been made in recent years, de novo and acquired resistance to treatments remain important clinical problems, and efforts to identify effective modalities to overcome this challenge continue.

Although no cytotoxic agents are currently correlated with specific subtypes of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), recent findings indicate that targeting genomic stability, antimetastatic mechanisms, and protein expression characteristics are promising approaches for future TNBC treatments.

Olivia Pagani, MD, Institute of Oncology, Southern Switzerland, discusses the result of a joint analysis of two phase III trials involving a total of 4690 premenopausal women with hormone-receptor–positive (HR+) breast cancer who were treated with the aromatase inhibitor exemestane.

Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, associate chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, discusses whether or not adjuvant bisphosphonates are ready to be a new standard of care in breast cancer.