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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reminding patients and health-care providers that the safety and effectiveness of robotically assisted surgical devices for use in mastectomy procedures or in the prevention or treatment of breast cancer have not been established. In addition, the FDA...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Elizabeth A. Salerno, PhD, MPH, and colleagues found that higher levels of physical activity before and during chemotherapy in women with early-stage breast cancer was associated with better cognitive function outcomes at up to 6 months...
Prediction models based on clinical characteristics and imaging findings may help reduce the false-positive rate in women with dense breasts who undergo supplemental breast cancer screening with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), according to a study published by den Dekker et al in the journal...
Researchers have determined how a highly aggressive type of breast cancer may evade treatment with the compound sacituzumab govitecan-hziy, according to findings published by Coates et al in Cancer Discovery. Their results could help improve therapy and ultimately prolong survival for patients with ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jayasekera et al have developed a clinical decision tool called BTxChoice that can be used with or without the 21-gene recurrence score to estimate the potential benefit of adjuvant chemoendocrine vs endocrine therapy in women with node-negative,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Roisin M. Connolly, MB, BCh, MD, and colleagues, the phase III ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group E2112 trial showed no significant improvement in progression-free or overall survival with the addition of the histone deacetylase inhibitor entinostat...
In a study conducted by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group and reported in The Lancet Oncology by Bradley et al, an individual patient data meta-analysis of randomized trials has shown that the addition of adjuvant trastuzumab to chemotherapy reduces the risk of disease...
In a study of National Cancer Database data reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Salazar et al found little difference in baseline cancer mortality rates between U.S. states that expanded Medicaid enrollment and nonexpansion states prior to expansion in 2009 and immediately following...
A recent study examined patient-reported outcomes and risk-management behaviors of women choosing to receive or decline their breast cancer polygenic risk scores (PRS). The findings were published by Tatiane Yanes, PhD, and colleagues in Genetics in Medicine. The research aimed to look at how the...
The invited discussant of GeparNuevo,1 Melinda L. Telli, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, Director of the Breast Cancer Program at the Stanford Cancer Institute, and Associate Director of the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center, welcomed the additional data...
In the phase II GeparNuevo trial, patients with early triple-negative breast cancer receiving the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab in addition to chemotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy saw improvements in long-term outcomes. The results were presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting by Sibylle Loibl, MD,...
Triple-negative breast cancer is a particularly devastating subtype of breast cancer, as it is often diagnosed in young women and is associated with an exceptionally poor prognosis. The “triple-negative” designation indicates that the three key features driving most breast cancers (estrogen...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael Gnant, MD, and colleagues found no difference in disease-free survival with 2 vs 5 years of treatment with the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole in postmenopausal women with early hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast...
A study published by Nowakowska et al in the journal Cancer has found a significant association between the use of cholesterol-lowering statins and survival rates of patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Since statins are relatively inexpensive, easy to access, and produce minimal side...
Among women undergoing surgery for breast cancer, up to 13% will have a postoperative visit to an emergency department, according to recent research. A new study published by Falcone et al in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment discovered there is a greater likelihood that Hispanic and...
The latest analysis of the pivotal phase III KEYNOTE-522 trial demonstrated significant improvements in clinical outcomes with pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy vs chemotherapy alone as a neoadjuvant/adjuvant treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.1 This is the first large, randomized, phase III...
In a single-center retrospective study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Robinson et al found a vaccine-related axillary adenopathy incidence rate of 3% among women undergoing screening or diagnostic mammography within 90 days of receipt of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine....
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Boddicker et al found that women older than age 65 in the general population who carry germline pathogenic variants in established high-risk breast cancer predisposition genes remain at significant risk of late-onset breast cancer and should...
For the neoadjuvant treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, the oral poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor talazoparib yielded promising pathologic complete response rates in the phase II single-arm NEOTALA trial presented at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Preoperative chemotherapy is...
The percentage of patients with inflammatory breast cancer who select reconstructive surgery after mastectomy—whether immediate or delayed—remains low in spite of improvements in treatment and long-term survival, but the numbers are increasing, according to recent research published by Karadsheh et ...
“KAITLIN didnot meet its primary endpoint, either in the intent-to-treat or node-positive population,1 but in context with the APHINITY trial [1 year of adjuvant pertuzumab/trastuzumab plus chemotherapy],2 whose outcomes were similar at 3 years, you can appreciate that both arms did extremely...
In the phase III KAITLIN trial, replacing adjuvant taxane and trastuzumab with ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) did not result in a significant improvement in invasive disease–free survival in the node-positive or intent-to-treat population of women with high-risk, HER2-positive early breast...
On July 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer in combination with chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment, and then continued as a single agent as adjuvant treatment after surgery. The FDA also...
In this video, Drs. Sara A. Hurvitz, William J. Gradishar, and Sara M. Tolaney discuss the current treatment landscape for hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER-positive metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Hurvitz presents the case of a 34-year-old woman with de novo metastatic estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor–positive, HER2-positive breast cancer that has metastasized to the liver, bones, and lungs. The faculty discuss the optimal first-line treatment strategy for this patient and review the data surrounding the use of different dual HER2-directed therapies.
In this video, Drs. Sara A. Hurvitz, William J. Gradishar, and Sara M. Tolaney turn their discussion to treatment options for HER2-positive breast cancer. Dr. Hurvitz presents a case of a 62-year-old woman diagnosed with high-grade cT1N1 estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/progesterone receptor–negative, HER2-positive breast cancer. The faculty discuss whether anthracycline-based regimens should still be utilized in the neoadjuvant setting and the role of T-DM1 as adjuvant therapy for residual disease.
In this video, Drs. Sara A. Hurvitz, William J. Gradishar, and Sara M. Tolaney discuss the management of hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer. The faculty present the case of a 54-year-old perimenopausal Black woman who has been diagnosed with high-grade T3N1 left breast cancer that is estrogen receptor–positive, progesterone receptor–negative, and HER2-negative. They discuss the utility of genomic assays in helping guide selection of endocrine therapy vs chemotherapy, as well as the use of adjuvant CDK4/6 inhibitors such as palbociclib, abemaciclib, and ribociclib.
In this video, Drs. Sara A. Hurvitz, William J. Gradishar, and Sara M. Tolaney discuss current treatment options for newly diagnosed HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Hurvitz presents the case of a 49-year-old perimenopausal Latina woman with intermediate-grade T2N1 left breast cancer that is estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor–positive and HER2-negative, with bone and liver metastases. The faculty walk through how they would choose between chemotherapy and endocrine-based options for this patient and discuss recent data on CDK4/6 inhibitors showing improved outcomes in the first-line setting.
According to George W. Sledge, Jr, MD, FASCO, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Oncology at Stanford University Medical Center, by the beginning of the next decade, clinicians will be aided by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in many facets of care and by the approval of a wave of new ...
Patients with ultra-low–risk breast cancer, as classified by the MammaPrint 70-gene assay, had “excellent” long-term outcomes regardless of clinical risk or receipt of adjuvant therapy, a new analysis of the MINDACT trial has shown.1 In a separate study, a retrospective analysis of the National...
From the moment I felt a searing pain go through my right breast, I had a premonition that something was very wrong. Although I couldn’t feel anything unusual when I did a breast self-exam, I made an appointment with my gynecologist for a more thorough clinical breast exam and a mammogram. Because...
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women of reproductive age. Approximately 10% of breast cancers are diagnosed in this age group.1 Young age at diagnosis is an adverse prognostic factor, and most young women will be offered chemotherapy and/or endocrine therapy, both of which ...
Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted special designation status to treatments for myelodysplastic syndromes and advanced triple-negative breast cancer. Breakthrough Therapy Designation for Venetoclax in Combination With Azacitidine for Myelodysplastic Syndromes Venetoclax...
In a pooled analysis of individual patient data from breast cancer neoadjuvant clinical trials reported in The Lancet Oncology, Carsten Denkert, MD, and colleagues found that pathologic complete response and survival rates for patients with HER2-low–positive vs HER2-zero tumors differed according...
In the phase III REACT trial reported in JAMA Oncology, R. Charles Coombes, MD, PhD, and colleagues found no disease-free survival benefit with the addition of 2 years of adjuvant celecoxib vs placebo to conventional adjuvant treatment in patients with HER2-negative breast cancer. Study Details...
A report published by Oba et al in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer shares new data on combining standard treatment for breast cancer with a particular form of cancer immunotherapy—dendritic cell vaccines. The study is reportedly the first to demonstrate that in situ dendritic cell vaccines...
In a Swedish cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, de Boniface et al found that breast-conserving surgery plus radiation therapy for women with breast cancer was associated with better survival vs mastectomy with or without radiotherapy in analysis adjusting for comorbidities and socioeconomic...
A study from the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP) estimates that annual costs associated with metastatic breast cancer treatment among women in the United States will total $152.4 billion in 2030—nearly two and a half times the estimate for 2015 costs—due to an increase ...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Matteo Lambertini, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that breast cancer survivors were less likely to have subsequent pregnancy vs the general population and more likely to have preterm birth. However, no reduction...
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, elective medical procedures, including screenings for breast cancer, were curtailed to prioritize urgent medical needs and reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus in health-care settings. A study showed that, as of May 2020, preventive...
In a Canadian population-based retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Ethier et al identified real-world survival outcomes among women receiving pertuzumab and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) for stage IV HER2-positive breast cancer, observing that outcomes appeared to be poorer than...
Terry P. Mamounas, MD, MPH, of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, discusses results from the NRG Oncology/NSABP B-42 study, which examined the Breast Cancer Index and its ability to predict whether extended treatment with letrozole benefits patients with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer (Abstract 501).
Invited discussant of the Short-HER trial, Evandro de Azambuja, MD, PhD, Head of the Medical Support Team at the Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels, acknowledged the good outcomes in low- and intermediate-risk patients treated with either a short or long duration of trastuzumab but said 1 year of the...
Long-term analysis of the Short-HER trial showed that 9 weeks of adjuvant trastuzumab conveyed benefits comparable to a 1-year course in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer deemed to be at low or intermediate risk for recurrence. High-risk patients, however, derived considerably more...
Melinda L. Telli, MD, of Stanford University, discusses results of a phase II study on neoadjuvant talazoparib in germline BRCA1/2 mutation–positive, early HER2-negative breast cancer. In this setting, talazoparib monotherapy was active and yielded pathologic complete response rates comparable to those observed with combination anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy regimens (Abstract 505).
India has witnessed a major paradigm shift in the field of breast cancer and its management over the past 4 decades. The discipline of medical oncology has evolved exponentially over this period—a growth that few other scientific disciplines have experienced. Interventions at the individual,...
EA1131 study discussant, Melinda Telli, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Director of the Breast Cancer Program at the Stanford Cancer Institute, and Associate Director of the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center, commented: “At this point,1 capecitabine remains preferred as...
In patients with triple-negative breast cancer who have residual disease after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant capecitabine remains the standard of care. In the multicenter randomized noninferiority EA1131 trial, which included primarily basal tumors, noninferiority of adjuvant platinum over...
The first overall survival analysis of the WGS-ADAPT HER2+/HR– study, which evaluated neoadjuvant therapy in patients with hormone receptor–negative, HER2-positive disease, showed that treatment with pertuzumab and trastuzumab plus paclitaxel—or with the chemotherapy-free regimen of...
In a study reported in TheNew England Journal of Medicine, Leila Dorling, PhD, of the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Departments of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and colleagues in the international Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC),...
In a cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Hart et al found that treatment with either neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy was not associated with an increased risk of complications or poorer patient-reported outcomes in women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer with immediate breast...