Breast cancer survivorship continues to rise, but the long-lasting psychosocial and quality-of-life changes that occur after treatment need to be studied, as treatment outcomes can lead to negative side effects that outlast the treatment. More »
Over the past few years, there has been great concern over the presence of alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (parabens) in consumer products and their link to breast cancer. These compounds have been found in human blood, milk, urine, and breast tissue. More »
This article provides a comprehensive summary of the knowledge gained from recent neoadjuvant trials conducted with agents targeting HER2, and will put them into perspective with current treatment recommendations from American and European guidelines. More »
It may not be appropriate, nor always considered standard, to recommend neoadjuvant chemotherapy for all patients for whom adjuvant therapy was recommended before surgery. Indeed, tumor size and nodal status play a role, as do hormone receptors, in determining the appropriate extent of adjuvant... More »
Findings published in the latest issue of Cancer Prevention Research suggest that antiestrogen supplements help decrease the risk of subsequent melanoma in patients with breast cancer. More »
In this podcast, Stephen Rose, MD, president and CEO of Houston Breast Imaging and a principal investigator of the 3-D tomosynthesis clinical trials in 2010,... More »
Lymphedema, swelling caused by a blockage in the lymphatic system, can occur as a result of surgical or radiation therapy associated with breast cancer treatment. Since some research has shown that exercise after breast cancer treatment has been associated with developing lymphedema, clinicians... More »
Bevacizumab (Avastin) improved progression-free survival (PFS) in women with HER2-positive locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer by an average of 3 months when added to standard treatment as first-line therapy in the multinational, randomized, phase III AVEREL study. More »
Addition of pertuzumab to a standard chemotherapy combination of trastuzumab and docetaxel led to a 38% reduction in risk of disease worsening or death in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, reported investigators from the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III... More »
Magnetic resonance imaging’s accuracy in detecting cancer in the lymph nodes of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients is nothing to sniff at – 80 percent with diffusion-weighted MRI and 85 percent with axial T1-weighted MRI, Canadian researchers have reported. But it’s not quite high enough to skip... More »
Reviews the evidence for and against hundreds of preventive health services, recommending tests, and counseling interventions when evidence exists that it is effective.
(1) ACS guidelines for breastcancer screening: update 2003. (2) American Cancer Society Guideline for breast screening with MRI as an adjunct to mammography (2007).
BreastCancer. Epidemiologic studies consistently show that obesity is directly related to mortality from breastcancer, predominantly in postmenopausal women ( 8), but inversely related to the incidence of premenopausal breastcancer ( ... Among
BreastCancer. Guideline: Screening for BreastCancer ( 1989). ... Colorectal Cancer. Guideline: Suggested Technique and Interpretation of the Fecal Occult Blood Test in Colorectal Cancer Screening ( 1997).
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) leads to the generation of cytotoxic oxygen species that appears to stimulate several different signaling pathways, some of which lead to cell death, whereas others mediate cell survival. In this context, we observed that PDT mediated by methyl-5-aminolevulinic acid as the photosensitizer resulted in over-expression of survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family that correlates inversely with patient prognosis. The role of survivin in resistance to anti-cancer therapies has become an area of intensive investigation. In this study, we demonstrate a specific role for survivin in modulating PDT-mediated apoptotic response. In our experimental system, we use a DNA vector-based siRNA, which targets exon-1 of the human survivin mRNA (pSil_1) to silence survivin expression. Metastatic T47D cells treated with both pSil_1 and PDT exhibited increased apoptotic indexes and cytotoxicity when compared to single-agent treated cells. The treatment
The purpose of this study was to investigate the regulatory effects of breastcancer fibroblasts (BCFs) vs. normal mammary fibroblasts (NMFs) on mammosphere formation and stem cell-related gene expression in breastcancer cells. Breastcancer cells (MCF-7) were cultured in suspension to generate primary and secondary mammospheres. The proportion of CD44+/CD24low/- cells was assessed by flow cytometry (FCM), and Wnt1, Notch1, -catenin, CXCR4, SOX2 and ALDH3A1 gene expression was detected by quantitative real-time PCR. The fibroblasts from either breastcancer tissue or normal mammary tissue were purified from tissue specimens and co-cultured with breastcancer cells. The mammosphere formation efficacy was approximately 180/10,000 MCF-7 cells. FCM analysis showed that, compared to the 2.1% positive expression in the MCF-7 monolayer culture cells, the expression of CD44+/CD24low/- in MCF-7 mammosphere cells was significantly elevated to 10.4% (P<0.01). The proportion of the
Standard whole-breast irradiation consisting of a dose of 45-50 Gy over 5 weeks with or without the addition of a boost to the tumor bed has equivalent survival to mastectomy and is considered to be the standard of care for most patients with early-stage breastcancer. Newer techniques have been developed to shorten the course of radiation or limit normal tissue exposure in an attempt to increase accessibility to and tolerance of radiation therapy. This article will review some of the newer regimens and techniques for treating early-stage breastcancer after breast-conserving surgery.
Accessibility enhancement features require Javascript. NIHSeniorHealth Milestones. 2011. April 5, 2011. Long-Term Care, contributed by the Administration on Aging ( AOA), features four chapters: What Is Long-Term Care?; Types of Long-Term Care;
Tax Schemes Every Physician Should Avoid Ike Devji, JD, January 31, 2012 The next 60 days marks the final push to sell physicians across the United States tax plans of both good and questionable value.
Prevent Physician Distraction When Using mHealth Technology Aubrey Westgate, January 25, 2012 As more and more physicians use handheld mobile technology in their day-to-day work, some critics are raising concerns about “distracted doctoring.”
Can That Applicant Do the Job at Your Medical Practice? Karen Zupko, January 25, 2012 If like many communities, yours has significant numbers of non-English speaking people with whom neither you nor your staff are able to converse, your practice is at a serious disadvantage.
