May 13th 2024
A large study finds that obesity and metabolic syndrome raise breast cancer mortality risk, but through different mechanisms. Metabolic syndrome is linked to a specific type of breast cancer, whereas obesity increases risk across all breast cancer subtypes.
Mammography in Women Older Than 75 Does Not Confer an Additional Survival Benefit
February 25th 2020Recommendations abound for when women at average risk for breast cancer should begin yearly mammography screening, ranging from age 40 to 50. Questions remain, however, on the optimal age at which to stop. However, with over 50% of women older than age 75 still undergoing mammography, is there a truly safe age at which to stop what has been shown to be a life-saving practice if it does not decrease their mortality from breast cancer?
Read More
Is Targeted Treatment in the Future for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?
February 15th 2020The 5-year survival rate for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is about 77%. The recurrence rate is highest in the first 3 years after treatment, but falls off at the 5-year mark—although the survival rate at this time point tends to be lower. Because TNBC cells lack the hormone receptors for estrogen and progesterone and do not overexpress the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 gene, treatment often involves chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Targeted treatments are not used with TNBC.
Read More
CMS Agrees to Cover NGS for Medicare Patients With Breast, Ovarian, Other Cancers
January 28th 2020CMS said it is expanding coverage of next generation sequencing (NGS) for use as a diagnostic for patients with germline breast and ovarian cancer, paving the way for Medicare beneficiaries to receive more personalized medicine. However, an advocate said the wording of CMS' decision could actually limit testing access for some women with breast or ovarian cancer.
Read More
Dr Banu Arun on Technologies to Expand Access to Genetic Counseling
December 15th 2019There are new technologies that allow for genetic counseling services through which the provider does not even need to get that involved in the process, said Banu Arun, MD, medical oncologist, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Watch
Dr Erica Mayer on Improving Patient Adherence to Hormonal Therapies
December 14th 2019Listening to patient concerns and issues and communicating with them can really help providers keep patients with breast cancer adherent to their hormonal therapies, said Erica Mayer, MD, MPH, assistant professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School.
Watch
Personalizing Breast Cancer: How Liquid Biopsy Testing for ctDNA, CTCs Can Promote Preventive Care
December 14th 2019Two abstracts on liquid biopsy tests revealed the potential of analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in promoting heightened decision-making by clinicians for patients with early-stage and metastatic breast cancer.
Read More
In phase 3 trial results presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, oral paclitaxel with encequidar, the first orally administered paclitaxel, was shown to exhibit superior confirmed response and survival with less neuropathy for patients with metastatic breast cancer compared with intravenous (IV) paclitaxel.
Read More
Dr Corey Speers on Challenges Adopting Personalized Radiation Therapy
December 13th 2019Ensuring that prognostic or predictive tests to help make decisions regarding radiation therapy are accurate and clinically validated remains a challenge, said Corey Speers, MD, PhD, assistant professor, radiation oncology, University of Michigan.
Watch
Data from the MINDACT trial revealed that among women with luminal breast cancers (hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative by local pathology) with a high clinical risk and low genomic risk, those aged 40 to 50 years had a greater, but insignificant, benefit from chemotherapy than patients older than 50.
Read More
Dr Nadine Tung Discusses When to Refer Patients for Germline Testing
December 13th 2019The bar for who should get genetic testing for breast cancer keeps getting lowered, and oncologists have to keep informed about which results should trigger a referral for germline testing, said Nadine Tung, MD, director, Cancer Risk and Prevention Program, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School.
Watch
Dr Eileen Rakovitch Outlines Use of Biomarkers to Treat Breast Cancer
December 13th 2019Using biomarker tests can help personalize care for women with ductal carcinoma in situ and determine the risks of using or not using radiation, said Eileen Rakovitch, MD, MSc, FRCPC, professor, department of radiation oncology, University of Toronto.
Watch
Measuring Therapeutic Intervention Impact, Receptiveness for Patients With Breast Cancer
December 12th 2019In 3 abstracts presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and quality of life were measured for different therapeutic interventions aiming to either heighten tumor detection or ease chemotherapy-induced effects.
Read More
Trastuzumab Deruxtecan Demonstrates Durable Efficacy in Phase 2 DESTINY-Breast01 Trial
December 12th 2019Results from the phase 2 DESTINY-Breast01 clinical trial show the novel efficacy of trastuzumab deruxtecan in providing durable benefit to heavily pretreated patients having undergone other HER2-targeted treatments.
Read More
Overall survival was shown to be greater but insignificant in patients administered pertuzumab compared with placebo, while subgroups of lymph node–positive and hormone receptor–negative patients were distinguished as major beneficiaries, according to the results of the second interim analysis of APHINITY presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, Texas.
Read More
Incidence Rates of Early-Stage Breast and Colorectal Cancer Increased Following Enactment of ACA
November 7th 2017With the ACA putting emphasis on preventive care, there has been an immediate increase in breast and coloreactal cancer screenings. A recent study found that incidence rates of early-stage breast and colorectal cancer increased in 2014, but did not vary for late-stage breast and colorectal cancer.
Read More
Medical Home Transformation and Breast Cancer Screening
Breast cancer screening may not improve in early medical home implementation.
Read More
Breast Cancer Death Rates Drop, but Racial Disparities Linger
October 14th 2016Data released by the CDC today indicate that while breast cancer deaths are on the decline, black women still have worse outcomes than white women. The report also noted disparate trends in breast cancer incidence among different races and age groups.
Read More
What We're Reading: Awaiting Alzheimer's Drug Clinical Trial Results
October 13th 2016What we’re reading, October 13, 2016: researchers, Alzheimer’s patients, and their families anxiously await the results of a clinical trial that could help slow the disease’s progress; many breast cancers detected by mammograms are overtreated even though they likely would not be fatal on their own; stock prices fall for Humana and Cigna as CMS says a minority of their patients are in plans rated 4 stars or higher.
Read More
Does Telephone Scheduling Assistance Increase Mammography Screening Adherence?
The authors describe a quality improvement intervention that focuses on directly scheduling mammogram appointments for women who lack adherence despite written outreach letters.
Read More
Testing Novel Patient Financial Incentives to Increase Breast Cancer Screening
This study tested 3 financial incentives encouraging breast cancer screening (mammograms) among women deemed overdue. None were effective overall; "person-centered" incentives worked in the most recently screened subgroup.
Read More
Colon Cancer Rates Drop in Older Americans, but Disparities Remain
March 18th 2014Dramatic progress has been made in reducing colon cancer incidence and death rates in the U.S., but concerns remain about striking racial and socio-economic disparities, according to new national statistics on colorectal cancer.
Read More
Integrating Genetic Counseling Into an Oncology Practice Can Benefit High-Risk Families
March 3rd 2014Genetic counseling-including testing and risk assessment-is one of the most rapidly growing areas of oncology and has become the standard of care for patients with a personal and family history of breast, ovary, or colon cancer.
Read More
Karen Lewis, MS, MM, CGC, Discusses Oncology and Genetic Testing
January 28th 2014Karen Lewis, MS, MM, CGC, says the goals of Healthy People 2020 are developed by looking at a variety of key areas in healthcare, and then choosing the most actionable items to improve the overall health of the general population.
Read More