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Investigators have found that older breast cancer survivors—particularly those exposed to chemotherapy—may experience greater epigenetic aging and poorer outcomes than those without a history of cancer, according to a new study published by Rentscher et al in Cancer. Background Epigenetic aging...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Cannioto et al found that greater adherence to cancer prevention lifestyle recommendations before, during, and after treatment for high-risk breast cancer was associated with a reduced risk of disease recurrence and all-cause mortality. Study Details The...
Although redlining was outlawed more than 50 years ago, individuals who currently live in historically redlined areas may be less likely to be screened for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer than individuals who live in areas not associated with redlining practices, according to...
A novel, automated liquid biopsy test—the Liquid Biopsy for Breast Cancer Methylation assay—may be effective at predicting early disease progression and potential survival outcomes in patients with metastatic breast cancer after as little as 1 month of treatment, according to a study published by...
Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black breast cancer survivors may experience higher rates of mortality after being diagnosed with a second primary cancer than breast cancer survivors of other ethnic and racial groups, according to a new study published by Deng et al in the Journal of the National Cancer...
The use of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) did not significantly reduce positive margins after breast-conserving surgery, according to data presented during a press briefing at the 2023 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting.1 Although MRI has been shown to detect...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that temporary interruption of adjuvant endocrine therapy to attempt pregnancy was not associated with increased short-term risk of breast cancer events among ...
Immunotherapy regimens involving the PD-L1 monoclonal antibody atezolizumab have demonstrated promising results in patients with early-stage, triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-positive breast cancer, according to a pair of studies presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)...
In the phase II MAINTAIN trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, and colleagues found that a switch in endocrine therapy plus continued CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment with ribociclib was associated with improved progression-free survival in patients with hormone...
In a study reported in JAMA Network Open, Samilia Obeng-Gyasi, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that allostatic load—defined as “a cumulative measure of physiologic damage secondary to cognitive-emotional responses and perceptions to socioenvironmental stressors (ie, low socioeconomic status)”—was...
Investigators have found that race and ethnicity may affect the 21-gene recurrence score in patients with early-stage, estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, according to new findings presented by Gill et al at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 511). Background The 21-gene recurrence...
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Javier Cortes, MD, PhD, of the International Breast Cancer Center and Universidad Europea de Madrid, discuss phase II findings showing that one in three patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer may safely omit chemotherapy. Among the chemotherapy-free patients treated with trastuzumab and pertuzumab, the 3-year invasive disease–free survival was 98.8%, with no distant metastases (Abstract LBA506).
Lisa A. Carey, MD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, discuss phase III study findings on ribociclib plus endocrine therapy as adjuvant treatment in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer. When added to standard-of-care endocrine therapy, ribociclib improved invasive disease–free survival with a well-tolerated safety profile (Abstract LBA500).
Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses a telephone-based weight loss intervention that induced clinically meaningful weight loss in patients with breast cancer who had overweight and obesity, across demographic and tumor factors. Additional tailoring of the intervention may possibly enhance weight loss in Black and younger patients as well (Abstract 12001).
Adding the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib to endocrine therapy resulted in a significant improvement in invasive disease–free survival for patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer. Findings from the phase III NATALEE trial were presented by Dennis J. Slamon, MD, ...
Early-phase data from the SOLTI TOT-HER3 and ICARUS-BREAST01 trials suggest that the novel HER3-directed antibody-drug conjugate patritumab deruxtecan may have beneficial activity in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative and triple-negative breast cancer subtypes, according to...
Delays in cancer screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in lower reported incidences of colorectal, lung, and breast cancers, reflecting potentially high rates of undiagnosed cancer and later-stage diagnoses, according to a new study published by Romatoski et al in the Journal of ...
In an interim analysis of a Chinese phase III trial (DAWNA-2) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhang et al found that the addition of the CDK4/6 inhibitor dalpiciclib to letrozole or anastrozole improved progression-free survival as first-line treatment in patients with advanced hormone...
A randomized study by Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, Director of the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies and Healthy Living at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, evaluating the impact of a telephone-based weight loss intervention in...
For this installment of The ASCO Post’s Living a Full Life series, guest editor Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, spoke with Sibylle Loibl, MD, PhD, Chair of the German Breast Group (GBG) and Chief Executive Officer of the GBG Forschungs GmbH. Professor Loibl, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology ...
In a single-institution cohort study reported in JAMA Network Open, Jason A. Mouabbi, MD, and colleagues found no difference in survival outcomes between patients with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer with low vs no HER2 expression who received targeted therapy and endocrine...
Deep learning–based computer-aided diagnosis on breast ultrasound may significantly improve radiologists’ diagnostic performance and reduce the frequency of benign breast biopsies, according to a new study published by He et al in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Compared with previous...
Is regular surveillance with mammography important in older patients with breast cancer and a shortened life expectancy? A study of 44,475 patients with breast cancer found the practice—which may yield more harms than benefits—to be common. This study is unique in that it examined surveillance...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Waks et al found that the HER2DX assay performed well in predicting the likelihood of pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer receiving de-escalated neoadjuvant treatment with paclitaxel, trastuzumab, and...
Sarah Blair, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego Health in California, offered her thoughts on the findings from these two studies. She first pointed to the growing body of data showing how nutrition and exercise programs can improve aerobic fitness, quality of ...
Specialized exercise and wellness programs significantly elevated physical well-being and quality of life among patients with breast cancer while reducing the use of health-care resources in new research presented at the 2023 American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting. In one multicenter...
In a German phase II trial (WSG-TP-II) reported in JAMA Oncology, Gluz et al found that the addition of neoadjuvant paclitaxel monotherapy to trastuzumab/pertuzumab resulted in a higher pathologic complete response (pCR) rate in patients with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-positive early breast...
In a modeling study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Huntley et al found that the extension of UK cancer screening programs for breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers to a polygenic risk score (PRS)-defined high-risk group of patients with cancer may improve cancer case detection and avoidance of ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vachon et al found that the combination of an artificial intelligence (AI) imaging algorithm, together with measures of breast density on mammography screening, were capable of long-term prediction of risk of invasive breast cancer. As stated ...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, and colleagues found that temporary interruption of adjuvant endocrine therapy to attempt pregnancy was not associated with an increased short-term risk of breast cancer events among women with hormone...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Jiang et al found that breast density decreased over time among patients undergoing mammographic screening for breast cancer, but that the decrease was smaller in the affected breast among patients who developed breast cancer vs the decrease observed in...
Updated recommendations from the American College of Radiology encouraged all women—particularly Black women and Ashkenazi Jewish women—to undergo risk assessments at 25 years of age to determine whether they may need breast cancer screenings earlier than age 40, according to new guidelines...
In hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer, tumors eventually become resistant not only to endocrine blockade but to inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6). This obstacle to successful treatment is being tackled with novel hormone receptor–directed therapies, with the...
On May 9, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) posted a draft recommendation statement on screening for breast cancer. The USPSTF now recommends that all women get screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40 years (this is a B grade recommendation, meaning the USPSTF...
In a Japanese phase III trial (AERAS) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Iwase et al found that an additional 5 years of adjuvant anastrozole after 5 years of anastrozole or tamoxifen followed by anastrozole was associated with improved disease-free survival vs no further anastrozole...
Researchers have found that acute radiation dermatitis may involve the skin bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and that a simple, low-cost treatment may prevent severe cases in patients undergoing radiation therapy, according to two novel studies published by Kost et al—one a randomized clinical trial ...
Anita Mamtani, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses study findings showing that axillary lymph node dissection was required by less than 2% of patients with cT1NO triple-negative or HER2-positive breast cancer having upfront surgery. There was no clear advantage of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in reducing the risk of lymph node dissection in this cohort. Upfront surgery is a suitable approach in these patients, says Dr. Mamtani, allowing for de-escalated chemotherapy regimens in patients with pathologic node-negative disease. (Abstract P1).
Kari M. Rosenkranz, MD, of Dartmouth Health, discusses findings from the ACOSOG Z11102 (Alliance) study, which showed that breast-conserving therapy is safe for patients with multiple ipsilateral breast cancer lesions, resulting in low recurrence rates. However, omitting adjuvant endocrine therapy is a risk factor for recurrence. (Abstract 1).
Judy C. Boughey, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, discusses the decrease, over the past decade, of axillary lymph node dissection, especially in patients with node-positive breast cancer at diagnosis who had sentinel lymph node surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. These findings are based on the records of more than 1,400 patients enrolled in the I-SPY2 trial. (Abstract 3).
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Marion T. van Mackelenbergh, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that patients with early HER2-positive breast cancer who achieved pathologic complete response (pCR) on neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus anti-HER2 treatment had better overall and...
Researchers have discovered that the investigational optical imaging agent pegulicianine in fluorescence-guided surgery (pFGS) may have been effective at helping surgeons identify and remove residual tumor tissue in patients with breast cancer during breast-conserving surgery, according to a novel...
Investigators discovered both favorable and unfavorable changes in major cancer risk factors, preventive behaviors and services, and screenings in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published by Star et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention....
Incorrect advice offered by an artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support system could impair the performance of radiologists at every level of expertise when reading mammograms, according to a new study published by Dratsch et al in Radiology. Background Often touted as a “second set of...
Females in rural areas may be six times more likely to receive timely breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings with remote outreach that involves interactive education and follow-up support by telephone compared with females in rural areas who don’t have remote outreach, according to a...
Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were not associated with a reduction in positive margins at the tumor site or in the need to reoperate to help ensure complete tumor excision in patients with breast cancer undergoing lumpectomy, according to new findings presented by Cairns et al ...
As reported in The Lancet by the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG), a patient-level meta-analysis showed that anthracycline/taxane regimens were associated with better outcomes compared with regimens excluding either drug class in patients with early-stage operable breast...
Lindsay L. Peterson, MD, of the Washington University, St. Louis, discusses the value of physical activity in improving cancer prognosis, especially for patients with breast or colon cancer. Aerobic exercises and resistance training are recommended during and after treatment. Exercise may help inhibit tumor growth, improve quality of life by decreasing fatigue and anxiety, build muscle mass, increase physical function, and reduce surgical complications and treatment delays.
Patients who underwent pathology evaluation of their sentinel lymph nodes during mastectomy surgery may have been significantly more likely to receive aggressive nodal therapy than patients whose lymph node biopsies and treatment strategies were evaluated after surgery. The new findings were...
Two new studies revealed that specialized exercise and wellness programs may significantly increase physical well-being and quality of life as well as reduce health-care costs in patients with breast cancer, according to findings presented by Wonders et al and Brahmbhatt et al at the 24th American...
Investigators have found that undergoing an annual surveillance mammography may remain common among geriatric patients with breast cancer, even in those with only a small risk of developing a second primary tumor or with significant competing mortality risks as a result of advanced age and...