Breast Health

A recent study reveals that non-Hispanic White women living in deprived neighborhoods face higher breast cancer mortality, highlighting the impact of social determinants on health outcomes.

A recent study found breast arterial calcification on mammograms could help predict higher risk of stroke, cardiovascular death, and heart disease in women.

This lecture, presented by Holly J. Pederson, MD, at The Menopause Society 2023 Annual Meeting, looked at combined oral contraceptives in BRCA carriers and other high-risk patients, and hormone therapy in postmenopausal gene carriers as well as other high-risk women.

Multiple hormonal and non-hormonal therapies are available for treating genitourinary syndrome of menopause in breast cancer survivors, but combination therapies are the most effective.

In a recent study, women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy and postpartum periods experienced greater rates of mortality than those diagnosed outside of pregnancy.

In a recent study, ChatGPT provided accurate and consistent answers to 22 out of 25 questions on breast cancer screening.

In a recent study, the risk of developing breast cancer was greater in women with current or recent use of progestogen-only contraceptives.

An analysis of data from more than 8400 postmenopausal women with a history of early-stage nonmetastatic, ER-positive breast cancer suggests there was no increase in risk of breast cancer recurrence or mortality observed with use of vaginal estrogen therapy or menopausal hormone therapy.

Steven J. Chmura, MD, PhD, discussed recent findings from the phase 2R/3 NRG-BR002 trial in patients with newly diagnosed oligometastatic breast cancer.

Gynecologists and physicians, in concert with mothers, are key not only to a woman’s early awareness of both breast cancer and mammography but to awareness of breast cancer risk factors as well.

Cancer programs seek to remove barriers to screenings.

Alexander B. Olawaiye, MD, discusses how social and biological determinants can affect care outcomes across cancer subtypes and what steps community and academic oncologists can take to ensure these disparities are recognized.

Novel therapies could potentially expand the population of patients with ERBB2-positive metastatic breast cancer who experience long-lasting disease response, according to a review in JAMA Oncology.

A quality improvement study in JAMA Network Open has found that a significantly lower percentage of patients with breast cancer presented with stage I disease before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2019, compared to after the start of the pandemic, in 2020.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan resulted in a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival and overall survival compared with physician’s choice of chemotherapy in patients with HER2-low unresectable and/or metastatic breast cancer, irrespective of hormone receptor status, meeting the primary and secondary end points of the phase 3 DESTINY-Breast 04 trial.

The campaign emphasizes the importance of annual cancer screenings with the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul

Investigators of the SWOG S1007 RxPONDER trial found a statistically significant improvement in invasive disease-free survival and distant relapse-free survival in premenopausal women who received adjuvant chemotherapy.

Compared with tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors were revealed to be more effective in reducing the rate of recurrence in ER+ breast cancer among premenopausal women receiving ovarian suppression.

In using the biomarker approach to the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, the challenge for the clinician is prioritizing the available treatment options based on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for breast cancer, which focus on active agents, preferred single-agent chemotherapy approaches, and doublet options for certain patients at high risk.

Certain post-menopausal women with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer may be able to only undergo endocrine therapy after surgery – sparing themselves from the chemotherapy side effects.

The addition of palbociclib to endocrine therapy was not associated with preventing disease recurrence in patients with hormone receptor (HR)–positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–negative early breast cancer, according to final results of the phase 3 PALLAS trial.

The study results — which were presented during the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium — indicated that elacestrant, a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD), led to a 30% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared with standard of care in the study population.

Olaparib, which was granted priority review by the FDA, has been shown to improve invasive disease-free survival for patients with BRCA-mutated HER2-negative high-risk early breast cancer.

Findings from a study indicated that non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native patients with breast cancer were more likely to undergo a mastectomy compared with non-Hispanic White patients.

A recently published study evaluated nearly 30,000 patients and found about 5% of Black and White women have the same genetic mutations that are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Disparities across the globe continue to surface as we approach year 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in health care. As one considers its implications, a research team from the American Cancer Society investigated its potential impact on early cancer detection.

A recent study suggests that unconscious or implicit bias may exist when it comes to physicians referring African American patients with breast cancer for genetic counseling and testing.

Paul Lawrence Baron, MD, discussed best practices for determining a patient’s risk of developing breast cancer, the significance of targeting HER2 in patients with early-stage and metastatic disease, and remaining questions with radiation therapy in the field.

Standard chemotherapy has historically been the mainstay of treatment for patients with diagnoses of early-stage TNBC, but there remains an unmet need to identify novel therapies that improve outcomes and, equally important, to discern which patients may benefit from a given treatment.

Sara Hurvitz, MD, discusses the coopERA study and how these data, along with findings from other clinical trials, could lead to significant changes in treatment for patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer.