Breast Health

A prospective case-control study from Sweden has found long-term benefits of regular mammography screening, including a positive impact on reducing mortality.

Breast cancer causes more than 40,000 deaths annually and is only second to lung cancer in cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States. Since early identification is key to prompt treatment and the best prognosis, it is crucial to identify women at risk.

A recent study found that postmenopausal women may be at risk of developing breast cancer, and that this risk is tied to factors other than family history.

The FDA recently approved a new genetic test, called Inform Dual ISH, that helps determine whether women with breast cancer have the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive type.1 In about 20% of breast cancers, the cancer cells produce an excess of the protein HER2 because of a gene mutation. HER2-positive breast cancers tend to be more aggressive and respond less well to hormone therapy.

One in nine women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, provided she lives to age 85. Most breast cancer is NOT genetically linked – less than 16%. In the study by Stavros et al., July 1995, – over 80% of all sonographic, biopsy proven, solid nodules were benign.

Doppler ultrasonography (US) is increasingly being utilized as an imaging modality in breast cancer. It is used to study the vascular characteristics of the tumor.

The duration of breast-feeding is associated with higher maternal ghrelin and pancreatic peptide YY (PYY) levels at three years postpartum, independent of other risk factors for metabolic disease, according to a study published in the April issue of Diabetes.

Consumption of food containing soy isoflavones does not appear to increase the risk of cancer recurrence or mortality among breast cancer survivors, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, held April 2 to 6 in Orlando, Fla.

Among postmenopausal women with prior hysterectomy, cessation of conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) therapy reduces the risk of stroke, and the risk of breast cancer remains reduced, according to a study to be published on April 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

An individualized screen evaluating epithelial cells from women's breast milk may provide insight into breast cancer risk, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, held April 2 to 6 in Orlando, Fla.

Concern that risks outweighed the possible benefits of estrogen use caused the cessation of the Women's Health Initiative Estrogen-Alone Trial. However, researchers decided to continue monitoring patients for outcomes despite the study protocol discontinuation to gain insight into the long-term effects of the conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) therapy. What they found was surprising-and somewhat positive.

U.S. radiologists with higher annual screening volumes and focus have statistically significant lower false-positive rates and cancer detection rates during mammography, according to a study published in the April issue of Radiology.

Advanced stages at presentation, and limited diagnostic and treatment capabilities, contribute to lower breast cancer survival in low-income and middle-income countries (LMC), according to the executive summary of the Breast Health Global Initiative Consensus 2010, published in the April issue of The Lancet Oncology.

Using a combination of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and mammography increases sensitivity of cancer detection in women with a history of chest irradiation compared to using either modality on its own, according to a study published in the April issue of Radiology.n

Pacifier use in healthy, full-term newborns, introduced before or after breast-feeding is established, has little impact on the prevalence or duration of breast-feeding up to four months, according to a review published online in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Race and ethnicity have a significant impact on the amount women with breast cancer worry about recurrence, with less acculturated Latina women being especially susceptible to high levels of worry, according to a study published online March 28 in Cancer.

Sexual desire in patients with breast cancer is not affected by adjuvant endocrine therapy, but is significantly reduced in those women with chemotherapy- or gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist-induced menopause, according to a study published online March 2 in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Women with breast cancer who take tamoxifen for five years appear to have a lower risk of recurrence or contralateral breast cancer 15 years after starting treatment as compared to women who take the drug for two years, and they may also have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and death from a cardiovascular event, according to a study published online March 21 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) with capecitabine administered for seven days followed by seven days of rest in combination with bevacizumab has modest efficacy and minimal toxicity, as predicted previously by mathematical modeling, according to a study published online March 8 in Cancer.

Immunological CD8 and FOXP3 cell infiltrate after neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be a predictive factor of survival for patients with breast cancer, according to a study published online Feb. 3 in The Journal of Pathology.

Tamoxifen chemoprophylaxis is a cost-effective therapy that successfully reduces breast cancer incidence among women younger than 55 years, even after the drug is discontinued, according to a study published online March 14 in Cancer.

Black and Hispanic women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely than white women to experience treatment delays of over a month, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

Among women with heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer, eribulin mesilate may significantly improve survival compared to currently available treatments, according to a study published online March 3 in The Lancet.

Postmenopausal women who used to smoke or who currently smoke appear to be at a higher risk of invasive breast cancer than postmenopausal women who never smoked, according to a study published online March 1 in BMJ.

High body mass index (BMI) and low levels of physical activity are associated with increased risk of triple-negative and estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers in postmenopausal women, according to a study published online March 1 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Breast cancer incidence rates among non-Hispanic (NH) white women in the United States stabilized between 2003 and 2007 after a sharp decline between 2002 and 2003 that followed a drop in the use of postmenopausal hormone therapy, according to a study published online Feb. 28 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Female childhood cancer survivors should be encouraged to breast-feed as a health behavior that is protective against many late effects of cancer treatment, according to a review published online Jan. 21 in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.

For women taking postmenopausal hormone therapy, breast cancer risk is greater among users of estrogen-progestin formulations, and those who begin treatment earlier, according to a study published online Jan. 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The risk of false-positive results is lower with digital mammography compared to screen-film mammography, with no significant difference in the cancer detection rate between the two, according to a study published in the February issue of Radiology.

Premenopausal women who schedule regular mammograms may benefit by undergoing screening during the first week of their menstrual cycle, according to research published in the February issue of Radiology.