Breast Cancer

The majority of women with breast cancer who undergo the recommended genetic testing for BRCA1/2 mutations and test positive prior to undergoing surgery will change their surgical plan to include a more extensive procedure, a new study reports.

A pilot study of an educational and behavioral program conducted by researchers at the New York University College of Nursing has successfully reduced the risk of lymphedema in breast cancer patients who have undergone axillary lymph node dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy.

A new study published today online in CANCER shows that the majority of breast cancer patients did not meet national physical activity guidelines after they were diagnosed

A recent survey conducted by the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) showed a significant increase in patient calls and requests for testing and referrals from healthcare providers in the year following actress Angelina Jolie's announcement of her BRCA mutation status and subsequent double mastectomy.

Arin Ahlum Hanson, MPH, CHES, manager, Young Women's Initiative, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, discusses the unique needs of young women who are affected by breast cancer.

Phase III trial results presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that the dosing frequency of zoledronic acid (Zometa) can be reduced by 67% without compromising effectiveness in women with breast cancer and bone metastases, potentially lowering the risk of serious adverse events.

Adjuvant exemestane reduced the relative risk of developing subsequent invasive cancer in hormone-receptor–positive (HR+) premenopausal women by 28% compared with tamoxifen when both agents were combined with ovarian function suppression (OFS)

A new study presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting has found that adding goserelin to chemotherapy for women with early-stage hormone receptor (HR)-negative breast cancer helps both to preserve their fertility and to prolong their survival.

The ASCO clinical practice guideline now recommends treatment with adjuvant tamoxifen for 10 years in women with stage I-III hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer.

Nobody Is Listening: Stories of Inflammatory Breast Cancer chronicles the accounts of women affected by inflammatory breast cancer, the most aggressive type of breast cancer.

An analysis of a large, nationwide dataset has revealed that regardless of their socioeconomic status, black women are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and Asian/Pacific Islander women are more likely to be diagnosed with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer compared with white women.

Sexual problems, such as loss of desire, failure to get aroused easily, and vaginal dryness and pain during sexual activity, are prevalent among breast cancer survivors, and they rarely go away without treatment.

Obesity significantly increases the risk of dying of breast cancer in premenopausal women with ER-positive early disease, according to findings from a large, retrospective study involving 80,000 patients.

Healthcare providers are expected to advise patients about the potential effects of cancer treatment, including impact on fertility. In many facilities, it's a required component of the informed consent process.

Nurses at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have developed a program to help patients with early-stage breast cancer to better understand and retain information about their presurgical treatments.

Low sexual desire is a common problem among women diagnosed with breast cancer, ranking as one of the top three causes of post cancer distress

Archana Ajmera, RN, MSN, WHNP-BC, ANP-BC, nurse practitioner, University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses stomatitis prevention during everolimus/exemestane treatment for metastatic breast cancer.

Gwen Wyatt, PhD, RN, Professor, College of Nursing, Michigan State University, discusses a study that looks at acupressure to aid in relieving persistent cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer survivors.

The number of cancer survivors in the United States is approaching 14 million, but that good news also means more attention must be paid to quality-of-life concerns for these individuals, as well as any long-term after effects of treatment.

Patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy as treatment for their breast cancer were less likely to be working after their treatment compared with patients who were not treated with adjuvant chemotherapy.

Take it from young women who've been there-sometimes you just want to talk to someone who's been there, too.

Oncology practitioners now have several resources to consult for advice on genetic testing for their patients following the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) December 2013 update of its 2005 BRCA recommendations, plus new recommendations from the American Socieity of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) announced in February and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Studies show that young women diagnosed with breast cancer are not routinely receiving information about fertility preservation (FP) before their anticancer therapy begins, posing a missed opportunity for healthcare practitioners to provide women with options for improving their chances for a future pregnancy.

Leslie R. Schover, PhD, clinical psychiatrist, professor, behavioral science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses vaginal dryness and pain in patients with breast cancer treated with aromatase inhibitors.

Breast cancer patients whose chemotherapy is initiated more than 60 days following surgery experience worse survival outcomes, and the impact of treatment delay is greatest among patients with stage III or triple-negative breast cancer and those whose HER2-positive tumors have been treated with trastuzumab

Continued monitoring of long-term effects of these drugs is warranted.

Palbociclib, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 4 and 6, more than doubled progression-free survival (PFS) when used in combination with letrozole for patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer

Women who took the fertility drugs clomiphene citrate (Clomid) or gonadotropins did not experience an increased risk for breast cancer compared with women who were not treated with those medications, according to a 30-year follow-up study published in the April issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Ellen T. Matloff, MS, CGC, director, Yale Cancer Genetic Counseling Program at the Yale School of Medicine/Yale Cancer Center, discusses options for BRCA1/2 carriers who are looking to reduce their risk of ovarian cancer.

Leslie R. Schover, PhD, clinical psychiatrist, professor, behavioral science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the web-based intervention Tendrils: Sexual Renewal and Motherhood after Cancer.