Breast Cancer

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.

Early-stage overweight endometrial and breast cancer survivors had moderate success in lowering their body mass index (BMI) and waste circumference after using the web and smart phone/tablet–based weight loss application "Lose It!"

A new study has found that one in four breast cancer survivors report that they are worse off financially even 4 years after their last treatment and 12% report they still have medical debt from their treatment.

Findings from the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study II (IBIS II) examining the efficacy of the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole as a breast cancer preventive show that the oral agent provided significant benefit to postmenopausal women deemed at high risk

A subgroup of older breast cancer patients may be able to forgo radiation therapy (RT) after breast-conserving surgery if they are treated with hormonal therapy and considered to be at low risk for breast cancer recurrence

Leslie R. Schover, PhD, clinical psychiatrist, professor, behavioral science, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses low sexual desire in breast cancer survivors.

A new study reported at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium shows that a prescribed exercise program reduces joint pain in breast cancer survivors taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs), with pain reductions observed at all levels of exercise.

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, medical oncologist, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the HOPE Study, a randomized trial of exercise vs. usual care on aromatase inhibitor-associated arthralgias in women with breast cancer.

International researchers from seven countries conducted a prospective study to determine risk reduction of ovarian, fallopian tube, or peritoneal cancer in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation after oophorectomy and examine other factors, such as impact of this procedure on mortality and five year survival.

New analyses of the BOLERO-2 trial found that everolimus and exemestane produced significantly longer progression- free survival (PFS) than placebo and exemestane in several previously unstudied patient subgroups.

Leigh A. Neumayer, MD, professor of surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, co-director of the multidisciplinary team treating breast cancer at Huntsman Cancer Institute, discusses patient education following a breast cancer diagnosis.

Charles L. Shapiro, MD, professor, College of Medicine, The James, Ohio State University Comprehensive Care Center, discusses reimbursement for survivorship visits.

Marisa Weiss, MD, founder of Breastcancer.org, discusses women's understanding of breast cancer prevention.

Patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who received an MRI added to mammography before or immediately after receiving a lumpectomy did not experience an improvement in the rate of disease recurrence

Most deaths from breast cancer occur in women who have not been regularly screened and whose tumors are diagnosed at a median age 49 years, confirming the need for the greater use of annual mammography in younger women

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, medical oncologist, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses how name brands and generic brands affect drug adherence in patients with breast cancer.

Sharon Tollin, PhD, ARNP-BC, OCN®, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, discusses research she presented at the ONS Connections Conference 2013.

Selecting the optimal treatment for postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) remains a challenge, given a preponderance of data for several approved therapeutics

Gwen Wyatt, PhD, RN, Professor, College of Nursing, Michigan State University, describes reflexology treatment of patients with breast cancer.