Breast Cancer

San Antonio, TX—Results of a new nutrition study show that women who reduced their intake of dietary fat for 5 years after being diagnosed with early breast cancer had significantly lower rates of death from all causes compared with controls, at 15 years of follow-up; this reduction was seen specifically in women with hormone receptor (HR)-­negative breast cancer. No long-term effect of dietary fat reduction on mortality was observed in women with HR-positive breast cancer. The results of the study, called Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study (WINS), were presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—Patients with breast cancer who attended survivorship clinics demonstrated improved compliance with follow-up visits, increased use of supportive services, and felt their concerns were better addressed, according to the results of a cancer center’s patient survey reported by Leah L. Dietrich, MD, an oncologist at Gundersen Health System, La Crosse, WI, at the 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium.

San Francisco, CA—A second study adds to the body of evidence that including a luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist with chemotherapy as treatment for breast cancer increases a younger woman’s likelihood of becoming pregnant.

San Francisco, CA—Preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) failed to influence clinical management in any subgroup of 257 patients with breast cancer, according to the results of a retrospective review that led one cancer center to discontinue the practice.

San Francisco, CA—A new GP2 peptide vaccine was safe and reduced the rate of breast cancer recurrence in women with high-risk breast cancer in a phase 2 clinical trial.

Chicago, IL—Adjuvant exemestane is more effective at preventing breast cancer recurrences than tamoxifen when given with ovarian function suppression (OFS) in young women with hormone receptor–positive early breast cancer, reported Olivia Pagani, MD, Clinical Director, Breast Unit, Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Bellinzona, at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

Approximately 15% to 20% of patients with breast cancer have HER2-positive disease. Brain metastases are relatively common in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, with up to 50% of patients developing metastases over time.

The addition of lapatinib (Tykerb) to trastuzumab (Herceptin) to create dual HER2 blockade was no better than trastuzumab alone in the adjuvant treatment of patients with HER2 breast cancer in the global phase 3 ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimisation) trial, reported Martine J. Piccart-Gebhart, MD, PhD, Chair, Breast International Group, Brussels, Belgium, at a plenary session at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

Sandra Wade first e-mailed me on July 15, 2011. As you can see in the excerpts from her correspondence with me below, she asked me to contact her oncologist and let her know that as a breast cancer survivor, Sandra had suffered more than she should have, because she was not referred for rehabilitation services.

Approximately 15% to 20% of patients with breast cancer have HER2-positive disease. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) released new clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, focusing on systemic therapies.