Gian Paolo Andreoletti, MD, Editor-in-Chief  -  paolo.andreoletti@senology.it

Literature Selection

• Kaufman EI et al.: "Effect of breast cancer radiotherapy and cigarette smoking on risk of second primary lung cancer", J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jan 20;26(3):392-8
• Begg CB et al.: "Variation of Breast Cancer Risk Among BRCA1/2 Carriers", JAMA. 2008 Jan 9;299(2):194-201
• Antonova L et al.: "Hydrocortisone down-regulates the tumor suppressor gene BRCA1 in mammary cells: A possible molecular link between stress and breast cancer", Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2008 Jan 14; [Epub ahead of print]
• Husemann Y et al.: "Systemic spread is an early step in breast cancer", Cancer Cell. 2008 Jan;13(1):58-68
• Vicini F et al.: "Three-year analysis of treatment efficacy, cosmesis, and toxicity by the American Society of Breast Surgeons MammoSite Breast Brachytherapy Registry Trial in patients treated with Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation (APBI)", Cancer. 2008 Jan 7; [Epub ahead of print]
• Love RR et al.: "Survival after adjuvant oophorectomy and tamoxifen in operable breast cancer in premenopausal women", J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jan 10;26(2):253-7
• Bertelsen L et al.: "Effect of systemic adjuvant treatment on risk for contralateral breast cancer in the Women's Environment, Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology Study", J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Jan 2;100(1):32-40
• Gennari A et al.: "HER2 status and efficacy of adjuvant anthracyclines in early breast cancer: a pooled analysis of randomized trials2, J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Jan 2;100(1):14-20
• Crump M et al.: "Randomized trial of high-dose chemotherapy with autologous peripheral-blood stem-cell support compared with standard-dose chemotherapy in women with metastatic breast cancer: NCIC MA.16", J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jan 1;26(1):37-43
• Olsen MA et al.: "Hospital-associated costs due to surgical site infection after breast surgery", Arch Surg. 2008 Jan;143(1):53-60
• Tosteson AN et al.: "Cost-effectiveness of digital mammography breast cancer screening", Ann Intern Med. 2008 Jan 1;148(1):1-10
• Kwong A et al.: "Mammographic screening in women at increased risk of breast cancer after treatment of Hodgkin's disease", Breast J. 2008 Jan-Feb;14(1):39-48
• Bollet MA et al.: "High-resolution mapping of DNA breakpoints to define true recurrences among ipsilateral breast cancers", J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Jan 2;100(1):48-58

Editorials

• "Effect of breast cancer surgery timing during the menstrual cycle on prognosis" - Richard Sainsbury, Clinical Trials Research Unit, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
  "The bottom line is that this was a prospective study where women could be accurately placed into a menstrual cycle category both by date of last menstrual cycle but also by hormonal levels.  There was no effect of operating in a particular phase of the cycle on 3-year survival.  The series was big enough to have detected a change of the magnitude proposed by Badwe in his papers.  Reasons why there may no longer be an effect include the use of drugs that have an effect on the menstrual cycle, use of LHrH agonists and more modern approaches to diagnosis and treatment. We conclude there is no reason to alter clinical practice".
  (Comment on paper:  Thorpe H et al.: "Timing of breast cancer surgery in relation to menstrual cycle phase: no effect on 3-year prognosis: The ITS Study", Br J Cancer. 2007 Dec 18; [Epub ahead of print])

• "Diagnostic performance of MR imaging in patients suspected of having breast cancer" - Nicky Peters, Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
  "MR mammography can improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with breast cancer, but biopsy remains necessary to definitively characterize lesions. We reviewed the diagnostic performance of MR mammography in a meta-analysis of 44 studies involving patients who underwent MR imaging and biopsy for suspected breast cancer. Pooled weighted estimates showed MR had a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 72%, with overall specificity varying across cancer prevalence and number of criteria used to distinguish benign from malignant lesions. We concluded that MR cannot yet replace biopsy for definitive characterization of breast lesions".
  (Comment on paper:  Peters NH et al.: "Meta-analysis of MR imaging in the diagnosis of breast lesions", Radiology. 2008 Jan;246(1):116-24)

Press Releases

• "National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Updates Breast Cancer Guidelines" - National Comprehensive Cancer Network, USA - www.nccn.org

• "Combined hormone therapy increases risk of lobular breast cancer fourfold after just three years of use" - Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA  - www.fhcrc.org

• "FDA Approves New Genetic Test for Breast Cancer Patients - First-of-its-kind product gives prognostic information and may help health care providers in deciding best follow-up options" - U.S. Food and Drug Administration - www.fda.org

• "Molecules Can Block Breast Cancer's Ability to Spread" - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA - www.mskcc.org

Calendar of Events

• 1st Asian Breast Cancer Congress, Feb 9 - 10, 2008, New Delhi, India

• 25th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference, Feb 20 - 23, 2008, Orlando, FL, USA

• Current Trends in Breast Cancer, Mar 1, 2008, Pasadena, CA, USA

• 6th European Breast Cancer Conference, 15-19 April, 2008, Berlin, Germany

Literature Selection

• Qaseem A et al.: "Evidence-based interventions to improve the palliative care of pain, dyspnea, and depression at the end of life: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians", Ann Intern Med. 2008 Jan 15;148(2):141-6
• Bernatsky S et al.: "The relationship between cancer and medication exposures in systemic lupus erythaematosus: a case-cohort study", Ann Rheum Dis. 2008 Jan;67(1):74-9
• Wu S et al.: "Incidence and risk of hypertension with sorafenib in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis", Lancet Oncol. 2008 Jan 21; [Epub ahead of print]
• Farwell WR et al.: "The Association Between Statins and Cancer Incidence in a Veterans Population", J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Jan 8; [Epub ahead of print]
• Van Cutsem E et al.: "Expert opinion on management of gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma on behalf of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) - gastrointestinal cancer group", Eur J Cancer. 2008 Jan;44(2):182-94
• Zheng SL et al.: "Cumulative Association of Five Genetic Variants with Prostate Cancer", N Engl J Med. 2008 Jan 16; [Epub ahead of print]
• D'Amico AV et al. :"Androgen suppression and radiation vs radiation alone for prostate cancer: a randomized trial", JAMA. 2008 Jan 23;299(3):289-95
• Thompson RH et al.: "Radical nephrectomy for pT1a renal masses may be associated with decreased overall survival compared with partial nephrectomy", J Urol. 2008 Feb;179(2):468-71
• Sanai N et al.: "Functional outcome after language mapping for glioma resection", N Engl J Med. 2008 Jan 3;358(1):18-27
• Yazbek J et al.: "Effect of quality of gynaecological ultrasonography on management of patients with suspected ovarian cancer: a randomised controlled trial", Lancet Oncol. 2008 Jan 18; [Epub ahead of print]
• Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer: "Ovarian cancer and oral contraceptives: collaborative reanalysis of data from 45 epidemiological studies including 23257 women with ovarian cancer and 87303 controls", Lancet 2008 Jan 26; 371:303-314