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

Literature Selection

• Lee JM et al.: "Breast cancer screening in BRCA1 mutation carriers: effectiveness of MR imaging--Markov Monte Carlo decision analysis", Radiology 2008 Mar;246(3):763-71
• Corsetti V et al.: "Breast screening with ultrasound in women with mammography-negative dense breasts: Evidence on incremental cancer detection and false positives, and associated cost", Eur J Cancer. 2008 Feb 9; [Epub ahead of print]
• Bristow AR et al.: "Can computerised tomography replace bone scintigraphy in detecting bone metastases from breast cancer? A prospective study", Breast. 2008 Feb: 17(1): 98-103
• Corino GL et al.: "Diagnosis of breast cancer by X-ray diffraction of hair", Int J Cancer. 2008 Feb 15;122(4):847-56
• Panareo S et al.: "Radiolabelled somatostatin analogs for diagnosis and radio-guided surgery of neuroendocrine breast cancer undetectable with conventional imaging procedures", Breast. 2008 Feb: 17(1): 111-114
• Hershman DL et al.:"Surgeon characteristics and receipt of adjuvant radiotherapy in women with breast cancer", J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Feb 6;100(3):199-206
• Schiller DE et al.: "Factors associated with negative margins of lumpectomy specimen: potential use in selecting patients for intraoperative radiotherapy", Ann Surg Oncol. 2008 Mar;15(3):833-42
• Wahl AO et al.: "Multi-institutional review of repeat irradiation of chest wall and breast for recurrent breast cancer", Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Feb 1;70(2):477-84
• Haffty BG et al.: "Estrogen-Dependent Prognostic Significance of Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression in Early-Stage Invasive Breast Cancers Treated with Breast-Conserving Surgery and Radiation", Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Feb 8; [Epub ahead of print]
• Manfrin E et al.: "Risk of neoplastic transformation in asymptomatic radial scar. Analysis of 117 cases", Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008 Feb;107(3):371-7
• Brown M et al.: "The role of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 in the survival of women with estrogen and progesterone receptor-negative, invasive breast cancer: The California Cancer Registry, 1999-20", Cancer. 2008 Feb 15;112(4):737-47
• Figueiredo JC et al.: "Oral Contraceptives, Postmenopausal Hormones, and Risk of Asynchronous Bilateral Breast Cancer: The WECARE Study Group", J Clin Oncol. 2008 Feb 4; [Epub ahead of print]
• Zhang SM et al.: "Low-dose aspirin and breast cancer risk: results by tumour characteristics from a randomised trial", Br J Cancer. 2008 Feb 12; [Epub ahead of print]
• Holick CN et al.: "Physical activity and survival after diagnosis of invasive breast cancer", Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Feb;17(2):379-86

Editorials

• "Survival after adjuvant oophorectomy and tamoxifen in premenopausal women with operable breast cancer" - Richard  R. Love,  Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
   
  "This is the first time in fact that the combination hormonal therapy - oophorectomy and tamoxifen - has been rigorously tested in any population in a randomized controlled trial.  The most important findings in our report are: a) that the 10 year overall survival with hormonal receptor positive patients was equivalent to that achieved with chemotherapy and optimal hormonal therapy in a major American trial  EST 5188; and b) that in this individual trial, the failure rate in adjuvantly treated  hormone receptor positive patients between years 5 and 10 was so demonstrably high, strongly supporting the concept that  a large fraction of this subset - hormone receptor postive tumor bearing patients - have a chronic disease . The most important take home messages follow from the above comments - that optimal combined hormonal therapy is a very viable option for treatment of women with this subset of disease, and that better control of  this subset of disease after 5 years needs to be defined. This is especially important for the large fraction of women with breast cancer  in the world each year  who are premenopausal and have  hormone receptor  positve tumors, for whom chemotherapy is not a treatment  option. "
  (Comment on paper:  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)
   

• "Development of hypothyroidism is common in older breast cancer survivors"  - Grace L Smith, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
  "The finding of an increased risk of hypothyroidism in older breast cancer patients, regardless of treatment course, highlights several important issues. The management of survivorship issues in older cancer patients has become increasingly important. However, in older patients the management of these issues may be particularly complicated given numerous comorbidities, multiple sources of competing risks for death, and the possible interaction of long-term treatment effects on the course of comorbid disease. These factors should be considered when assessing the cost-benefit of screening, prevention, and intervention for comorbid disease in survivors of cancer".
  (Comment on paper:  Smith GL et al.: "Risk of hypothyroidism in older breast cancer patients treated with radiation", Cancer. 2008 Jan 22; [Epub ahead of print])

Press Releases

• "New Study of Targeted Therapies for Breast Cancer Establishes Model for Global Clinical Trials" -  National Institutes of Health (NIH), U. S. Department of Health and Human Services - www.nih.gov
• "Anxiety linked to overestimation of breast cancer risks" - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA - www.dana-farber.org
• "Benefit of Cancer Prevention Surgery Differs Between Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations" - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA - www.mskcc.org

Healthcare Companies News

• "FDA grants accelerated approval of Avastin in combination with paclitaxel chemotherapy for first-line treatment of patients with advanced HER2-negative breast cancer" - Roche -. www.roche.com

Calendar of Events

• Seno Forum, Mar 10-11, Lugano, Switzarland
• Annual Advanced Breast Imaging and Interventions, Mar 12-15, 2008, Las Vegas, NV, USA
• 6th European Breast Cancer Conference, 15-19 April, 2008, Berlin, Germany

Literature Selection

• Renehan AG et al.: "Body-mass index and incidence of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies", Lancet. 2008 Feb 16;371(9612):569-578
• Bernatsky S et al.: "Hematologic malignant neoplasms after drug exposure in rheumatoid arthritis", Arch Intern Med. 2008 Feb 25;168(4):378-81
• Spinelli JJ et al.: "Hepatitis C virus and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in British Columbia, Canada", Int J Cancer. 2008 Feb 1;122(3):630-3
• Kotwal S et al.: "Similar treatment outcomes for radical cystectomy and radical radiotherapy in invasive bladder cancer treated at a United kingdom specialist treatment center", Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Feb 1;70(2):456-63
• Visintin I et al.: "Diagnostic Markers for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer", Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Feb 7; [Epub ahead of print]
• Wilt TJ et al.: "Systematic Review: The Comparative Effectiveness and Harms of Treatments for Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer", Ann Intern Med. 2008 Feb 4; [Epub ahead of print]
• Darakchiev BJ et al.: "Safety and efficacy of permanent iodine-125 seed implants and carmustine wafers in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme", J Neurosurg. 2008 Feb;108(2):236-42
• Aldington S et al.: "Cannabis use and risk of lung cancer: a case-control study", Eur Respir J. 2008 Feb;31(2):280-6
• Fletcher JWet al.: "A Comparison of the Diagnostic Accuracy of 18F-FDG PET and CT in the Characterization of Solitary Pulmonary Nodules", J Nucl Med. 2008 Feb;49(2):179-185
• Wallace MB et al.: "Minimally invasive endoscopic staging of suspected lung cancer", JAMA. 2008 Feb 6;299(5):540-6
• Kazi R et al.: "Electroglottographic comparison of voice outcomes in patients with advanced laryngopharyngeal cancer treated by chemoradiotherapy or total laryngectomy", Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Feb 1;70(2):344-52
• Abnet CC et al.: "A prospective study of BMI and risk of oesophageal and gastric adenocarcinoma", Eur J Cancer. 2008 Feb;44(3):465-71
• Okaji Y et al.: "Pilot study of anti-angiogenic vaccine using fixed whole endothelium in patients with progressive malignancy after failure of conventional therapy", Eur J Cancer. 2008 Feb;44(3):383-90