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

Literature Selection

• Valji N et al.: "Prolonged trastuzumab therapy in a patient with recurrent breast cancer and anthracycline-induced cardiac failure", Breast. 2008 Aug;17(4):423-5
• Brewster AM et al.: "Residual risk of breast cancer recurrence 5 years after adjuvant therapy", J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Aug 20;100(16):1179-83
• Litton JK et al.: "Relationship between obesity and pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy among women with operable breast cancer", J Clin Oncol. 2008 Sep 1;26(25):4072-7
• Vitolins MZ et al.: "BMI influences prognosis following surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy for lymph node positive breast cancer", Breast J. 2008 Jul-Aug;14(4):357-65
• Nishihori T et al.: "Carpal tunnel syndrome associated with the use of aromatase inhibitors in breast cancer", Clin Breast Cancer. 2008 Aug;8(4):362-5
• Tahir M et al.: "Preoperative axillary staging in breast cancer-saving time and resources", Breast J. 2008 Jul-Aug;14(4):369-71
• Fortunato L et al.: "Sentinel lymph node biopsy in women with pT1a or "microinvasive" breast cancer", Breast. 2008 Aug;17(4):395-400
• Guth AA et al.: "Microinvasive breast cancer and the role of sentinel node biopsy: an institutional experience and review of the literature", Breast J. 2008 Jul-Aug;14(4):335-9
• Julian TB et al.: "Novel intraoperative molecular test for sentinel lymph node metastases in patients with early-stage breast cancer", J Clin Oncol. 2008;26(20):3338-45
• Olson JA et al.: "Impact of immediate versus delayed axillary node dissection on surgical outcomes in breast cancer patients with positive sentinel nodes: results from American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Trials Z0010 and Z0011", J Clin Oncol. 2008;26(21):3530-5
• Grube BJ et al.: "Breast sentinel lymph node dissection before preoperative chemotherapy", Arch Surg. 2008 Jul;143(7):692-9
• Livi L et al.: "Radiotherapy Timing in 4,820 patients with Breast Cancer: University of Florence Experience", Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Aug 18. [Epub ahead of print]
• Anders CK et al.: "Young age at diagnosis correlates with worse prognosis and defines a subset of breast cancers with shared patterns of gene expression", J Clin Oncol. 2008;26(20):3324-30
• Brandberg Y et al.: "Psychological reactions, quality of life, and body image after bilateral prophylactic mastectomy in women at high risk for breast cancer: a prospective 1-year follow-up study",  J Clin Oncol. 2008 Aug 20;26(24):3943-9
• Blackmore KM et al.: "Vitamin D From Dietary Intake and Sunlight Exposure and the Risk of Hormone-Receptor-Defined Breast Cancer", Am J Epidemiol. 2008 Aug 27. [Epub ahead of print]

Editorial

• "Preoperative chemotherapy is a safe procedure for patients with early breast cancer" - Janine van Nes,  Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands
   
  "Patients with early breast cancer are treated with local therapy with or without systemic therapy. Systemic treatment improves disease free and overall survival and can be administrated before (neoadjuvant, preoperative, primary) or after (adjuvant, postoperative) local therapy. In the last century, several trials were initiated to compare preoperative chemotherapy to postoperative chemotherapy. None of these trials found a survival advantage for preoperative chemotherapy. One of these trials was the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 10902, or the Preoperative Chemotherapy in Operable Breast Cancer (POCOB) trial. The 10 years follow-up data were recently published in the Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. Although preoperative chemotherapy does not improve survival compared to postoperative chemotherapy, it is correlated with several potential advantages. First the ability to monitor treatment efficacy in vivo with the possibility to make appropriate changes in case of drug resistance. Second, it allows downsizing of tumours, making ineligible patients eligible for breast conserving therapy which results in a increased rate of breast conserving therapy. Moreover, there is no significant increase of locoregional recurrence rate if surgery is not omitted (surgery should always be part of local treatment, also in case of a complete response). This implies that tumour downsizing followed by breast conserving therapy is permitted and a safe procedure. Third it allows downstaging, preventing unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection procedures. Fourth, preoperative treatment is the keystone for translational research"
  (Comment on paper:  Van Nes JG et al.: "Preoperative chemotherapy is safe in early breast cancer, even after 10 years of follow-up; clinical and translational results from the EORTC trial 10902", Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008. [Epub ahead of print])

Press Releases

• "M. D. Anderson Study Finds Change in HER2 Status After Treatment With Herceptin" - The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA - www.mdanderson.org

• "Eating red meat during adolescence might heighten the risk of breast cancer" - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA - www.dana-farber.org

Calendar of Events

• XV World Congress on Breast Diseases and III Shanghai Breast Cancer Symposium, October 23-26, 2008, Shangai, China
• Controversies in Breast Cancer: Adjuvant and Neoadjuvant Therapy 2008, October 3-5, 2008, New York, NY, USA
• 7th Annual Symposium on Advances in Breast MRI, October 16-18, 2008, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Literature Selection

• Lu.Yao GL et al.: "Survival following primary androgen deprivation therapy among men with localized prostate cancer", JAMA. 2008;300(2):173-81
• Bill-Axelson A et al.: "Radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting in localized prostate cancer: the Scandinavian prostate cancer group-4 randomized trial", J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Aug 20;100(16):1144-54
• Gallina A et al.: "Mortality at 120 days after prostatic biopsy: a population-based study of 22,175 men", Int J Cancer. 2008 Aug 1;123(3):647-52
• Sasako M et al.: "D2 lymphadenectomy alone or with para-aortic nodal dissection for gastric cancer", N Engl J Med. 2008 Jul 31;359(5):453-62
• Hung IF et al.: "Recurrence of hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma is associated with high viral load at the time of resection", Am J Gastroenterol. 2008 Jul;103(7):1663-73
• Adam R et al.: "Is hepatic resection justified after chemotherapy in patients with colorectal liver metastases and lymph node involvement?", J Clin Oncol. 2008 Aug 1;26(22):3672-80
• Rapiti E et al.: "Increased risk of colon cancer after external radiation therapy for prostate cancer", Int J Cancer. 2008 Sep 1;123(5):1141-5
• Peto R et al.: "Analyses of Cancer Data from Three Ezetimibe Trials", N Engl J Med. 2008 Sep 2. [Epub ahead of print]