Breast cancer research and treatment
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Oct 2009
Lymphatic drainage in the muscle and subcutis of the arm after breast cancer treatment.
Breast cancer-related lymphoedema of the arm (BCRL) results from impaired lymph drainage after axillary surgery. Little is known about lymphatic changes in the arm between surgery and oedema onset. We measured forearm muscle and subcutis lymph drainage in 36 women at 7 and 30 months after surgery by quantitative lymphoscintigraphy. ⋯ The major lymphatic load was generated by muscle; there was no pre-BCRL lymphatic impairment in the muscle of the ipsilateral arm. We propose that some women have a defined, constitutive predisposition to secondary lymphoedema. Specifically, women with higher filtration rates, and therefore higher lymph flows through the axilla that are closer to the maximum sustainable, are at greater risk of BCRL following axillary trauma, even following removal of 1-2 nodes.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Oct 2009
Validation of 70-gene prognosis signature in node-negative breast cancer.
The 70-gene prognosis signature (van't Veer et al., Nature 415(6871):530-536, 2002) may improve the selection of lymph node-negative breast cancer patients for adjuvant systemic therapy. Optimal validation of prognostic classifiers is of great importance and we therefore wished to evaluate the prognostic value of the 70-gene prognosis signature in a series of relatively recently diagnosed lymph node negative breast cancer patients. ⋯ The 70-gene prognosis signature is also an independent prognostic factor in node-negative breast cancer patients for women diagnosed in recent years.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Aug 2009
Comparative StudyEvaluating the performance of models for predicting the BRCA germline mutations in Han Chinese familial breast cancer patients.
Established models (Penn, Myraid and BRCApro) are useful of estimating the probability that a person has a BRCA mutation. But the value of these models in Chinese population is unclear. The aim of the study is to evaluate the performance of three models on the assisting in pre-test genetic risk counseling. ⋯ Three models had the similar impact on the pre-test probability of BRCA mutation. But at a 10% cutoff point, BRCApro had the best BRCA mutation carrier prediction value. The performance of BRCApro for BRCA2 mutation prediction was improved when it was restricted in patients from high risk families.