Breast cancer research and treatment
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Jan 2007
The impact of breast cancer awareness and socioeconomic status on willingness to receive breast cancer prevention drugs.
To find associations between knowledge about risk factors for breast cancer and the socioeconomic status of healthy women, as well as their attitude toward taking chemopreventive drugs. ⋯ These findings emphasize the role of estimations of the risk of breast cancer for patients considering whether to accept chemoprevention treatment. To date, only a few modern models of risk estimation have been evaluated in relation to chemoprevention. There is a need for better integration of professional risk estimations into clinical practice.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Dec 2006
Early self-reported impairments in arm functioning of primary breast cancer patients predict late side effects of axillary lymph node dissection: results from a population-based cohort study.
Improvements in the life expectancy of women with breast cancer raise important questions how to improve quality of life (QoL) for women sustaining complications and side effects of cancer treatment. The presented study examined the prevalence of arm morbidity in a cohort of primary breast cancer patients over time as a result of the extent of axillary lymph node dissection. Of particular interest is the question of using a recognized QoL assessment instrument at defined assessment points as an endpoint criteria of oncological treatment. ⋯ Arm morbidity after axillary surgery is a severe and chronic condition affecting many breast cancer patients. The recognized QoL assessment instrument depict patients with severe impairments in arm functioning after axillary lymph node dissection and predict late arm morbidity. To increase patients' quality of life it thus may serve as a valid assessment tool for screening, allowing early referral for treatment and monitoring.
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Ideally, a genetic screening program for cancer should offer testing to all women who qualify, and who wish to participate, and who might benefit from the test. As the number of preventive options for women at high risk for hereditary breast cancer expands, the demand for testing increases. However, many women do not have ready access to testing because of cost, and many others have not been recognized by their physicians to be candidates for testing. ⋯ The great majority of women who took part in the program expressed a high degree of satisfaction and after one year approximately two-thirds of identified mutation carriers had complied with our recommendations for breast cancer screening. We found this model of genetic testing and delivery of genetic information to be very efficient in a population in which founder mutations predominate. There is a need for similar studies in other populations.
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Breast Cancer Res. Treat. · Nov 2006
Plasma levels of tamoxifen, N-desmethyl tamoxifen and anastrozole in a patient with metastatic breast cancer and chronic hemodialysis.
Endocrine therapy for hormone-sensitive breast cancer is a well-established treatment option, both in adjuvant and palliative settings. For patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis, only scant pharmacokinetic data have been published for tamoxifen, and no data have been published for anastrozole. ⋯ The blood levels for tamoxifen, N-desmethyl tamoxifen and anastrozole were within the expected therapeutic ranges. From this study, we can conclude that endocrine therapy for breast cancer with tamoxifen or anastrozole seems feasible and safe for patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis.