Cancer

The results of this study indicated that there are systematic differences among general surgeons regarding referral to plastic surgeons prior to mastectomy for patients with breast cancer. Women need more opportunities to discuss reconstructive options so that they may make informed surgical treatment decisions about their breast cancer.

The authors used data from the California Cancer Registry to investigate the patient and tumor characteristics associated with triple-negative breast cancers (estrogen receptor-, progesterone receptor-, and HER2-negative). Compared with other breast cancers, women with triple-negative breast cancer are more likely to be younger, non-Hispanic black, diagnosed at a later stage, diagnosed with a more aggressive grade, and to have poorer survival.

The expression levels of the ATM gene were evaluated in breast tissues from patients diagnosed with breast cancer or benign breast disease and the prognostic value of ATM gene expression patterns was investigated in breast cancer patients.

The incidence of parathyroid cancer was very low, but it significantly increased in the United States from 1988 to 2003. The rate of surgical treatment also increased.

Preoperative analysis of lipopolysaccharide-induced interleukin-6 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro can predict survival after radical surgery for colorectal cancer. Preoperative prognostic information could provide an important guide both for pre- and postoperative oncologic treatment and the surgical procedure.

The objective of this study was to identify predictors of pathologic response in 562 patients who received preoperative chemoradiation for rectal cancer. The circumferential extent of tumor independently predicted the pathologic complete response rate, whereas the circumferential extent of tumor and the distance from the anal verge independently predicted the tumor downstaging rate.

Limitations in bladder cancer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures have prevented a comprehensive assessment of the impact of therapy in bladder cancer patients managed with different treatment modalities. Using the recently developed Bladder Cancer Index (BCI) we sought to address this limitation. Differences in mean HRQOL scores were apparent in urinary, bowel, and sexual domains across treatment types, indicating the BCI is responsive to HRQOL differences in a wide range of bladder cancer patients.

It is demonstrated that nearly one-third of elderly patients (ie, patients aged 70 years and older) will die from competing causes within 5 years of curative surgery for their kidney cancers. As such, the data suggest the need for prospective studies to evaluate the role of active surveillance as an initial therapeutic approach for some small renal masses.

Men with less education experience worse health-related quality of life across a wide range of domains than their peers who have more education. Clinicians should be aware that men with less education are vulnerable, having greater difficulty functioning in their daily lives after their prostate cancer treatment.

Men who had the highest scores on the Total Illness Burden Index for Prostate Cancer (TIBI-CaP), a patient-reported measure of comorbidity, were 13 times more likely to die of causes other than prostate cancer over the subsequent 3.5 years after initial treatment than men who had the lowest scores. Because the TIBI-CaP identified patients at high risk for nonprostate cancer mortality, it may aid physicians and patients in making appropriate treatment decisions.

A series of 89 BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers who underwent prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy was analyzed. Occult ovarian/fallopian carcinoma was found in 4 patients (4.5%), but no peritoneal malignancy was observed with a mean follow-up of 40 months.

The objective of this study was to investigate the expression pattern and prognostic significance of p53 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the same location, treated in the same way, and with long-term follow-up. The results indicated that p53 overexpression in the lymph node metastases from SCCs of the supraglottic larynx was an independent predictor of regional failure and a poor prognosis.

The efficacy and safety of oral bexarotene alone and then with the addition of subcutaneous interferon alfa-2b was evaluated in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The combination was safe. The response rate was similar to that reported with bexarotene alone.

Collective data from 4 clinical trials demonstrate that yttrium 90 ibritumomab tiuxetan produced long-term remissions in 37% (78 of 211) of patients with recurring or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The estimated 5-year overall survival of 53% for all patients treated with yttrium 90 ibritumomab tiuxetan and 81% for patients with long-term responses is encouraging for this population in whom previous therapies had failed.

Kallikrein 7 is overexpressed in pancreatic tumors. Shedding of E-cadherin by human kallikrein 7 (hK7) proteolytic activity increases pancreatic cell invasiveness and decreases cell aggregation.

Gefitinib was highly effective in ethnic Chinese patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung who failed previous platinum and taxane treatment. The addition of low-dose vinorelbine every 2 weeks produced a significantly better 1-year progression-free survival rate.

The study investigated correlations between adenosine triphosphate/chemotherapy response assay (ATP-CRA) and clinical outcomes after ATP-CRA-guided platinum-based chemotherapy for unresectable nonsmall-cell lung cancer.

The results from this study indicated that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations may serve as predictors of response and survival and that the role of EGFR gene amplification is not a predictor of gefitinib efficacy in Japanese patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer.

Irinotecan and cisplatin with early concurrent radiotherapy was first tested in limited-disease small-cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC) and the protocol was effective and tolerable in untreated LD-SCLC.

Ten patients with acute onset blindness were seen, of whom 6 made a complete or near complete recovery. Treatment varied and was determined by etiology of visual loss.

Brain metastases are a frequent and adverse complication in advanced melanoma. Aggressive treatment of patients with melanoma brain metastases incorporating stereotactic radiosurgery and subsequent systemic therapy appears to result in prolonged survival.

Gemcitabine given by a fixed-dose rate of infusion combined with vinorelbine is associated with clinically meaningful rates of disease control with acceptable toxicity in patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma.

The study shows that 31% of high-grade osteosarcomas harbor COPS3 gene amplification and this is strongly associated with large tumor size. COPS3 gene amplification is significantly correlated with a shorter time to metastasis in univariate analysis, but not in multivariate analysis, mainly due to the strong correlation with tumor size.

To reconstruct patterns of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in the US and to determine the extent of any racial disparity in PSA use, the 2000 National Health Interview Survey and longitudinal Medicare claims data were combined to estimate rates of initial and subsequent tests. Results from a simulation model that reconstructs individual screening histories showed that, overall, 45% of white men and 43% of black men between ages 40–84 years had at least 1 PSA test by the year 2000. Fairly similar patterns in overall PSA testing between blacks and whites indicate that racial disparity in PSA testing is probably not a major factor behind current racial differences in prostate cancer mortality rates and declines.

The authors investigated the efficacy of annual transvaginal sonography (TVS) as a screening method for ovarian cancer. TVS screening, when performed annually, was associated with a decrease in disease stage at the time of initial detection and with case-specific ovarian cancer mortality, but it was not effective for detecting ovarian cancers in which the ovarian volume was normal.

The combination of biweekly fluorouracil/leucovorin and imatinib 600 mg daily given in a week-on/week-off schedule for patients with gastrointestinal tumors was feasible and safe. Nausea and fluid retention represented the dose-limiting toxicities.

Cognitive compromise already is present in breast cancer patients even before the start of any therapy. In this study, during chemotherapy, cognitive performance declined in a subgroup of patients, improved in a commensurate subgroup, and remained stable in the majority of patients.

The Oral Mucositis Weekly Questionnaire-Head and Neck Cancer (OMWQ-HN) is a valid, reliable, and feasible instrument for assessing the impact of mucositis on patients with head and neck cancer who are receiving radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy. The OMWQ-HN demonstrated good test-retest reliability, validity across differing levels of pain, and strong correlations with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head and Neck.