Contemplating Breast Cancer, Beyond October 2012
I’m optimistic, because it looks as though, in my lifetime, BC treatment will be tailored to each patient. There’ll be less surgery and better drugs.
10 Newly-Defined Molecular Types of Breast Cancer in Nature, and a Dream
The 10 molecular BC categories bear prognostic (survival) information and, based on their distinct mutations and gene expression patterns, potential targets for novel drugs….I wonder if, in a few years, some breast cancers might be treated without surgery.
Study Finds Wide Variation in Reoperation Rates after Lumpectomy for Breast Cancer
All of this meshes with my experience – knowing women who’ve had breast-conserving surgery and then got mixed information about the results and what to do next. You’d think lumpectomy would be a standard procedure by now, and that decisions about what to do after the procedure, surgically speaking (let alone decisions about chemo, hormonal treatments and radiation) would be straightforward in most cases.
More on DCIS
More, a magazine “for women of style & substance,” has an unusually thorough, now-available article by Nancy F. Smith in its September issue on A Breast Cancer You May Not Need to Treat. The article’s subject is DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ). This non-invasive, “Stage O” malignancy of the breast has shot up in reported incidence […]
FDA Approves New Assay for Her2 in Breast Cancer
This week the FDA approved a new assay for Her2 expression in breast cancer biopsies. The technology, Inform Dual ISH, is manufactured by Ventana Medical Systems, a Roche subsidiary. Inform Dual ISH works like this: technicians, typically working under the supervision of a pathologist, expose a tiny bit of a breast biopsy specimen, fixed on […]
More News On Lymph Nodes and Breast Cancer Surgery
Last week the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) printed a major research article on lymph node dissection in breast cancer surgery. When I first saw the Times’ recent headline, I thought it would cover this paper: Effect of Occult Metastases on Survival in Node-Negative Breast Cancer.*
It turns out there were separate articles on axillary node dissection after sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer – one in JAMA and one in the NEJM – published a week apart. For some reason, the NEJM paper got little attention…
An Oncologist Considers Rare Lymphomas in Women With Breast Implants
I have to admit that when I first read about the FDA’s report tying rare cases of anaplastic large cell lymphoma to breast implants, my mind raced with a strange blend of excitement, intense interest and concern. My thoughts shifted from “wow, that’s really interesting” to “exactly what did the FDA find” to “should I be worried?”
So I’ve decided to write this morning’s post from my perspective as an oncologist
Suggestions to Reduce Errors in Breast Cancer Pathology
A prominent article in yesterday’s New York Times considers some troubling problems regarding inaccuracy in breast cancer diagnosis and pathology. The main point is that some women get needless, disfiguring and toxic treatments after being told they have breast cancer when, it turns out, their condition was benign. My main take is that, whenever possible, […]
Why Blog on OncotypeDx and BC Pathology?
I can’t even begin to think of how much money this might save, besides sparing so many women from the messy business of infusions, temporary or semi-permanent IV catheters, prophylactic or sometimes urgent antibiotics, Neulasta injections, anti-nausea drugs, cardiac tests and then some occasional deaths in treatment from infection, bleeding or, later on, from late effects on the heart or not-so-rare secondary malignancies like leukemia. And hairpieces; we could see a dramatic decline in women with scarves and wigs.
More News, and Considerations, on OncotypeDx
This week I’ve been reading about new developments in breast cancer (BC) pathology. At one level, progress is remarkable. In the 20 years since I began my oncology fellowship, BC science has advanced to the point that doctors can distinguish among cancer subtypes and, in principle, stratify cases according to patterns of genes expressed within […]