Breast Cancer

HANNOVER, Germany-An intensive sequential adjuvant chemotherapy regimen has proven safe and tolerable in breast cancer patients with 10 or more positive lymph nodes. The regimen, consisting of epirubicin

EDMONTON, Canada-In what Jean-Marc Nabholtz, MD, calls “the first trials challenging tamoxifen as the primary drug of choice in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer,” anastrozole (Arimidex, a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor) proved as effective as tamoxifen (Nolvadex). Dr. Nabholtz, of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, reported the results at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

GREENVILLE, NC-Patient age and surgeon experience appear to play the biggest role in failure of sentinel lymph node biopsy for detection of breast cancer, according to a large multicenter clinical trial presented at the San Antonio Symposium.

WARSAW, Poland-Results of a multicenter randomized European trial demonstrated the superiority of paclitaxel (Taxol) and doxorubicin (Adriamycin) (AT) over standard FAC chemotherapy as first-line treatment for metastatic breast cancer.

BARCELONA-Preliminary results of a trial of a new selective estrogen-receptor modulator (SERM), known as LY353381, show a 32% response rate in patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer, José Baselga, MD, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

SAN ANTONIO-“Younger, premenopausal estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients should be aware that there is an alternative to adjuvant chemotherapy,” Michael Baum, MD, professor of surgery, University College, London, said at the San Antonio Symposium.

COLUMBUS, Ohio-A phase II study presented at the San Antonio symposium has shown that weekly gemcitabine (Gemzar) combined with monthly docetaxel (Taxotere) is an effective second-line therapy for metastatic breast cancer.

PROVIDENCE, RI-Weekly, high-dose neoadjuvant chemother-apy with paclitaxel (Taxol) resulted in an 87% clinical response rate in a small pilot study aimed at assessing the feasibility and tolerability of the regimen in patients with stage IIB-IIIB breast cancer.

ROCHESTER, Minn-Preliminary results from an ongoing Mayo Clinic study show that fluoxetine (Prozac) reduced the incidence of hot flashes in breast cancer survivors by more than 50%, Charles L. Loprinzi, MD, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

NEW YORK-In patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the identification of positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) is unlikely to be clinically significant, David Brenin, MD, of Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute has named a new lecture series for Eleanor Nealon, a long-time employee who died of recurrent breast cancer on Oct. 22.

SAN ANTONIO-Treatment with FEC (fluorouracil, epirubicine, cyclophosphamide) to a dose optimized for each patient produced an overall response rate of 82% in a group of 39 Swedish patients with metastatic breast cancer, Dr. H. Lindman and colleagues, of Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute, reported at the 22nd Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

A substance extracted from licorice root, Licochalcone-A, has been shown to have antitumor activity in acute leukemia, breast, and prostate cancer cell lines by lowering the amount of bcl-2, a drug-resistant protein. Excess amounts of this

The first oral aromatase inactivator for the treatment of postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer whose tumors have stopped responding to tamoxifen (Nolvadex) therapy is now available in the United States. Pharmacia & Upjohn

Outpatient bone marrow transplant (BMT) strategies, as reviewed by Dix and Geller, have evolved for various reasons—from social to medical. If high-dose approaches are to become a viable treatment for common cancers, such as breast cancer, the refinement of transplants to a “kinder and gentler” approach is essential.

SAN ANTONIO-Estrogen suppression using goserelin (Zoladex) increased the relapse-free interval in premenopausal women with early stage breast cancer, compared with no goserelin, according to an interim analysis of the ZIPP (Zoladex in Premenopausal Patients) trial. Michael Baum, MD, of the Cancer Research Campaign, London, presented the results at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

WASHINGTON-An Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee has launched an assessment of technologies for the early detection of breast cancer that will include an examination of the policies and economic factors that delay or prevent their adoption. The year-long effort is part of a 5-year project undertaken by the IOM, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

NEW YORK-Studies leading up to FDA approval last year of a new aromatase inactivator, exemestane tablets (Aromasin, Pharmacia & Upjohn), were reviewed at the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium XVII.

CHICAGO-A new ultrasound technology that amasses as much as nine times more information than conventional ultrasound provides greater detail in characterizing breast lesions and also allows real-time tracking of the entire path of the breast biopsy needle, Jacques Souquet, PhD, senior vice president and chief technology officer at ATL Ultrasound (Bothell, Washington), said in an interview with ONI.

Patients with one of the most common and curable forms of breast cancer may be undergoing radiation therapy unnecessarily, according to a University of Southern California (USC) study published in the May 13, 1999, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The study, headed by Melvin J. Silverstein, MD, medical director of the Harold E. and Henrietta C. Lee Breast Center at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, examined ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

TOWSON, Md-Evidence is mounting that dose escalation with conventional cytotoxic drugs appears to have no significant advantage over standard chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer, said Antonio C. Wolff, MD, assistant professor of oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

NEW YORK-“African-American women face a substantially higher risk of dying from breast cancer than others in this country and tend to be diagnosed with the disease at a younger age,” Lisa A. Newman, MD, assistant professor of surgery at M.D. Anderson’s Nellie B. Connally Breast Center, said at a Komen Foundation press briefing on clinical trials. The explanation for these variations is unclear at this point, she said.

VIENNA, Austria-Breast cancer management has booked steady progress thanks to the integration of new chemotherapeutic and biologic agents into standard regimens and the development of sequential and dose-dense schedules of administration, Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, said at the 10th European Cancer Conference (ECCO 10).

BUFFALO, NY-Breast cancer offers a paradigm for cancer prevention issues. It has been shown that lower exposure to estrogen results in a lower risk of breast cancer. However, a decrease in overall estrogen may pose health risks for women such as increased risk for heart disease. Thus, patients and physicians must evaluate all options available, said Richard M. Elledge, MD, medical director of the Breast Care Center at Baylor College of Medicine-The Methodist Hospital, Houston.

ROCKVILLE, Md-The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new indication for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Taxol (paclitaxel) for use in the adjuvant treatment of node-positive breast cancer administered sequentially to standard doxorubicin-based combination therapy. The approval does not exclude patients with receptor-positive tumors, even though a subgroup analysis of the supporting data suggested no benefit in this group.

NEW YORK-An organization that has pushed for early diagnosis and better treatment of breast cancer in the United States is expanding its outreach to other countries. “Affiliates of the Dallas-based Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation are opening this year in Italy, Greece, and Argentina, and one probably will open in Germany next year,”said Susan Braun, president and CEO.

CLEVELAND-Preliminary results suggest that breast cancer survivors who attend a 3-day nature retreat designed for women who have been treated for breast cancer may realize positive biological and psychological health benefits for as long as a year after the event.

A 15-year study published in the June 1, 1999, issue of Cancer offers further hope to premenopausal breast cancer patients who might want to bear children. According to the study of 520 women £ 40 years old, pregnancy after breast cancer diagnosis and successful treatment does not increase a patient’s risk for recurrence or death from the disease. This is particularly true for women with local disease at diagnosis.

NEW YORK-To increase enrollment in clinical trials, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation of Dallas is launching a well-funded initiative. Issues to be addressed include overcoming barriers to participation by physicians as well as by patients, the organization’s founder, Nancy Brinker, said at a press briefing that included a panel of foundation leaders and physicians with expertise in clinical trials.

TOWSON, Md-Mammoscintig-raphy and sentinel node radiolocaliza-tion, “both hot topics at the leading edge of breast imaging,” are increasingly appropriate in the diagnosis and care of breast cancer, said Carlo Ludovico Maini, MD, director of nuclear medicine, Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy.