Concern Over Poor UK Recruitment To Chemotherapy Trials For Women At High Risk Of Breast Cancer (pp 853, 889)September 12, 2001The effectiveness of prophylactic chemotherapy for women who are at a high risk of breast cancer may remain unclear unless more UK women are recruited to chemotherapy trials, conclude authors of a research letter in this week's issue of THE LANCET. Appropriate management of women at high lifetime risk of familial breast cancer is hampered because of limited data of various treatment options. Over the past 8 years, women at very high (greater than 40%) lifetime risk of breast cancer in north-west England have had the option of entering two chemoprevention (prophylactic chemotherapy) trials, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) breast-screening study, or a risk-reducing mastectomy (RRM) study. Since 1987, Gareth Evans and colleagues from St Marys Hospital, Manchester, UK, have studied 4475 women who were at a high risk of breast cancer (identified by epidemiological data and genetic assessment). They comment how entry into the MRI screening study is the preferred option for high-risk women (60%), with only 10% opting for prophylactic mastectomy or entry into chemoprevention trials. Gareth Evans comments: "While further evidence is necessary to prove the level of risk reduction with mastectomy in BRCA1/2 carriers, it may prove very difficult to involve sufficient numbers of women at high risk in chemoprevention studies until randomisation does not involve a placebo, and the treatment arm does not involve significant chances of unpleasant symptoms. Design of the next definitive prevention study for women at high risk of developing breast cancer may need to consider randomisation without a placebo arm and inclusion of tamoxifen, which is generally well tolerated." This week's Lancet Editorial (p 853) comments that there is a wider problem of recruiting women to randomised trials. It concludes: "to ensure that women benefit fully from research being done, all effort should be made to recruit them in adequate numbers into any study of disorders affecting women." Lancet |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Breast Cancer Current Events and Breast Cancer News Articles Menopause-cardiology consensus statement on cardiovascular disease and on HRT A menopause-cardiology consensus statement has called for direct action to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in menopausal women. The statement also concludes that there is little evidence of increased CVD risk in taking HRT. Researchers Identify Role of Gene in Tumor Development, Growth and Progression Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine researchers have identified a gene that may play a pivotal role in two processes that are essential for tumor development, growth and progression to metastasis. UCLA researchers create 'fly paper' to capture circulating cancer cells Just as fly paper captures insects, an innovative new device with nano-sized features developed by researchers at UCLA is able to grab cancer cells in the blood that have broken off from a tumor. Fertility procedures need not delay breast cancer treatment for younger women A new study published in the November issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that breast cancer patients under 40 years old who undergo fertility preservation do not face a significant delay in the treatment of their disease when their care is coordinated in a timely fashion. Coffee break: Compound brewing new research in colon, breast cancer A compound in coffee has been found to be estrogenic in studies by Texas AgriLife Research scientists. Drugs to treat anemia in cancer patients linked to thromboembolism Medications frequently given to cancer patients to reduce their risk of anemia are associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, according to new research led by Dawn Hershman, M.D, M.S., co-director of the breast cancer program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Discovery in worms by Queen's researchers points to more targeted cancer treatment Researchers at Queen's University have found a link between two genes involved in cancer formation in humans, by examining the genes in worms. The groundbreaking discovery provides a foundation for how tumor-forming genes interact, and may offer a drug target for cancer treatment. FDA approved leukemia drugs shows promise in ovarian cancer cells The drug Sprycel, approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, significantly inhibited the growth and invasiveness of ovarian cancer cells and also promoted their death, a study by researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found. Carnegie Mellon researchers link health-care debate to risk of dying in US and Europe The current health care debate in the United States is complicated. Trade-offs between heath care expenditures, lifestyle choices and life expectancy have been suggested but seldom clearly demonstrated. Scientists uncover new key to the puzzle of hormone therapy and breast cancer The use of postmenopausal hormone therapy has decreased over time in the United States, which researchers suggest may play a key role in the declining rate of atypical ductal hyperplasia, a known risk factor for breast cancer. More Breast Cancer Current Events and Breast Cancer News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||