The Clinicopathological and Prognostic Significance of HER2-Low Breast Cancer: A Comparative Analysis Between HER2-Low and HER2-Zero Subtypes.

Background: HER2-low breast cancer (BC) is a newly defined subset of HER2-negative BC. However, it is still uncertain whether HER2-low BC can be categorized as a distinct biological/clinical subgroup with any prognostic significance.

Methods: Invasive BC cases (n = 10,215) with Stage I-III were retrospectively analyzed to determine the HER2 status.

Retrospective study on the effectiveness of medroxyprogesterone acetate in the treatment of ER-positive/HER2-negative post-menopausal advanced breast cancer: an additional analysis of the JBCRG-C06 Safari study.

Background: Only old evidence exists to back up the use of medroxyprogesterone acetate. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the factors that influence the time to treatment failure of medroxyprogesterone acetate in real-world settings as late-line treatment.

Methods: This was a cohort study that used the database of the Safari study on oestrogen receptor-positive post-menopausal advanced breast cancer (UMIN000015168).

Trends in adjuvant therapy after breast-conserving surgery for ductal carcinoma in situ of breast: a retrospective cohort study using the National Breast Cancer Registry of Japan.

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) and endocrine therapy (ET) are standard treatment options after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). We investigated the national patterns of adjuvant therapy use after BCS for DCIS in Japan.

Methods: We obtained relevant data of patients diagnosed with DCIS undergoing surgery and treated with BCS between 2014 and 2016 from the Japanese Breast Cancer Registry database.

A phase II study of sequential treatment with anthracycline and taxane followed by eribulin in patients with HER2-negative, locally advanced breast cancer (JBCRG-17).

Purpose: The sequence of taxanes (T) followed by anthracyclines (A) as neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been the standard of care for almost 20 years for locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Sequential administration of eribulin (E) following A/T could provide a greater response rate for women with LABC.

Methods: In this single-arm, multicenter, Phase II prospective study, the patients received 4 cycles of the FEC regimen and 4 cycles of taxane.

A Correlation Analysis Between Metabolism-related Genes and Treatment Response to S-1 as First-line Chemotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer: The SELECT BC-EURECA Study.

Introduction: The previous randomized phase 3 trial (SELECT BC) showed that S-1 as a first-line chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is non-inferior to taxane with respect to overall survival. This study aimed to identify the usefulness of metabolism-related genes as predictive biomarkers for the response to S-1 compared with taxane using tumor tissue samples from the previous trial.   PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this SELECT BC-EURECA study, 147 patients with human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-negative MBC who received either S-1 or taxane were evaluated.

Artificial intelligence for breast cancer detection in mammography: experience of use of the ScreenPoint Medical Transpara system in 310 Japanese women.

Background: To compare the breast cancer detection performance in digital mammograms of a panel of three unaided human readers (HR) versus a stand-alone artificial intelligence (AI)-based Transpara system in a population of Japanese women.

Methods: The subjects were 310 Japanese female outpatients who underwent digital mammographic examinations between January 2018 and October 2018. A panel of three HR provided a Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) score, and Transpara system provided an interactive decision support score and an examination-based cancer likelihood score.

Factors associated with prolonged overall survival in patients with postmenopausal estrogen receptor-positive advanced breast cancer using real-world data: a follow-up analysis of the JBCRG-C06 Safari study.

Background: Assessing survival risk is important for discussing treatment options with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) advanced breast cancer (ABC) patients. However, there are few reports from large-scale databases on the survival risk factors in ER+ ABC. The Safari study (UMIN000015168) was a retrospective, multicenter cohort study involving 1072 Japanese patients receiving fulvestrant 500 mg mostly as a second- or later-line endocrine therapy for ER+ ABC.

Does integrated shimming improve lesion detection in whole-body diffusion-weighted examinations of patients with breast cancer?

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of proposed integrated slice-by-slice shimming (iShim) for whole-body diffusion weighted imaging (WB-DWI) in comparison to conventional 3D shim in patients with breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective analysis of 116 consecutive patients (116 lesions) who underwent whole-body PET/MR using iShim (iShim group) were performed and compared with historical control of 103 patients (105 lesions) using 3D Shim (3D Shim group).

Results: As compared with dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) breast MRI, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value could not be determined for 15 (14%) of the 105 lesions of the 3D shim group and for 10 (9%) of the 116 lesions on iShim group.

Maspin mRNA expression in sentinel lymph nodes predicts non-SLN metastasis in breast cancer patients with SLN metastasis.

Aims: Maspin is known to be a tumour suppressor protein, but its prognostic significance in breast cancer patients is controversial. There is no report focusing on maspin expression in metastatic carcinoma of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs); we thus investigated maspin mRNA expression in SLNs using the remaining specimens after the one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay.

Methods And Results: Ninety-three breast cancer patients with SLNs metastasis detected by the OSNA assay were enrolled.

Intraoperative Nomograms, Based on One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification, for Prediction of Non-sentinel Node Metastasis and Four or More Axillary Node Metastases in Breast Cancer Patients with Sentinel Node Metastasis.

Background: One-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) for cytokeratin 19 messenger RNA is an intraoperative diagnostic procedure for the detection of lymph node metastasis.

Objective: This study aimed to construct intraoperative nomograms using OSNA for the prediction of non-sentinel lymph node (NSLN) metastasis and four or more axillary lymph node (ALN) metastases.

Methods: Of the 4736 breast cancer patients (T1-3, N0) who underwent sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy and had SLNs examined intraoperatively with OSNA, 623 with SLN metastasis treated with completion ALN dissection (cALND) were retrospectively analyzed, and were randomly divided into training (n = 312) and validation (n = 311) sets.

Simultaneous whole-body and breast 18F-FDG PET/MRI examinations in patients with breast cancer: a comparison of apparent diffusion coefficients and maximum standardized uptake values.

Purpose: To compare standardized uptake value (SUV) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values acquired using a PET/MRI scanner in breast cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: Whole-body PET/MRI and breast PET/MRI were performed in 108 consecutive patients. Ninety-four patients who had a total of 100 breast cancers were analyzed.

Factors associated with prolonged time to treatment failure with fulvestrant 500 mg in patients with post-menopausal estrogen receptor-positive advanced breast cancer: a sub-group analysis of the JBCRG-C06 Safari study.

Objective: The JBCRG-C06 Safari study showed that earlier fulvestrant 500 mg (F500) use, a longer time from diagnosis to F500 use, and no prior palliative chemotherapy were associated with significantly longer time to treatment failure (TTF) among Japanese patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) advanced breast cancer (ABC). The objective of this sub-group analysis was to further examine data from the Safari study, focusing on ER + and human epidermal growth factor receptor-negative (HER2-) cases.

Methods: The Safari study (UMIN000015168) was a retrospective, multi-center cohort study, conducted in 1,072 patients in Japan taking F500 for ER + ABC.

Trends in axillary treatment for breast cancer patients undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy as determined by a questionnaire from the Japanese Breast Cancer Society.

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone has been compared with SLNB followed by axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive breast cancer patients in randomized phase III trials: the addition of ALND did not further improve the patient's outcome. However, there is still some controversy, regarding the clinical application of SLNB alone. To identify the optimal axillary treatment in the era of SLNB, the Japanese Breast Cancer Society conducted a group study of SLNB in 2014.

Prognostic and predictive impacts of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes differ between Triple-negative and HER2-positive breast cancers treated with standard systemic therapies.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have potential value for stratifying the treatment of breast cancer (BC), though their precise use remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the utility of TILs using an alternative approach in different settings. We reviewed patients with triple-negative (TN) or human epithelial growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive invasive ductal carcinomas from a single institutional cohort and classified archived hematoxylin-eosin-stained samples in terms of TIL score as low (<10 %), intermediate, and high (>50 %).

Efficacy and safety of an amino acid jelly containing coenzyme Q10 and L-carnitine in controlling fatigue in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: a multi-institutional, randomized, exploratory trial (JORTC-CAM01).

Purpose: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is one of the most common symptoms reported by cancer patients. This randomized trial investigated the efficacy of the amino acid jelly Inner Power(®) (IP), a semi-solid, orally administrable dietary supplement containing coenzyme Q10 and L-carnitine, in controlling CRF in breast cancer patients in Japan.

Methods: Breast cancer patients with CRF undergoing chemotherapy were randomly assigned to receive IP once daily or regular care for 21 days.

Clinical application of the one-step nucleic acid amplification method to detect sentinel lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.

Background: The one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) method can assess the expression level of cytokeratin 19 mRNA in sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer. We compared the time required for diagnosis and concordance of results between the OSNA method and conventional intraoperative pathological examination. We then examined the relationship between the frequency of non-sentinel lymph node metastasis and (1) the expression level of CK19 mRNA in the sentinel lymph nodes and (2) clinico-pathological features of the primary tumor.

[A patient with of metastatic breast cancer with a well-controlled quality of life using S-1 therapy as first-line chemotherapy].

We experienced a case of endocrine therapy-resistant recurrent breast cancer with liver and bone metastases, treated with S-1 as first-line chemotherapy and maintaining a good quality of life. The patient was a 31-year-old premenopausal woman. She was diagnosed with cancer of the left breast(T1(18mm), N0, M(-))and underwent breast-conserving surgery, sentinel lymph node biopsy, and radiation therapy in August 2002.

Palliative stent-graft insertion followed by an allograft replacement for an infected and ruptured aortic aneurysm.

We report a surgical case of infected thoracic aortic aneurysm. Before arrival of the cryopreserved aortic allograft, the patient had hemoptysis resulting from aneurysm rupture. Therefore endovascular stent grafting was urgently performed three days prior to in situ allograft implantation.

Use of the Bentall method for replacement of an aortic Starr-Edwards ball valve prosthesis implanted 32 years previously.

We report the case of a 54-year-old woman who, 32 years previously, had undergone replacement of the ascending aorta by the inclusion method with a Starr-Edwards ball valve prosthesis and recently underwent aortic root re-reconstruction by the Bentall method. Routine chest radiography revealed dilatation of the mediastinum, and computed tomography revealed an aneurysm of the ascending aorta. At reoperation, although the cloth covering the cage of the Starr-Edwards ball valve prosthesis appeared worn and some pannus formation was seen, the Starr-Edwards ball valve was functioning normally.

Synchronous solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura and lung cancer.

We report herein on a 57-year-old woman with comorbid malignant solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) of the pleura and adenocarcinoma of the lung. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient presenting with these two pathological entities simultaneously. The patient was treated successfully for both diseases via a one-stage operation through median sternotomy with good results.