Identifying breast cancer recurrence histories via patient-reported outcomes.

Purpose: To test accuracy of patient self-report of breast cancer recurrence for enhancing standard population-based cancer registries that do not routinely collect cancer recurrence data despite the importance of this outcome.

Methods: Potential research subjects were identified in the Breast Cancer Research Database (BCRD) of the Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI). The BCRD has collected data within 45 days of each medical encounter on new primary breast cancer patients receiving all or part of their initial care at SCI.

Correction: Incorporating Breast Cancer Recurrence Events Into Population-Based Cancer Registries Using Medical Claims: Cohort Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/18143.].

Incorporating Breast Cancer Recurrence Events Into Population-Based Cancer Registries Using Medical Claims: Cohort Study.

Background: There is a need for automated approaches to incorporate information on cancer recurrence events into population-based cancer registries.

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the accuracy of a novel data mining algorithm to extract information from linked registry and medical claims data on the occurrence and timing of second breast cancer events (SBCE).

Methods: We used supervised data from 3092 stage I and II breast cancer cases (with 394 recurrences), diagnosed between 1993 and 2006 inclusive, of patients at Kaiser Permanente Washington and cases in the Puget Sound Cancer Surveillance System.

Childhood tuberculosis is associated with decreased abundance of T cell gene transcripts and impaired T cell function.

The WHO estimates around a million children contract tuberculosis (TB) annually with over 80 000 deaths from dissemination of infection outside of the lungs. The insidious onset and association with skin test anergy suggests failure of the immune system to both recognise and respond to infection. To understand the immune mechanisms, we studied genome-wide whole blood RNA expression in children with TB meningitis (TBM).

The effect of referral for genetic counseling on genetic testing and surgical prevention in women at high risk for ovarian cancer: Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Guidelines recommend genetic counseling and testing for women who have a pedigree suggestive of an inherited susceptibility for ovarian cancer. The authors evaluated the effect of referral to genetic counseling on genetic testing and prophylactic oophorectomy in a randomized controlled trial.

Methods: Data from an electronic mammography reporting system identified 12,919 women with a pedigree that included breast cancer, of whom 625 were identified who had a high risk for inherited susceptibility to ovarian cancer using a risk-assessment questionnaire.

Positron Emission Mammography Image Interpretation for Reduced Image Count Levels.

Unlabelled: We studied the effects of reduced (18)F-FDG injection activity on interpretation of positron emission mammography (PEM) images and compared image interpretation between 2 postinjection imaging times.

Methods: We performed a receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) study using PEM images reconstructed with different count levels expected from injected activities between 23 and 185 MBq. Thirty patients received 2 PEM scans at postinjection times of 60 and 120 min.

Validating the use of qualitative behavioral assessment as a measure of the welfare of sheep during transport.

We tested the application of qualitative behavioral assessment (QBA) as a welfare assessment tool. Sheep were exposed to road transport treatments, and behavioral expressions were compared between experimental treatments and validated by correlation with physiological measures. We compared journeys differing in ventilation (closed vs.

Cancer Risk Awareness and Concern among Women with a Family History of Breast or Ovarian Cancer.

Women with a documented deleterious mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 are at substantially elevated risk for ovarian cancer. To understand what percentage of women with high-risk family histories know their risk is elevated we surveyed 1,885 women with a high- or moderate-risk family history and no personal history of breast or ovarian cancer, and asked about their perceived risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Among high-risk women, fewer than 20% reported use of genetic counseling, and knowledge of elevated risk of ovarian cancer was low.

JAK2 expression is associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and improved breast cancer outcomes: implications for evaluating JAK2 inhibitors.

Janus kinase-2 (JAK2) supports breast cancer growth, and clinical trials testing JAK2 inhibitors are under way. In addition to the tumor epithelium, JAK2 is also expressed in other tissues including immune cells; whether the JAK2 mRNA levels in breast tumors correlate with outcomes has not been evaluated. Using a case-control design, JAK2 mRNA was measured in 223 archived breast tumors and associations with distant recurrence were evaluated by logistic regression.

Rapid point-of-care breath test for biomarkers of breast cancer and abnormal mammograms.

Background: Previous studies have reported volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath as biomarkers of breast cancer and abnormal mammograms, apparently resulting from increased oxidative stress and cytochrome p450 induction. We evaluated a six-minute point-of-care breath test for VOC biomarkers in women screened for breast cancer at centers in the USA and the Netherlands.

Methods: 244 women had a screening mammogram (93/37 normal/abnormal) or a breast biopsy (cancer/no cancer 35/79).

(18)F-FDG PET/CT-positive internal mammary lymph nodes: pathologic correlation by ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and assessment of associated risk factors.

Objective: Metastatic breast cancer in internal mammary (IM) lymph nodes is associated with a poor prognosis. This study correlates (18)F-FDG PET/CT-positive IM lymph nodes with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytopathologic results and determines risk factors for IM node positivity on PET/CT.

Materials And Methods: For this retrospective study, a database search was performed to identify patients referred for whole-body (18)F-FDG PET/CT for initial staging or restaging of breast cancer from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2010.

Positron emission mammography (PEM): effect of activity concentration, object size, and object contrast on phantom lesion detection.

Purpose: To characterize the relationship between lesion detection sensitivity and injected activity as a function of lesion size and contrast on the PEM (positron emission mammography) Flex Solo II scanner using phantom experiments.

Methods: Phantom lesions (spheres 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 mm diameter) were randomly located in uniform background. Sphere activity concentrations were 3 to 21 times the background activity concentration (BGc).

Positron emission mammography: correlation of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status and 18F-FDG.

Objective: The study objective was to assess the correlation between (18)F-FDG uptake values on positron emission mammography (PEM), expressed as maximum uptake value and lesion-to-background ratio, and receptor status (i.e., estrogen receptor [ER], progesterone receptor [PR], and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 [HER2]), tumor histology, and tumor grade.

Utilization of cancer registry data for monitoring quality of care.

Background: Cancer Program Practice Profile Reports (CP(3)R), established by the Commission on Cancer, are based on 6 guidelines for breast and colorectal cancer care using cancer registry data. The long-term goal is the use of cancer registry data for real-time interventions to optimize the process of individual patient multidisciplinary care.

Methods: CP(3)R results using 593 analytic breast cancer cases in 2008 were compared in 3 databases: an institutional breast cancer research database, an institutional cancer registry, and a regional Cancer Surveillance System.

Irradiation effect after mastectomy on breast cancer recurrence in patients presenting with locally advanced disease.

Background: Current guidelines recommend postmastectomy irradiation (PMI) for patients with tumors >5 cm and/or ≥4 positive lymph nodes. This study evaluates the effect of PMI on recurrence and survival within tumor size and node status groups.

Methods: Locoregional and distant recurrences and survival for different tumor and treatment characteristics were analyzed in 2,797 patients with invasive breast cancer treated with mastectomy.

Surgical perspectives from a prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter study of breast conserving surgery and adjuvant electronic brachytherapy for the treatment of breast cancer.

Background: Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) may be used to deliver radiation to the tumor bed post-lumpectomy in eligible patients with breast cancer. Patient and tumor characteristics as well as the lumpectomy technique can influence patient eligibility for APBI. This report describes a lumpectomy procedure and examines patient, tumor, and surgical characteristics from a prospective, multicenter study of electronic brachytherapy.

Breast cancer genomics: normal tissue and cancer markers.

Mammography is a powerful screening tool for early detection of breast cancer, but it has limitations in terms of both specificity and sensitivity. Imaging tools such as MRI that complement mammography are too costly to serve as first-line screens. Recently, progress has been made on blood markers, particularly microRNAs and proteins.

Reversion and conversion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis IFN-gamma ELISpot results during anti-tuberculous treatment in HIV-infected children.

Background: Recent interest has focused on the potential use of serial interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) release assay (IGRA) measurements to assess the response to anti-tuberculous (TB) treatment. The kinetics of IFN-gamma responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) antigens in HIV-infected children during treatment have not however been previously investigated.

Methods: IFN-gamma responses to the MTB antigens, ESAT-6, CFP-10 and PPD were measured by an enzyme-linked immunospot assay (IFN-gamma ELISpot) at presentation and at one, two and six months after starting anti-tuberculous treatment in HIV-infected children with definite or probable TB.

Recurrence rates in breast cancer patients with false-negative intraoperative evaluation of sentinel lymph nodes.

Background: Intraoperative identification of sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastases in breast cancer patients results in synchronous axillary lymph node dissection. We examined the effect of false-negative SLN biopsy on breast cancer treatments and recurrence rate.

Methods: Patient and tumor characteristics, intraoperative and final SLN biopsy results, and treatments of patients with and without recurrence were compared.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer: tumor markers as predictors of pathologic response, recurrence, and survival.

This study reports the value of the tumor markers estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in predicting the response of breast cancer to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A community cancer center prospectively maintained breast cancer database containing over 8,000 patient records was used. Since 1989, 464 patients were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgical resection and were tested for ER and PR.

Comparison of breast cancer to healthy control tissue discovers novel markers with potential for prognosis and early detection.

This study was initiated to identify biomarkers with potential value for the early detection of poor-outcome breast cancer. Two sets of well-characterized tissues were utilized: one from breast cancer patients with favorable vs. poor outcome and the other from healthy women undergoing reduction mammaplasty.

Polymorphic variation in TIRAP is not associated with susceptibility to childhood TB but may determine susceptibility to TBM in some ethnic groups.

Host recognition of mycobacterial surface molecules occurs through toll like receptors (TLR) 2 and 6. The adaptor protein TIRAP mediates down stream signalling of TLR2 and 4, and polymorphisms in the TIRAP gene (TIRAP) have been associated with susceptibility and resistance to tuberculosis (TB) in adults. In order to investigate the role of polymorphic variation in TIRAP in childhood TB in South Africa, which has one of the highest TB incidence rates in the world, we screened the entire open reading frame of TIRAP for sequence variation in two cohorts of childhood TB from different ethnic groups (Xhosa and mixed ancestry).