Correction of Poland's Syndrome: Case Report and Review of the Current Literature.

Background: Poland's syndrome, a rare congenital anomaly, consists of unilateral absence of the pectoralis major muscle, ipsilateral brachysyndactyly, and occasionally associated other malformations of the anterior chest wall, mamilla, and mamma.

Case Report: In the case of a 32-year-old woman, marked hypoplasia of the right breast and the right nipple, malformation of the right upper limb with brachysyndactyly and microdactyly were noted, all present since birth. This paper describes the surgical technique and possible complications of reconstruction of the chest wall deformity with a solid silicone implant and a latissimus dorsi flap.

Polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene in breast cancer.

Nitric oxide (NO) is known to be critically involved in breast carcinogenesis. Genetic polymorphisms of the gene encoding for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (Nos3), the enzyme catalyzing the production of the NO, are known to predispose to malignant disease. Whether these polymorphisms also influence breast cancer risk is unknown.

Interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 gene polymorphisms and the risk of breast cancer in caucasian women.

Purpose: Genetic polymorphisms of cytokine-encoding genes are known to predispose to malignant disease. Interleukin (IL)-1 and IL-6 are crucially involved in breast carcinogenesis. Whether polymorphisms of the genes encoding IL-1 (IL1) and IL-6 (IL6) also influence breast cancer risk is unknown.

Doxorubicin with cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel every 21 days compared with doxorubicin and docetaxel every 14 days as preoperative treatment in operable breast cancer: the GEPARDUO study of the German Breast Group.

Purpose: Dose-dense and sequential administration of cytotoxic drugs are current approaches to improve outcomes in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Methods: This phase III study investigated 913 women with untreated operable breast cancer (T2-3, N0-2, M0) randomly assigned to receive either doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 plus docetaxel 75 mg/m2 every 14 days for four cycles with filgrastim support (ADOC), or doxorubicin 60 mg/m2 plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 every 21 days followed by docetaxel 100 mg/m2 every 21 days for four cycles each (AC-DOC). The primary end point was the incidence of pathologic complete (invasive and noninvasive) response (pCR) in the breast and axillary nodes.

MR imaging of the contralateral breast in patients after breast-conserving therapy.

A study was undertaken to assess the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced MR mammography (MRM) of the contralateral breast in patients treated by breast-conserving therapy previously. A total of 119 patients underwent 145 standardized dynamic MR studies (1 T, T1-weighted 3D FLASH, 0.2 mmol Gd-DTPA/kg body weight).

Dose-dense biweekly doxorubicin/docetaxel versus sequential neoadjuvant chemotherapy with doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide/docetaxel in operable breast cancer: second interim analysis.

Timing of systemic treatment in primary operable breast cancer is subject to extensive investigation, suggesting that pathologic complete remission (pCR) might improve survival in this setting. The German Adjuvant Breast Cancer Group previously demonstrated the feasibility of a dose-dense biweekly schedule of 4 cycles doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 and docetaxel 75 mg/m2 (ddAT) +/- tamoxifen in the neoadjuvant setting to yield a pCR of 9.7% (Gepardo trial).

Suppression of unspecific enhancement on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by antiestrogen medication.

Aims And Background: The value of breast MRI may be impaired by unspecific enhancement. This may leave patients with difficult-to-assess breast tissue with an uncertain diagnosis. We examined whether this unspecific enhancement (which is mostly due to proliferative or hyperplastic changes of benign breast tissue) may be suppressed by antiestrogen medication.

The correlation between immunohistochemically-detected markers of angiogenesis and serum vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with breast cancer.

Background: As angiogenesis is known to be a crucial factor in breast cancer growth, numerous studies have examined angiogenic markers in breast cancer. Their definite role, however, has not been fully elucidated.

Materials And Methods: We investigated intratumoral microvessel density (MVD), Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and its receptor flk-1, and serum VEGF in 46 patients with breast cancer prior to surgery.

Histological category and expression of hormone receptors in ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast.

Background: While the role of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status in invasive breast cancer has been clinically established, data with respect to their role in ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast (DCIS) are sparse.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed 120 consecutive patients with DCIS I-III. Detailed histological categorization and immunohistochemical staining for ER and PR were performed and correlated with clinical data.

Polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene in ovarian cancer.

Objective: The free radical nitric oxide is known to be critically involved in ovarian carcinogenesis by inducing apoptosis and by mediating various cytostatic and cytotoxic effects, but also by promoting growth, invasion, and metastasis.

Methods: We investigated two polymorphisms (exon 7 Glu298Asp and a 27-bp repeat in intron 4) of the gene encoding endothelial nitric oxide synthase (Nos3) in 130 patients with ovarian cancer, 26 patients with borderline ovarian cancer, and 133 healthy age-matched Caucasian women using PCR and pyrosequencing, respectively.

Results: Genotypes and allelic frequencies did not differ between patients with ovarian cancer and controls.

Preservation of histopathologic assessment by use of a special technique for tissue inactivation by radiofrequency.

Thermoinactivation is under investigation as a new method of cancer treatment. Prior histopathologic verification has been indispensable. Our experiments show that thermoinactivation is in principle possible without destroying histopathologic morphology, if the temperature stays within certain limits.