[Clinical usefulness of circulating ECD/HER-2 measurement for breast cancer patients' management].

Background: About 15 to 20% of breast cancer cases overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2). This overexpression is associated with poor clinical prognosis but therapeutic success of trastuzumab or lapatinib. HER-2 extracellular domain (ECD) undergoes a proteolytic cleavage and is shed into biologic fluid as a circulating antigen called ECD/HER-2, which can be detected by immunochemical assays.

Multiple fluid-filled bone metastases.

Bone metastases are usually seen on imaging studies as lytic lesions and less often as sclerotic or mixed lesions. We report an exceedingly unusual case of breast cancer identified after magnetic resonance imaging showed bone metastases with fluid-fluid levels in the spine and sacrum. Bone images containing fluid-fluid levels are usually solitary abnormalities produced by aneurismal bone cysts.

Sequential adjuvant epirubicin-based and docetaxel chemotherapy for node-positive breast cancer patients: the FNCLCC PACS 01 Trial.

Purpose: The PACS 01 trial compared six cycles of fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) with a sequential regimen of three cycles of FEC followed by three cycles of docetaxel (FEC-D) as adjuvant treatment for women with node-positive early breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Between June 1997 and March 2000, 1,999 patients with operable node-positive breast cancer were randomly assigned to either FEC every 21 days for six cycles, or three cycles of FEC followed by three cycles of docetaxel, both given every 21 days. Hormone-receptor-positive patients received tamoxifen for 5 years after chemotherapy.