Clinical experience of using Oncotype DX as an additional treatment decision tool in early breast cancer - a retrospective analysis from 5 Greek institutions.

Aims: The objective of this retrospective study was to describe the results from five institutions' experience of using Oncotype DX(®) to identify patients who need chemotherapy despite the presence of primarily favorable characteristics.

Patients And Methods: Oncotype DX was performed in 106 pre- and postmenopausal patients with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative, early breast cancer with a combination of favorable prognostic factors or favorable prognostic factors with at least one unfavorable characteristic (tumor size >2 cm, tumor grading of II-III, Ki-67 ≥ 10%, presence of lymph node micrometastases) in which it was unclear whether hormonal therapy only or chemotherapy plus hormonal therapy was the optimal adjuvant treatment.

Results: Sixty-four (60.

New views on treatment of aromatase inhibitors induced arthralgia.

Background: Aromatase Inhibitor (AI) induced arthralgia is one of the most frequent side effects in breast cancer hormonal therapy, which may become severe in some cases affecting patients' quality of life. The purpose of this study is to investigate alternative treatment of arthralgia, as current treatment options may often prove to be inadequate.

Material-methods: According to Morales et al, AI-associated arthralgia syndrome is characterized by tenosynovial changes in MRI, including fluid in tendon sheaths and joints.

[Benign tumors of the liver].

Benign tumours of the liver, being rare compared to malignant forms, constitute a big diagnostic and therapeutic problem to prove their benignity and the relation between the patients' symptoms and their existence. During 1983-91, we had the chance to study ten (10) patients with benign liver tumour-six (6) women and four (4) men-with a mean age of 51 years, concerning 5 hemangiomas, one hepatic adenoma and 4 focal nodular hyperplasia. Two of the hemangiomas coexisted with metastatic liver tumours.