A population based study of variations in operation rates for breast cancer, of comorbidity and prognosis at diagnosis: failure to operate for early breast cancer in older women.

Background: Older women are less likely to have surgery for operable breast cancer. This population-based study examines operation rates by age and identifies groups which present with early or late disease.

Methods: 37 000 cancer registrations for 2007 were combined with Hospital Episode Statistics comorbidity data for England.

Sentinel node biopsy using a magnetic tracer versus standard technique: the SentiMAG Multicentre Trial.

Background: The SentiMAG Multicentre Trial evaluated a new magnetic technique for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) against the standard (radioisotope and blue dye or radioisotope alone). The magnetic technique does not use radiation and provides both a color change (brown dye) and a handheld probe for node localization. The primary end point of this trial was defined as the proportion of sentinel nodes detected with each technique (identification rate).

Radiotherapy or tamoxifen after conserving surgery for breast cancers of excellent prognosis: British Association of Surgical Oncology (BASO) II trial.

Background: The incidence of local recurrence (LR) after conservative surgery for early breast cancer without adjuvant therapy is unacceptably high even with favourable tumours. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of adjuvant therapies in tumours with excellent prognostic features.

Methods: Patients with primary invasive breast cancer <2 cm diameter, grade 1 or good prognosis special type, and node negative, treated by wide local excision (WLE) with clear margins were randomised into a 2 × 2 clinical trial of factorial design with or without radiotherapy and with or without tamoxifen.

Clinical outcome data for symptomatic breast cancer: the Breast Cancer Clinical Outcome Measures (BCCOM) Project.

Background: Data collection for screen-detected breast cancer in the United Kingdom is fully funded, which has led to improvements in clinical practice. However, data on symptomatic cancer are deficient, and the aim of this project was to monitor the current practice.

Methods: A data set was designed together with surrogate outcome measures to reflect best practice.

Patterns and predictors of early recurrence in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive early breast cancer.

Previous studies suggest that disease recurrence peaks at around 2 years in patients with early stage breast cancer (EBC), but provide no data regarding recurrence type. This retrospective analysis aimed to identify early recurrence types and risk factors in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) EBC patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen following breast cancer surgery. Postmenopausal women diagnosed with ER+ EBC from 1995 to 2004 were evaluated.