Concordance between HER-2 status determined by qPCR in Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) samples compared with IHC and FISH in Core Needle Biopsy (CNB) or surgical specimens in breast cancer patients.

Determining the status of HER2-neu amplification and overexpression in breast cancer is crucial for prognosis but mostly for treatment purposes. Standard techniques include the determination of IHC in combination with in situ hybridization techniques to confirm a HER2-neu amplification in case of IHC2+ using either a core-needle biopsy or a surgical specimen. qPCR has been also demonstrated to be able to determine HER2 status, mostly in core biopsies or in surgical specimens.

Decision-making from multidisciplinary team meetings to the bedside: factors influencing the recruitment of breast cancer patients into clinical trials.

Aim Of The Study: Our aim was to determine factors influencing physicians and breast cancer patients to respectively propose or accept participation in a clinical trial following proposals made during a multidisciplinary team meeting (MTM) in a Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Patients And Methods: Consecutive patients considered eligible for a clinical trial by a breast cancer-specific MTM were included. A detailed analysis of factors predictive of the physician proposing the trial and the patient's acceptance and final inclusion was conducted.