Publications by authors named "K W Westbrook"
Background: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are a cornerstone of adjuvant systemic therapy for postmenopausal patients with hormone-receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer. Although AIs decrease cancer recurrence rates and improve survival rates, approximately 50 % of patients experience arthralgia-persistent pain related to worse patient outcomes and poor AI adherence. Current medical interventions for AI-associated arthralgia have limited efficacy and side effects that restrict their use among older patients.
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- Sexual concerns are prevalent among breast cancer survivors, impacting their sexual adjustment significantly, which suggests that involving partners in the therapeutic process could be beneficial.
- The study tested the Intimacy Enhancement (IE) intervention, a telephone-based program for couples, to tackle these sexual issues, comparing its effectiveness to a control group intervention.
- Results indicated that the IE intervention led to notable short-term improvements in the sexual function and satisfaction of survivors, although sustaining these benefits over time may require additional strategies.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common globally diagnosed cancers in men. It most frequently metastasizes to bones, lymph nodes, lungs, or the liver. There are limited data investigating the impact of prostate cancer on patients who have undergone ileal pouch-anal anastomosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Breast cancer treatment patterns and quality of care among patients experiencing incarceration are underexplored. This study examined associations between incarceration and breast cancer disease and treatment characteristics.
Methods: This retrospective analysis was conducted at a tertiary center in the Southeastern United States that serves as the state's safety-net hospital and primary referral site for the state's prisons.
Purpose: This study aimed to assess safety and efficacy of a modified KEYNOTE 522 protocol, which incorporated pembrolizumab every 6 weeks, allowing for concomitant dose-dense (14 day) doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (ddAC). By optimizing this dosing, the intention of this modified protocol was to improve pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in a population associated with a poorer prognosis.
Methods: This was a retrospective, single-center, cohort study.