Publications by authors named "Marijke Bontenbal"
Purpose: We aimed to determine the prognosis of patients with breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy (BCP).
Patients And Methods: In this cohort study, a multicentric registry of patients with BCP (from Cancer in Pregnancy, Leuven, Belgium, and GBG 29/BIG 02-03) compiled pro- and retrospectively between 2003 and 2011 was compared with patients who did not have associated pregnancies, using an age limit of 45 years. Patients with a diagnosis postpartum were excluded.
Background: Little is known about the treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy. We aimed to determine whether treatment for breast cancer during pregnancy is safe for both mother and child.
Methods: We recruited patients from seven European countries with a primary diagnosis of breast cancer during pregnancy; data were collected retrospectively if the patient was diagnosed before April, 2003 (when the registry began), or prospectively thereafter, irrespective of the outcome of pregnancy and the type and timing of treatment.
Purpose: Better breast cancer prognostication may improve selection of patients for adjuvant therapy. We conducted a retrospective longitudinal study in which we investigated sera of high-risk primary breast cancer patients, to search for proteins predictive of recurrence-free survival.
Methods: Sera of 82 breast cancer patients obtained after surgery, but prior to the administration of adjuvant therapy, were fractionated using anion-exchange chromatography, to facilitate the detection of the low-abundant serum peptides.
Background: We assessed the efficacy of taxane chemotherapy in BRCA1- and BRCA2-associated patients compared with sporadic metastatic breast cancer patients.
Methods: Response rates (RRs) to and progression-free survival (PFS) after taxane chemotherapy of 35 BRCA1-associated and 13 BRCA2-associated metastatic breast cancer patients were compared with those outcomes in 95 matched (1:2) sporadic patients. Matching was performed for age at and year of diagnosis of primary breast cancer, year of metastatic disease, and line of therapy (first vs second or third).
Randomized phase II study comparing efficacy and safety of combination-therapy trastuzumab and docetaxel vs. sequential therapy of trastuzumab followed by docetaxel alone at progression as first-line chemotherapy in patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer: HERTAX trial.
Clin Breast Cancer
April 2011
Background: Because chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is associated with relevant toxicity, sequential monotherapy trastuzumab followed by cytotoxic therapy at disease progression might be an attractive approach.
Methods: In a multicenter phase II trial, 101 patients with overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2(+)) MBC were randomized between combination-therapy trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus docetaxel (H+D) and sequential therapy of single-agent trastuzumab followed at disease progression by docetaxel alone (H→D) as first-line chemotherapy for metastatic disease. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) after completed sequential or combination therapy.
Purpose: To retrospectively analyze the outcome of patients with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) treated in the Erasmus MC.
Material And Methods: Seventy-five ATC-patients were treated between 1972 and 2003. Mean age was 68 years.
Background: Better breast cancer prognostication may improve selection of patients for adjuvant therapy. We conducted a retrospective follow-up study in which we investigated sera of high-risk primary breast cancer patients, to search for proteins predictive of recurrence free survival.
Methods: Two sample sets of high-risk primary breast cancer patients participating in a randomised national trial investigating the effectiveness of high-dose chemotherapy were analysed.
Purpose: Overall survival (OS) can be observed only after prolonged follow-up, and any potential effect of first-line therapies on OS may be confounded by the effects of subsequent therapy. We investigated whether tumor response, disease control, progression-free survival (PFS), or time to progression (TTP) could be considered a valid surrogate for OS to assess the benefits of first-line therapies for patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Patients And Methods: Individual patient data were collected on 3,953 patients in 11 randomized trials that compared an anthracycline (alone or in combination) with a taxane (alone or in combination with an anthracycline).
Purpose: Taxanes (paclitaxel or docetaxel) have been sequenced or combined with anthracyclines (doxorubicin or epirubicin) for the first-line treatment of advanced breast cancer. This meta-analysis uses data from all relevant trials to detect any advantages of taxanes in terms of tumor response, progression-free survival (PFS), and survival.
Patients And Methods: Individual patient data were collected on eight randomized combination trials comparing anthracyclines + taxanes (+ cyclophosphamide in one trial) with anthracyclines + cyclophosphamide (+ fluorouracil in four trials), and on three single-agent trials comparing taxanes with anthracyclines.
Purpose: To compare the efficacy and safety of doxorubicin and docetaxel (AT) with fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) as first-line chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
Patients And Methods: Patients (n = 216) were randomly assigned to either AT (doxorubicin 50 mg/m(2) and docetaxel 75 mg/m2) or FAC (fluorouracil 500 mg/m2, doxorubicin 50 mg/m2, and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2); both regimens were administered on day 1, every 3 weeks.
Results: A median number of six cycles was delivered in both arms, with a median relative dose-intensity of more than 98%.
Background: The use of high-dose adjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk primary breast cancer is controversial. We studied its efficacy in patients with 4 to 9 or 10 or more tumor-positive axillary lymph nodes.
Methods: Patients younger than 56 years of age who had undergone surgery for breast cancer and who had no distant metastases were eligible if they had at least four tumor-positive axillary lymph nodes.
Purpose: Despite dose calculation using body-surface area (BSA), pharmacokinetics of most anticancer drugs show wide interindividual variability. In this study, we evaluated the role of BSA in paclitaxel disposition.
Patients And Methods: Paclitaxel pharmacokinetics were prospectively studied in 12 patients that were treated in a randomized cross-over design with paclitaxel (3-hour infusion at a 3-week interval) at 175 mg/m2 in cycle 1 (A) and a flat-fixed dose of 300 mg in cycle 2 (B), or vice versa.