Publications by authors named "Mikael Hartman"
Article Synopsis
- - Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare and challenging breast condition that mostly impacts women of reproductive age, requiring careful diagnosis to exclude other similar disorders.
- - A study using interviews with clinicians from Singapore, Malaysia, and Egypt found that diagnosis relied mainly on imaging and histopathology, while treatment typically included corticosteroids, though practices varied significantly.
- - The findings highlight the need for standardised treatment protocols and more definitive diagnostic tests, suggesting that randomised controlled trials are necessary to improve care and address regional differences in managing IGM.
Article Synopsis
- Elevated mammographic density (MD) is a significant risk factor for breast cancer, and this study investigates how factors like childbirth, age at first birth, and breastfeeding relate to MD in a large group of women across different countries.
- The research analyzed data from 11,755 women aged 35-85 years, focusing on how factors such as the number of births and the timing of the first birth influence measurements of MD.
- The findings suggest that having more children decreases MD, while older age at first birth is linked to higher MD, particularly in post-menopausal women, highlighting the complex relationships between reproductive factors and breast density.
Article Synopsis
- Despite existing research on AI in mammography, there's limited exploration of AI's role in diagnosing challenging cases of metachronous bilateral breast cancer.
- This study assessed the effectiveness of the AI diagnostic system FxMammo™ in identifying contralateral breast cancer in patients who had already undergone unilateral surgery.
- Findings showed that the AI system identified 60% of malignancies compared to 50% by radiologists, with some cases diagnosed by AI a year earlier than traditional methods.
A breast cancer risk assessment tool for Asian populations, incorporating Polygenic Risk Score and Gail Model algorithm, has been established and validated. However, effective methods for delivering personalized risk information remain underexplored. This study aims to identify and develop effective methods for conveying breast cancer risk information to Asian women.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Clinical genetic testing helps find cancer risks by identifying gene changes, but some of these changes are confusing because we don't know what they mean (called VUS).
- Researchers studied a huge number of breast cancer patients and healthy people to understand these confusing gene changes better.
- They found that their method of analyzing data closely matches what other experts say about which gene changes are harmless or harmful, giving more information about 785 unclear changes.
Article Synopsis
- Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare breast condition marked by chronic inflammation and unclear causes.
- Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was used to analyze genetic data from eight patients, but no definitive genetic factors were linked to IGM.
- The study revealed discrepancies in variant calling and significant genetic diversity, suggesting that the genetic causes of IGM are complex and still poorly understood.
In this pilot study, we investigated the utility of handheld ultrasound-guided photoacoustic (US-PA) imaging probe for analyzing ex-vivo breast specimens obtained from female patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS). We aimed to assess the potential of US-PA in detecting biochemical markers such as collagen, lipids, and hemoglobin, and compare these findings with routine imaging modalities (mammography, ultrasound) and histopathology results, particularly across various breast densities. Twelve ex-vivo breast specimens were obtained from female patients with a mean age of 59.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- * Analysis of data from over 55,000 breast cancer patients showed that co-observation of variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 with other breast cancer genes occurred less frequently than expected, suggesting a potential correlation with pathogenicity.
- * The findings indicate that identifying a variant of uncertain significance alongside a known pathogenic variant supports evidence against the variant's pathogenicity, which could improve variant classification in clinical settings and for other genetic conditions.
Purpose: To assess the association of a polygenic risk score (PRS) for functional genetic variants with the risk of developing breast cancer.
Methods: Summary data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR) and heterogeneity in dependent instruments (HEIDI) were used to identify breast cancer risk variants associated with gene expression and DNA methylation levels. A new SMR-based PRS was computed from the identified variants (functional PRS) and compared to an established 313-variant breast cancer PRS (GWAS PRS).
Purpose: The major aim of our meta-analysis was to review the effectiveness of various treatment modalities for achieving successful remission and preventing recurrence for women with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM). This knowledge is instrumental in developing evidence-based guidelines for clinicians to improve management strategies and outcomes for patients with IGM.
Methods: A systematic literature search was performed on MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Elsevier), PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar; studies published to 19 January 2022 were included.
Article Synopsis
- In Singapore, there’s a growing problem with people who go to Emergency Departments (EDs) often because of alcohol-related issues, and they don’t use regular addiction treatment.
- This study is looking at a new method called Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) to see if it can help reduce their ED visits and improve their overall health.
- The research compares the health outcomes of these frequent visitors before and after they receive ACT compared to regular emergency care, while tracking their progress over six months.
Background: Social behaviors such as altruism, where one self-sacrifices for collective benefits, critically influence an organism's survival and responses to the environment. Such behaviors are widely exemplified in nature but have been underexplored in cancer cells which are conventionally seen as selfish competitive players. This multidisciplinary study explores altruism and its mechanism in breast cancer cells and its contribution to chemoresistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Exposure to cytotoxic chemotherapy treatment may alter DNA methylation (DNAm) in breast cancer patients.
Methods: We performed DNAm analysis in 125 breast cancer patients with blood drawn before and after chemotherapy, using the Illumina MethylationEPIC array. DNAm changes of 588,798 individual CpGs (including 41,207 promoter regions) were evaluated using linear regression models adjusted for monocyte proportion.
The majority of published findings on chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia (FN) are restricted to three ethnic groups: Asians, Caucasians, and African Americans. In this two-part study, we examined FN incidence and risk factors in Chinese, Malay, and Indian chemotherapy-treated breast cancer (BC) patients. Hospital records or ICD codes were used to identify patients with FN.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Mammographic density (MD), after accounting for age and body mass index (BMI), is a strong heritable risk factor for breast cancer. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 64 SNPs in 55 independent loci associated with MD in women of European ancestry. Their associations with MD in Asian women, however, are largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The benefit of using individual risk prediction tools to identify high-risk individuals for breast cancer (BC) screening is uncertain, despite the personalized approach of risk-based screening.
Methods: We studied the overlap of predicted high-risk individuals among 246,142 women enrolled in the UK Biobank. Risk predictors assessed include the Gail model (Gail), BC family history (FH, binary), BC polygenic risk score (PRS), and presence of loss-of-function (LoF) variants in BC predisposition genes.
Personalized breast cancer risk profiling has the potential to promote shared decision-making and improve compliance with routine screening. We assessed the Gail model's performance in predicting the short-term (2- and 5-year) and the long-term (10- and 15-year) absolute risks in 28,234 asymptomatic Asian women. Absolute risks were calculated using different relative risk estimates and Breast cancer incidence and mortality rates (White, Asian-American, or the Singapore Asian population).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIdiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare and benign inflammatory breast disease with ambiguous aetiology. Contrastingly, lactational mastitis (LM) is commonly diagnosed in breastfeeding women. To investigate IGM aetiology, we profiled the microbial flora of pus and skin in patients with IGM and LM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingapore launched a population-based organised mammography screening (MAM) programme in 2002. However, uptake is low. A better understanding of breast cancer (BC) risk factors has generated interest in shifting from a one-size-fits-all to a risk-based screening approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF