Safety and feasibility of adjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 in Japanese breast cancer patients after primary systemic chemotherapy: a feasibility study.

Background: Advanced breast cancer patients have a higher risk of postoperative recurrence than early-stage breast cancer patients. Recurrence is believed to be caused by the increase in micrometases, which were not eradicated by preoperative or postoperative chemotherapy. Therefore, a new therapeutic strategy that can improve treatment efficacy is mandatory for advanced breast cancer.

Clinicopathological and prognostic impact of imaging of breast cancer angiogenesis and hypoxia using diffuse optical spectroscopy.

Near-infrared diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) imaging can non-invasively measure tumor hemoglobin concentration using high contrast to normal tissue, thus providing vascularity and oxygenation status. We assessed the clinical usefulness of DOS imaging in primary breast cancer. In all, 118 women with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of primary malignant tumor were enrolled.

Optical imaging of tumor vascularity associated with proliferation and glucose metabolism in early breast cancer: clinical application of total hemoglobin measurements in the breast.

Background: Near-infrared optical imaging targeting the intrinsic contrast of tissue hemoglobin has emerged as a promising approach for visualization of vascularity in cancer research. We evaluated the usefulness of diffuse optical spectroscopy using time-resolved spectroscopic (TRS) measurements for functional imaging of primary breast cancer.

Methods: Fifty-five consecutive TNM stage I/II patients with histologically proven invasive ductal carcinoma and operable breast tumors (<5 cm) who underwent TRS measurements were enrolled.

Genomic profiling shows increased glucose metabolism in luminal B breast cancer.

We had previously reported a close association between pathological response and the maximum tumor standardized uptake value (SUVmax) measured by (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography prior to chemotherapy in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. We hypothesized that glucose hypermetabolism by luminal B tumors may result in chemotherapy responsiveness. Using a single-gene expression assay, TargetPrint® (Agendia) and a 70-gene expression classifier, MammaPrint® (Agendia), we divided 20 patients with ER-positive primary breast cancer into luminal A and luminal B subtypes and compared the tumor SUVmax value between the two groups.

[Successful treatment of trastuzumab-resistant HER2-positive breast cancer with extensive liver metastases using the combination of trastuzumab and capecitabine - a case report].

We report a case of a trastuzumab-resistant human epidermal growth factor receptor-2(HER2)-positive breast cancer patient with extensive liver metastases and associated impaired liver function, who showed an excellent response to the combination of trastuzumab and capecitabine. The patient was a 59-year-old postmenopausal woman with multiple liver metastases at first examination. She first received anthracycline-based chemotherapy, and after progression was followed up with a combination of trastuzumab and paclitaxel.

Axillary ultrasound examination is useful for selecting patients optimally suited for sentinel lymph node biopsy after primary systemic chemotherapy.

Background: Controversy surrounds the reliability of sentinel lymph node biopsy after primary systemic chemotherapy. In this study, we assessed axillary ultrasound for selecting patients most likely to optimally benefit from biopsy.

Methods: The study included 87 patients who received primary systemic chemotherapy and underwent a sentinel lymph node biopsy followed by axillary lymph node dissection.

BiClamp forceps significantly shorten the operation time for breast surgery.

Purpose: A novel approach was introduced for breast surgery using the BiClamp, a new bipolar thermal energy device, to avoid complications and to shorten the time required for the dissection of the axillary lymph nodes.

Methods: Thirty-six patients with early breast cancer were assessed. The surgical parameters were compared between the procedures performed using the BiClamp technique (n = 14) and conventional surgery with suture ligation (n = 22).