Clinical response to primary letrozole therapy in elderly patients with early breast cancer: possible role for p53 as a biomarker.

Primary tamoxifen therapy has been widely used to treat elderly women with ER-positive breast cancer in the past. Aromatase inhibitors may be more beneficial than tamoxifen when used as primary endocrine therapy in elderly patients. We aimed to retrospectively evaluate a series of elderly women with ER-positive breast cancer treated with primary letrozole therapy as sole therapy with a minimum of 5 years follow up.

Feasibility of autologous fat transfer for replacement of implant volume in complicated implant-assisted latissimus dorsi flap breast reconstruction.

Lipomodeling is gaining popularity and has been widely used in various settings of reconstructive breast surgery. Implant-assisted latissimus dorsi (LD) flap reconstruction of breast is a popular method among the reconstructive surgeons. When this type of reconstruction is met with complications such as infection and capsular contracture, it necessitates removal of implants and patients are left with very limited options of reconstructions.

Feasibility of use of a barbed suture (v-loc 180) for quilting the donor site in latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap breast reconstruction.

Background: Latissimus dorsi (LD) myocutaneous flap is a popular method of breast reconstruction which can be associated with high incidence of seroma formation. Quilting sutures at the harvest site are used to reduce this. Barbed sutures are self anchoring sutures which avoid multiple knotting and can be useful in quilting.

Xanthogranulomatous inflammation involving latissimus dorsi donor site and implant breast reconstruction: case report and literature review.

Xanthogranulomatous inflammation is a rare clinico-pathological condition involving many organ systems. Breast involvement with this rare condition reported from a few cases of mastitis has been limited to only microscopic involvement on histology. We would like to report an unusual presentation of this inflammatory process presenting as a solid lump mimicking malignancy in latissimus dorsi donor site scar and implant-based breast reconstruction as a result of a ruptured silicone gel implant.

Pilot and feasibility study: comparative proteomic analysis by 2-DE MALDI TOF/TOF MS reveals 14-3-3 proteins as putative biomarkers of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in ER-positive breast cancer.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is used to treat oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer however chemo-resistance is a major obstacle in this molecular subtype. The ability to predict tumour response would allow chemotherapy administration to be directed towards patients who would most benefit, thus maximising treatment efficacy. We aimed to identify protein biomarkers associated with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, in a pilot study using comparative 2-DE MALDI TOF/TOF MS proteomic analysis of breast tumour samples.

Proteomic identification of predictive biomarkers of resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in luminal breast cancer: a possible role for 14-3-3 theta/tau and tBID?

Introduction: Chemotherapy resistance is a major obstacle in effective neoadjuvant treatment for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. The ability to predict tumour response would allow chemotherapy administration to be directed towards only those patients who would benefit, thus maximising treatment efficiency. We aimed to identify putative protein biomarkers associated with chemotherapy resistance, using fresh tumour samples with antibody microarray analysis and then to perform pilot clinical validation experiments.

Surgery is associated with lower morbidity and longer survival in elderly breast cancer patients over 80.

As breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in the elderly with a peak incidence of 1 in 10 by the age of 80, it is important to establish optimum therapy in this group. We conducted a case note-based retrospective study of all elderly primary breast cancer patients aged 80 and above between 1992 and 2002. The type of treatment, complications, disease progression, recurrence, and overall survival were recorded.