Publications by authors named "Rinaa S Punglia"

Radiotherapy for breast cancer has been associated with an increased risk of secondary malignancies, including primary lung cancer. Whether this association varies by histological subtype of lung cancer remains unknown. Based on the data from 12 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries, we examined the association between radiotherapy receipt and the risk of subtype-specific subsequent primary lung cancer (SPLC) among female first primary breast cancer cases diagnosed between ages 20 and 84 from 1992 to 2020.

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Nodal disease burden and oncologic outcomes of 312 real-world patients with HR+HER2-breast cancer meeting SOUND eligibility criteria were similar to the SLNB arm of the SOUND trial, supporting careful implementation of omission of SLNB in this population ( https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.

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Article Synopsis
  • The SOUND trial found that for early-stage breast cancer patients with negative axillary ultrasound, skipping sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is just as effective as traditional axillary staging.
  • This study analyzed a group of patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) HER2-negative breast cancer, confirming that their outcomes and disease characteristics align with the SOUND trial's findings.
  • Results showed that very few patients had positive lymph nodes, no axillary recurrences were noted in the follow-up, and for postmenopausal women, SLNB omission didn't change chemotherapy recommendations, indicating safe application of the trial's conclusions in real-world settings.
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Background: The heterogeneous biology of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), as well as the variable outcomes, in the setting of numerous treatment options have led to prognostic uncertainty. Consequently, making treatment decisions is challenging and necessitates involved communication between patient and provider about the risks and benefits. We developed and investigated an interactive decision support tool (DST) designed to improve communication of treatment options and related long-term risks for individuals diagnosed with DCIS.

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Importance: Postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) improves local-regional disease control and patient survival. Hypofractionation (HF) regimens have comparable efficacy and complication rates with improved quality of life compared with conventional fractionation (CF) schedules. However, the use of HF after mastectomy in patients undergoing breast reconstruction has not been prospectively examined.

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Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected cancer care worldwide, including radiation therapy (RT) for breast cancer (BC), because of risk-based resource allocation. We report the evolution of international breast RT practices during the beginning of the pandemic, focusing on differences in treatment recommendations between countries.

Materials And Methods: Between July and November 2020, a 58-question survey was distributed to radiation oncologists (ROs) through international professional societies.

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Journal Journal of Clinical OncologyPatients with high-risk breast lesions (HRLs) or preinvasive breast cancers face an elevated risk of future breast cancer diagnoses. Endocrine therapy in this setting reduces the risk of a future diagnosis but does not confer improved survival, thus the side effects of primary/secondary prevention must be considered relative to the benefits. Here, we discuss the available chemoprevention regimens for patients with HRLs and considerations for selecting a regimen, as well as the decision making surrounding use of adjuvant endocrine therapy for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

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Purpose: We examined radiation therapy (RT) use among patients with early-stage breast cancer and analyzed the contribution of patient, cancer, and regional factors to the likelihood of RT receipt across Health Service Areas.

Methods And Materials: We identified 13,176 patients aged 66 to 79 years in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program-Medicare database who were diagnosed with lymph node-negative breast cancer in 2007 to 2011 and were treated with breast-conserving surgery. Patients were stratified as being at high risk or low risk for recurrence based on National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines.

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Even though Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) can potentially be an invasive breast cancer (IBC) precursor, most DCIS lesions never will progress to IBC if left untreated. Because we cannot predict yet which DCIS lesions will and which will not progress, almost all women with DCIS are treated by breast-conserving surgery +/- radiotherapy, or even mastectomy. As a consequence, many women with non-progressive DCIS carry the burden of intensive treatment without any benefit.

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Postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) is a mainstay of local therapy for many breast cancer patients. Patients undergoing mastectomy typically are offered options for breast reconstruction. For patients who are candidates for PMRT, there are ongoing challenges with combining optimal radiation technique to prioritize oncologic outcomes, against the goals of minimizing toxicity and achieving the best reconstruction outcomes.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers investigated the characteristics and prognosis of hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer tumors with ERBB2 mutations but no HER2 amplification, using data from a large cancer registry.
  • They found that ERBB2 mutations did not lead to poorer overall survival outcomes or significantly affect response to treatment compared to matched control cases without these mutations.
  • Notably, while the presence of ERBB2 mutations didn't seem to worsen outcomes, there were some differences in co-occurring mutations, with a higher frequency of CDH1 mutations and variations in ESR1 and KRAS mutations in the ERBB2-mutated group.
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Importance: Patient factors help explain disparities in breast cancer treatments and outcomes.

Objective: To determine the extent to which geospatial variation in initial breast cancer care can be attributed to region vs patient factors with the aim of guiding quality improvement efforts.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a retrospective population-based cohort study from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2016, using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database that included 31 571 patients diagnosed with stage I to III breast cancer from 2007 through 2013.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on assessing the safety and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of cisplatin in combination with radiation therapy for women with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which has higher recurrence rates than other types of breast cancer.
  • The trial involved 55 patients divided into two groups (breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy), with dose levels of cisplatin starting from 10 mg/m and escalating up to 40 mg/m; various side effects were monitored to determine the MTD.
  • Results showed that the recommended MTD for the mastectomy cohort was 30 mg/m and for the breast-conserving therapy cohort
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Although artificial intelligence algorithms are often developed and applied for narrow tasks, their implementation in other medical settings could help to improve patient care. Here we assess whether a deep-learning system for volumetric heart segmentation on computed tomography (CT) scans developed in cardiovascular radiology can optimize treatment planning in radiation oncology. The system was trained using multi-center data (n = 858) with manual heart segmentations provided by cardiovascular radiologists.

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Background: Although the 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay is widely used to predict distant recurrence risk and benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy among women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer, the relationship between the RS and isolated locoregional recurrence (iLRR) remains poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the association between the RS and risk of iLRR for women with stage I-II, HR+ breast cancer.

Methods: We identified 1758 women captured in the national prospective Breast Cancer-Collaborative Outcomes Research Database who were diagnosed with stage I-II, HR+ breast cancer from 2006 to 2012, treated with mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery, and received RS testing.

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Purpose: Radiation therapy interruption (RTI) worsens cancer outcomes. Our purpose was to benchmark and map RTI across a region in the United States with known cancer outcome disparities.

Methods And Materials: All radiation therapy (RT) treatments at our academic center were cataloged.

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The DCISionRT test estimates the risk of an ipsilateral breast event (IBE) in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) as well as the benefit of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT). We determined the cost-effectiveness of DCISionRT using a Markov model simulating 10-year outcomes for 60-year-old women with DCIS based on nonrandomized data. Three strategies were compared: no testing, no RT (strategy 1); test all, RT for elevated risk only (strategy 2); and no testing, RT for all (strategy 3).

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Background: Women with a history of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are at increased risk for developing a second breast cancer (SBC). A prior meta-analysis of randomized studies of radiotherapy (RT) for DCIS has shown a trend toward increased breast cancer-specific mortality after SBC, but it did not have the power needed to detect a significant difference, due to a limited number of recurrences. This study sought to evaluate the impact of RT for DCIS on mortality after SBC in a larger cohort.

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Purpose: Improved imaging, surgical techniques, and pathologic evaluation likely have decreased local recurrence rates for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). We present long-term outcomes of a large single-institution series after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and adjuvant radiation therapy (RT).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 245 women treated for DCIS with BCS and RT between 2001 and 2007.

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Purpose: Postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) delivered to an immediate reconstruction increases the risk of surgical complications. Although acellular dermal matrix (ADM) has been used with immediate tissue expander (TE) reconstruction to improve cosmetic outcomes and minimize capsular contracture, there is a paucity of data on this approach in the setting of PMRT.

Methods And Materials: Thirty-two patients with stage I to III breast cancer were treated with mastectomy, immediate TE-ADM reconstruction, and PMRT between 2009 and 2012 in a prospective single-arm study.

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