Reasons for failure to identify positive sentinel nodes in breast cancer patients with significant nodal involvement.

Aim: To analyse causes of failure of sentinel node (SN) procedures in breast cancer patients and assess the role of pre-operative ultrasound examination of the axilla.

Methods: In 138 consecutive clinically node negative breast cancer patients with the primary tumour in situ a SN procedure with radiolabeled colloid and blue dye was performed. Radioactivity in the SN was scored as inadequate or adequate.

Discrepancy between second and first opinion in surgical oncological patients.

Purpose: To prospectively describe in a population of oncological second opinion patients: (1) the outcome of routine revisions of histopathological and radiological material, (2) the frequency and extent of discrepancy between the second and first opinion and (3) the location of further treatment or follow-up.

Patients And Methods: In a population of 466 consecutive patients seeking a second opinion at the Surgical Oncology Outpatient Clinic, demographic and clinical patient characteristics were registered prospectively, as were the results of routine revision of histopathological and radiological material and the location of further treatment or follow-up. A classification system was developed to categorize the differences between the second and first opinion.

Reduced expression of BAX is associated with poor prognosis in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer: a multifactorial analysis of TP53, p21, BAX and BCL-2.

Traditional clinicopathological features do not predict which patients will develop chemotherapy resistance. The TP53 gene is frequently altered in ovarian cancer but its prognostic implications are controversial. Little is known on the impact of TP53-downstream genes on prognosis.

Immunohistochemical study of the BCAR1/p130Cas protein in non-malignant and malignant human breast tissue.

BCAR1/p130Cas is a docking protein involved in intracellular signaling pathways and in vitro resistance of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells to antiestrogens. The BCAR1/p130Cas protein level in primary breast cancer cytosols was found to correlate with rapid recurrence of disease. A high BCAR1/p130Cas level was also associated with a higher likelihood of resistance to first-line tamoxifen treatment in patients with advanced breast cancer.

Breast cancer after prophylactic bilateral mastectomy in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.

Background: Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation have a high risk of breast cancer and may choose to undergo prophylactic bilateral total mastectomy. We investigated the efficacy of this procedure in such women.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 139 women with a pathogenic BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation who were enrolled in a breast-cancer surveillance program at the Rotterdam Family Cancer Clinic.