Prospective Long-Term Follow-Up of Pulmonary Diffusion Capacity Reduction Caused by Dose-Dense Chemotherapy in Patients with Breast Cancer.

Background: Our previous study of pulmonary function in 34 patients with early breast cancer without preexisting lung disease showed that anthracycline- and taxane-based adjuvant dose-dense chemotherapy (DDC) caused a significant 16.4% mean reduction in carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO). The present study reports the pulmonary and oncological outcomes of these patients on long-term follow-up.

Premature ovarian aging in carriers: a prototype of systemic precocious aging?

Purpose: Though former evidence implies a correlation of breast cancer susceptibility gene () mutation with reduced ovarian reserve, the data is yet inconsistent. Our aim was to investigate biomarkers of ovarian aging in a cohort of young healthy carriers of the mutation. We hypothesized that the role played by genes in aging pathways is not exclusive to the ovary.

Chemotherapy-induced vascular toxicity--real-time in vivo imaging of vessel impairment.

Certain classes of chemotherapies may exert acute vascular changes that may progress into long-term conditions that may predispose the patient to an increased risk of vascular morbidity. Yet, albeit the mounting clinical evidence, there is a paucity of clear studies of vascular toxicity and therefore the etiology of a heterogeneous group of vascular/cardiovascular disorders remains to be elucidated. Moreover, the mechanism that may underlie vascular toxicity can completely differ from the principles of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity, which is related to direct myocyte injury.