Publications by authors named "Wette V"

Article Synopsis
  • Adjuvant aromatase inhibitors for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer can lead to increased osteoporosis and fractures; however, the ABCSG-18 trial indicates that denosumab can mitigate these effects.
  • In this phase 3 trial involving 3,425 postmenopausal patients, denosumab treatment showed a significant improvement in disease-free survival (DFS) and bone metastasis-free survival (BMFS) compared to placebo over an 8-year median follow-up.
  • The final analysis confirmed long-term benefits with denosumab, enhancing overall survival (OS) and showing no new toxicities associated with its use.
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Purpose: The PALLAS study investigated whether the addition of palbociclib, an oral CDK4/6 inhibitor, to adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) improves invasive disease-free survival (iDFS) in early hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) breast cancer. In this analysis, we evaluated palbociclib exposure and discontinuation in PALLAS.

Methods: Patients with stage II-III HR+, HER2- disease were randomly assigned to 2 years of palbociclib with adjuvant ET versus ET alone.

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Purpose: Accurate response assessment during neoadjuvant systemic treatment (NST) poses a clinical challenge. Therefore, a minimally invasive assessment of tumor response based on cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may be beneficial to guide treatment decisions.

Experimental Design: We profiled 93 genes in tissue from 193 patients with early breast cancer.

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Article Synopsis
  • A phase 3 trial evaluated the effectiveness of extending adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy (anastrozole) from 2 to 5 additional years in postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer after 5 years of prior treatment.
  • The study found no significant difference in disease-free survival between the two duration groups, with a similar number of disease progression or death cases in both.
  • However, the 5-year group had a higher risk of clinical bone fractures compared to the 2-year group, indicating that longer hormone therapy may not be beneficial and could pose additional risks.
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Background: Preoperative chemotherapy containing anthracyclines and taxanes is well established in early-stage breast cancer. Previous studies have suggested that the chemotherapy sequence may matter but definitive evidence is missing. ABCSG trial 34 evaluated the activity of the MUC1 vaccine tecemotide when added to neoadjuvant treatment; the study provided the opportunity for the second randomisation to compare two different anthracycline/taxane sequences.

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Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NaCT) and neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) can reduce pre-operative tumour burden in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative early-stage breast cancer. This prospective translational study assessed the ability of a 12-gene molecular score (MS; EndoPredict®) to predict response to NaCT or NET within the ABCSG-34 trial.

Patients And Methods: Hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative samples from patients in the ABCSG-34 randomized phase II trial were selected and EndoPredict testing was performed to generate a 12-gene MS.

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Background: Immune-based strategies represent a promising approach in breast cancer (BC) treatment. The glycoprotein mucin-1 (MUC-1) is overexpressed in more than 90% of BC patients, and is targeted by the cancer vaccine tecemotide. We have investigated the efficacy and safety of tecemotide when added to neoadjuvant standard-of-care (SoC) treatment in early BC patients.

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Purpose: To investigate long-term results of patients with hormonal receptor-positive breast cancer treated with breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and consecutive endocrine therapy (ET) with or without whole breast irradiation (WBI).

Methods And Materials: Within the 8 A trial of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group, a total of 869 patients received ET after BCS which was randomly followed by WBI (n = 439, group 1) or observation (n = 430, group 2). WBI was applied up to a mean total dosage of 50 Gy (+/- 10 Gy boost) in conventional fractionation.

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Background: In postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer, treatment with adjuvant aromatase inhibitors is the standard of care, but it increases risk for osteoporosis and fractures. Results from the ABCSG-18 trial showed that use of denosumab as an adjuvant to aromatase inhibitor therapy significantly reduced clinical fractures. Disease-free survival outcomes from ABCSG-18 have not yet been reported.

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Background: Adjuvant endocrine therapy compromises bone health in patients with breast cancer, causing osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures. Antiresorptive treatments such as bisphosphonates prevent and counteract these side-effects. In this trial, we aimed to investigate the effects of the anti-RANK ligand antibody denosumab in postmenopausal, aromatase inhibitor-treated patients with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.

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Background: Zoledronic acid (ZOL) plus adjuvant endocrine therapy significantly improved disease-free survival (DFS) at 48- and 62-month follow-up in the ABCSG-12 trial. We present efficacy results of a final additional analysis after 94.4 months.

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Purpose: To evaluate the impact that pre- and postoperatively administered chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and fluorouracil (CMF) and postoperative chemotherapy vs. postoperative chemotherapy alone have on long-term prognosis.

Patients And Methods: The ABCSG conducted a nationwide randomized phase III trial in high-risk endocrine non-responsive breast cancer patients comparing pre- and postoperative chemotherapy containing CMF as preoperative treatment vs.

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Tumour-associated macrophages (TAM) are involved in tumour angiogenesis and anti-tumour immune response. In colorectal cancer (CRC), an association of high microvascular density (MVD) and unfavourable prognosis has been reported by some investigators. However, heterogeneous patient groups were studied.

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Purpose: To determine whether the addition of aminoglutethimide to tamoxifen is able to improve the outcome in postmenopausal patients with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: A total of 2,021 postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to receive either tamoxifen for 5 years alone or tamoxifen in combination with aminoglutethimide (500 mg/d) for the first 2 years of treatment. Tamoxifen was administered at 40 mg/d for the first 2 years and at 20 mg/d for 3 years.

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Purpose: Effective adjuvant treatment modalities in premenopausal breast cancer patients today include chemotherapy, ovariectomy, and tamoxifen administration. The purpose of Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 5 was to compare the efficacy of a combination endocrine treatment with standard chemotherapy.

Patients And Methods: Assessable trial subjects (N = 1,034) presenting with hormone-responsive disease were randomized to receive either 3 years of goserelin plus 5 years of tamoxifen or six cycles of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF).

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Despite the improvement in its prognosis in most Western countries, death from colon cancer is still a major problem. In a prospectively planned observation study, a large patient collective from a single institution in Austria was analyzed in terms of the surgical approach and factors influencing survival. A total of 696 patients with colonic carcinomas were admitted to our surgical department between January 1, 1984 and December 31, 1997.

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A retrospective 10-year study was conducted on 473 patients who underwent rectal cancer surgery, to evaluate a surgical procedure which has been generally abandoned, but which we believe has a significant potential to reduce the incidence of the severe and often fatal complications caused by anastomotic breakdown following low anterior resection, especially when a covering stoma is absent. This procedure involves separating the anastomosis and sacral drain from the abdominal cavity by suturing the parietal peritoneum to the colon and mesocolon, and placing the sacral drain outside the peritoneal cavity, whereby contamination of the abdominal cavity is avoided should anastomostic leakage occur. Sphincter preservation was possible in 343 patients (72.

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Background: Recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis is one of the most frequent and serious complications after thyroid operation. The routine dissection and demonstration of the recurrent nerve remain controversial. In a retrospective study in an endemic region, patients operated on with principal nerve identification were investigated for vocal paralysis.

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The surgical procedure in acute complications of gastroduodenal ulcers is examined with regard to risk factors and mortality. Emergency admissions to an Austrian district hospital between 1. 1.

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Between 1 January 1984 and 31 December 1990, 575 patients were operated on for colorectal cancer. The surgical procedure was performed consistently and no patients were lost to follow-up. Almost half of the patients (284 of 575) had tumours of stage I or II, with 5-year survival rates over 90 per cent.

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Emergency operations due to acute colonic disease between 1. 1. 1984 and 31.

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Of 491 patients operated for carcinomas of the colon or rectum between 1984 and 1989, 106 were tumour stage IV, U.I.C.

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The resection rate of 216 gastric carcinomas, which were treated between January 1984 and October 1988, was 81.5%. Total gastrectomies were performed in 65.

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