Breast Cancer Survival of BRCA1/BRCA2 Mutation Carriers in a Hospital-Based Cohort of Young Women.

Background: The primary aim of the study was to investigate prognosis and long-term survival in young breast cancer patients with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutation compared with noncarriers. The secondary aim was to investigate whether differences in survival originate from associations with tumor characteristics, second cancers, and/or treatment response.

Methods: We established a cohort of invasive breast cancer patients diagnosed younger than age 50 years in 10 Dutch hospitals between 1970 and 2003.

Heterogeneous distribution of ITGCNU in an adult testis: consequences for biopsy-based diagnosis.

Carcinoma in situ (CIS) of the testis, also referred to as intratubular germ cell neoplasia unclassified (ITGCNU), is currently accepted as the common precursor for all malignant germ cell tumors of adolescents and adults- that is, the seminomatous and nonseminoma cancers. These preinvasive cells have specific cellular characteristics, which can be used for the early diagnosis-routinely done by morphological analysis, sometimes supported by immunohistochemistry-of tissue obtained by an open surgical biopsy. False-negative biopsy results can occur mostly because of the nonrandom distribution of ITGCNU within the testis, misdiagnosis, or suboptimal tissue treatment and analysis.