Inflammatory Breast Cancer: What We Know and What We Need to Learn

Inflammatory Breast Cancer: What We Know and What We Need to Learn:

Abstract

Purpose. We review the current status of multidisciplinary care for patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and discuss what further research is needed to advance the care of patients with this disease.
Design. We performed a comprehensive review of the English-language literature on IBC through computerized literature searches.
Results. Significant advances in imaging, including digital mammography, high-resolution ultrasonography with Doppler capabilities, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography–computed tomography, have improved the diagnosis and staging of IBC. There are currently no established molecular criteria for distinguishing IBC from noninflammatory breast cancer. Such criteria would be helpful for the diagnosis and development of novel targeted therapies. Combinations of neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy have led to an improved prognosis; however, the overall 5-year survival rate for patients with IBC remains very low (~30%). Sentinel lymph node biopsy and skin-sparing mastectomy are not recommended for patients with IBC.
Conclusion. Optimal management of IBC requires close coordination among medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists, as well as radiologists and pathologists. There is a need to identify molecular changes that define the pathogenesis of IBC to enable eradication of IBC with the use of IBC-specific targeted therapies.

paywalled: Sex Differences in Fertility-Related Information Received by Young Adult Cancer Survivors (ages 18-45 yrs/includes ovarian cancer))

Sex Differences in Fertility-Related Information Received by Young Adult Cancer Survivors [Treatment-Related Complications]:

Purpose
The aim was to investigate male and female cancer survivors' perception of fertility-related information and use of fertility preservation (FP) in connection with cancer treatment during reproductive age.

Conclusion
Our results show marked sex differences regarding the receipt of fertility-related information and use of FP. There is an urgent need to develop fertility-related information adapted to female patients with cancer to improve their opportunities to participate in informed decisions regarding their treatment and future reproductive ability.

paywalled: Potential Usefulness of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms to Identify Persons at High Cancer Risk: An Evaluation of Seven Common Cancers [Statistics in Oncology]

Potential Usefulness of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms to Identify Persons at High Cancer Risk: An Evaluation of Seven Common Cancers [Statistics in Oncology]:

Purpose
To estimate the likely number and predictive strength of cancer-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are yet to be discovered for seven common cancers.

Methods
From the statistical power of published genome-wide association studies, we estimated the number of undetected susceptibility loci and the distribution of effect sizes for all cancers. Assuming a log-normal model for risks and multiplicative relative risks for SNPs, family history (FH), and known risk factors, we estimated the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and the proportion of patients with risks above risk thresholds for screening. From additional prevalence data, we estimated the positive predictive value and the ratio of non–patient cases to patient cases (false-positive ratio) for various risk thresholds.

Results
Age-specific discriminatory accuracy (AUC) for models including FH and foreseeable SNPs ranged from 0.575 for ovarian cancer to 0.694 for prostate cancer. The proportions of patients in the highest decile of population risk ranged from 16.2% for ovarian cancer to 29.4% for prostate cancer. The corresponding false-positive ratios were 241 for colorectal cancer, 610 for ovarian cancer, and 138 or 280 for breast cancer in women age 50 to 54 or 40 to 44 years, respectively.

Conclusion

Foreseeable common SNP discoveries may not permit identification of small subsets of patients that contain most cancers. Usefulness of screening could be diminished by many false positives. Additional strong risk factors are needed to improve risk discrimination.