Financial Toxicity Among Single Mothers With Metastatic Breast Cancer
A study presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium highlighted financial toxicity in underserved/underrepresented single mothers living with metastatic breast cancer, and how the situation can affect their physical, mental, and emotional health. In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Maryam Lustberg, MD, director of the Center for Breast Cancer at the Yale School of […]
Less-Frequent Surveillance Mammo Feasible in Older Breast Cancer Survivors
SAN ANTONIO — Women ages >50 who de-escalated to less-frequent mammography 3 years after curative surgery for early-stage breast cancer had similar outcomes to women who received annual mammography, according to a phase III study. In the Mammo-50 trial, after a median follow-up of 5.7 years for alive patients, breast cancer-specific survival was 98.1% and […]
Bilateral Mastectomy Not Tied to Better Survival in BRCA1-Positive Breast Cancer
SAN ANTONIO — Bilateral mastectomy as initial treatment for women with breast cancer and a pathogenic BRCA1 variant was not linked to better survival, according to an international analysis. Compared with breast-conserving treatment (BCT), bilateral mastectomy was not significantly associated with a reduction in mortality in this population of patients (HR 0.83, P=0.52), reported Kelly […]
Is Omitting Radiation Therapy in Low-Risk Breast Cancer a Good IDEA?
SAN ANTONIO — Postmenopausal women with genomically low-risk early hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer had a low risk of recurrence with endocrine therapy alone after lumpectomy, a randomized trial showed. The 5-year overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were 100% without adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) in 186 women ages 50-69 followed for at […]
Novel drug makes mice skinny even on sugary, fatty diet: Compound limits magnesium transport in cellular power plants called mitochondria.
Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) have developed a small-molecule drug that prevents weight gain and adverse liver changes in mice fed a high-sugar, high-fat Western diet throughout life. “When we give this drug to the mice for a short time, they start losing weight. […]
High Rates of pCR With Novel Neoadjuvant Combination for Breast Cancer
SAN ANTONIO — A novel neoadjuvant regimen for HER2-negative breast cancer doubled the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate as compared with standard chemotherapy, a small phase II study showed. Across various breast cancer receptor signatures, pCR rates ranged from 36% to 53% with the combination of paclitaxel, the PD-1 inhibitor cemiplimab (Libtayo), and the investigational […]
Spine Surgeon Explains Carson Daly’s Back Surgery
[embedded content] In this video, San Antonio-based orthopedic surgeon Antonio Webb, MD, discusses details of anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery. Following is a transcript of his remarks (note that errors are possible): Webb: Carson Daly from NBC’s “Today Show” recently underwent an ALIF procedure, a spine operation. In this video, I’m going to break it […]
Shorter Course of Radiation Therapy Proves Mettle in High-Risk Prostate Cancer
SAN ANTONIO — A shortened radiation therapy (RT) protocol for high-risk prostate cancer led to similar outcomes with no increase in toxicity compared with the standard treatment schedule, a randomized trial showed. Overall survival (OS) at 7 years was 82%, with no difference between standard RT and hypofractionation that reduced treatment duration from 8 to […]
Sexual Health Not Part of Discussion for Women Undergoing Brachytherapy
SAN ANTONIO — Despite the fact that both men and women who receive brachytherapy for prostate or cervical cancer may experience some degree of sexual dysfunction, physicians are much less likely to engage in discussions about sexual health with women than with men, according to research presented here. A single-center study found a striking difference […]
Low Rates of PSA Screening Linked to Increase in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
SAN ANTONIO — A study of men treated in Veterans Health Administration facilities suggested that lower prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening rates were associated with subsequent increased rates of metastatic prostate cancer. Across 128 facilities, PSA screening rates declined from 47% in 2005 to 37% in 2019, which was observed across all ages and races, reported […]