In a single-arm, multicenter, Phase 2 trial, bevacizumab in combination with docetaxel and carboplatin achieved a pathological complete response in 19 of 45 patients with stage II/III triple-negative breast cancer. Forty-four of the 45 patients completed the planned six cycles and toxicity was manageable. One patient had delayed wound healing as a subsequent surgical complication. Thus, bevacizumab may provide significant improvement in neoadjuvant strategies for triple-negative breast cancer and further investigation is warranted.
Ninety-six women with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy during a 5- to 6-week interval were randomized to either a qigong group or a wait-list control group. The results indicate that the women in the qigong group had clinically significantly less depressive symptoms and better quality of life than the control group.
Two recent reports provide supportive evidence for current strategies in the management of prostate cancer. The first, from Finland, is a report of the marginal value of PSA screening in terms of long-term prostate cancer survival. And, from a cooperative observational cohort in the United States, there is suggestive evidence that radical prostatectomy provides a somewhat more favorable survival outcome when compared to external beam radiotherapy.
In this issue: Aspirin use and AMD risk; using NSAIDs and antihypertensive agents; and FDA actions.
1998 was a landmark year for men’s sexuality. the FDA approved sildenafil (Viagra®), a medication that now has household name familiarity.
Conventional wisdom in obstetrics implies that woen with previous uterine surgery outside the lower uterine segment — whether myomectomy or classical cesarean section — incrue an unacceptable risk for uterine rupture during pregnancy.
Cholesterol-reducing statin agents have been associated preclinically with cancer cell growth inhibition and metastases prevention.
The authors performed a two-part analysis of the contraceptive choice Project, a prospective cohort study in which women in the St. Louis, Missouri, region received a reversible contraceptive method of their choice for up to 3 years at no cost.
There is a known association of obesity and glucose intolerance with pancreatic cancer but whether this is due to the effect of high glucose itself, insulin resistance, or pancreatic ß-cell dysfunction is unknown. In an epidemiological, nested, case-control analysis drawn from five large prospective cohorts, measures of insulin resistance were independently associated with pancreatic cancer risk, but this was not true for measures of hyperglycemia or ß-cell dysfunction alone.
