Multimodality therapy--i.e., surgical excision followed by appropriate systemic therapy and radiotherapy--has an established role in managing patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). Preoperative chemotherapy permits optimal local control with less radical surgical intervention, although its impact on overall survival is still unclear. Definitive data are not yet available to determ...

The authors report their experience of 8 cases of breast cancer in six patients, treated by radiofrequency thermoablation. Two patients had bilateral breast cancer infiltrating the skin. All patients, but one, were alive at two years follow-up. The age range was 54-75 years old (median, 71 years old). We observed complete regression in one patient, regression with residual scar in two patients ...

In 1962, Bloom and colleagues described the natural history of locally advanced breast cancer.[1] (For the purposes of this manuscript, we will define locally advamced breast cancer as tumors that measure more than 5 cm, tumors that extend to the chest wall or skin, and tumors with fixed ipsilateral nodes or ipsilateral internal mammary nodes. These characteristics therefore correspond to opera...

BACKGROUND To identify whether a stem cell biomarker, KLF4, may predict the pathologic tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced breast cancer. METHODS Twelve locally advanced breast cancer patients who achieved pathologic complete remission (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were identified and for each, three non-pCR breast cancer patients - matched for...

PURPOSE The roles of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as predictive and prognostic factors, as well as key mediators in the metastatic cascade, have been investigated. This study aimed to validate a method to quantify CTCs in peripheral blood using a real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for cytokeratin (CK)-19 and to evaluate the utility of this assay in detect...

The past few decades have seen an increase in both the role and the complexity of neoadjuvant therapy for breast cancer. Neoadjuvant therapy was initially described as systemic chemotherapy for inflammatory or locally advanced breast cancer but now entails a combination of chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and targeted therapy. Neoadjuvant systemic therapy is employed for inoperable inflammatory...

PURPOSE The aim of this study is to determine the utility of breast cancer health states using the standard gamble (SG) and visual analog scale (VAS) methods in the Korean general population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight hypothetical breast cancer health states were developed based on patient education material and previous publications. Data from 509 individuals from the Korean general popula...