Active clinical trials for "Breast Neoplasms"

The sequential administration of endocrine therapies to patients with advanced breast cancer requires the availability of therapies with different modes of actions, so that tumours developing resistance to one agent are not cross resistant to another. Because of its mechanism of action, fulvestrant is distinct from other hormonal therapies, which therefore limits the possibility of cross-resistance with other therapies such as tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitors (AIs) In this way, patients may benefit from an extended period of endocrine treatment, which has considerable tolerability and quality-of-life advantages over cytotoxic chemotherapy. In Belgium, fulvestrant is indicated for treating postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer with recurrence during or after adjuvant anti-oestrogen therapy or disease progression during anti-oestrogen treatment. However, little information is currently available on how fulvestrant is actually being used by physicians in Belgium. The optimum sequence of endocrine treatment for advanced breast cancer has yet to be defined and may depend on certain patient or disease characteristics. Fulvestrant has been granted reimbursement by the Belgian Health authorities (RIZIV/INAMI) with the recommendation to collect the real life data necessary to assess the patients' breast cancer treatment history that may influence the actual endocrine treatment sequence according to physicians current clinical practice..

RATIONALE: Gathering information from breast cancer survivors about lymphedema; its symptoms and their impact on shoulder, arm, and hand functioning; and quality of life may help doctors learn more about the disease. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying the impact of lymphedema on breast cancer survivors.

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a double edged sword: it can alleviate the effects of menopause for a significant proportion of the female population, however for a smaller proportion, it will induce a significant increase in their short-term and lifetime risk to develop breast cancer (BC). Fewer women are prescribed HRT compared to a decade ago due to concerns pertaining to BC by both physicians and patients. By developing a technology that could identify women at risk for the adverse effects of HRT, during the first few months of its use, physicians may offer HRT to a wider proportion of the female population during menopause. More importantly, as it relates to BC prevention, such a technology will identify women at risk and provide a useful decision making tool regarding their care during the menopausal years.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of blood in the laboratory from patients with cancer treated with trastuzumab may help doctors learn more about biomarkers related to heart dysfunction. It may also help doctors predict which patients will develop heart dysfunction. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying biomarkers to see how well they predict heart dysfunction in women with breast cancer treated with trastuzumab.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of tumor tissue from patients with cancer in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. It may also help doctors plan the best treatment. PURPOSE: This research study is looking at tissue samples from women who underwent chemotherapy for lymph node-positive stage II or stage IIIA breast cancer.

RATIONALE: Collecting and storing samples of blood and studying them in the laboratory may help doctors learn more about changes that may occur in DNA and identify biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This laboratory study is examining biomarkers in women with a high risk or average risk of breast cancer.

The investigators propose to validate the utility of their novel hybrid imaging technique for accurate diagnosis of breast lesions, and for assessing chemotherapy response of cancer treatment and predicting treatment efficacy. The investigators' unique hybrid technique is implemented by simultaneously deploying near infrared (NIR) optical sensors and a commercial ultrasound (US) transducer mounted on a hand-held probe, and utilizing co-registered lesion structure information provided by ultrasound to improve the optical tomography. As a result, the optical tomography assisted with US has overcome problems associated with intense light scattering and has provided reliable tumor angiogenesis distributions. Initial results with a small group of patients who underwent biopsy have shown that early stage invasive cancers present two-fold greater total hemoglobin concentration on average than fibroadenomas and other benign lesions. Initial results of advanced cancers have shown that the angiogenesis distribution is highly distorted and heterogeneous, and the distorted distributions correlate with histological microvessel density counts and can be used to assess chemotherapy response. The objective of this study is to validate the investigators' initial results that NIR light guided by ultrasound can improve breast cancer diagnosis and monitor chemotherapy response.

The purpose of this non-interventional study is to collect data on efficacy and toxicity of the use of Navelbine ORAL in daily routine in Germany (especially after availability of an 80mg capsule). The study focusses on concomitant antiemetic therapy and patient compliance.

RATIONALE: Studying samples of cerebrospinal fluid from patients with cancer or meningeal syndrome may help doctors identify biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying cerebrospinal fluid samples in diagnosing carcinomatous meningitis in patients with cancer or meningeal syndrome.

RATIONALE: Studying the genes expressed in samples of tumor tissue from patients with cancer may help doctors identify biomarkers related to cancer. PURPOSE: This research study is looking at tissue samples from women treated with paclitaxel for breast cancer on clinical trial CALGB 9344 or CALGB 9741.