Active clinical trials for "Breast Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Diagnostic procedures, such as multifunctional magnetic resonance imaging, may help doctors learn the extent of disease and plan the best treatment. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well multifunctional magnetic resonance imaging works in predicting breast lesions in women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether MR of the breast is a better screening tool than mammography combined with ultrasound of the breast in women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations.

The goal of this clinical research study is to learn if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) can show the effects of pre-surgical chemotherapy in breast cancer patients who are eligible to receive preoperative chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to learn more about how chemotherapy affects an individual's thinking abilities (cognition). Some research has shown that chemotherapy can cause changes in cognition in breast cancer survivors. However, it is not clear why this change occurs. In this study, the investigators will look to see if damage to DNA is related to these changes in cognition. Specifically, the investigators want to see 1) if women who have been treated with chemotherapy have more DNA damage than healthy women; and 2) if DNA damage is related to cognitive problems in breast cancer survivors and healthy women.

To examine nipple aspirate fluid for secretions that may be identified as a high risk indicator for development of breast cancer, and compare those to serum analysis.

Women indicate the greatest needs for counseling at the time of initial diagnosis for primary breast cancer. The time of initial diagnosis is also often the time of greatest need for information for women and their families. However, this is the time when a woman, overwhelmed by shock and trauma, is least likely to absorb information provided or seek new sources of information. An informed peer navigator with carefully trained communication skills can judge the level of information to disclose and pace that information in a way that can be easily absorbed and understood. She will also provide support. WomenCARE, a well-established Santa Cruz agency providing free support services for women with cancer, and the Psychosocial Treatment Lab at Stanford therefore ask whether women newly diagnosed with breast cancer will improve their quality of life by participating in a peer navigator program. WomenCARE's peer navigators provide emotional support, good listening skills, and information on resources for women just diagnosed with breast cancer. Having a peer counselor while a woman goes through treatment may reduce the magnitude of distress or shorten its time course. It may also reduce distress in family members, and improve relationships with medical personnel. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a peer navigator program where a woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer is carefully matched for 3 to 6 months after diagnosis with a trained volunteer who is herself a breast cancer survivor. Navigators and Sojourners (newly diagnosed women) are matched on things that are important to them. Women often want to be matched on the type of surgery or treatment they have received. We assign half of the women (by a process similar to a coin toss) to our peer navigator program and half to a group that receives standard medical care but no peer navigator. In this way we can compare the groups to see whether those matched with a peer navigator have better quality of life over the 3 to 6 month period. All women who join our study, regardless of the group to which they are assigned, get an extra consultation with a nurse specialist at a local hospital. In this consultation, the nurse reviews the cancer resources available to the woman in Santa Cruz County. This meeting is tailored to the woman's individual diagnosis and situation.

The proposed pilot study attempts to investigate the feasibility of Optical Spectroscopy (OS) as a method to quantify breast tissue composition and density in adolescent females. Our goals include: to assess whether adolescent girls can be instructed to assist with the OS measurement procedure and to determine the OS technique's ability to show breast tissue composition and density in adolescent breast tissue.

This research trial studies quality of life, employment, and informal care cost analysis in patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy. This trial assesses how quality of life has been affected by cancer, if cancer and its treatment have caused in changes in the patient's or their spouse's employment and how they have affected the patient and their extended family, and the impact of peripheral neuropathy caused by chemotherapy on quality of life. Learning about quality of life and informal care costs may help doctors better understand how patients feel during treatment, what effects the medicines are having, and in the future may help both patients and doctors as they decide which medicines to use to treat cancer.

Objective: To explore the hypothesis that different methods of selecting and printing information for cancer patients could improve emotional support by affecting interaction with others, and so lead to improved psychological wellbeing. Design: Randomised trial with 8 groups (three factors, 2X2X2). Data collected at recruitment and three month follow-up. Participants: 400 patients starting radiotherapy and their 'confidant' (the person in who they confide). Interventions: Printed booklets. Half had 'general' CancerBACUP information for that cancer; half had 'personal' information from the medical record plus selected general information; Half chose information by 'interacting' with the computer; half had a larger volume of material in booklets that were produced 'automatically'. Half had additional 'anxiety management advice'. Outcomes: Patients' views; use of booklet with others; change in reported social support; change in anxiety and depression.

RATIONALE: High estrogen levels may be associated with dense breast tissue and an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Tamoxifen may be effective in reducing breast density by decreasing estrogen levels. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying how well tamoxifen works in reducing breast density in premenopausal women with breast cancer or at high risk of developing breast cancer.