Active clinical trials for "Breast Neoplasms"

This is a phase II study to assess efficacy/safety of Exemestane with or without Aspirin as the adjuvant treatment in postmenopausal breast cancer patients.

The purpose of this study is to see how the look of telangiectasias (small dilated blood vessels) on radiated breast skin when altered by the pulsed dye laser affects a patient's overall well being. Patients will have a set of treatments with a pulsed dye laser. This is a laser that targets red blood vessels and delivers heat causing the telangiectasias to become smaller and less visible. The laser has been used safely to treat telangiectasias on the skin of patients who received radiation for breast cancer. Patients in the study will be asked to complete a questionnaire asking how they feel about the telangiectasias, their radiated skin and its effect on their daily lives. The questionnaire will be given at every visit. The improvement in the look of patients' radiated skin will also be compared to answers to the questionnaire. We hope the study will improve our understanding of how patients feel about the long term effects of radiation on their skin.

Established in 2010, the Long-term Anastrozole vs Tamoxifen Treatment Effects (LATTE) observational study aims to collect vital long-term safety and efficacy data on anastrozole and tamoxifen, drugs that were taken by post-menopausal women as part of the Anastrozole Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination (ATAC) trial. ATAC was a crucial breast cancer trial evaluating the use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in the adjuvant setting, with a median follow-up of over 10 years. The ATAC trial assessed the safety and efficacy of anastrozole+placebo, tamoxifen+placebo and anastrozole+tamoxifen in postmenopausal women undergoing treatment for invasive primary breast cancer

The purpose of this research study is to evaluate whether self-management discussion groups are helpful for women with advanced breast cancer who are experiencing pain. The study is looking at the usefulness of two different types of discussion groups, one of which also includes gentle exercise.

An observational study in patients with advanced ER+, HER2 negative breast cancer, who are treated with everolimus and exemestane in combination. The objective of the study is to assess the safety pattern of everolimus in a real world setting.

The objective of the proposed research is to develop a clinical-trial-ready device and to evaluate its practical utility as a routinely used intra-operative tool. Our multidisciplinary group has previously shown that optical techniques can effectively discriminate between malignant and non-malignant breast tissues. The proposed technology will be a multi-channel optical assay device for intra-operative imaging of margins in specimens excised from patients undergoing breast conserving surgery (partial mastectomy) or mastectomy.

Quality of life under therapy with Aromasin® (exemestane) according to IBCSG (International Breast Cancer Study Group) questionnaire. Change of the endometrium after switching from tamoxifen to Aromasin® (exemestane). Deeper knowledge of Adverse Events during routine administration.

Aromatase Inhibitors (AI) are effective for secondary prevention of breast cancer and may soon replace tamoxifen as first-line therapy in the treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer. However, because these medications produce a marked reduction in serum estrogen levels, this is likely to result in an increased rate of bone loss and risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures in postmenopausal women treated with these agents. Indeed, substantial bone loss has been reported in several large clinical trials of AIs. Osteoporosis drugs are available that could prevent this loss, but they have frequent side effects and are expensive. Thus, treating all women receiving AIs might not be the most appropriate and cost-effective approach. A better approach might be to select women at highest risk of bone loss and only treat them with antiresorptive agents. The proposed pilot study will evaluate women who receive anastrozole or letrozole therapy, are receiving adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D and have baseline normal or moderately low bone mass in order to determine if early changes in bone turnover markers correlate with bone loss at one year. If data from this pilot protocol support our hypothesis, then we would propose a larger trial to confirm it. The ultimate aim is to predict which women are at higher risk of bone loss and therefore treat them earlier with bone-sparing agents, while those with lower risk could be monitored on conservative therapy.

Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) increases the chances of cure in patients with Her-2 overexpressing early breast cancer. Unfortunately, both the chemotherapy drugs used in this setting (anthracyclines) and trastuzumab are known to cause cardiac dysfunction in a proportion of patients. Patients who develop heart problems when taking trastuzumab might have to stop this treatment, which could jeopardise their chances of cure. N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT pro-BNP) is a cardiac biomarker that is measured in the blood, the levels of which have been shown to indicate the presence of heart failure. Some early research has suggested that there may be a correlation between elevated NT pro-BNP and heart damage due to cancer chemotherapy and also trastuzumab. Troponin is another substance measured in the blood that can indicate heart damage. Finally, certain variations in an individual's genetic makeup (called polymorphisms) could put them at increased risk of heart damage from trastuzumab. Here we are studying whether any of these factors (NT pro-BNP levels, troponin levels, or certain genetic polymorphisms) can accurately predict who is at highest risk of trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity. The principal aim of this study is to evaluate the utility of NT pro-BNP as a predictive biomarker for the development of trastuzumab related cardiotoxicity (TRC). The investigators will also examine if single nucleotide polymorphisms in the HER2 gene or Fc-gamma-receptor genes predict for TRC.

Young women with breast cancer have an increased breast tissue density and conventional imaging tests such as mammography and breast ultrasound are less sensitive and specific for detecting breast cancer than in older breast cancer patients. Breast MRI is an emerging tool that has been proven to improve the ability to identify breast cancers by determining the extent of disease and also detect multifocal, multicentric and bilateral breast cancers. To date, the role of pre-operative breast MRI is not clearly defined. The investigators are proposing a study to evaluate the impact of preoperative breast MRI on surgical decision-making in breast cancer patients <= 50 years. This may lead to improved characterization of breast cancers in these younger patients that may ultimately result in lower local recurrence rates in the future. The additional information attained through the breast MRI may also guide the use of radiation, chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy in these patients.