Active clinical trials for "Breast Neoplasms"

The primary purpose of this research is to analyze the cells present in the fluid obtained via ductal lavage from the nipple of a woman with a known diagnosis of breast cancer. A portion of the lavage fluid may be used in future breast cancer biomarkers. Remaining lavage fluid will be used to analyze its biochemical composition, for investigational purposes only.

Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women and the most frequent cause of death. Despite breast screening programs, a substantial number of women are diagnosed with cancers greater than 2 cm in size or locally advanced disease, which is best treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) prior to surgery. Approximately 10% of women diagnosed with breast cancer annually will have locally advanced breast cancer, defined as stage III disease, where the cancer has either spread to regional lymph nodes and/or other tissue in the area of the breast, but not to distant sites. NAC offers the advantages of downstaging the disease, potentially reducing the extent of surgery. Presently, gadolinium enhanced MRI is the standard test used to monitor disease response to chemotherapy, and demonstrates changes in tumour size and extent between pre-NAC and post-NAC. Unfortunately, changes in tumour size may occur late in treatment regimen, thus producing false-negative results on early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, newer imaging techniques beyond anatomical imaging are needed to identify tumours that are unresponsive to chemotherapy and potentially change treatment plan early on to avoid significant morbidity associated with prolonged chemotherapy. A novel MRI technique utilizing hyperpolarized pyruvate has the potential to detect pathophysiological response early in the treatment regimen and would therefore allow for earlier identification of nonresponders and subsequent early modification of treatment regimens, if necessary.

A sentinel node procedure is recommended for patients with early stages of breast cancer to exclude metastases to local lymph nodes. This procedure is done with a "tracer" which is injected near to the tumor and drains to these nearby lymph nodes. The first draining lymph node(s) are called "sentinel" node(s). These sentinel nodes are excised by the surgeon for microscopic investigation using a detection probe. This study aims to further document the distribution and dynamics of a recently approved new tracer called Tilmanocept and comparing it with the standard used tracer (nanocolloid) to determine whether there is a significant difference between both products (which are both approved for clinical use in this scenario in the European Union). This will be done by randomly assigning patients between injection of Tilmanocept or Nanocolloid and making scans on multiple (3) time points.

This study investigates the impact of breast cancer treatment on joint health, cartilage, composition, and bone structure in the knee and hand in patients with hormone-receptor positive stage I-III breast cancer and healthy patients. The investigators will use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to assess the quality of hand and knee joints. This study may help doctors learn more about hand and knee joint pain that occurs during aromatase inhibitor treatment.

Mammography remains an imperfect screening test especially in women with extremely dense breast tissue, missing biologically aggressive cancers especially in younger population and picking up indolent cancers that do not need treatment. The most sensitive test for breast cancer detection at our disposal is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The preliminary study of Dr Kuhl provide strong arguments that Ultra FAST Breast Magnetic Resonance is suitable for breast cancer screening with high sensitivity and specificity values. Data clearly demonstrates that FAST breast MRI could be the standard for breast cancer screening: it is safe, does not induce cancers, and can find more cancers than mammography. However this study was performed in women with low to moderately increased risk.The value of FAST Breast Magnetic Resonance in normal screening population has to be assessed before a modification of current strategy of breast cancer screening with mammography.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether four new alternative imaging methods can be used to follow the response of breast cancer to the treatment patients are being given. These methods produce an image of the inside of the breast so that doctors can better decide whether breast cancer is responding to therapy. An important part of the study is to examine the same person with all methods in order to directly compare results. The four methods are: MRI Elasticity Imaging (abbreviated MRE), Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (abbreviated EIS), Microwave Imaging and Spectroscopy (abbreviated MIS), Near Infrared Spectroscopy (abbreviated NIR). In addition to the experimental imaging methods, patients may also undergo a contrast-enhanced MRI, and/or additional mammography, which will help researchers compare the experimental methods. These additional examinations are accepted diagnostic procedures; they are not experimental. Some participants will have one or both of these additional examinations if clinically indicated.

Primary: In women with heterogeneous or dense breast tissue (mammographic types 3 and 4), MBI (Molecular Breast Imaging) will detect more breast cancers and have greater sensitivity in detecting breast cancer than breast tomosynthesis. Secondary: In women with heterogeneous or dense breast tissue, the specificity of MBI in correctly classifying subjects without breast cancer will be non-inferior to breast tomosynthesis. In women with heterogeneous or dense breast tissue, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for MBI will be non-inferior or superior to breast tomosynthesis. Combining the use of MBI and breast tomosynthesis will provide performance superior to either technology alone, as manifest by a superior ROC curve area.

This study is investigating whether automated whole breast ultrasound can improve detection of cancer in breast cancer screening when used as a supplement to mammography or as a supplement to digital breast tomosynthesis

This is a study to determine the prevalence and severity of alopecia (hair loss) experienced by postmenopausal breast cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy including Tamoxifen, Letrozole (Femara), Exemestane (Aromasin), or Anastrozole (Arimidex).

The aim of the study is to determine if DOT can detect response early in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.