Active clinical trials for "Breast Neoplasms"

This study will evaluate whether patients who are intolerant and discontinue anastrozole due to grade 2-3 arthralgia-myalgia have a decrease in rheumatological symptoms while taking letrozole

The purpose of this study is to determine whether addition of automated whole breast ultrasound to the usual screening mammography in a population of asymptomatic women with mammographically dense breasts will result in a significantly greater number of breast cancers discovered than would be found by mammography alone.

In 2005, the EBCIG demonstrated the efficacy of tamoxifen in improving overall survival in hormone receptor positive breast cancers. However, tamoxifen shows partial estrogen agonist activity, which is responsible for the drug's detrimental effects such as endometrial carcinoma, thromboembolism, and tamoxifen resistance. More recently, aromatase inhibitors have been shown to be superior to tamoxifen in the metastatic and adjuvant settings. The ATAC trial demonstrated improved disease-free survival (DFS) for 5 years of anastrozole compared to 5 years of tamoxifen 3. The BIG 1-98 trial results demonstrated that after a median follow-up of 25.8 months, letrozole improved DFS and distant DFS when compared to tamoxifen. Based on these results, adjuvant hormonal therapy with Aromatase Inhibitors (AI) has become the preferred therapy for post-menopausal woman. However, AI therapy is also associated with toxicities that merit in-depth studies, one of them being an increase in musculoskeletal pain. In the ATAC trial, at a median follow-up of 5.7 years, arthralgia was significantly higher (35.6% vs. 29.4%) and fractures were also increased (11.0% vs. 7.7%) when anastrozole was administered for 5 years following surgery with or without chemotherapy 3. The incidence of arthralgia was also significantly higher in the MA-17 trial, with 25% of patients receiving letrozole developing arthralgia compared with 21% in the placebo group following 5 to 6 years of tamoxifen 5. Traditionally in cancer clinical trials, the reporting of musculoskeletal pain has been based on the "Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events", which covers a wide range of symptoms and does not facilitate the documentation of a pain syndrome in a specific manner. Therefore, there is a need to design a study that will describe the nature of the pain associated with the administration of AI therapy using tools that have been validated for capturing a multidimensional phenomenon such as pain.

RATIONALE: Collecting and storing samples of blood from patients with cancer to study 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 looking at the effects of surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy on biomarkers in women with stage I, stage II, stage III breast cancer, or ductal carcinoma in situ that can be removed by surgery.

This study will characterize risk factors associated with breast cancer development in some patients. In particular, it will examine the role of insulin in breast cancer in patients with and without a family history of the disease. Women 30 to 70 years old who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and matched control healthy subjects with and without a family history of breast cancer may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following procedures: Cancer-genetic counseling session, including family history, risk assessment, genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 (if criteria is met), interpretation of results and management options Medical history, including questions about symptoms or diseases, reproductive history, use of oral contraceptives, body weight, exercise, lifestyle, and demographic issues Drawing of family tree Examination of medical records Blood drawing for genetic and other tests CT scan of the abdomen (approximate time < 1 minute) Filling out questionnaires

RATIONALE: Studying quality of life in breast cancer survivors may help determine the long-term effects of breast cancer and may help improve the quality of life for future breast cancer survivors. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying quality of life in female breast cancer survivors and their spouse, partner, or acquaintance.

RATIONALE: Understanding the relationship between breast density, levels of hormones in the blood, and levels of anticancer drugs in the blood may help improve the ability to plan effective treatment for women with invasive breast cancer. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying the relationship between breast density and blood levels of hormones and anticancer drugs in women with invasive breast cancer who are receiving exemestane or anastrozole.

RATIONALE: Diagnostic procedures such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using ferumoxytol may improve the ability to detect cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes and may help plan effective cancer treatment. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well MRI using ferumoxytol works in detecting metastases to the lymph nodes in patients with primary prostate cancer or primary breast cancer.

The Sister Study is prospectively examining environmental and familial risk factors for breast cancer and other diseases in a cohort of 50,884 sisters of women who have had breast cancer. Such sisters have about twice the risk of developing breast cancer as other women.

RATIONALE: Diagnostic procedures, such as breast duct endoscopy, may improve the ability to detect breast cancer earlier and plan more effective treatment. PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well breast duct endoscopy works in assessing cellular atypia (abnormal cells) in the breast ducts of women with a genetic risk for breast cancer.