Don Dizon

How important is a completion node dissection for women with a positive sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer?

PARP inhibitors are of significant interest to those who treat breast and gynecologic cancers, as they have shown such promise in BRCA-mutation related cancers.

For patients with HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer, chemotherapy with trastuzumab is the gold standard.

A common concern of women recovering from cancer surgery and treatment is the risks and benefits of exercise. Is it safe? Is it a good idea? For women who have their lymph nodes removed as part of their cancer surgery, an added concern is, will I be at an increased risk of lymphedema?

Now that ASCO has concluded, I'd like to review the data from GOG 218, the three-arm randomized trial that evaluated the role of bevacizumab in the first-line treatment of ovarian cancer.

Sentinel node biopsy in the axilla as part of breast cancer surgery is standard of care. It has spared women from the requirement of a full axillary dissection, where many nodes are removed with resultant risks of long-term complications, such as arm swelling, or lymphedema.

What role inflammation, and in turn the use of anti-inflammatory agents, has in changing the risk of ovarian cancer was the topic of an interesting presentation at the recent AACR meeting.

One of the dilemmas facing young women treated for breast cancer is the issue of pregnancy. Is it safe for a breast cancer survivor to become pregnant? To deliver at term?

Currently, the only testing widely used to see if a man or woman harbors a genetic mutation in the BRCA gene is conducted by Myriad Genetics.

One of the dilemmas facing oncologists is what to do when a patient with breast cancer asks "should I get the other breast removed?".

The first results of bevacizumab in the adjuvant treatment of ovarian cancer were just released by the drug makers, Genentech/Roche.

As a follow-up to my recent post regarding new screening guidelines, I've been given permission to deliver the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC) position statement.

In an article published in JAMA, researchers surveyed over 3,200 breast cancer survivors who are 2-3 years out from treatment were surveyed to determine how often these women experienced and continued to suffer from pain.

In the latest issue of JAMA is an article questioning the value of breast cancer screening. In it, Professor Laura Esserman analyzes the incidence of early versus advanced breast cancers in an era prior to screening and then sixteen years later, when screening became established.

Breast cancer requires an interdisciplinary management plan, and at various points in treatment, care shifts between surgeon, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist. In addition, radiologists and pathologists remain critical players in the appropriate diagnosis, work-up, and staging of the disease.

Specialists in gynecologic cancer recognize that women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, particularly late ovarian cancer, do face significant odds that their disease will recur.