The effect of anastrozole on bone mineral density during the first 5 years of adjuvant treatment in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.

PURPOSE: The administration of aromatase inhibitors is associated with bone loss in postmenopausal women. We assessed changes in bone mineral density (BMD) from baseline to 60 months of treatment in patients receiving anastrozole as initial adjuvant therapy. METHODS: Postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer receiving anastrozole as adjuvant therapy at our center since 2004 were enrolled in this study. BMD was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and after 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months. Oral bisphosphonate (Bis) treatment was initiated when patients were diagnosed with osteoporosis having a T-score of -2.5 or lower. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients were enrolled in the study between 2004 and 2011, and the mean follow-up period was 53.6 months. Thirty-five patients were administered Bis (risedronate in 27 patients, alendronate in 8 patients). After 6 months of hormone therapy, BMD decreased by 0.5% from baseline at the lumbar spine (LS) and BMD decreased by 1.5% at the femoral neck (FN). However, BMD increased by 1.9% at the LS and BMD decreased by 1.5% at the FN for 60 months of treatment. In patients treated with upfront Bis (n = 19), 5.4% BMD increase from baseline was noted at the LS whereas in those without Bis (n = 21) BMD decreased by 4.3% from baseline within 24 months (P < 0.0001). Fractures were observed in 4 patients (7.3%), and 1 patient (1.8%) had a fragility fracture. CONCLUSIONS: Upfront treatment of Bis with anastrozole significantly increased BMD at the LS and an optimal use of Bis would not increase bone fractures. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN0000017571.

A comparison of indocyanine green fluorescence imaging plus blue dye and blue dye alone for sentinel node navigation surgery in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: To evaluate two methods of sentinel node navigation surgery (SNNS) using blue dye with and without indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence imaging (FI) to determine the usefulness of combined ICG and blue dye. METHODS: Between 2005 and 2010, a total of 501 patients underwent SNNS in our hospital. Detection of sentinel lymph node (SLN) was performed with sulfan blue (SB) alone until 2008 and with a combination of SB and ICG-FI since 2009. ICG 5 mg and SB 15 mg were injected in the subareolar region, and FI was obtained by a fluorescence imaging device. RESULTS: We attempted to identify SLNs in 393 patients by SB alone and in 108 patients by a combination of SB and FI. The mean number of SLNs detected was 1.6 (0-5) for SB alone and 2.2 (1-6) for the combination method. The SLN identification rate was 95.7 % for SB alone and 100 % for the combination method so that the combination was significantly superior to SB in terms of the identification rate (p = 0.0037). In patients who received the combination method, detection of SLN was made through only SB in 1 patient, only ICG in 8 patients, and both in 99 patients. Lymph node metastasis was found in 56 patients with SB alone and in 16 patients with the combination method. Recurrence of an axillary node was observed in 3 patients (0.8 %) with SB alone and in no patients with the combination method. CONCLUSIONS: ICG-FI is a useful method and is especially recommended in cases where no radiotracers are available.

[Responses to primary systemic therapy for breast cancer as assessed by hormone receptor and HER2 status].

The aim of this study was to investigate responses to primary systemic therapy (PST) for breast cancer, by hormone receptor (HR) and HER2 status. This study included 107 women with T>3 cm and/or node-positive breast cancer who received PST at this department between March 2004 and January 2009. Treatment with epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (EC) followed by docetaxel (DTX) therapy was undertaken up to December 2005. From January 2006, EC followed by weekly paclitaxel (PTX) with or without trastuzumab (T) therapy was performed. From February 2008 and thereafter, the EC-PTX-T therapy was continued in HER2-positive patients, whereas the preceding EC-DTX therapy was administered in HER2-negative patients. Clinical responses of the 107 patients (56 were treated with EC-DTX, 37 with EC-PTX, and 14 with EC-PTX-T) were as follows: CR was achieved in 18 patients, PR in 74 patients, SD in 12 patients, and PD in 3 patients, with a response rate of 86. 0%. Histologically, 14 patients(13. 2%)had pathological CR(pCR)in a limited sense. When these patients were further divided according to HR status, those positive for both estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) accounted for 1. 8%, those positive for ER and negative for PgR accounted for 5. 3%, and those negative for both ER and PgR accounted for a significantly higher percentage of 40. 0% (p<0. 0001) . By HER2 status, pCR was achieved at a significantly higher rate (47. 8%) of HER2-positive patients, compared to 3. 6% of HER2-negative patients (p<0. 0001). Common adverse events included Grade 3/4 leukopenia (57. 9%), neutropenia (67. 3%), and Grade 3 febrile neutropenia (11. 2%). The results show that a higher pCR rate can be expected after PST in HR-negative patients and HER2-positive patients. HER2-positive patients would particularly benefit from preoperative anthracycline chemotherapy followed by a taxane combined with trastuzumab.