Breast Cancer

Cancer costs are rising, but the implementation of evidence-based quality improvement strategies in early-stage breast cancer care can reduce costs and improve patient quality of life, according to Angie Meillier, RN, MS, from Abbott Northwestern Piper Breast Center in Minneapolis, MN.

Preliminary data show excellent and durable responses to atezolizumab in 10% of women with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), one of the most aggressive and difficult cancers to treat.

A case study demonstrating the importance of patient advocacy, respecting patients’ choices, and addressing barriers to care.

It is exciting to see that patients with advanced breast cancer are able to receive additional treatment options, because a primary concern of patients with stage IV breast cancer is a lack of awareness of laboratory and clinical research targeted for those battling advanced disease.

Based on the prevalence of invasive breast cancer, the amount of drug therapy required among a managed patient population is considerable, and significantly affects the top cancer trend therapies within the cancer budget for payers.

At the Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, KY, clinical pharmacists are integral members of the multidisciplinary care team, working in the clinic alongside surgical and medical oncologists, imaging specialists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, nurses, and other healthcare providers.

The authors present findings on the secondary aim of the Adherence, Communication, Treatment, and Support (ACTS) randomized controlled intervention study – a one-time psychoeducational intervention encouraging adherence of African American women to prescribed chemotherapy.

The addition of the selective CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib to letrozole significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in hormone receptor–positive (HR+) advanced breast cancer. Compared with letrozole alone, the combination of ribociclib/letrozole improved PFS by 44%.

With this issue of JONS, we pay tribute to our beginnings as navigators in breast cancer management by recognizing our national breast cancer awareness month and focusing on best practices in breast cancer.

The publishers of JONS had the pleasure of speaking with Drs Dempsey and Song about their multiple-template strategy that analyzes ctcDNA and ccfDNA in blood as well as the initiation of their clinical trial in triple-negative breast cancer.