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I The Undying i reaches beyond the traditional memoir with its structure, lyricism, and formal experimentation, providing a unique cultural and patient perspective for breast cancer clinicians and the medical community at large. Boyer also criticizes the formal (as in literary structural) problem with breast cancer narratives: the politics of placing "I" and "cancer" in the same sentence. Boyer seamlessly moves between sharp critique and emotional outpour, perhaps each an attempt to capture the sensation of breast cancer pain. [Extracted from the article]

Breast cancer patients have been treated with four different hormonal agents, antiestrogen, progestin, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist and aromatase inhibitor, during the past 7 years in Japan. To investigate the efficacy of these agents for the treatment of recurrent breast cancer patients, we conducted a retrospective multi-institute survey in Japan. The clinico-pathological data of 131 patients, who received endocrine therapy as first-line treatment between 1993 and 1998, were collected from seven institutes. The median age of the patients was 55 (range 27–92) years, 75% of their primary tumors were estrogen receptor (ER)-positive or unknown, and 95% of the dominant metastatic sites were bone, soft tissue or lungs. The objective response rate to first-line endocrine therapy was 42.7%, and that to second-line therapy 42.5% (17 of 40 patients). Multiple regression analyses of predictive factors for a response to first- and second-line endocrine therapies indicated two independent factors, ER status of the primary tumors and dominant site of metastasis, for the former, and one independent factor, a response to first-line endocrine therapy, for the latter. Analysis of relationships between sequences of use of hormonal agents and objective response rates revealed that the choice of first-line hormonal agent did not influence the overall efficacy of first- and second-line endocrine therapies. Overall survival after first recurrence in patients with tumors exhibiting an objective response or stable disease to first-line endocrine therapy was significantly better than that in patients with tumors exhibiting progressive disease (p < 0.01). These findings suggest that an adequate selection of recurrent breast cancer patients referring the ER status, dominant site of metastasis and a prior response to endocrine therapy may contribute to better clinical outcomes of the patients.Copyright © 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teledermatology is a term to describe the provision of dermatologic medical services through telecommunication technology. This is a teledermatology case of a solitary red–brown irregular plaque on the buttock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]