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Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in females globally. However, we know relatively little about trends in males. This study describes United Kingdom (UK) secular trends in breast cancer from 2000 to 2021 for both sexes. We describe a population-based cohort study using UK primary care Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD and Aurum databases. There were 5,848,436 eligible females and 5,539,681 males aged 18+ years, with ≥ one year of prior data availability in the study period. We estimated crude breast cancer incidence rates (IR), prevalence and survival probability at one-, five- and 10-years after diagnosis using the Kaplan–Meier method. Analyses were further stratified by age. Crude IR of breast cancer from 2000 to 2021 was 194.4 per 100,000 person-years for females and 1.16 for males. Crude prevalence in 2021 was 2.1% for females and 0.009% for males. Both sexes have seen around a 2.5-fold increase in prevalence across time. Incidence increased with age for both sexes, peaking in females aged 60–69 years and males 90+. There was a drop in incidence for females aged 70–79 years. From 2003–2019, incidence increased > twofold in younger females (aged 18–29: IR 2.12 in 2003 vs. 4.58 in 2018); decreased in females aged 50–69 years; and further declined from 2015 onwards in females aged 70–89 years. Survival probability for females after one-, five-, and ten-years after diagnosis was 95.1%, 80.2%, and 68.4%, and for males 92.9%, 69.0%, and 51.3%. Survival probability at one-year increased by 2.08% points, and survival at five years increased by 5.39% from 2000–2004 to 2015–2019 for females, particularly those aged 50–70 years. For males, there were no clear time-trends for short-term and long-term survival probability. Changes in incidence of breast cancer in females largely reflect the success of screening programmes, as rates rise and fall in synchronicity with ages of eligibility for such programmes. Overall survival from breast cancer for females has improved from 2000 to 2021, again reflecting the success of screening programmes, early diagnosis, and improvements in treatments. Male breast cancer patients have worse survival outcomes compared to females, highlighting the need to develop male-specific diagnosis and treatment strategies to improve long-term survival in line with females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Oncology - Genitourinary Introduction A paper regarding consensus statements on the role of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT (e.g. [ SP 68 sp Ga]Ga-PSMA-11, [ SP 18 sp F]PSMA-1007, [ SP 18 sp F]DCFPyL, herein and further referred to as "PSMA PET/CT") in patients with prostate cancer and in respect to radioligand therapy ([ SP 177 sp Lu]Lu-PSMA) has recently been published in I Eur Urol Oncol i [[1]], resulting from a collaboration between European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) and European Association of Urology (EAU). As expected, there was strong agreement regarding the need to follow procedural guidelines for performing and reporting PSMA PET/CT, and also to recommend a fully diagnostic CT with i.v. contrast as part of the PET/CT examination, if not previously undertaken. [Extracted from the article]

While personalised cancer medicine holds great promise, targeting therapies to the biological characteristics of patients is limited by the number of validated biomarkers currently available. The implementation of biomarkers has undergone many challenges with few biomarkers reaching cancer patients in the clinic. There have been many biomarkers that have been published and claimed to be therapeutically useful, but few become part of the clinical decision-making process due to technical, validation and market access issues. To reduce this attrition rate, there is a significant need for policy makers and reimbursement agencies to define specific evidence requirements for the introduction of biomarkers into clinical practice. Once these requirements are more clearly defined, in an analogous manner to pharmaceuticals, researchers and diagnostic companies can better focus their biomarker research and development on meeting these specific requirements, which should lead to the more rapid introduction of new molecular oncology tests for patient benefit. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of our survey was to evaluate the usage and indications of various metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) therapies, and to identify barriers to usage of bisphosphonates (BPs). Materials and Methods: Between March and June 2009, an internet-based survey was performed among board-certified urologists of the EAU who treated ≥10 patients with metastatic PCa annually. Results: Questionnaires completed by 200 urologists from 12 European countries including 27,442 PCa patients were used for analyses. On average, 22% of the patients presented in stage IV, 15% had bone metastases and 10% received BPs. In most countries, BPs were used to the same extent in hormone-naïve and castration-resistant PCa (CRPC). A total of 23% of urologists prescribed chemotherapy in patients with hormone-sensitive PCa, and 55% of the urologists did not administer androgen deprivation maintenance therapy in patients with CRPC. Conclusions: BPs were frequently used in PCa with bone metastases, although current guidelines recommend their use only in CRPC. Standardized multidisciplinary educational programs should be developed in order to prevent non-indicated early chemotherapy in hormone-sensitive patients and to stimulate maintenance of androgen deprivation therapy in CRPC patients. Also, programs facilitating home infusions for patients who need intravenous BPs are needed in specific countries to optimize treatment of CRPC. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Cigarette smoking is the most well-established risk factor for developing bladder cancer. Objective: To investigate the role of smoking status on the clinical outcome of patients with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Design, setting, and participants: Data obtained during a prospective phase 3 study with three schedules of epirubicin were used for statistical analysis. Smoking status (obtained when entering the study), other prognostic variables, and clinical outcome measures of 718 patients were analyzed. Mean follow-up was 2.5 yr. Measurements: The primary outcome measure was recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results and limitations: Demographics were similar for nonsmokers versus ex-smokers and current smokers, except for gender (p <0.001) and grade (p =0.022). In univariate analyses, RFS was significantly shorter in male patients (p =0.020), in patients with a history of recurrences (p <0.003), in patients with multiple tumors (p <0.004), in patients with a history of intravesical therapy (p =0.037), and in ex-smokers and current smokers (p =0.005). In multivariate analyses, a history of recurrences, multiplicity, and smoking status remained significant factors for predicting RFS. Gender and initial therapy were no longer a significant influence on RFS. Because progression was uncommon (n =25) and follow-up was short and focused only on recurrences, no conclusion can be drawn on progression-free survival. A limitation of the study were the questionnaires. They were only used when entering the study, and there were no questions about passive smoking and other causal factors. Conclusions: In this prospective study, the significance of known factors (history of recurrences and number of tumors) in predicting RFS was confirmed. Another significant factor that appears to predict RFS is smoking status: ex-smokers and current smokers had a significantly shorter RFS compared with nonsmokers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background Patients with high-risk localised prostate cancer (PCa) are at risk of developing bone metastases (BMs). Zoledronic acid (ZA) significantly reduces the incidence of skeletal complications in castration-resistant metastatic PCa versus placebo. Objective To investigate ZA for the prevention of BMs in high-risk localised PCa. Design, setting, and participants Randomised open-label multinational study with patients having at least one of the following: prostate-specific antigen ≥20 ng/ml, node-positive disease, or Gleason score 8–10. Intervention Standard PCa therapy alone or combined with 4 mg ZA intravenously every 3 mo for ≤4 yr. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis BMs were assessed using locally evaluated bone-imaging procedures (BIPs), with subsequent blinded central review. Patients with BMs, time to BMs, overall survival, and adverse events were compared between treatment groups. Results and limitations A total of 1393 of 1433 randomised patients were used for intention-to-treat (ITT) efficacy analyses, with 1040 patients with BIP-BM outcome status at 4 ± 0.5 yr. The local urologist/radiologist diagnosed BIP-BMs in 88 of 515 patients (17.1%) in the ZA group and 89 of 525 patients (17.0%) in the control group (chi-square test: p = 0.95), with a difference between proportions of 0.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], −4.4 to 4.7) in favour of the control group. In the ITT population ( n = 1393), the Kaplan-Meier estimated proportion of BMs after a median follow-up of 4.8 yr was 14.7% in the ZA group versus 13.2% in the control group (log-rank: p = 0.65). Low hot spot numbers on bone scans were confirmed as metastases with additional imaging. Central reviews of BIPs were possible only on a subset of patients. Conclusions ZA administered every 3 mo was demonstrated to be ineffective for the prevention of BMs in high-risk localised PCa patients at 4 yr. Patient summary Zoledronic acid administered every 3 mo was demonstrated to be ineffective for the prevention of bone metastases in high-risk nonmetastatic PCa patients at 4 yr. Trial registration The ZEUS trial is registered in the Dutch trial register www.trialregister.nl and the ISRCTN register at http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN66626762 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]