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For postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, the most effective duration for adjuvant therapy with an aromatase inhibitor remains unclear.In this prospective, phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer who had received 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy to receive the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole for an additional 2 years (2-year group, receiving a total of 7 years) or an additional 5 years (5-year group, receiving a total of 10 years). The primary end point was disease-free survival. The primary analysis included all the patients who were still participating in the trial and who had no recurrence 2 years after randomization (i.e., when treatment in the 2-year group had ended). Secondary end points were overall survival, contralateral breast cancer, second primary cancer, and clinical bone fracture.Among the 3484 women who were enrolled in the trial, 3208 remained in the trial without disease progression after the first 2 years of extended anastrozole treatment following randomization. Among these women, disease progression or death occurred in 335 women in each treatment group in the primary-analysis set at 8 years (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85 to 1.15; P = 0.90). No between-group differences occurred in most secondary end points, and subgroup analyses did not indicate differences in any particular subgroup. The risk of clinical bone fracture was higher in the 5-year group than in the 2-year group (hazard ratio, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.84).In postmenopausal women with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer who had received 5 years of adjuvant endocrine therapy, extending hormone therapy by 5 years provided no benefit over a 2-year extension but was associated with a greater risk of bone fracture. (Funded by AstraZeneca and the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group; ABCSG-16/SALSA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00295620.).

Background Preoperative chemotherapy containing anthracyclines and taxanes is well established in early-stage breast cancer. Previous studies have suggested that the chemotherapy sequence may matter but definitive evidence is missing. ABCSG trial 34 evaluated the activity of the MUC1 vaccine tecemotide when added to neoadjuvant treatment; the study provided the opportunity for the second randomisation to compare two different anthracycline/taxane sequences. Methods HER2-negative early-stage breast cancer patients were recruited to this randomised multicentre Phase 2 study. Patients in the chemotherapy cohort (n = 311) were additionally randomised to a conventional or reversed sequence of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide and docetaxel. Residual cancer burden (RCB) with/without tecemotide was defined as primary study endpoint; RCB in the two chemotherapy groups was a key secondary endpoint. Results No significant differences in terms of RCB 0/I (40.1% vs. 37.2%; P = 0.61) or pathologic complete response (pCR) rates (24.3% vs. 25%, P = 0.89) were observed between conventional or reverse chemotherapy sequence. No new safety signals were reported, and upfront docetaxel did not result in decreased rates of treatment delay or discontinuation. Conclusion Upfront docetaxel did not improve chemotherapy activity or tolerability; these results suggest that upfront neoadjuvant treatment with anthracyclines remains a valid option.

In postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer, treatment with adjuvant aromatase inhibitors is the standard of care, but it increases risk for osteoporosis and fractures. Results from the ABCSG-18 trial showed that use of denosumab as an adjuvant to aromatase inhibitor therapy significantly reduced clinical fractures. Disease-free survival outcomes from ABCSG-18 have not yet been reported.Postmenopausal patients with early, hormone receptor-positive, non-metastatic adenocarcinoma of the breast, who had completed their initial adjuvant treatment pathway (surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, or a combination) and were receiving adjuvant aromatase inhibitors, were enrolled at 58 trial centres in Austria and Sweden into this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. With permuted block randomisation (block sizes 2 and 4, stratified by previous aromatase inhibitor use, total lumbar spine bone mineral density score at baseline, and type of centre), patients were assigned (1:1) to receive subcutaneous denosumab (60 mg) or matching placebo every 6 months during aromatase inhibitor therapy. The primary endpoint (previously reported) was the time to first clinical fracture after randomisation. The secondary endpoint reported here is disease-free survival (defined as time from randomisation to first evidence of local or distant metastasis, contralateral breast cancer, secondary carcinoma, or death from any cause) in the intention-to-treat population. This study is registered with EudraCT (number 2005-005275-15) and ClinicalTrials.gov (number NCT00556374), and is ongoing for long-term follow-up.Between Dec 18, 2006, and July 22, 2013, 3425 eligible patients were enrolled and randomly assigned; 1711 to the denosumab group and 1709 to the placebo group (with five others withdrawing consent). After a median follow-up of 73 months (IQR 58-95), 240 (14·0%) patients in the denosumab and 287 (16·8%) in the placebo group had disease-free survival events. Disease-free survival was significantly improved in the denosumab group versus the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·82, 95% CI 0·69-0·98, Cox p=0·0260; descriptive analysis, without controlling for multiplicity). In the denosumab group, disease-free survival was 89·2% (95% CI 87·6-90·8) at 5 years and 80·6% (78·1-83·1) at 8 years of follow-up, compared with 87·3% (85·7-89·0) at 5 years and 77·5% (74·8-80·2) and 8 years in the placebo group. No independently adjudicated cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw or confirmed atypical femoral fractures were recorded. The total number of adverse events was similar in the denosumab group (1367 [including 521 serious] adverse events) and the placebo group (1339 [515 serious]). The most common serious adverse events were osteoarthritis (62 [3·6%] of 1709 in the denosumab group vs 58 [3·4%] of 1690 in the placebo group), meniscus injury (23 [1·3%] vs 24 [1·4%]), and cataract (16 [0·9%] vs 28 [1·7%]). One (0·1%) treatment-related death (due to pneumonia, septic kidney failure, and cardiac decompensation) occurred in the denosumab group.Denosumab constitutes an effective and safe adjuvant treatment for patients with postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer receiving aromatase inhibitor therapy.Amgen.

Immune-based strategies represent a promising approach in breast cancer (BC) treatment. The glycoprotein mucin-1 (MUC-1) is overexpressed in more than 90% of BC patients, and is targeted by the cancer vaccine tecemotide. We have investigated the efficacy and safety of tecemotide when added to neoadjuvant standard-of-care (SoC) treatment in early BC patients.A total of 400 patients with HER2-early BC were recruited into this prospective, multicentre, randomised 2-arm academic phase II trial. Patients received preoperative SoC treatment (chemotherapy or endocrine therapy) with or without tecemotide. Postmenopausal women with oestrogen receptor (ER)+++, or ER++ and Ki67 14%, and G1,2 tumours ('luminal A' tumours) received 6 months of letrozole. Postmenopausal patients with triple-negative, ER-/+/++ and Ki67 ≥ 14%, and with G3 tumours, as well as premenopausal patients, received four cycles of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide plus four cycles of docetaxel. Primary end-point was residual cancer burden (RCB; 0/I versus II/III) at surgery. Secondary end-points included pathological complete response (pCR), safety, and quality of life.We observed no significant difference in RCB 0/I rates between patients with (36.4%) and without (31.9%) tecemotide in the overall study population (p = 0.40) nor in endocrine and chemotherapy-treated subgroups (25.0% versus 13.3%, p = 0.17; 39.6% versus 37.8%, p = 0.75, respectively). The addition of tecemotide did not affect overall pCR rates (22.5% versus 17.4%, p = 0.23), MUC-1 expression, or tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes content. Tecemotide did not increase toxicity when compared to SoC therapy alone.Neoadjuvant tecemotide is safe, but does not improve RCB or pCR rates in patients receiving standard neoadjuvant therapy.

BACKGROUND: Angiopoietin 1 and 2 regulate angiogenesis and vascular remodelling by interacting with the tyrosine kinase receptor Tie2, and inhibition of angiogenesis has shown promise in the treatment of ovarian cancer. We aimed to assess whether trebananib, a peptibody that inhibits binding of angiopoietin 1 and 2 to Tie2, improved progression-free survival when added to carboplatin and paclitaxel as first-line therapy in advanced epithelial ovarian, primary fallopian tube, or peritoneal cancer in a phase 3 clinical trial. METHODS: TRINOVA-3, a multicentre, multinational, phase 3, double-blind study, was done at 206 investigational sites (hospitals and cancer centres) in 14 countries. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older with biopsy-confirmed International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage III to IV epithelial ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancers, and an ECOG performance status of 0 or 1. Eligible patients were randomly assigned (2:1) using a permuted block method (block size of six patients) to receive six cycles of paclitaxel (175 mg/m2) and carboplatin (area under the serum concentration-time curve 5 or 6) every 3 weeks, plus weekly intravenous trebananib 15 mg/kg or placebo. Maintenance therapy with trebananib or placebo continued for up to 18 additional months. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival, as assessed by the investigators, in the intention-to-treat population. Safety analyses included patients who received at least one dose of study treatment. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01493505, and is complete. FINDINGS: Between Jan 30, 2012, and Feb 25, 2014, 1164 patients were screened and 1015 eligible patients were randomly allocated to treatment (678 to trebananib and 337 to placebo). After a median follow-up of 27·4 months (IQR 17·7-34·2), 626 patients had progression-free survival events (405 [60%] of 678 in the trebananib group and 221 [66%] of 337 in the placebo group). Median progression-free survival did not differ between the trebananib group (15·9 months [15·0-17·6]) and the placebo group (15·0 months [12·6-16·1]) groups (hazard ratio 0·93 [95% CI 0·79-1·09]; p=0·36). 512 (76%) of 675 patients in the trebananib group and 237 (71%) of 336 in the placebo group had grade 3 or worse treatment-emergent adverse events; of which the most common events were neutropenia (trebananib 238 [35%] vs placebo 126 [38%]) anaemia (76 [11%] vs 40 [12%]), and leucopenia (81 [12%] vs 35 [10%]). 269 (40%) patients in the trebananib group and 104 (31%) in the placebo group had serious adverse events. Two fatal adverse events in the trebananib group were considered related to trebananib, paclitaxel, and carboplatin (lung infection and neutropenic colitis); two were considered to be related to paclitaxel and carboplatin (general physical health deterioration and platelet count decreased). No treatment-related fatal adverse events occurred in the placebo group. INTERPRETATION: Trebananib plus carboplatin and paclitaxel did not improve progression-free survival as first-line treatment for advanced ovarian cancer. The combination of trebananib plus carboplatin and paclitaxel did not produce new safety signals. These results show that trebananib in combination with carboplatin and paclitaxel is minimally effective in this patient population. FUNDING: Amgen. ispartof: LANCET ONCOLOGY vol:20 issue:6 pages:862-876 ispartof: location:England status: published

The working group recommends against contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) in women with breast cancer without a family history or genetic predisposition with unilateral breast cancer. This is based on the low risk of developing contralateral breast cancer, the lack of a survival benefit, the increased risk of surgical complications, and the lack of benefit on quality of life.

Summary Background Adjuvant endocrine therapy compromises bone health in patients with breast cancer, causing osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures. Antiresorptive treatments such as bisphosphonates prevent and counteract these side-effects. In this trial, we aimed to investigate the effects of the anti-RANK ligand antibody denosumab in postmenopausal, aromatase inhibitor-treated patients with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Methods In this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial, postmenopausal patients with early hormone receptor-positive breast cancer receiving treatment with aromatase inhibitors were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either denosumab 60 mg or placebo administered subcutaneously every 6 months in 58 trial centres in Austria and Sweden. Patients were assigned by an interactive voice response system. The randomisation schedule used a randomly permuted block design with block sizes 2 and 4, stratified by type of hospital regarding Hologic device for DXA scans, previous aromatase inhibitor use, and baseline bone mineral density. Patients, treating physicians, investigators, data managers, and all study personnel were masked to treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was time from randomisation to first clinical fracture, analysed by intention to treat. As an additional sensitivity analysis, we also analysed the primary endpoint on the per-protocol population. Patients were treated until the prespecified number of 247 first clinical fractures was reached. This trial is ongoing (patients are in follow-up) and is registered with the European Clinical Trials Database, number 2005-005275-15, and with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00556374. Findings Between Dec 18, 2006, and July 22, 2013, 3425 eligible patients were enrolled into the trial, of whom 3420 were randomly assigned to receive denosumab 60 mg (n=1711) or placebo (n=1709) subcutaneously every 6 months. Compared with the placebo group, patients in the denosumab group had a significantly delayed time to first clinical fracture (hazard ratio [HR] 0·50 [95% CI 0·39–0·65], p vs 511 [30% in each group]). The main adverse events were arthralgia and other aromatase-inhibitor related symptoms; no additional toxicity from the study drug was reported. Despite proactive adjudication of every potential osteonecrosis of the jaw by an international expert panel, no cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw were reported. 93 patients (3% of the full analysis set) died during the study, of which one death (in the denosumab group) was thought to be related to the study drug. Interpretation Adjuvant denosumab 60 mg twice per year reduces the risk of clinical fractures in postmenopausal women with breast cancer receiving aromatase inhibitors, and can be administered without added toxicity. Since a main side-effect of adjuvant breast cancer treatment can be substantially reduced by the addition of denosumab, this treatment should be considered for clinical practice. Funding Amgen.

BACKGROUND Pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant systemic therapy is correlated with better prognosis in HER2-positive, early breast cancer. Bevacizumab (B) was shown to add efficacy to neoadjuvant systemic treatment in HER2-negative, early breast cancer in terms of pCR-rate but failed in the adjuvant setting of both, HER2-negative and HER2-positive disease. The role of B in the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-positive, early breast cancer is not defined. Thus, ABCSG-32 was designed as a randomized phase II trial to evaluate the efficacy, the non-cardiac safety, and the cardiac toxicity of B when added to docetaxel + trastuzumab (DT) +/- non-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (N) in the neoadjuvant setting of early, HER2-positive breast cancer. METHODS 100 patients with biopsy-proven, invasive, early, HER2-positive breast cancer were stratified according to major risk factors including estrogen receptor (ER)-status, histology, tumor grade, and center and were randomized to receive 6 cycles (q 21 days) of either D100 mg/m2+T8/6mg/kg (DT, n=25), DT+B15mg/kg (DTB, n=25), D75T+N50 mg/m2 (DTN, n=26), or D75TN+B15 mg/m2 (DTNB, n=24). All patients received pegfilgrastim 6 mg sc on day 2. pCR was defined as the absence of invasive tumor cells in the breast and total pCR (tpCR) was defined as the absence of invasive tumor cells in the breast and axillary nodes after NST. Left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) was measured at baseline, before each treatment cycle, and before sugery. A cardiac toxicity event (CTE) was defined as the occurrence of either symptomatic LV dysfunction NYHA II-III, or an asymptomatic drop of EF (adEF) of >15% from baseline, or an adEF RESULTS The overall rate of pCR in all patients was 52% (DT: 36%, DTB: 51%, DTN: 63%, DTNB: 62%). In the ER-negative subgroup (n=43) the overall pCR rate was 63% (DT: 31%, DTB: 70%, DTN: 75%, DTNB: 88%) and the overall tpCR rate was 60% (DT: 31%, DTB: 60%, DTN: 75%, DTNB: 88%). Cardiac toxicity was low with a CTE in only3 patients (DT:0, DHB:1, DTN:1, DTNB:1). Non-cardiac toxicity/patient as evaluated by the incidence of serious adverse events (SAE,n=50) and significant safety events (SSE, n=114) was acceptable (SAE: DT:8, DTB:12, DTN:14, DTNB: 16; SSE: DT: 23, DTB: 31, DTN: 29, DTNB: 31). No differences in the incidence of non-serious AE and no new safety signals for B and N were detected. In 8 patients the treatment was terminated early (DT: 0, DTB: 3, DTN: 2, DTNB: 3). CONCLUSIONS Our data show that all regimens tested are effective in inducing pCR in HER2-positive early breast cancer. The addition of B and/or N to DT may lead to pCR/tpCR-rates of 51-88% with the highest activity seen in the ER-negative subgroup. 6 cycles of these regimens can safely be administered to patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer and further phase III-evaluation appear to be warranted. Citation Format: Guenther G Steger, Richard Greil, Michael Hubalek, Michael A Fridrik, Christian F Singer, Rupert Bartsch, Marija Balic, Peter Dubsky, Daniel Egle, Simon P Gampenrieder, Georg Pfeiler, David Mayr, Theresa Czech, Gabriel Rinnerthaler, Ruth Exner, Andreas L Petzer, Paul Sevelda, Alois Lang, Margaretha Rudas, Barbara Krause, Michael Seifert, Sophie Frantal, Christoph C Zielinski, Michael Gnant. Bevacizumab in combination with docetaxel+trastuzumab +/- non-pegylated liposomal doxorubicin: Final results of ABCSG-32, a prospective, randomized phase II-study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-11-06.

Purpose Anastrozole (ANA) alone delivers significant disease-free survival benefits over tamoxifen (TAM) monotherapy in postmenopausal women with early estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer. The ABCSG-8 (Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group 8) study is a large phase III clinical trial addressing the sequence strategy containing ANA in comparison with 5 years of TAM in a low- to intermediate-risk group of postmenopausal patients. Patients and Methods Endocrine receptor–positive patients with G1 or G2 tumors were eligible. After surgery, patients were randomly assigned to 5 years of TAM or 2 years of TAM followed by 3 years of ANA. Adjuvant chemotherapy and G3 and T4 tumors were exclusion criteria. Intention-to-treat and censored analyses of on-treatment recurrence-free survival (RFS) were performed, and exploratory survival end points and toxicity were investigated. Results Information from 3,714 patients, including 17,563 woman-years, with a median of 60 months of follow-up was available for this analysis. Median age was 63.8 years, 75% were node negative, and 75% had T1 tumors. Sequencing of ANA after identical 2-year treatment with TAM in both arms did not result in a statistically significant improvement of RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80; 95% CI, 0.63 to 1.01; P = .06). Exploratory analyses of distant relapse-free survival indicated a 22% improvement (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.00). On-treatment adverse events and serious adverse events were consistent with known toxicity profiles of ANA and TAM treatment. Conclusion Despite a low overall rate of recurrence in a population with breast cancer at limited risk of relapse, the a priori sequence strategy of 2 years of TAM followed by 3 years of ANA led to small outcome and toxicity benefits.

Purpose: According to current guidelines, molecular tests predicting the outcome of breast cancer patients can be used to assist in making treatment decisions after consideration of conventional markers. We developed and validated a gene expression signature predicting the likelihood of distant recurrence in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy. Experimental Design: RNA levels assessed by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue were used to calculate a risk score (Endopredict, EP) consisting of eight cancer-related and three reference genes. EP was combined with nodal status and tumor size into a comprehensive risk score, EPclin. Both prespecified risk scores including cutoff values to determine a risk group for each patient (low and high) were validated independently in patients from two large randomized phase III trials [Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG)-6: n = 378, ABCSG-8: n = 1,324]. Results: In both validation cohorts, continuous EP was an independent predictor of distant recurrence in multivariate analysis (ABCSG-6: P = 0.010, ABCSG-8: P < 0.001). Combining Adjuvant!Online, quantitative ER, Ki67, and treatment with EP yielded a prognostic power significantly superior to the clinicopathologic factors alone [c-indices: 0.764 vs. 0.750, P = 0.024 (ABCSG-6) and 0.726 vs. 0.701, P = 0.003 (ABCSG-8)]. EPclin had c-indices of 0.788 and 0.732 and resulted in 10-year distant recurrence rates of 4% and 4% in EPclin low-risk and 28% and 22% in EPclin high-risk patients in ABCSG-6 (P < 0.001) and ABCSG-8 (P < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: The multigene EP risk score provided additional prognostic information to the risk of distant recurrence of breast cancer patients, independent from clinicopathologic parameters. The EPclin score outperformed all conventional clinicopathologic risk factors. Clin Cancer Res; 17(18); 6012–20. ©2011 AACR.

The Calypso trial showed an improved progression-free survival with PEG-liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) and carboplatin (P) as compared with the standard regimen paclitaxel (PCLTX) and P in the second- or third-line treatment of platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer [1]. A panel of Austrian gynecologic oncologists discussed the clinical consequences of the data from the Calypso study for the routine practice. PLD + P had a significantly lower rate of alopecia and neuropathy than the taxane regimen, both toxicities which compromise the quality of life. Due to possible significant thrombocytopenia, the blood counts of patients undergoing PLD + P therapy should be monitored weekly. Patients receiving PLD/P are at higher risk of nausea and vomiting. Palmoplantar erythrodysesthesia (hand-foot syndrome) is a significant toxicity of PLD + P most prevalent after the third or fourth cycle. Prophylaxis consists of avoiding pressure on feet and hands and other parts of the body. Similarly, prophylaxis of mucositis seems important and includes avoiding consumption of hot, spicy and salty foods and drinks. Mouth dryness should be avoided. Premedication with antiemetics and dexamethasone dissolved in 5% glucose is done to prevent hypersensitivity to PLD. In conclusion, the therapeutic index is more favorable for PLD + P than for PCTX + P.

500Background: Adjuvant aromatase inhibitors (AI) are standard of care for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive (HR+) early stage breast cancer but cause osteoporosis and fractures. ABCSG-18 showed previously that adjuvant denosumab significantly reduces clinical fractures (primary endpoint, HR = 0.5, p < 0.0001, Lancet 2015). Here, we present the impact of adjuvant denosumab on disease-free survival. Patients and Methods: 3,425 postmenopausal patients with early HR+ BC receiving adjuvant AI were recruited in 58 trial centers into this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase-III trial. Patients were randomized 1:1 to receive either denosumab 60mg s.c. (N = 1712) or placebo (N = 1713) q6 months during AI therapy. We here present results of ABCSG-18’s secondary endpoint disease-free survival (DFS), including relevant subgroup and sensitivity analyses (accounting for cross-over either by censoring or by using a rank preserving structural failure time model). Results: After a media...

Objective:The Austrian Association for Gynecologic Oncology initiated in 1998 a prospective quality assurance program for patients with ovarian cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors predicting overall survival especially under consideration of department volume.Methods:All Austrian gynecological departments were invited to participate in the quality assurance program. A questionnaire was sent out that included birth date, histology, date of diagnosis, stage, and basic information on primary treatment. Description of comorbidity was not requested. Patient life status was assessed in a passive way. We did record linkage between each patient's name and birth date and the official mortality data set collected by Statistics Austria. No data were available on progression-free survival. Patients treated between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2004 were included in the analysis. Mortality dates were available to December 31, 2006. Data were analyzed by means of classical statistical methods. Cut-off point for departments was 24 patients per year.Results:A total of 1948 patients were evaluable. Approximately 75% of them were treated at institutions with fewer than 24 new patients per year. Patient characteristics were grossly similar for both department types. Multivariate analysis confirmed established prognostic factors such as International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (FIGO) stage, lymphadenectomy, age, grading, and residual disease. In addition, we found small departments (P < 0.001).Conclusions:The results indicate that in Austria, rules prescribing minimum department case load can further improve survival for patients with ovarian cancer.

Background Endocrine therapy is the preferred treatment in oestrogen- and/or progesterone-receptor (ER/PgR) positive breast cancer. Fulvestrant is a pure ER-antagonist. We present results from the Austrian Fulvestrant Registry. Methods Three-hundred and fifty patients were included. Time to progression (TTP) was defined as primary endpoint. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify factors significantly associated with TTP. Results Fulvestrant was administered as first-line therapy in 26%, second-line in 49%, and third-line or beyond in 25%. TTP was median 7 months. We observed a response in 15% of patients and 41% had SD ≥ 6 months. First-line treatment and non-visceral metastases were associated with longer TTP. One case of pulmonary embolism was reported. Grade 3 toxicities consisted of joint pain (1.4%), nausea (1.4%) and hot flashes (0.3%). Conclusions Fulvestrant was effective and well tolerated. TTP was superior to other trials, due to the large proportion of first-line patients. Activity is apparently independent of Her2-status.

Purpose: To determine the effects of anemia on local relapse-free, relapse-free, and overall survival (LRFS, RFS, and OS, respectively) in premenopausal, primary breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant polychemotherapy, and to determine which conventional prognostic factors affected these outcomes. Experimental Design: Four hundred twenty-four premenopausal patients with early-stage primary breast cancer and hormone receptor–expressing tumors were treated with i.v. cyclophosphamide/methotrexate/5-fluorouracil (CMF) polychemotherapy as part of an adjuvant phase III trial (Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 5). The influence of anemia (hemoglobin Results: Of 424 patients, 77 (18.2%) developed anemia on CMF chemotherapy. After a median follow-up time of 5 years, 8.9% of nonanemic patients had local relapse compared with 19.6% of anemic patients (P = 0.0006). Although mastectomy was associated with anemia (26% versus 13.7% in breast conserving surgery; P = 0.002), multivariate analysis did not show mastectomy per se to be a significant risk factor for LRFS. Age, lymph node status, and hemoglobin had an independent significant influence on LRFS (P < 0.005). Anemic patients had a relative risk of 2.96 (95% confidence interval, 1.41-6.23) for developing local relapse in comparison with nonanemic patients. Conclusion: Premenopausal breast cancer patients who developed anemia during the CMF regimen had significantly worse LRFS. In Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group Trial 5, anemia may have contributed to an almost doubled incidence of local recurrence in the chemotherapy arm. Molecular targets associated with tumor hypoxia and distinct from erythropoiesis should receive further attention in experimental and clinical settings.

Blood vessel invasion was investigated with haematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and immunohistochemical staining for factor VIII antigen (F VIII) in 106 patients with primary carcinoma of the breast, in order to compare their value in prognosticating the probability of recurrence. Blood vessel invasion was diagnosed in 65 cases (61.9%) by HE, but in only 45 (43.4%) by F VIII staining. Lymph-node status and blood vessel invasion correlated positively on HE (r = 0.73; P = 0.0001), but not so on F VIII staining. Multivariate logistic regression showed blood vessel invasion to be a strongly independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival with F VIII staining (odds ratio: = 7.19; P = 0.0001), while HE staining was not independent from other prognostic factors. These preliminary data thus suggest that demonstrating vascular invasion by F VIII staining may identify those patients with a very high risk of recurrence, independent of lymph-node status.

The effect of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen on recurrence and survival rates was determined in a prospective randomized trial in 98 postmenopausal women (mean age 62.7 [49-77] years) with lymph node-negative breast cancer who had undergone modified radical mastectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy. The tamoxifen group (n = 48) received 10 mg of the drug twice daily for one year. After a mean period of 8 (6-11) years the tamoxifen group had a significantly higher rate of survival without recurrence than the control (no tamoxifen) group (83% vs 61.5%, P = 0.02) and a higher overall survival rate (95% vs 81.9%, P = 0.05). These results indicate that adjuvant tamoxifen favourably influences the prognosis for postmenopausal women with lymph node-negative breast cancer after radical mastectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy.

Background: The prevalence of self-reported participation in opportunistic screening mammography in Austrian women aged 40-79 years in the year 2005 is reported and compared with the results of a s

Salvage chemotherapy in advanced ovarian cancer is not yet standardized.Twenty-one consecutive patients progressing on or relapsing after previous platinum-containing treatment were eligible for treatment with ifosfamide 5 g/m(2) infused over a 24-hour period every 3 weeks in a Phase II trial. After an initial bolus of 1 g/m(2) of mesna, mesna was applied at a dosage of 5 g/m(2) concomitantly with ifosfamide followed by additional dosages of 200 mg 3 times at 4-hour intervals after termination of the ifosfamide infusion.The rate of objective responses was 19 percent, with a 95%CI [5.45-41.91 percent]. One patient achieved a pathologic complete remission (pCR) and 3 patients a clinical partial remission (PR). Median time-to-progression was 3 months. One patient was a long-term survivor. Main toxicities according to NCI-CTC included Grade 4 neurotoxicity in one patient, Grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity in 5 patients, Grade 3 infection in one patient, and Grade 3 and 4 leucopenia in 6 and 2 patients, respectively.Monotherapy with ifosfamide represents an active regimen for salvage chemotherapy in advanced ovarian cancer patients progressing on or relapsing after previous platinum-pretreatment, even yielding a long-term surivor.

Anaemia is frequent in breast cancer patients but often remains undiagnosed and untreated. To determine the incidence of anaemia a prospective survey of primary non-metastatic breast cancer patients who received at least four cycles of adjuvant, non-platinum multi-agent chemotherapy was conducted at 47 centres in Austria. Two hundred and forty seven patients were prospectively included between October 1999 and December 1999. Haemoglobin (Hb) levels were determined after surgery and prior to each cycle of chemotherapy. Treatment of anaemia (blood transfusion or epoetin alfa) during the observation period was at the physician's discretion. For the purpose of this study, patients were considered to be anaemic if their Hb was below 12 g/dl. At baseline (after surgery and before the first cycle of chemotherapy), 28.7% of all patients were anaemic. The only significant differentiating factor was the type of surgery. 37.9% of patients who underwent mastectomy were anaemic, whereas only 22.8% of patients who underwent breast conserving surgery were anaemic. Forty two percent of 176 patients with a Hb level ofor = 12 g/dl at baseline developed anaemia during adjuvant chemotherapy. The only factor that significantly influenced the development of anaemia during chemotherapy was the Hb level at baseline. The total incidence of anaemia in patients with primary breast cancer who underwent surgery followed by adjuvant multi-agent chemotherapy was 58.7%. Forty nine patients (20.2%), 48 patients (19.2%) and 48 patients (19.2%) showed a decrease in Hb levels by 1 g/dl, 1-2 g/dl and2 g/dl, respectively. Only 18.6% of the patients who were found to be anaemic received anaemia treatment. The two most important factors for developing anaemia are the kind of surgery and the Hb level prior to chemotherapy.

The prognostic influence of CA 125 regression between the time point before surgery and after two completed courses of chemotherapy was studied in 210 patients with advanced ovarian cancer, and was compared to other well established prognostic factors. CA 125 blood samples were collected preoperatively (CA 125 pre) and 3 months after surgery (CA 125 3 mo) (at the beginning of the 3rd cycle of chemotherapy). The parameter CA 125 regression defined as log10 (CA 125 3 mo/CA 125 pre) was used for statistical analysis. In a survival analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model, CA 125 regression (P = 0.0001), residual tumour (P = 0.0001), age (P = 0.0095) and grading (P = 0.044) were independent variables, whereas stage of disease, histology, ascites and type of surgery failed to retain significance. Using log10 (CA 125 3 mo/CA 125 pre) as simple covariate in a Cox model showed a hazard ratio of 1.70 (95% confidence interval 1.32–2.19, P = 0.0001). However, a detailed analysis of the interaction of time with the prognostic factor CA 125 regression on survival revealed a strong time-dependent effect with a hazard ratio of more than 6 immediately after two courses of chemotherapy, whereas within approximately 1 year the hazard ratio for the surviving patients dropped quickly to the neutral level of 1. In summary, CA 125 regression is an independent prognostic factor for survival of women with advanced ovarian cancer and allows an identification of a high-risk population among patients with advanced ovarian cancer. However, the discriminating power of serial CA 125 for long-term survival seems to be temporary and prediction of individual patients outcome is far less precise. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign

Objective: To determine whether delayed laparotomy after attempted laparoscopic excision of an ovarian mass later found to be malignant has an impact on the stage of disease. Methods: A questionnaire regarding laparoscopic management of ovarian masses later found to be malignant was mailed to all gynecologic departments in Austria. Of the 70 cases reported, laparotomy was performed after laparoscopy in 48 cases. In 24 of these cases, laparotomy was performed within 17 days of laparoscopy, whereas 24 cases involved a delay of more than 17 days. Twenty-two patients in whom laparotomy was performed immediately after laparoscopy were used as controls. Results: In patients with borderline tumors who underwent laparotomy more than 17 days after laparoscopy, the odds ratio (OR) for International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIB-IV disease was 5.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.40, ∞), compared with patients undergoing immediate laparotomy (multivariate analysis). Patients with invasive ovarian cancer who underwent laparotomy more than 17 days after laparoscopy had an OR of 9.2 (CI 0.92, 481) for stage IIB-IV disease compared with patients undergoing immediate laparotomy (multivariate analysis). In patients with borderline tumors, multivariate analysis showed that the timing of laparotomy is an independent prognostic factor for the stage of disease. In invasive ovarian cancer, none of the factors evaluated by multivariate analysis was found to be an independent prognostic factor for the distribution of disease stage. A delay between laparoscopy and laparotomy may affect adversely the distribution of disease stage. Conclusion: The timing of subsequent laparotomy was found to be a factor predictive of the distribution of disease stage.

A meta-analysis of 55 prospective randomized clinical trials including more than 37,000 patients has analyzed the effectiveness of tamoxifen in the treatment of breast cancer. Standard treatment consists of 20 mg tamoxifen daily for 5 years in patients with either a positive estrogen receptor or a positive progesterone receptor status. This treatment achieves a 50% improvement of the 5-year relapse-free survival and a 28% improvement of the overall survival. Tamoxifen is effective in lymph node-negative and lymph node-positive patients as well as in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The combination of chemotherapy with hormonal treatment is even more effective and brings a further improvement of survival of 50%. In addition, tamoxifen reduces the number of contralateral breast cancer cases to 50%, but increase the occurrence of endometrial cancers from 1.2/1,000 breast cancer patients within 10 years to 4.4/1,000 women. In conclusion, tamoxifen 20 mg daily for 5 years is the standard treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients.

Salvage chemotherapy in platin-resistant patients typically results in low response rates and short survival, therefore new active cytotoxic agents must be found. One of these agents is paclitaxel (Taxol), isolated from the bark of the western yew which acts as an antimicrotubule agent. In our study 28 patients were treated with Taxol, 20 of whom had platinum-resistant tumors. Taxol was administered at a starting dose of 175 mg/m2, infused over 3 hr every 21 days. A total of 145 courses of Taxol was infused. Dexamethasone, diphenhydramine, and ranitidine were given as premedication. The response rate was 25% (3 complete and 4 partial remissions), the median survival duration was 15 months. In contrast to other studies we found a lower response rate in patients resistant to platinum-based therapy: 15% (no complete, 3 partial remissions). The most common severe toxicity was leukopenia, with grade 3 toxicity occurring in 10% of the courses; no grade 4 leukopenia or neutropenia was noted. Neurologic toxicity was a clinically significant adverse effect, with 1% of patients experiencing grade 3, 9% experiencing grade 2, and 3% experiencing grade 1 toxicity. Other adverse effects were less frequent and less severe. We conclude that paclitaxel, which in a prospective randomized trial has been shown to be the most active treatment of advanced ovarian cancer, yields low response rates in platinum-resistant patients. Only a few of them profited from second-line treatment with Taxol. This could be a new aspect in the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer with Taxol.

The extent of conization seems to influence the risk of preterm birth. The aim of this study was to compare the cone volume after surgical resection with large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) and cold knife conization (CKC). The present retrospective multi-center study comprises 804 consecutive women, who underwent LLETZ (n = 412) or CKC (n = 392) between 2004 and 2009. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed to compare cone volumes removed by LLETZ and CKC and identify independent risk factors for large cone volume. The median resected cone volume after LLETZ was significantly smaller [1.6 cm3 (0.8–2.9)] than after CKC [2.1 cm3 (1.4–3.5)] (

The proteolytic enzyme urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) plays an important role in degrading extracellular matrix. This seems to be an important step in cancer invasion and metastasis. uPA antigen levels correlate significantly with disease recurrence and death in breast cancer. To build up tumour stroma in primary tumours as well as in metastases, inhibition of proteolytic activity is necessary. In this study we investigated the correlation of the Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), which is the specific inhibitor of uPA and which seems to be important for tumour formation, with prognosis in breast cancer. PAI-1 antigen levels were measured in cytosols of 268 primary breast cancers. In 205 cases we correlated the PAI-1 status (cut-off value : 1 ng/mg) with the clinical outcome. Furthermore we investigated PAI-1 antigen levels in 10 benign breast tumours and 33 metastases. PAI-1 levels were significantly higher in primary carcinomas (median value : 0,62 ng/ mg, range : 0 to 30,7) than in benign tumours (median value : 0 ng/mg, range : 0 to 0.1) and metastases showed elevated levels (median value : 1.05 ng/mg, range : 0 to 7.8) in comparison to the primary tumours (Kruskal-Wallis test : p < 0.05). We found that the PAI-1 status correlated significantly with early disease recurrence (Mantel-Test p =0.0069) and overall survival (Mantel-Test p = 0.0121). After a median follow-up of 32 months (range 2-58), 36% of patients with PAI-1 antigen levels ≥ 1 ng/mg (n= 72) showed an early relapse and 24% died, whereas only 19% of patients with PAI-1 antigen levels < 1 ng/mg (n = 133) relapsed and 9% died within the study period. A multivariate analysis revealed that in our study population PAI-1 is not an independent prognostic factor. According to our findings PAI-1 seems to be involved in the formation of extracellular matrix in primary carcinomas and metastases and is related to poor prognosis in breast cancer.

To evaluate the prognostic importance of preoperative CA 125 levels in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I epithelial ovarian cancer in comparison with the established prognostic factors: degree of differentiation, FIGO substage, and age.In a retrospective analysis, the traditional prognostic factors and CA125 levels (cutoff value 65 U/mL) were studied in 201 patients who were treated in five centers during 1984-1993. Patients with borderline tumors or non-epithelial ovarian carcinomas were excluded, as were women in whom CA 125 had not been determined preoperatively.In univariate analysis (Mantel test), overall survival decreased significantly in patients positive for CA 125 (P.001). Substage (P = .004) and histologic grade (P = .01) also significantly influenced survival prognosis. When the effects of preoperative CA 125 levels were correlated with histologic grade, all three subgroups with CA 125 levels equal to or greater than 65 U/mL were associated with a decreased survival probability (grade 1, P = .04; grade 2, P = .003; grade 3, P = .01). Multivariate analysis (Cox model) identified preoperative CA 125 as the most powerful prognostic factor for survival (P.001), the risk of dying of disease being 6.37 times higher (95% confidence interval 2.39-16.97) in CA 125-positive patients. Although FIGO substage retained its significant influence on survival (P = .03), histologic grade and age were not prognostically important.Randomized trials investigating the efficacy of adjuvant treatment in patients with FIGO stage I epithelial ovarian cancer should also include stratification by preoperative CA 125 levels.

Microvessel density (MVD) and blood and lymphatic vessel invasion (BLVI) were investigated with regard to their influence on the disease-free survival (DFS) in node-negative breast cancer patients. Paraffin embedded microsections of 230 patients with T 1,2 NO breast cancer were immunohistochemically stained for factor VIII-related antigen. Every cluster consisting of more than highlighted endothelial cells was considered a countable microvessel. MVD was counted in 4 fields of 0.25 mm(2) each. All MVD values are given as value for the sum of 4 fields of 0.25 mm(2) each, that is, 1 mm(2). BLVI was considered positive, when at least one tumor cell could be identified in a stained lumen. Out of 230 patients, 49 experienced local or distant recurrence and had a mean MVD of 72.4/mm(2), whereas 181 patients who lived without recurrent disease had a mean MVD of 45.3/mm(2). BLVI was negative in 6.2% of the cases with and in 93.8% of the cases without recurrent disease. BLVI was positive in 59.4% of the cases without and 40.6% of the cases with recurrent disease. MVD and BLVI remained the only significant prognostic factors of DFS in the Cox-Model. Tumor size, histological grade, and hormonal-receptor status were not prognostically relevant in the Cox-model. 10-year-DFS was 93.3% in BLVI-negative/MVD less than or equal to 40/mm(2) patients, 88.1% when MVD was high or BLVI was positive and 48.9% in BLVI positive/MVD less than or equal to 40/mm(2) patients. Our present data indicate that MVD and BLVI identify a very-low risk group among node-negative breast cancer patients, who will not benefit from systemic adjuvant therapy. MVD and BLVI should be used as stratification criteria in clinical trails on node-negative breast cancer patients. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Nous avons mesure les concentrations de carnitine totale, de carnitine libre et d'acylcarnitine sur le sang, le plasma et les erythrocytes de 88 femmes pendant la grossesse. D'une facon generale, a la 12 e semaine de la grossesse, le taux moyen de carnitine sanguine a ete nettement plus bas (p < 0,01) que sur les sujets temoins. A partir de la 12 e semaine de grossesse et jusqu'a l'accouchement, nous avons releve une baisse significative (p < 0,01). Cette diminution de la carnitine totale dans le sang total est provoquee generalement par une baisse nette (p < 0,01) du taux de carnitine libre alors que nous n'avons pas note de modifications prononcees des valeurs des chaines courtes de l'acylcarnitine pendant toute la grossesse. L'apport de la L-carnitine des erythrocytes a la carnitine du sang total a progresse nettement (p < 0,05) pour atteindre 61% a l'accouchement contre 39% chez les temoins. Sur le sang du cordon ombilical, les taux de camitine libre et de carnitine total etaient nettement plus eleves (p < 0,05) que les taux maternels correspondants. L'apport de la L-carnitine des erythrocytes a l'ensemble de la camitine du sang total etait plus eleve dans le sang du cordon que dans le sang maternel. Chez les omnivores, la synthese de L-carnitine intervient pour le huitieme a la moitie de la carnitine disponible dans l'organisme. Nous savons maintenant que la biosynthese endogene a elle seule ne suffit pas pour porter le taux de L-carnitine a un niveau suffisant. La biosynthese de la carnitine est desormais bien connue. La premiere etape est constituee par la methylation des residus de lysine des proteines specifiques donnant la trimethyllysine. La biosynthese de la trimethyllysine est controlee par reconstitution de la proteine, l'hypothese etantque la lysine libre n'est pas methylee chez l'homme. En consequence, il n'y a pas d'interaction entre l'accroissement des pertes renales de carnitine et le taux de la synthese de carnitine. En conditions normales, la concentration de carnitine dans le plasma est reglee partiellement par la cinetique de la reabsorption de L-carnitine par les reins. Plus de 90% de la L-carnitine filtree est reabsorbee. Bien que le taux de L-carnitine soit bas pendant la grossesse, la clairance renale de l'acylcarnitine est nettement plus elevee que chez les sujets non enceintes. En consequence, la diminution de la carnitine du plasma ne provoque pas de demande durant les premieres semaines de la grossesse. La carnitine facilite donc le rejet des cellules des groupes acyles excedentaires et potentiellement toxiques, qui sont rejetees avec l'urine sous forme d'acylcarnitine. Il est possible que les besoins de carnitine augmentent pendant la grossesse pour pouvoir realiser cette fonction metabolique. Les resultats de la presente etude etablissent que pendant la grossesse, les taux de carnitine su sang total et du plasma diminuent pour atteindre ceux des sujets souffrant de deficience de carnitine. Les taux d'acylcarnitine dans la camitine totale etablis par la presente etude sont eux aussi typiques d'un deficit de carnitine secondaire. En consequence, la substitution de L-carnitine peut etre avantageuse, tout specialement dans les grossesses a risque.

The current knowledge and recommendations on the clinical use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF) in gynecologic cancers including breast cancer, along with the clinical experience of the members of the working group of the Austrian Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Gynakologische Onkologie (AGO), have been summarized. G-CSF is either administered as primary or secondary prophylaxis of febrile neutropenia. The term "primary prophylaxis" denotes the prophylactic use of G-CSF as early as during the first cycle of a new chemotherapeutic regimen. Secondary prophylaxis, on the other hand, defines the use of G-CSF after development of grade 4 neutropenia or febrile neutropenia in a preceding cycle of a particular chemotherapeutic regimen. When chemotherapy regimens are associated with a > 20 % risk of febrile neutropenia such as TAC (docetaxel-doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide), primary prophylaxis with G-CSF is indicated. When chemotherapy regimens are associated with a 10-20 % risk of febrile neutropenia, the decision for primary prophylaxis with G-CSF is based upon patient-related risk factors such as age > 65 years, previous cytotoxic treatment(s) and/or radiation therapy, preexisting tumor-related neutropenia or bone marrow involvement, preexisting neutropenia, infections/open sores, reduced Karnofsky performance status/WHO performance status and reduced nutritional status, advanced malignant disease, history of prior febrile neutropenia, impaired kidney function, and hepatic failure particularly with hyperbilirubinaemia. The patient's individual overall febrile neutropenia risk should be assessed prior to each chemotherapy cycle.

The histological sections of 106 patients, who underwent a primary breast cancer operation in the years 1986 and 1987, were inspected for the presence of tumour vascular invasion. With immunohistochemical methods, tumour vessels were tomographed and the paraffin sections were stained with an antibody, which is sensitive to factor VHI-antigen. A tumour embolus was considered present, if a malignant cell was established within a positively stained lumen. The question of possible influence on the pathogenesis of breast cancer was examined in case of vascular invasion in the histological preparation. In 46 of the 106 patients (43.4 %), tumour emboli were found. After an average observation period of 59 months, no tumour progression was seen in 60 patients, 46 patients developed a recurrence of the tumour at the check-up date. The presence of vascular invasion correlates with undifferentiated tumour grading. The probability of relapse- free survival after 5 years was 83.9 % within the group without vascular invasion, compared with 47.9 % (p = 0.0001) within the group with established vascular invasion. In the multivariate analysis of the factors lymphonodular status, grading and vascular invasion, it was found, that the presence of tumour vascular invasion with a relative risk of 3.68 (95 % CI 1.93 - 7.03) was the strongest statistically significant prognostic factor for relapse - free survival (p = 0.0001).

Pregnant rats received betamethasone 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, or 0.20 mg/kg body weight/day or saline (controls) for three days before delivery of fetuses at day 19 of gestation. Dose related effects on morphology, dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine content, and phosphatidylcholine species composition of the fetal lungs were evaluated. Injection of 0.02 and 0.05 mg/kg body weight betamethasone resulted in cellular differentiation of some cells, but the increase in dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine content was not significant. Dosages of either 0.10 or 0.20 mg/kg body weight resulted in markedly accelerated organ differentiation, complete cytodifferentiation of type II cells, and markedly increased numbers of lamellar bodies per alveolar type II cell. Compared to the controls, maternal administration of 0.10 or 0.20 mg/kg betamethasone caused significant increases of both fetal lung dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine content, and the fraction of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine of total phosphatidylcholine. None of the parameters differed between the groups that were treated with 0.10 or 0.20 mg/kg body weight betamethasone respectively. Diminution of lung DNA content was significant after treatment with betamethasone in doses of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20 mg/kg body weight. The results of the present study suggest that maternal treatment with lower doses than those in common usage may be successful in prevention of respiratory distress syndrome, and that higher dosages do not confer any additional advantage.

Background: Angioneogenesis is known to be a key step in the metastatic process of solid malignant tumors. Recently published data suggest a prognostic influence of angiogenetic activity on the clinical outcome of patients with breast cancer. In the present analysis, we evaluated the prognostic effect of tumoral microvessel density on the recurrence-free survival in human breast cancer. Patients and Methods: The tumoral vessel density was examined for its prognostic relevance to 5-year disease-free survival in 64 patients with primary breast cancer. Immunocytochemical staining for factor-VIII-related antigen was performed to visualize neovascular endothelial cells. Using an ocular raster, we distinguished vessels (forming lumina) and sprouts (singular endothelial cells). Results: In patients with a peritumoral vessel density of more than ten vessels per raster, we found a probability of 5-year recurrence-free survival of 42.7%, whereas a density of less than ten vessels implied an increased probability of 87.8% (log-rank test: p = 0.0011). Although a high tumoral vessel density was associated with a positive lymph node status and histologically undifferentiated tumors, lymph node status and vessel density seemed to be independent prognostic factors in the Cox model. The amount of endothelial sprouts, however, showed no prognostic relevance in the multivariate analysis. Thus, the distinction of vessels and sprouts proved to be useful for the prognostic outcome. 6 out of 18 node-negative patients with high vessel density experienced recurrence of the disease, but none out of 14 node-negative patients with a low vessel density showed a tumor relapse within 5 years after diagnosis. Conclusion: Thus we conclude that the assessment of tumoral vessel density might be a useful prognostic factor to distinguish more accurately between high- and very-low-risk node-negative breast cancer patients.

Background: Prognostic factors significantly influence further therapeutic measures: ‘low-risk’ patients should be spared large-scale therapy, whereas ‘high-risk’ patients might probably benefit from more intensive therapy. The parameter ‘vessel invasion’ was to be compared with other prognostic factors and tested with regard to its clinical applicability. Patients and Methods: Breast cancer tissue sections were examined with regard to their prognostic importance for disease-free survival in 64 patients with primary breast cancer. Immunocytochemical staining for factor-VIII-related antigen was used to outline vascular endothelium. Results: In 19 cases (29.6%) vessel invasion could be detected. The 5-year disease-free survival rate was 13.8% in the cases with vessel invasion and 75.1% in those cases without vessel invasion (p = 0.0001). A Cox proportional hazards model identified vessel invasion as independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival in breast cancer (relative risk = 3.74; p = 0.0023). The recurrence rate within the first 24 months after surgery was 57% for the cases with and 9% for the cases without vessel invasion, respectively. Out of 32 lymph node negative patients we found vessel invasion in 5 patients, out of whom 4 developed recurrence. Conclusion: We therefore conclude that vessel invasion in primary tumours of breast cancer patients might possibly identify a high-risk group for early tumour recurrence.

It has been proposed that the timing of breast-cancer surgery in relation to menstrual phase has a prognostic impact on outcome. We carefully evaluated a combined 2-center series of 385 pre-menopausal women operated on for stage-I and stage-II breast cancer with a median follow-up of 5 years for a possible impact on outcome of the date of their last menstrual period (LMP) before surgery. The distribution of risk factors of the study cohort as well as prognostic indicators corresponded to previously published results. Nodal status, grading, and (in part) hormone-receptor status differentiate well between patient subgroups with high and low risk of relapse and death after breast-cancer surgery. In neither univariate nor multivariate analysis was any impact of the so-called “unopposed” estrogen secretion detected. We did not observe any effect of LMP on long-term survival in any of several prognostic subgroups, in particular in hormone-receptor-positive patients. From our results and from the literature, we conclude that LMP does not provide any prognostic information for outcome after breast- cancer surgery and therefore the proposed modification of scheduling of breast-cancer operations is not justified. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

In the present study, plasma oxytocin and prostaglandin F2 alpha metabolite (PGFM) concentrations were measured in 46 patients admitted for preterm labour. Gestational age ranged from 20-34 weeks. Samples were collected 12 hours before and after initiation of tocolysis. Patients with a premature rupture of the membranes and/or intra-amniotic infection were excluded in this study. There was a significant difference in the oxytocin (p = 0.05) and PGFM levels (p = 0.007, after 12 hours: p = 0.004) between a control group without preterm labour and women with preterm labour. No differences were seen between the successfully treated (delivery more than 5 days after start of tocolysis) and the failure group. There was no significantly different increase or decrease in PGFM and Oxytocin plasma levels between treatment failures and successfully treated patients.

In this study, correlations between the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), steroid receptors, and other prognostic parameters (grading, pTNM-status, menopausal status) were analysed in 326 primary breast carcinomas. 19% of the tumour samples were EGF-R positive, 63% were estrogen receptor (ER) and 54% progesteron receptor (PR) positive. Both steroid receptors were positive in 46% of all samples. We found a highly significant inverse correlation between EGF-R and steroid receptors. 88% of the ER positive tumours were EGF-R negative (p less than 5 x 10(-5)), 90% of the PR positive tumours were EGF-R negative (p less than 5 x 10(-5)) and 91% of the ER plus PR positive tumours were ERF-R negative (p less than 1 x 10(-6)). Grading was available in 170 cases. Six (4%) of the carcinomas were highly differentiated (G1), 82 (48%) were classified as G2, and another 82 (48%) were poorly differentiated (G3). A combination of negative ER and positive EGF-R was found more often in the population of G3 tumours. EGF-R was also positively correlated to tumour size. With regard to receptor status, we did not find a correlation with lymph node involvement. The ER correlated negatively (p less than 1.3 x 10(-5) and the EGF-R positively (p less than 0.042) with menopausal status. Thus, EGF-R overexpression seems to be a marker of morphological and functional dedifferentiation which is associated with a loss of steroid dependency and an increase of an autostimulatory-paracrine growth control. These changes seem to be related to poor prognosis.

The present retrospective study attempts to evaluate the significance of factors such as age, histological type, histological grading, tumour size, lymph node metastases and tumour infiltration of the corpus uteri. Between 1975 and 1988, 312 patients were operated at our department or referred to postoperative radiotherapy. They fulfilled the inclusion criteria: histopathological stage Ib and radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy. The multivariate analysis confirmed, that the factors histological grading (G3 vs G1 + G2: relative risk (RR) = 2.66; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.36-5.18), tumour size (tumour infiltration of the cervix greater than 2/3 vs less than 2/3: RR = 2.36; 95% CI = 1.07-5.17), and pelvic lymph node metastases (positive vs negative: RR = 5.36; 95% CI = 2.70-10.65) are of significant importance for the survival. The results show, that patients with a cervical carcinoma in FIGO stage IB, with an infiltration of more than two thirds of the cervix with a more or less differentiation and with or without positive lymph node status, should be classified as high risk patients. In these unfavourable situations, a prospective randomised study should clarify the success rate of adjuvant therapy.

Background: The present retrospective study attempts to evaluate the significance of nicotine abuse as a prognostic factor for cervical carcinoma in addition to factors such as histological type, adju

Between December 1983 and December 1988 we examined the postoperative tumor marker development and correlated this to the clinical course of the disease in 56 patients suffering from primary epithelial ovarian carcinoma of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages I-III and with a preoperative CA-125 serum level less than or equal to 65 U/ml. In 54% of all cases there was a reduction of more than 50% of the CA-125 serum level within the first 3 months after surgery. Nine out of thirteen patients with progressive disease (69%) showed an increasing CA-125 serum level with a median lead time of 6 months (0-11 months) prior to clinical diagnosis. These preliminary results indicate that the monitoring of cancer patients with CA-125 tumor marker seems to be a useful method of early diagnosis of progressive disease even in patients with preoperative serum levels lower than 65 U/ml.

145 women (22.2%) out of 652 patients with primary breast cancer, who were operated on between January 1980 and September 1988, developed tumour relapse until May 1990. The aim of our retrospective analysis in these 145 patients with local and/or distant tumour relapse was to evaluate the prognostic importance for further survival of the following factors: menopausal status, stage of disease, number of involved axillary lymph nodes, tumour grading, ER and PgR content, postoperative irradiation, adjuvant treatment, localisation of tumor relapse and relapse-free interval. Multivariate stepwise regression analysis of all these factors identified the number of positive axillary lymph nodes (0-3 versus 4+) with a relative risk (RR) of 2.49 and localisation of tumour relapse (local versus visceral metastasis RR = 2.08 and local versus bone metastases RR = 2.08) as the only two significant prognostic factors for further survival. Therefore, these two factors should be stratification criterias for prospectively randomized phase III studies in patients with tumour relapse after primary breast cancer.

A retrospective analysis was performed to investigate the prognostic value of growth in a human tumor clonogenic assay system for 84 ovarian cancer patients. A significant difference in survival probability (determined by the method of Kaplan-Meier) was found by univariate analysis between patients with ovarian carcinoma whose tumors manifested clonogenic growth (defined as growth of greater than or equal to five colonies per plate) and patients whose tumors did not grow. Clonogenic growth in vitro was associated with worse prognosis (P = .007, log-rank test). A number of generally accepted prognostic factors, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (P = .003), residual tumor mass (P less than .001), and grade (P = .011), were also of prognostic importance in our patient population. Multivariate analysis, based on the Cox regression model, identified clonogenic growth as a significant independent prognostic parameter in ovarian carcinoma (P = .031), in addition to the conventional risk factors. Estimation of survival of individual patients was best accomplished by combining the factors of residual tumor mass (P less than .05), age (P less than .01), and clonogenic growth (P less than .05) (in sequence of decreasing potential of risk).

In a retrospective analysis prognostic factors were studied in 204 patients with primary Stage I epithelial ovarian carcinoma (borderline tumors were excluded) treated between 1975 and 1987. Only histologic grade (P = 0.01) and kind of surgery (total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy +/- omentectomy versus unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, P = 0.02) were found to have a significant influence on survival prognosis (Cox model). All other factors (age, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics [FIGO] stage, integrity of the capsule, unilaterality versus bilaterality, and histology) were of no prognostic importance. Unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy without any additional staging reduces five-year survival probability (62% versus 84%). Therefore this kind of operation should be abandoned. Furthermore, histologic grade should be a stratification criterion in studies, which will be necessary for proving the value of adjuvant therapy in Stage I epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Clonogenic growth (defined as the formation of greater than or equal to 5 colonies per 5 x 10(5) viable nucleated cells per plate) of ovarian cancer specimens assessed in our clonogenic assay system was significantly associated with the proportion of tumor cells in the suspensions plated (N = 87; P = 0.0006), although there was no quantitative relationship with the corresponding plating efficiencies. An inverse correlation was observed between monocytes/macrophages/mesothelial cells (M) proportion and clonogenic growth (P = 0.013). These associations were most evident when only effusions were considered. Univariate analyses identified tumor cell content, M proportion and, to a lesser degree, granulocyte content as the only factors out of 12 examined to be correlated with colony formation. Multivariate analysis using a logistic regression model identified the proportion of tumor cells as the only significant factor predicting clonogenic growth in vitro (P = 0.0006). The overall accuracy of prediction for growth or non-growth was 63.2%.

The influence which female sexual steroids, especially estrogen, have on the development of cancer has not only been shown epidemiologically, but also by experimental findings. Hormones, in spite of a known marginal increase in the risk of thrombosis and endometrial cancer, play an important role in the preventive cancer medication (oral contraceptives: ovarian and endometrial cancer; chemoprevention: high-risk breast cancer patients). Basically, hormone replacement therapy should be administered to all patients suffering from gynecological malignomas. In the case of patients suffering from breast cancer, the advantages of hormone replacement therapy (e.g., less risk of cardiovascular complications) need to be weighed against the disadvantages.

Objectives: The prevalence of self-reported participation and frequency of prostate cancer screening (digital rectal examination (DRE), prostate-specific antigen (PSA)) in Austrian men aged 40–79 years in the year 2005 is reported. Methods: In a population-based cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 500 men was asked whether they ever had heard of early detection of prostate cancer by DRE or PSA test and, if so, whether they had ever had a prostate cancer screening test during their life, and if so the number of tests and the type of physician. Results: Overall, the prevalence of self-reported prostate cancer screening was 55.8% (23.7% DRE only). The highest prevalence was observed in the age group of 60–69 years with 68.8% (28.1% DRE only). The highest prevalence of PSA tests was observed in the age group 70–79 years (40.9%). About 75% of the screening tests were performed by urologists. Conclusions: More than half of the target population (men aged 40–79 years) have had at least one prostate cancer screening test. Nearly one-third of men have already had one or more PSA tests. One-fifth of the PSA tests were requested by general practitioners or internists.

OBJECTIVE To analyze factors in preoperative management and cytologic screening leading to a conization specimen free of neoplasia. STUDY DESIGN From January 2001 through December 2003, cervical conization was performed on 208 consecutive cases at the Gynecologic Department, Krankenhaus Lainz, Vienna. Indications for cone biopsy were based on suspicious internal and/or external conventional cytologic screening results followed by punch biopsies in selected cases. RESULTS Benign cervical lesions were diagnosed in 22 women (10.6%). Histologic results in negative cone biopsies were cervicitis (n = 12), infection with HPV without cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (n = 1), tubal metaplasia (n = 4) and combined diagnoses indicating no neoplasia (n = 5). Regarding cytologic screening results prior to conization, long-lasting infections with HPV can cause repeated findings of cells of unknown origin or reversible mild to moderate dysplasia eventually leading to conization specimens free of neoplasia. Furthermore, tubal metaplasia is a frequent pitfall in misinterpretation of cytologic smears. CONCLUSION Reevaluation of cytologic screening results after the final histologic diagnosis becomes available following cone biopsy is a key issue in continuous quality assurance for the diagnostic procedure. In this article we also present a method of stratifying screening results according to the correctness of the results. Along with other established measures of diagnostic performance, this may support benchmarking and interpretation of the overall cytologic screening quality.

Tumour anaemia is a common symptom in cancer patients, particularly in those receiving chemotherapy. The aim of the current study was to analyse the impact of haemoglobin levels on the prognosis of patients with primary breast cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. A total of 129 patients were available for analysis. The estimated median five-year overall survival rate was 76.6%. Mean Hb prior to primary surgery was 13.8 g/dl (SD 1.09), pre-chemotherapy Hb 12.8 g/dl (SD 1.2), and nadir Hb during chemotherapy 11.0 g/dl (SD1.1), respectively. Hb values were analysed as continuous variables in the Cox model. Survival analyses did not show a correlation between preoperative and pre-chemotherapy Hb levels with patient outcome. However, univariate analysis identified low nadir Hb (p=0.008), larger tumours (p=0.042), and hormone-receptor-negative tumours (p=0.022) to be significantly associated with poor patient survival. This result was persistent when analysis was adjusted for relevant prognostic factors in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Nadir Hb, 1.54-fold increased risk for death (95% CI 1.03-2.32), and tumour size, 3.2-fold increased risk (95% CI 1.17-8.77) remained as independent variables, whereas hormone-receptor status failed to retain significance. The present data showed anaemia during adjuvant chemotherapy to be associated with poor survival in patients with primary breast cancer. Prospective randomized trials are warranted to examine the value of correcting anaemia with regard to improve disease control and survival.