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Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignant tumor among women globally, posing a serious threat to women's health. With the establishment of staging and typing principles for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, and the development and application of novel antitumor drugs, the survival and quality of life of breast cancer patients have been continuously improving. In China, the large base of breast cancer patients possesses unique incidence characteristics, necessitating ongoing exploration of more appropriate treatment strategies; the volume and level of clinical research are also continuously advancing. In 2023, significant clinical research results were reported for different subtypes of breast cancer. In surgical treatment, clinical trials on targeted axillary lymph node dissection and the establishment of a predictive model BRCA-CRisk for contralateral breast cancer risk provide more evidence for de-escalation in surgical treatment. In the area of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, pyrotinib has shown significant efficacy in advanced breast cancer treatment. In triple-negative breast cancer, precision subtype treatment and immunotherapy continue to improve patient survival. For hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, significant research results were obtained in exempting low-risk patients from chemotherapy and exploring alternative options after resistance to endocrine therapy. In the aspect of BRCA mutations, BGB-290-201 further confirmed the therapeutic efficacy and safety of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors for the Chinese population. For advanced HER2-negative patients carrying germline BRCA (gBRCA)1/2 mutations, pamiparib will be an ideal treatment choice. This article reviews the important clinical research in the field of breast cancer in China in 2023, summarizes key results, and aims to provide reference ideas for future clinical research.

* Context.--Whether androgen receptor (AR) expression can predict prognosis in breast cancer is under debate. Objective.--To analyze, retrospectively, the prognostic and treatment-predictive ability of AR status in breast cancer. Design.--A total of 5765 patients diagnosed with primary invasive breast cancer without distant metastasis in the adjuvant setting were analyzed. The propensity score-matching method was used to develop a new cohort of 3978 patients (1989 patients each) in which important prognostic factors were balanced. Results.--Positive AR expression is an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival and overall survival. Estrogen receptor [(ER).sup.+] and progesterone receptor [(PR).sup.+] [AR.sup.+] breast cancer patients had the longest survival, whereas [ER.sup.-][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.+] breast cancer patients had the shortest survival. The ER/PR/AR combinations could not predict the treatment effects for adjuvant trastuzumab but could be used for adjuvant chemotherapy and endocrine therapy selection. The worst survival was found in [ER.sup.+][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.-] patients receiving toremifene, [ER.sup.+][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.+] patients receiving exemestane, [ER.sup.+][PR.sup.+][AR.sup.-] patients receiving anthracycline, and [ER.sup.-][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.+] patients receiving taxanes. [ER.sup.+][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.-], [ER.sup.-][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.+], and [ER.sup.-][PR.sup.-][AR.sup.-] patients were associated with the worst survival among those who received radiotherapy and anthracycline plus taxanes. Conclusions.--AR in combination with ER and PR could predict the prognosis and treatment effects of chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, and radiotherapy in the adjuvant setting., Breast cancer is classified into different molecular types based on estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and Ki-67 expression, which can predict prognosis [...]

Background and purpose: According to the 2020 global cancer burden data of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), breast cancer has replaced lung cancer as the most common type of cancer worldwide. The aim of this study was to conduct a bibliometric and visual analysis of breast reconstruction related research in China and abroad published in the past 5 years, to understand the research status and development trend in this field, to discuss the focus of research in different countries and different disciplines, and to provide reference for other researchers. Methods: Relevant literatures about breast reconstruction were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. The VOS viewer 1.6.15 software was used to extract the authors, countries, institutions and keywords to generate network maps of high-yield authors, institutions and high-frequency keywords clustering network. Results: A total of 4 815 documents meeting the requirements were retrieved, which showed an upward trend in the past five years. Regarding the discipline, 838 documents (17.40%) were published by breast surgery and Cancer Surgery, 3 308 (68.70%) were published by plastic surgery, and 669 (13.90%) were jointly published by both types of researchers. There were differences in the disciplines of the main authors between China and abroad. In China, authors from breast surgery published a larger proportion of documents (138, 44.52%), while the number of documents published by authors of plastic surgery (129, 44.52%) and the joint publication of both types of authors (43, 13.87%) was relatively small. However, foreign documents mainly came from authors of plastic surgery (74.74%). There were more cooperative groups (155) formed by major foreign authors, and more frequent joint publishing between groups, while Chinese authors formed only 16 cooperative groups with less cooperation. Authors from breast surgery focused more on oncology-related issues in breast reconstruction, while in plastic surgery, more attentions were paid on autologous tissue reconstruction. Conclusion: Breast reconstruction has gradually attracted the attention of Chinese and foreign researchers. Compared with foreign countries, there were problems such as lack of high-quality research and less cooperative research in China. There were differences in the research focus of breast reconstruction between China and abroad, which was mainly related to the differences in the disciplines of researchers.

Background and purpose: Both domestic and foreign guidelines recommend the use of radionuclide as sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy (SLNB) tracer, however this technique has not been popularized in China for a variety of reasons. Mitoxantrone hydrochloride injection for tracing (MHI), a new strategy to identify lymph nodes, has not been tested for axillary node staging in breast cancer. This multicenter, self-controlled, non-inferiority trial aimed to evaluate the differences between MHI and radionuclide in SLNB tracing. Methods: The trial was conducted across 7 hospitals from December 2019 to December 2020. Patients with early-stage breast cancer received MHI and radionuclide (technetium 99 labeled sulfur colloid, 99mTc-Sc) as SLN tracers during the surgery. The number of SLNs detected and sentinel node detection rates of MHI and radionuclide were counted to evaluate differences in the tracing effects between the two tracers. Results: SLN detection rates of MHI and radionuclide were 96.9% (370/382) and 97.4% (372/382), respectively, with no significant difference (P>0.05). SLNs were co-detected by both tracers in 362 (94.7%) patients; 16 (4.1%) had adverse events possibly related to the trial drugs. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that the lymphatic tracing ability of MHI was not inferior to that of radionuclide. Meanwhile, the use of MHI does not require special instrument/equipment assistance.

Breast cancer has become the most common type of cancer in the world, harming the majority of women's physical and mental health and challenging clinical prevention and treatment of tumors. With the in-depth research on the pathogenesis and metastasis mechanism of breast cancer, as well as the development of translational research such as multiomics technology and tumor immunity, it has been proved that breast cancer has highly heterogeneous molecular and clinical characteristics. The clinical treatment methods of different subtypes of breast cancer are different and related, and the achievements in the field of breast cancer clinical research are fruitful. In 2022, results of important clinical trials have achieved for different subtypes of breast cancer. For the neo-adjuvant treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive breast cancer, the PHEDRA study provided new adjuvant treatment options for HER2 positive breast cancer patients; And for the HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer, PHILA study and SYSUCC-002 study results provided reference for clinicians. For patients with brain metastasis, PERMEATE study showed that pyrrolitinib combined with capecitabine regimen was to become the preferred treatment scheme for HER2 positive brain metastasis population, especially for patients with brain metastasis without local radiotherapy. In hormone receptor positive breast cancer, a number of clinical trials (monarchE study, DAWNA-1 study, MONALEESA series of studies, etc.) of arbacilli, daracilli, rebosilli and others reported their efficacy on visceral metastasis. For triple-negative breast cancer, many clinical trials are under way. This paper aimed to review the recent advances in clinical research on breast cancer in the past year.

Background and purpose: Currently, several studies have demonstrated that body mass index (BMI) is a prognostic factor in breast cancer. The study aimed to assess the association pattern of BMI with mortality risk among patients of different age groups. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included the clinical characteristics and survival status of 25 629 patients diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently hospitalized in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2016. The association between BMI and prognosis of breast cancer patients in different age subgroups was analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression model with restricted cubic splines adjusting the main prognostic factors. Results: BMI and age were both influencing factors of breast cancer prognosis, and there was a significant interaction (P = 0.011). The pattern of association between risk of death and BMI differed among different age groups. A "J-shaped" association between risk of death and BMI was observed in the patients younger than 35 years, with a BMI of 20.16 kg/m2 corresponding to the lowest risk of death. In the age group of 35-60 years, no significant change in the risk of death was observed in patients with BMI below 23 kg/m2, and the risk of death in patients with BMI above 23 kg/m2 increased with increasing BMI; A "U-shaped" association between risk of death and BMI was observed in the patients older than 60 years, with a BMI of 23.86 kg/m2 being the lowest. The risk of death was more sensitive to changes in BMI in patients aged less than 35 years than in those aged 35-60 years and those aged more than 60 years. Conclusion: BMI and age have a significant interaction in the prognosis of breast cancer when adjusted for potential confounding factors. The association pattern between the risk of death and BMI of patients in different age groups is different. For patients under 35 years old, the lowest risk of death corresponds to BMI at diagnosis of about 20 kg/m2, while for patients over 60 years old, the lowest risk of death corresponds to a BMI at diagnosis of about 24 kg/m2.