Category: Latest Research

  • Study Suggests Some DCIS Patients May Safely Avoid Surgery with Personalized Hormone Treatment

    A new study published last week in Breast Cancer Research has found that certain types of DCIS may respond well to hormone therapy before surgery, and some patients might even be able to avoid surgery altogether in the future. The study explored how genomic features influence the response of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) DCIS to pre-surgical aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy—specifically, letrozole—in postmenopausal women.  Researchers gave letrozole, a hormone-blocking pill, to postmenopausal women with ER+ DCIS for 6 months before surgery, and then looked at how the tumors changed using imaging, lab tests, and genetic analysis of the tumors.  The study used genetic testing to predict which tumors would respond, helping tailor treatment to each…

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  • Expanding Treatment Options for Low-Risk DCIS: First COMET Results are Released

    The first results of the U.S-based Comparing an Operation to Monitoring, with or without Endocrine Therapy (COMET) trial, a phase III randomized clinical trial comparing different management strategies for low-risk DCIS, were released earlier this month.  The findings were published in JAMA and JAMA Oncology and were presented at the 2024 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.   The key takeaway from the study is that women with low-risk DCIS who underwent active monitoring instead of surgery were no more likely to develop invasive breast cancer in the affected breast after two years.  The findings represent a first step toward a safe…

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  • New Study Maps Molecular Clues Behind Which DCIS Cases Progress to Invasive Breast Cancer

    Due to improved screening, DCIS now makes up about one-quarter of all breast cancer diagnoses.  However, most cases of DCIS never progress to invasive breast cancer (IBC), meaning that many women undergo unnecessary aggressive treatments like surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy.  Molecular predictors of which DCIS cases will progress remain poorly understood. To better understand which DCIS cases are likely to progress to IBC, researchers studied nearly 200 breast tissue samples from DCIS patients who either stayed healthy or later developed invasive cancer. They analyzed the samples’ genes, DNA changes, and other molecular patterns.  The results were published earlier this month in Breast Cancer Research. The study concluded that DCIS…

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