28th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
About 7,600 health care professionals, researchers, and "people with a special interest in breast cancer" attended the 28th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium Dec. 8-11 in San Antonio, Texas, according to Jennifer Milikien, media director for the Symposium. Attendees also included caregivers and advocates from some 86 countries, Milikien said.
Hot topics at the symposium included new advances in the treatment of breast cancer, and the latest research on the effects of breast cancer treatment on women's lives. For example, a Spanish researcher at the meeting described a new drug combination that slows the progression of advanced breast cancer in some older patients.
Jose Baselga, M.D., of the Val d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, reported that a combination of the experimental drug temsirolimus with letrozole slowed the progression of advanced breast cancer in some menopausal women. "Preliminary data suggest that the temsirolimus + letrozole schedules were tolerable and that progression-free survival may be longer for patients treated with 30 mg temsirolimus intermittent + 2.5 mg letrozole daily, than for those treated with letrozole alone," according to Baselga's study.
Another study featured at the meeting addressed the impact of chemotherapy on premenopausal women's fertility, potentially guiding treatment choices for younger women and their physicians. Carey Anders, M.D., of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues found that levels of the ovarian hormone inhibin A in early-stage breast cancer patients may predict which women will become infertile after chemotherapy.
The research could help physicians choose appropriate breast cancer treatments for some premenopausal women, the researchers found. Predictive markers of premature ovarian failure will be invaluable to premenopausal women and their clinicians as they face therapy for early-stage breast cancer, the researchers reported.
Drug Combo Slows Breast Cancer Progression in Some
TUESDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Combining the experimental drug temsirolimus with letrozole may slow the progression of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women, researchers reported at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Abstract
Hormone May Predict Infertility After Chemotherapy
TUESDAY, Dec. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Levels of the ovarian hormone Inhibin A in early-stage breast cancer patients may predict which women will become infertile after chemotherapy, researchers reported at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Abstract
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