Kathy S Albain

..Our objective was to determine whether racial disparities in survival exist among patients enrolled in consecutive trials conducted by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)...

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..This unique international effort would allow the development of strategies to improve diagnostic and treatment-related standards of care and survival outcomes, thus reducing the breast cancer burden worldwide...

..We therefore did this phase III trial to compare concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed by resection with standard concurrent chemotherapy and definitive radiotherapy without resection...

..It was designed as a pivotal study for the approval of G for a breast cancer treatment indication...

..We assessed the benefit of adding chemotherapy to adjuvant tamoxifen and whether tamoxifen should be given concurrently or after chemotherapy...

..These results also justify use of the SWOG-9019 approach as a control arm in ongoing phase III trials...

..This literature-based review summarizes these data and provides a perspective on the limitations and clinical utility of these assays...

..04) and diarrhea (P =.006). CONCLUSIONS: Gefitinib, a well-tolerated oral EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, improved disease-related symptoms and induced radiographic tumor regressions in patients with NSCLC persisting after chemotherapy...

..Furthermore, how to incorporate radiation therapy, as well as whether it should be given at all in this subset of patients, are other important issues actively under study in ongoing trials...

..We added the anti-VEGF antibody bevacizumab to gemcitabine/cisplatin in a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized phase II trial in patients with previously untreated, unresectable MM...

..This summary highlights selected challenges in the current management of breast cancer and discusses expert perspectives, key questions, areas of debate, and future directions...

..To determine the prevalence of secondary causes of bone loss among patients with breast cancer with osteopenia and osteoporosis...

..One approach may be targeting signaling pathways, like Notch, that are involved in stem cell self-renewal and survival...

..This multicenter study was designed to prospectively examine whether RS affects physician and patient adjuvant treatment selection and satisfaction...

..The role of ductal lavage in accurately predicting lesions present on subsequent breast histologic evaluation of planned biopsy examinations requires further investigation...

..Early clinical studies with gefitinib showed promising efficacy and mild toxicity in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Thus, gefitinib was an ideal agent to evaluate in a maintenance setting in stage III disease...

..06). We concluded that salvage gemcitabine in this dose and schedule is safe and tolerable in previously platinum-treated patients with NSCLC...

..By allowing the measurement of intratumoral target gene expression, these new methods may prove useful in predicting the clinical utility of gemcitabine- and platinum-containing chemotherapy programs in patients with solid tumors...

..Nevertheless, this study remains hypothesis-generating and does not provide definitive evidence of the benefit of this approach. Phase III trials evaluating the S9504 regimen have been initiated to validate these results...

..Finally, we conclude that mediastinal nodal downstaging after induction therapy significantly improves the survival of patients who are surgically resected after induction...

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..While there exists a range of acceptable standard approaches to the treatment of stage III NSCLC, this review will describe several conclusions that have emerged and how they evolved...

..04; P = .54). CONCLUSION: The current analysis does not suggest an adverse effect on local or systemic control with CONC versus SEQ TAM and RT in node-negative breast cancer. A randomized trial is encouraged to validate these results...

..Although new data addressing when to stop therapy, alternative doses or schedules for administration, and how to best coordinate bisphosphonates with other palliative therapies are needed, they are not currently being investigated...

..We performed a multi-institutional evaluation of arzoxifene in women with newly diagnosed ductal carcinoma in situ or T1/T2 invasive cancer...

..Prior progestin studies treating hot flashes in women have been short duration and single dose. This study tests the progestin megestrol acetate (MA) at two doses versus placebo over 6 months...

..This will aid the development of tailored strategies to improve outcomes in general as well as the standard of care for underserved populations and reduce the burden of breast cancer worldwide...

..Herein, we review the rationale for a treatment paradigm employing consolidation docetaxel therapy after concurrent chemotherapy/RT and the results of recent clinical trials using this approach...

..Survival outcomes were compared with a predecessor study (S9019) with identical eligibility, staging criteria, and treatment, excepting docetaxel consolidation...

..We studied these markers in a clinical trial setting with patients with breast cancer treated by a uniform drug regimen so that treatment was not associated with variability in outcome...

..The Southwest Oncology Group conducted a phase III randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief telephone intervention...

..Although benefit might be possible in a more platinum-sensitive tumor type, further clinical trials with this regimen for patients with glioblastoma multiforme or anaplastic astrocytoma are not justified...

..The late cardiac effects of adjuvant anthracycline therapy in survivors of early-stage breast cancer have had limited study. Subclinical and clinical cardiac late effects may contribute to added comorbidity over time...

..CONCLUSION Brain metastases often develop early in the course of treatment for stage IIIA/B NSCLC. The statistical designs of ongoing trials of prophylactic cranial irradiation in stage III NSCLC have taken this into account...