Beliefs About Medication and Uptake of Preventive Therapy in Women at Increased Risk of Breast Cancer: Results From a Multicenter Prospective Study

Introduction Uptake of preventive therapies for breast cancer is low. We examined whether women at increased risk of breast cancer can be categorized into groups with similar medication beliefs, and whether belief group membership was prospectively associated with uptake of preventive therapy. Patients and Methods Women (n = 732) attending an appointment to discuss breast cancer risk were approached; 408 (55.7%) completed the Beliefs About Medicines and the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines questionnaires. Uptake of tamoxifen at 3 months was reported in 258 (63.2%). The optimal number of belief groups were identified using latent profile analysis. Results Uptake of tamoxifen was 14.7% (38/258). One in 5 women (19.4%; 78/402) reported a strong need for tamoxifen. The model fit statistics supported a 2-group model. Both groups held weak beliefs about their need for tamoxifen for current and future health. Group 2 (38%; 154/406 of the sample) reported stronger concerns about tamoxifen and medicines in general, and stronger perceived sensitivity to the negative effects of medicines compared with group 1 (62%; 252/406). Women with low necessity and lower concerns (group 1) were more likely to initiate tamoxifen (18.3%; 33/180) than those with low necessity and higher concerns (group 2) (6.4%; 5/78). After adjusting for demographic and clinical factors, the odds ratio was 3.37 (95% confidence interval, 1.08-10.51; P = .036). Conclusion Uptake of breast cancer preventive therapy was low. A subgroup of women reported low need for preventive therapy and strong medication concerns. These women were less likely to initiate tamoxifen. Medication beliefs are targets for supporting informed decision-making

Breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic: outcomes from the UK ‘Alert Level 4’ phase of the B-MaP-C study

Abstract: Background: The B-MaP-C study aimed to determine alterations to breast cancer (BC) management during the peak transmission period of the UK COVID-19 pandemic and the potential impact of these treatment decisions. Methods: This was a national cohort study of patients with early BC undergoing multidisciplinary team (MDT)-guided treatment recommendations during the pandemic, designated ‘standard’ or ‘COVID-altered’, in the preoperative, operative and post-operative setting. Findings: Of 3776 patients (from 64 UK units) in the study, 2246 (59%) had ‘COVID-altered’ management. ‘Bridging’ endocrine therapy was used (n = 951) where theatre capacity was reduced. There was increasing access to COVID-19 low-risk theatres during the study period (59%). In line with national guidance, immediate breast reconstruction was avoided (n = 299). Where adjuvant chemotherapy was omitted (n = 81), the median benefit was only 3% (IQR 2–9%) using ‘NHS Predict’. There was the rapid adoption of new evidence-based hypofractionated radiotherapy (n = 781, from 46 units). Only 14 patients (1%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during their treatment journey. Conclusions: The majority of ‘COVID-altered’ management decisions were largely in line with pre-COVID evidence-based guidelines, implying that breast cancer survival outcomes are unlikely to be negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, in this study, the potential impact of delays to BC presentation or diagnosis remains unknown

Referral patterns, cancer diagnoses, and waiting times after introduction of two week wait rule for breast cancer: prospective cohort study

Objective To investigate the long term impact of the two week wait rule for breast cancer on referral patterns, cancer diagnoses, and waiting times

Coherent ultrasonic Doppler tomography

Ultrasonic imaging based on the pulse-echo principle is widely used throughout the world, particularly in medical applications. However, its spatial resolution is poor (around 2 times the wavelength, or 200 μm at 15 MHz), limiting its ability to detect small but clinically important lesions (such as microcalcifications in breast cancer). The work presented here is different from the traditional approach. Continuous-wave ultrasound is transmitted to insonate a rotating object, then the amplitude and phase of the returned signals are coherently processed to reconstruct a Doppler tomographic image of the object’s backscatter field. It is demonstrated numerically that the spatial resolution is up to 0.19 wavelengths and the sampling requirement and image formation method are given. To show the performance of the method, we present the results obtained by applying the new technique in simulation and experiment. A string phantom consisting of very thin copper wires and two cylindrical phantoms constructed by tissue-mimicking-material were scanned. It is demonstrated that the copper wires were located very accurately with very high spatial resolution, and good shape approximation for the cylindrical phantoms was achieved

The impact of the 21-gene assay on adjuvant treatment decisions in oestrogen receptor-positive early breast cancer: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: International guidelines, including NICE, recommend using the 21-gene Recurrence Score assay for guiding adjuvant treatment decisions in ER+, HER2-negative early breast cancer (BC). We investigated the impact of adding this assay to standard pathological tests on clinicians'/patients' treatment decisions and on patients' decisional conflict in the United Kingdom. METHODS: In this prospective multicentre study, eligibility criteria included: ER+ HER2-negative BC (N0/Nmic for patients ⩽50 years; ⩽3 positive lymph nodes for patients >50 years) and being fit for chemotherapy. Physicians'/patients' treatment choices and patients' decisional conflict were recorded pre- and post testing. RESULTS: The analysis included 137 patients. Overall, adjuvant treatment recommendations changed in 40.7% of patients, with the direction of the change consistent with the Recurrence Score results (net decrease in chemotherapy recommendation rate in low Recurrence Score patients and net increase in high Recurrence Score patients). Patients' choices were generally consistent with physicians' recommendations. Post-testing, patients' decisional conflict decreased significantly (P<0.0001). In the 67 patients meeting the NICE criteria for testing, the recommendation change rate was 49.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Recurrence Score testing significantly influenced treatment recommendations overall and in the subgroup of patients meeting the NICE criteria, suggesting that this test could substantially alter treatment patterns in the United Kingdom

Mammographic surveillance in women younger than 50 years who have a family history of breast cancer: tumour characteristics and projected effect on mortality in the prospective, single-arm, FH01 study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence supports a reduction in mortality from breast cancer with mammographic screening in the general population of women aged 40-49 years, but the effect of family history is not clear. We aimed to establish whether screening affects the disease stage and projected mortality of women younger than 50 years who have a clinically significant family history of breast cancer. METHODS: In the single-arm FH01 study, women at intermediate familial risk who were younger than 50 years were enrolled from 76 centres in the UK, and received yearly mammography. Women with BRCA mutations were not explicitly excluded, but would be rare in this group. To compare the FH01 cohort with women not receiving screening, two external comparison groups were used: the control group of the UK Age Trial (106,971 women aged 40-42 years at recruitment, from the general population [ie, average risk], followed up for 10 years), and a Dutch study of women with a family history of breast cancer (cancer cases aged 25-77 years, diagnosed 1980-2004). Study endpoints were size, node status, and histological grade of invasive tumours, and estimated mortality calculated from the Nottingham prognostic index (NPI) score, and adjusted for differences in underlying risk between the FH01 cohort and the control group of the UK Age Trial. This study is registered with the National Research Register, number N0484114809. FINDINGS: 6710 women were enrolled between Jan 16, 2003, and Feb 28, 2007, and received yearly mammography for a mean of 4 years (SD 2) up until Nov 30, 2009; surveillance and reporting of cancers is still underway. 136 women were diagnosed with breast cancer: 105 (77%) at screening, 28 (21%) symptomatically in the interval between screening events, and three (2%) symptomatically after failing to attend their latest mammogram. Invasive tumours in the FH01 study were significantly smaller (p=0·0094), less likely to be node positive (p=0·0083), and of more favourable grade (p=0·0072) than were those in the control group of the UK Age Trial, and were significantly less likely to be node positive than were tumours in the Dutch study (p=0·012). Mean NPI score was significantly lower in the FH01 cohort than in the control group of the UK Age Trial (p=0·00079) or the Dutch study (p<0·0001). After adjustment for underlying risk, predicted 10-year mortality was significantly lower in the FH01 cohort (1·10%) than in the control group of the UK Age Trial (1·38%), with relative risk of 0·80 (95% CI 0·66-0·96; p=0·022). INTERPRETATION: Yearly mammography in women with a medium familial risk of breast cancer is likely to be effective in prevention of deaths from breast cancer