Early detection and prompt treatment of breast cancer are the main tools to decrease mortality ra... more Early detection and prompt treatment of breast cancer are the main tools to decrease mortality rates. Several diagnostic techniques such as mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound are used, but none of these are conclusive. The authors describe a 56-year-old woman who was suspected of having breast cancer on mammography. Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography showed a small mass with elevated radiotracer uptake located near the pectoral muscle of the patient's left breast. The possible tumor was confirmed with fine-needle aspiration biopsy. After the diagnosis was established, the patient did not allow any treatment. Eighteen months later, a second scintimammography was performed, showing a large mammary tumor with a high radiotracer uptake, a new small lesion located in the left upper quadrant, and axillary lymph node involvement. Chemotherapy treatment was instituted and after treatment, Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography was normal. This case report provides further evidence for Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography for the detection of breast cancer as well as to evaluate the response to chemotherapy.
To test whether combining bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, with... more To test whether combining bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, with endocrine therapy (ET) could potentially delay the emergence of resistance to ET. A multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase III, binational (Spain and Germany) study added bevacizumab (15 mg/kg every 3 weeks) to ET (ET-B; letrozole or fulvestrant) as first-line therapy in postmenopausal patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative and hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. We compared progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR), response duration (RD), time to treatment failure (TTF), clinical benefit rate (CBR), and safety. From 380 patients recruited (2007 to 2011), 374 were analyzed by intent to-treat (184 patients on ET and 190 patients on ET-B). Median age was 65 years, 270 patients (72%) had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0, 178 patients (48%) had visceral metastases, and 171 patients (46%) and 195 patients (52%) had received prior chemotherapy or ET, respectively. Median PFS was 14.4 months in the ET arm and 19.3 months in the ET-B arm (hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.65 to 1.06; P = .126). ORR, CBR, and RD with ET versus ET-B were 22% versus 41% (P < .001), 67% versus 77% (P = .041), and 13.3 months versus 17.6 months (P = .434), respectively. TTF and OS were comparable in both arms. Grade 3 to 4 hypertension, aminotransferase elevation, and proteinuria were significantly higher in the ET-B arm. Eight patients (4.2%) receiving ET-B died during study or within 30 days of end of treatment. The addition of bevacizumab to ET in first-line treatment failed to produce a statistically significant increase in PFS or OS in women with HER2-negative/hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer.
Early detection and prompt treatment of breast cancer are the main tools to decrease mortality ra... more Early detection and prompt treatment of breast cancer are the main tools to decrease mortality rates. Several diagnostic techniques such as mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound are used, but none of these are conclusive. The authors describe a 56-year-old woman who was suspected of having breast cancer on mammography. Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography showed a small mass with elevated radiotracer uptake located near the pectoral muscle of the patient's left breast. The possible tumor was confirmed with fine-needle aspiration biopsy. After the diagnosis was established, the patient did not allow any treatment. Eighteen months later, a second scintimammography was performed, showing a large mammary tumor with a high radiotracer uptake, a new small lesion located in the left upper quadrant, and axillary lymph node involvement. Chemotherapy treatment was instituted and after treatment, Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography was normal. This case report provides further evidence for Tc-99m MIBI scintimammography for the detection of breast cancer as well as to evaluate the response to chemotherapy.
To test whether combining bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, with... more To test whether combining bevacizumab, an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment, with endocrine therapy (ET) could potentially delay the emergence of resistance to ET. A multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase III, binational (Spain and Germany) study added bevacizumab (15 mg/kg every 3 weeks) to ET (ET-B; letrozole or fulvestrant) as first-line therapy in postmenopausal patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative and hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. We compared progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), overall response rate (ORR), response duration (RD), time to treatment failure (TTF), clinical benefit rate (CBR), and safety. From 380 patients recruited (2007 to 2011), 374 were analyzed by intent to-treat (184 patients on ET and 190 patients on ET-B). Median age was 65 years, 270 patients (72%) had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0, 178 patients (48%) had visceral metastases, and 171 patients (46%) and 195 patients (52%) had received prior chemotherapy or ET, respectively. Median PFS was 14.4 months in the ET arm and 19.3 months in the ET-B arm (hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.65 to 1.06; P = .126). ORR, CBR, and RD with ET versus ET-B were 22% versus 41% (P < .001), 67% versus 77% (P = .041), and 13.3 months versus 17.6 months (P = .434), respectively. TTF and OS were comparable in both arms. Grade 3 to 4 hypertension, aminotransferase elevation, and proteinuria were significantly higher in the ET-B arm. Eight patients (4.2%) receiving ET-B died during study or within 30 days of end of treatment. The addition of bevacizumab to ET in first-line treatment failed to produce a statistically significant increase in PFS or OS in women with HER2-negative/hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer.
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Papers by M. Munoz