Effects of patient-reported outcome assessment order.

BACKGROUND: In clinical trials and clinical practice, patient-reported outcomes are almost always assessed using multiple patient-reported outcome measures at the same time. This raises concerns about whether patient responses are affected by the order in which the patient-reported outcome measures are administered. METHODS: This questionnaire-based study of order effects included adult cancer patients from five cancer centers. Patients were randomly assigned to complete questionnaires via paper booklets, interactive voice response system, or tablet web survey. Linear Analogue Self-Assessment, Patient-Reported Outcomes Version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System assessment tools were each used to measure general health, physical function, social function, emotional distress/anxiety, emotional distress/depression, fatigue, sleep, and pain. The order in which the three tools, and domains within tools, were presented to patients was randomized. Rates of missing data, scale scores, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were compared by the order in which they were assessed. Analyses included Cochran-Armitage trend tests and mixed models adjusted for performance score, age, sex, cancer type, and curative intent. RESULTS: A total of 1830 patients provided baseline patient-reported outcome assessments. There were no significant trends in rates of missing values by whether a scale was assessed earlier or later. The largest order effect for scale scores was due to a large mean score at one assessment time point. The largest difference in Cronbach's alpha between the versions for the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System scales was 0.106. CONCLUSION: The well-being of a cancer patient has many different aspects such as pain, fatigue, depression, and anxiety. These are assessed using a variety of surveys often collected at the same time. This study shows that the order in which the different aspects are collected from the patient is not important.

Cytotoxic T cell depletion with increasing epithelial abnormality in women with benign breast disease.

PURPOSE: We quantified cytotoxic T cells in nonmalignant breast tissues from women with and without subsequent breast cancer to assess evidence of whether immunosurveillance may be suppressed prior to tumor development. METHODS: We used an age-matched set of breast tissues from women with benign breast disease (BBD) who subsequently developed breast cancer (BBD with later BC), women with BBD who remained cancer free (BBD cancer-free), and normal Komen Tissue Bank (KTB) tissue donors (KTB controls). We evaluated terminal duct lobular units (lobules) for degree of epithelial abnormality and density of dual-positive CD8/CD103 T cells, as CD103+ cells are thought to be a subset of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells located primarily in the intraepithelial compartment. RESULTS: In 10 sets of age-matched women, 256 breast lobules were studied: 85 in BBD women with later BC, 85 in BBD cancer-free women, and 86 in KTB donors. The majority of all lobules were histologically normal (N = 143, 56%), with 65 (25%) nonproliferative fibrocystic change, and 48 (19%) proliferative epithelial change (with or without atypia). In BBD women with later BC, median CD8+/CD103+ cell density was 39.6, 31.7, and 10.5 cells/mm2 (p = 0.002) for normal, nonproliferative, and proliferative lobules. In BBD cancer-free women, median CD8+/CD103+ cell density values were 46.7, 14.3, and 0 cells/mm2 (p = 0.004) respectively. In KTB donors, CD8+/CD103+ cell density was not significantly different across the lobule types (medians 0, 5.8, 10.7, p = 0.43). CONCLUSION: In women with BBD, breast lobules with increasing epithelial abnormality show significant decreases in cytotoxic T cells as measured by CD8/CD103 staining, suggesting that impaired immunosurveillance may be a component of the earliest stages of breast cancer development.

Deriving and validating a brief measure of treatment burden to assess person-centered healthcare quality in primary care: a multi-method study.

BACKGROUND: In primary care there is a need for more quality measures of person-centered outcomes, especially ones applicable to patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs). The aim of this study was to derive and validate a short-form version of the Patient Experience with Treatment and Self-management (PETS), an established measure of treatment burden, to help fill the gap in quality measurement. METHODS: Patient interviews (30) and provider surveys (30) were used to winnow items from the PETS (60 items) to a subset targeting person-centered care quality. Results were reviewed by a panel of healthcare providers and health-services researchers who finalized a pilot version. The Brief PETS was tested in surveys of 200 clinic and 200 community-dwelling MCC patients. Surveys containing the Brief PETS and additional measures (e.g., health status, medication adherence, quality of care, demographics) were administered at baseline and follow-up. Correlations and t-tests were used to assess validity, including responsiveness to change of the Brief PETS. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated on mean differences. RESULTS: Winnowing and panel review resulted in a 34-item Brief PETS pilot measure that was tested in the combined sample of 400 (mean age = 57.9 years, 50% female, 48% white, median number of conditions = 5). Reliability of most scales was acceptable (alpha > 0.70). Brief PETS scores were associated with age, income, health status, and quality of chronic illness care at baseline (P < .05; rho magnitude range: 0.16-0.66). Furthermore, Brief PETS scores differentiated groups based on marital and education status, presence/absence of a self-management routine, and optimal/suboptimal medication adherence (P < .05; ES range: 0.25-1.00). Declines in patient-reported physical or mental health status over time were associated with worsening PETS burden scores, while improvements were associated with improving PETS burden scores (P < .05; ES range: 0.04-0.44). Among clinic patients, 91% were willing to complete the Brief PETS as part of their clinic visits. CONCLUSIONS: The Brief PETS (final version: 32 items) is a reliable and valid tool for assessing person-centered care quality related to treatment burden. It holds promise as a means of giving voice to patient concerns about the complexity of disease management.

Hyaline fibrous involution of breast lobules: a histologic finding associated with germline BRCA mutation.

We describe the histology and the frequency of a histologic entity that we term "hyaline fibrous involution", which is characterized by symmetric and regular deposition of basal lamina-like periacinar hyaline material in association with atrophic epithelium, in breast samples from patients with either benign breast disease or germline BRCA mutation. Women with germline BRCA mutation (n = 93) who underwent prophylactic mastectomy (BRCA group) were compared to an age-matched sample of women who underwent biopsy for benign breast disease (n = 93). Median age was 45 years (range, 25-72 years). A single H&E section of each subject's benign breast tissue was reviewed. The total number of terminal duct lobular units and the number of terminal duct lobular units with hyaline fibrous involution were recorded for each case. The presence of any hyaline fibrous involution lobules and the within-sample proportion of hyaline fibrous involution lobules relative to total lobules were compared between groups. Presence of any hyaline fibrous involution was significantly more frequent in the BRCA group compared to the benign breast disease group, 47% vs. 15% (p < 0.0001, adjusted for total lobules). In women with any hyaline fibrous involution lobules, these unusual lobules were similarly rare in both groups, with median proportion of hyaline fibrous involution-positive lobules relative to all lobules of 0.03 in BRCA specimens (n = 44) and 0.03 in the benign breast disease group (n = 14). Within the BRCA group, frequency of any hyaline fibrous involution present was significantly higher in the perimenopausal age group (45-55 years: 63%) compared to other age groups (<45 years, 44%; >55 years, 15%; p = 0.05 and p = 0.02, respectively). Increased presence of hyaline fibrous involution in the setting of BRCA mutation suggests that it may represent a pathologic entity, possibly reflecting abnormal involution or an abnormal response to DNA damage.

Evaluation of 2 breast cancer risk models in a benign breast disease cohort.

BACKGROUND: More than 1.5 million women per year have a benign breast biopsy resulting in concern about their future breast cancer (BC) risk. This study examined the performance of 2 BC risk models that integrate clinical and histologic findings in this population. METHODS: The BC risk at 5 and 10 years was estimated with the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) and Benign Breast Disease to Breast Cancer (BBD-BC) models for women diagnosed with benign breast disease (BBD) at the Mayo Clinic from 1997 to 2001. Women with BBD were eligible for the BBD-BC model, but the BCSC model also required a screening mammogram. Calibration and discrimination were assessed. RESULTS: Fifty-six cases of BC were diagnosed among the 2142 women with BBD (median age, 50 years) within 5 years (118 were diagnosed within 10 years). The BBD-BC model had slightly better calibration at 5 years (0.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71-1.21) versus 10 years (0.81; 95% CI, 0.70-1.00) but similar discrimination in the 2 time periods: 0.68 (95% CI, 0.60-0.75) and 0.66 (95% CI, 0.60-0.71), respectively. In contrast, among the 1089 women with screening mammograms (98 cases of BC within 10 years), the BCSC model had better calibration (0.94; 95% CI, 0.85-1.43) and discrimination (0.63; 95% CI, 0.56-0.71) at 10 years versus 5 years (calibration, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.94-2.25; discrimination, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.46-0.71) where discrimination was not different from chance. CONCLUSIONS: The BCSC and BBD-BC models were validated in the Mayo BBD cohort, although their performance differed by 5-year risk versus 10-year risk. Further enhancement of these models is needed to provide accurate BC risk estimates for women with BBD.

CD56+ immune cell infiltration and MICA are decreased in breast lobules with fibrocystic changes.

PURPOSE: While the role of natural killer (NK) cells in breast cancer therapy has been investigated, little information is known about NK cell function and presence in nonmalignant and premalignant breast tissue. Here, we investigate and quantify NK cell marker CD56 and activating ligand MICA in breast tissue with benign breast disease. METHODS: Serial tissue sections from 88 subjects, 44 with benign breast disease (BBD) who remained cancer-free, and 44 with BBD who later developed cancer, were stained with H&E, anti-MICA, and anti-CD56. Up to ten representative lobules were identified on each section. Using digital image analysis, MICA and CD56 densities were determined for each lobule, reported as percent of pixels in the lobule that registered as stained by each antibody. Analyses were performed on a per-subject and per-lobule basis. RESULTS: Per-subject multivariate analyses showed associations of CD56 and MICA with age: CD56 was increased in older subjects (p = 0.03), while MICA was increased in younger subjects (p = 0.005). Per-lobule analyses showed that CD56 and MICA levels were both decreased in lobules with fibrocystic change, with median levels of CD56 and MICA staining, respectively, at 0.31 and 7.0% in fibrocystic lobules compared to 0.76 and 12.2% in lobules without fibrocystic change (p < 0.001 for each). Among fibrocystic lobules, proliferative/atypical lobules showed significantly lower expression compared to nonproliferative lobules for MICA (p = 0.02) but not for CD56 (p = 0.80). CONCLUSION: Levels of CD56+ NK cells and activating ligand MICA were decreased in breast lobules with fibrocystic change, and MICA levels showed a significant stepwise decrease with increasing histopathologic abnormality. MICA levels were also significantly decreased in older subjects, who generally have higher risk of developing cancer. These findings advance a model in which MICA promotes cytotoxic activity in CD56+ NK cells to protect against tumorigenesis in breast lobules, and suggest further research is warranted.

Association between mammographic breast density and histologic features of benign breast disease.

BACKGROUND: Over 40% of women undergoing breast screening have mammographically dense breasts. Elevated mammographic breast density (MBD) is an established breast cancer risk factor and is known to mask tumors within the dense tissue. However, the association of MBD with high risk benign breast disease (BBD) is unknown. METHOD: We analyzed data for 3400 women diagnosed with pathologically confirmed BBD in the Mayo Clinic BBD cohort from 1985-2001, with a clinical MBD measure (either parenchymal pattern (PP) or Breast Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (BI-RADS) density) and expert pathology review. Risk factor information was collected from medical records and questionnaires. MBD was dichotomized as dense (PP classification P2 or DY, or BI-RADS classification c or d) or non-dense (PP classification N1 or P1, or BI-RADS classification a or b). Associations of clinical and histologic characteristics with MBD were examined using logistic regression analysis to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Of 3400 women in the study, 2163 (64%) had dense breasts. Adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI), there were positive associations of dense breasts with use of hormone therapy (HT), lack of lobular involution, presence of atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH), histologic fibrosis, columnar cell hyperplasia/flat epithelia atypia (CCH/FEA), sclerosing adenosis (SA), cyst, usual ductal hyperplasia, and calcifications. In fully adjusted multivariate models, HT (1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5), ALH (1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.2), lack of lobular involution (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2-2.1, compared to complete involution), fibrosis (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.9-2.6) and CCH/FEA (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0-1.6) remained significantly associated with high MBD. CONCLUSION: Our findings support an association between high risk BBD and high MBD, suggesting that risks associated with the latter may act early in breast carcinogenesis.

Postlactational involution biomarkers plasminogen and phospho-STAT3 are linked with active age-related lobular involution.

PURPOSE: Breast terminal duct lobular units undergo two distinctive physiological processes of involution: age-related lobular involution (LI), which is gradual and associated with decreased breast cancer risk, and postlactational involution, which is relatively precipitous, occurs with weaning, and has been associated with potentiation of tumor aggressiveness in animal models. Here we assessed whether markers of postlactational involution are associated with ongoing LI in a retrospective tissue cohort. METHODS: We selected 57 women from the Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort who underwent multiple biopsies and who were average age 48 at initial biopsy. Women were classified as having progressive or non-progressive LI between initial and subsequent biopsy. Serial tissue sections were immunostained for plasminogen, matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), phospho-STAT3 (pSTAT3), tenascin C, Ki67, CD44, cytokeratin 14 (CK14), cytokeratin 19 (CK19), and c-myc. All but Ki67 were digitally quantified. Associations between maximal marker expression per sample and progressive versus non-progressive LI were assessed using logistic regression and adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: While no biomarker showed statistically significant association with LI progression when evaluated individually, lower expression of pSTAT3 (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13-0.82, p = 0.01) and higher expression of plasminogen (OR 2.89, 95% CI 1.14-8.81, p = 0.02) were associated with progressive LI in models simultaneously adjusted for all biomarkers. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the strengthening in association for pSTAT3 and plasminogen with progressive LI was due to collinearity between these two markers. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to identify biomarkers of active LI. Our findings that plasminogen and pSTAT3 are significantly associated with LI suggest that they may represent signaling nodes or biomarkers of pathways common to the processes of postlactational involution and LI.

NanoString-based breast cancer risk prediction for women with sclerosing adenosis.

PURPOSE: Sclerosing adenosis (SA), found in » of benign breast disease (BBD) biopsies, is a histological feature characterized by lobulocentric proliferation of acini and stromal fibrosis and confers a two-fold increase in breast cancer risk compared to women in the general population. We evaluated a NanoString-based gene expression assay to model breast cancer risk using RNA derived from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) biopsies with SA. METHODS: The study group consisted of 151 women diagnosed with SA between 1967 and 2001 within the Mayo BBD cohort, of which 37 subsequently developed cancer within 10 years (cases) and 114 did not (controls). RNA was isolated from benign breast biopsies, and NanoString-based methods were used to assess expression levels of 61 genes, including 35 identified by previous array-based profiling experiments and 26 from biological insight. Diagonal linear discriminant analysis of these data was used to predict cancer within 10 years. Predictive performance was assessed with receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) values estimated from 5-fold cross-validation. RESULTS: Gene expression prediction models achieved cross-validated ROC-AUC estimates ranging from 0.66 to 0.70. Performing univariate associations within each of the five folds consistently identified genes DLK2, EXOC6, KIT, RGS12, and SORBS2 as significant; a model with only these five genes showed cross-validated ROC-AUC of 0.75, which compared favorably to risk prediction using established clinical models (Gail/BCRAT: 0.57; BBD-BC: 0.67). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that biomarkers of breast cancer risk can be detected in benign breast tissue years prior to cancer development in women with SA. These markers can be assessed using assay methods optimized for RNA derived from FFPE biopsy tissues which are commonly available.

Mammographic breast density and risk of breast cancer in women with atypical hyperplasia: an observational cohort study from the Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease (BBD) cohort.

BACKGROUND: Atypical hyperplasia (AH) and mammographic breast density (MBD) are established risk factors for breast cancer (BC), but their joint contributions are not well understood. We examine associations of MBD and BC by histologic impression, including AH, in a subcohort of women from the Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort. METHODS: Women with a diagnosis of BBD and mammogram between 1985 and 2001 were eligible. Histologic impression was assessed via pathology review and coded as non-proliferative disease (NP), proliferative disease without atypia (PDWA) and AH. MBD was assessed clinically using parenchymal pattern (PP) or BI-RADS criteria and categorized as low, moderate or high. Percent density (PD) was also available for a subset of women. BC and clinical information were obtained by questionnaires, medical records and the Mayo Clinic Tumor Registry. Women were followed from date of benign biopsy to BC, death or last contact. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) compared the observed number of BCs to expected counts. Cox regression estimated multivariate-adjusted MBD hazard ratios. RESULTS: Of the 6271 women included in the study, 1132 (18.0%) had low MBD, 2921 (46.6%) had moderate MBD, and 2218 (35.4%) had high MBD. A total of 3532 women (56.3%) had NP, 2269 (36.2%) had PDWA and 470 (7.5%) had AH. Over a median follow-up of 14.3 years, 528 BCs were observed. The association of MBD and BC risk differed by histologic impression (p-interaction = 0.03), such that there was a strong MBD and BC association among NP (p < 0.001) but non-significant associations for PDWA (p = 0.27) and AH (p = 0.96). MBD and BC associations for AH women were not significant within subsets defined by type of MBD measure (PP vs. BI-RADS), age at biopsy, number of foci of AH, type of AH (lobular vs. ductal) and body mass index, and after adjustment for potential confounding variables. Women with atypia who also had high PD (>50%) demonstrated marginal evidence of increased BC risk (SIR 4.98), but results were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: We found no evidence of an association between MBD and subsequent BC risk in women with AH.

Extent of atypical hyperplasia stratifies breast cancer risk in 2 independent cohorts of women.

BACKGROUND: Women with atypical hyperplasia (AH) on breast biopsy have a substantially increased risk of breast cancer (BC). Here the BC risk for the extent and subtype of AH is reported for 2 separate cohorts. METHODS: All samples containing AH were included from 2 cohorts of women with benign breast disease (Mayo Clinic and Nashville). Histology review quantified the number of foci of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH). The BC risk was stratified for the number of AH foci within AH subtypes. RESULTS: The study included 708 Mayo AH subjects and 466 Nashville AH subjects. In the Mayo cohort, an increasing number of foci of AH was associated with a significant increase in the risk of BC both for ADH (relative risks of 2.61, 5.21, and 6.36 for 1, 2, and ≥3 foci, respectively; P for linear trend = .006) and for ALH (relative risks of 2.56, 3.50, and 6.79 for 1, 2, and ≥3 foci, respectively; P for linear trend = .001). In the Nashville cohort, the relative risks of BC for ADH were 2.70, 5.17, and 15.06 for 1, 2, and ≥3 foci, respectively (P for linear trend < .001); for ALH, the relative risks also increased but not significantly (2.61, 3.48, and 4.02, respectively; P = .148). When the Mayo and Nashville samples were combined, the risk increased significantly for 1, 2, and ≥3 foci: the relative risks were 2.65, 5.19, and 8.94, respectively, for ADH (P < .001) and 2.58, 3.49, and 4.97, respectively, for ALH (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: In 2 independent cohort studies of benign breast disease, the extent of atypia stratified the long-term BC risk for ADH and ALH. Cancer 2016;122:2971-2978. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Clinicopathologic features of breast cancers that develop in women with previous benign breast disease.

BACKGROUND: Women with benign breast disease (BBD) have an increased risk of developing breast cancer (BC). Nearly 30% of all BCs develop in women with prior BBD. Information regarding features of the expected number of BCs after BBD would enhance individualized surveillance and prevention strategies for these women. In the current study, the authors sought to characterize BCs developing in a large cohort of women with BBD. METHODS: The current study cohort included 13,485 women who underwent breast biopsy for mammographic or palpable concerns between 1967 and 2001. Biopsy slides were reviewed and classified as nonproliferative disease, proliferative disease without atypia, or atypical hyperplasia. BCs were identified by follow-up questionnaires, medical records, and Tumor Registry data. BC tissues were obtained and reviewed. RESULTS: With median follow-up of 15.8 years, 1273 women developed BC. The majority of BCs were invasive (81%), of which 61% were ductal, 13% were mixed ductal/lobular, and 14% were lobular. Approximately two-thirds of the BC cases were intermediate or high grade, and 29% were lymph node positive. Cancer characteristics were similar across the 3 histologic categories of BBD, with a similar frequency of ductal carcinoma in situ, invasive disease, tumor size, time to invasive BC, histologic type of BC, lymph node positivity, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positivity. Women with atypical hyperplasia were found to have a higher frequency of estrogen receptor-positive BC (91%) compared with women with proliferative disease without atypia (80%) or nonproliferative disease (85%) (P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: A substantial percentage of all BCs develop in women with prior BBD. The majority of BCs after BBD are invasive tumors of ductal type, with a substantial number demonstrating lymph node positivity. Of all the BCs in the current study, 84% were estrogen receptor positive. Prevention therapy should be strongly encouraged in higher-risk women with BBD.

Natural history of age-related lobular involution and impact on breast cancer risk.

Age-related lobular involution (LI) is a physiological process in which the terminal duct lobular units of the breast regress as a woman ages. Analyses of breast biopsies from women with benign breast disease (BBD) have found that extent of LI is negatively associated with subsequent breast cancer development. Here we assess the natural course of LI within individual women, and the impact of progressive LI on breast cancer risk. The Mayo Clinic BBD cohort consists of 13,455 women with BBD from 1967 to 2001. The BBD cohort includes 1115 women who had multiple benign biopsies, 106 of whom had developed breast cancer. Within this multiple biopsy cohort, the progression of the LI process was examined by age at initial biopsy and time between biopsies. The relationship between LI progression and breast cancer risk was assessed using standardized incidence ratios and by Cox proportional hazards analysis. Women who had multiple biopsies were younger age and had a slightly higher family history of breast cancer as compared with the overall BBD cohort. Extent of LI at subsequent biopsy was greater with increasing time between biopsies and for women age 55 + at initial biopsy. Among women with multiple biopsies, there was a significant association of higher breast cancer risk among those with involution stasis (lack of progression, HR 1.63) as compared with those with involution progression, p = 0.036. The multiple biopsy BBD cohort allows for a longitudinal study of the natural progression of LI. The majority of women in the multiple biopsy cohort showed progression of LI status between benign biopsies, and extent of progression was highest for women who were in the perimenopausal age range at initial biopsy. Progression of LI status between initial and subsequent biopsy was associated with decreased breast cancer risk.

Standardized measures of lobular involution and subsequent breast cancer risk among women with benign breast disease: a nested case-control study.

Lesser degrees of terminal duct-lobular unit (TDLU) involution predict higher breast cancer risk; however, standardized measures to quantitate levels of TDLU involution have only recently been developed. We assessed whether three standardized measures of TDLU involution, with high intra/inter pathologist reproducibility in normal breast tissue, predict subsequent breast cancer risk among women in the Mayo benign breast disease (BBD) cohort. We performed a masked evaluation of biopsies from 99 women with BBD who subsequently developed breast cancer (cases) after a median of 16.9 years and 145 age-matched controls. We assessed three metrics inversely related to TDLU involution: TDLU count/mm(2), median TDLU span (microns, which approximates acini content), and median category of acini counts/TDLU (0-10; 11-20; 21-30; 31-50; >50). Associations with subsequent breast cancer risk for quartiles (or categories of acini counts) of each of these measures were assessed with multivariable conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI). In multivariable models, women in the highest quartile compared to the lowest quartiles of TDLU counts and TDLU span measures were significantly associated with subsequent breast cancer diagnoses; TDLU counts quartile4 versus quartile1, OR = 2.44, 95 %CI 0.96-6.19, p-trend = 0.02; and TDLU spans, quartile4 versus quartile1, OR = 2.83, 95 %CI = 1.13-7.06, p-trend = 0.03. Significant associations with categorical measures of acini counts/TDLU were also observed: compared to women with median category of <10 acini/TDLU, women with >25 acini counts/TDLU were at significantly higher risk, OR = 3.40, 95 %CI 1.03-11.17, p-trend = 0.032. Women with TDLU spans and TDLU count measures above the median were at further increased risk, OR = 3.75 (95 %CI 1.40-10.00, p-trend = 0.008), compared with women below the median for both of these metrics. Similar results were observed for combinatorial metrics of TDLU acini counts/TDLU, and TDLU count. Standardized quantitative measures of TDLU counts and acini counts approximated by TDLU span measures or visually assessed in categories are independently associated with breast cancer risk. Visual assessment of TDLU numbers and acini content, which are highly reproducible between pathologists, could help identify women at high risk for subsequent breast cancer among the million women diagnosed annually with BBD in the US.

Flat epithelial atypia and risk of breast cancer: A Mayo cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Based on its cytologic features, and its co-occurrence with atypical hyperplasia and breast cancer, flat epithelial atypia (FEA) has been proposed as a precursor lesion on the pathway to the development of breast cancer. It is often referred to as an "atypical" or high-risk lesion. However, to the authors' knowledge, the long-term risk of breast cancer in women with FEA is undefined. METHODS: Specimens with FEA were identified among excisional breast biopsies in the Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort, which includes 11,591 women who had benign biopsy findings at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota between 1967 and 2001. Breast cancer risk among subsets of patients with FEA and nonproliferative, proliferative, and atypical hyperplasia (AH) was assessed using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) compared with the Iowa Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. RESULTS: FEA was identified in 282 women (2.4%); 130 had associated AH (46%) and 152 (54%) were classified as having proliferative disease without atypia (PDWA). With median follow-up of 16.8 years, the SIR for breast cancer in patients with AH plus FEA was 4.74 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 3.17-6.81) versus 4.23 (95% CI, 3.44-5.13) for those with AH without FEA (P = .59). The SIR for patients with PDWA plus FEA was 2.04 (95% CI, 1.23-3.19) versus 1.90 (95% CI, 1.72-2.09) for patients with PDWA without FEA (P = .76). CONCLUSIONS: FEA is an uncommon finding in women with benign breast disease. FEA does not appear to convey an independent risk of breast cancer beyond that of the associated PDWA or AH.

Breast cancer after prophylactic mastectomy (bilateral or contralateral prophylactic mastectomy), a clinical entity: presentation, management, and outcomes.

Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) and bilateral prophylactic mastectomy (BPM) markedly decrease the possibility of new breast cancer (BC) ipsilateral to the prophylactic mastectomy (PM). Given its relative infrequency, little is known about the clinical characteristics, presentation, and management of BC after PM. Between 1960 and 1993, 1065 women underwent BPM and 1643 women with unilateral BC treated with therapeutic mastectomy underwent CPM at our institution. Medical records were reviewed, and study-specific questionnaires were sent to all women. BC after PM included locoregional invasive BC or ductal carcinoma in situ ipsilateral to the PM. BC developed ipsilateral to the PM in 25 patients (13 after BPM; 12 after therapeutic mastectomy and CPM). Median follow-up after PM was 22 years (range 3-34 years). Presentations included clinically isolated local disease in 17 patients (68%); disease limited to the axilla without evidence of local primary disease in 4 (16%); synchronous local and axillary disease in 1 (4%); and synchronous local disease and distant metastases in 3 (12%). The 17 patients presenting with isolated local disease were most commonly managed with completion or redo mastectomy (65%) or local excision (29 %), followed by consideration of adjuvant therapy. The 5-year disease-free survival estimate was 69% (95% CI 52-94%) for the 22 patients who had isolated locoregional BC after PM and were treated with curative intent. Although rare, BC after PM can occur. The most common presentation, disease localized to the mastectomy site, can be managed with resection and consideration of adjuvant therapy.

Ki-67 expression in sclerosing adenosis and adjacent normal breast terminal ductal lobular units: a nested case-control study from the Mayo Benign Breast Disease Cohort.

Sclerosing adenosis (SA) increases risk for invasive breast cancer (BC) 2.1 times relative to that in the general population. Here, we sought to evaluate whether the proliferation marker Ki-67 stratifies risk among women with SA. A nested case-control sample of patients with SA was obtained from the Mayo Clinic Benign Breast Disease Cohort. Ki-67 expression was evaluated in SA lesions and in the adjacent normal terminal duct lobular units (TDLU) in women who did (cases, n = 133) or did not (controls, n = 239) develop BC. Ki-67 was scored by intensity and number of positively stained cells per one high-power field (magnification, ×40) (40× HPF) for both SA and normal TDLU. Associations of Ki-67 expression with case-control status were assessed using conditional logistic regression. Higher Ki-67 expression was significantly associated with case-control status in both SA (P = 0.03) and normal background TDLU (P = 0.006). For the SA lesion, >2 average positively stained cells/40× HPF showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 1.9 (95 % CI, 1.1-3.4) compared to samples with an average of ≤2 positively stained cells. For background TDLU, lobules with >2 but ≤6 average positively stained cells showed an adjusted OR of 1.3-1.5, whereas those with an average of >6 positively stained cells had an OR of 2.4 (95 % CI, 1.1-5.3) compared to those with an average of <2 positively stained cells. Among women with SA, increased Ki-67 expression in either the SA lesion or the normal background TDLU carried an approximately twofold increased odds of subsequent BC as compared to lower Ki-67 expression.

Gene signature model for breast cancer risk prediction for women with sclerosing adenosis.

Benign breast disease (BBD) is diagnosed in 1-2 million women/year in the US, and while these patients are known to be at substantially increased risk for subsequent development of breast cancer, existing models for risk assessment perform poorly at the individual level. Here, we describe a DNA-microarray-based transcriptional model for breast cancer risk prediction for patients with sclerosing adenosis (SA), which represent » of all BBD patients. A training set was developed from 86 patients diagnosed with SA, of which 27 subsequently developed cancer within 10 years (cases) and 59 remained cancer-free at 10 years (controls). An diagonal linear discriminate analysis-prediction model for prediction of cancer within 10 years (SA TTC10) was generated from transcriptional profiles of FFPE biopsy-derived RNA. This model was tested on a separate validation case-control set composed of 65 SA patients. The SA TTC10 gene signature model, composed of 35 gene features, achieved a clear and significant separation between case and control with receiver operating characteristic area under the curve of 0.913 in the training set and 0.836 in the validation set. Our results provide the first demonstration that benign breast tissue contains transcriptional alterations that indicate risk of breast cancer development, demonstrating that essential precursor biomarkers of malignancy are present many years prior to cancer development. Furthermore, the SA TTC10 gene signature model, which can be assessed on FFPE biopsies, constitutes a novel prognostic biomarker for patients with SA.

Impact of reconstruction and reoperation on long-term patient-reported satisfaction after contralateral prophylactic mastectomy.

BACKGROUND: Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) is increasingly chosen by breast cancer patients and may be related to increased use of immediate reconstruction. This study examines long-term patient satisfaction with CPM and reconstruction in a historical cohort. METHODS: 621 unilateral breast cancer patients with a family history of breast cancer who underwent CPM between 1960 and 1993 were surveyed regarding quality of life (QOL) and satisfaction with CPM at two time points (approximately 10 and 20 years after CPM). RESULTS: 583 women responded to the first follow-up questionnaire (median 10.7 years; mean 11.9 years) after CPM. There were 403 (69 %) patients who underwent reconstruction and 180 (31 %) patients who did not. Women electing reconstruction were younger [mean age 47 versus (vs.) 53 years; p = 0.01] and more likely to be married (85 vs. 78 %; p = 0.048). Most women reported satisfaction with CPM (83 %), and they would choose CPM again (84 %) and make the same choice regarding reconstruction (73 %). However, reconstruction patients demonstrated significantly lower satisfaction (p = 0.0001) and were less likely to choose CPM again (p < 0.0001). Within the reconstruction group, 39 % needed 1 + unplanned reoperation, which was strongly associated with lower satisfaction (p = 0.0001), lower likelihood of choosing CPM again (p = 0.006), and lower likelihood of choosing reconstruction again (p < 0.0001). There were 269 women who responded to the second questionnaire (median 18.4 years; mean 20.2 years after CPM). Satisfaction with CPM remained high, with 92 % of the women stating they would choose CPM again. CONCLUSIONS: Most women report stable long-term satisfaction with CPM. Women who had reconstruction and required reoperations in this historical cohort reported lower satisfaction.

Sclerosing adenosis and risk of breast cancer.

Over one million American women have a benign breast biopsy annually. Sclerosing adenosis (SA) is a common, but poorly understood benign breast lesion demonstrating increased numbers of distorted lobules accompanied by stromal fibrosis. Few studies of its association with breast cancer have been conducted, with contradictory results. We studied SA in the Mayo Benign Breast Disease (BBD) Cohort, which includes women who had benign biopsies at Mayo-Rochester 1967-2001. Breast cancer risk in defined subsets was assessed using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs), relative to the Iowa Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. This BBD cohort of 13,434 women was followed for a median of 15.7 years. SA was present in 3,733 women (27.8 %) who demonstrated an SIR for breast cancer of 2.10 (95 % CI 1.91-2.30) versus an SIR of 1.52 (95 % CI 1.42-1.63) for the 9,701 women without SA. SA was present in 62.4 % of biopsies with proliferative disease without atypia and 55.1 % of biopsies with atypical hyperplasia. The presence of SA stratified risk in subsets of women defined by age, involution status, and family history. However, SA does not further stratify risk in women diagnosed with other forms of proliferative breast disease, either with or without atypia. SA is a common proliferative lesion of the breast which, as a single feature, conveys an approximate doubling of breast cancer risk. Its role in breast carcinogenesis remains undefined; its presence may aid in risk prediction for women after a breast biopsy.