Attention Dysregulation in Breast Cancer Patients Following a Complementary Alternative Treatment Routine: A Double-Blind Randomized Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer patients and survivors frequently report fatigue, emotional, and cognitive disturbances, which reduce performance at all levels of occupation and make life quality issues a considerable clinical concern. The aim of this study is to evaluate attention and emotion regulation across radiotherapy period and the possible effects of complementary alternative medicine (CAM). METHODS: Fifty-seven patients with unilateral breast cancer underwent surgery and systemic chemotherapy before participating in this double-blind randomized study. Two thirds were given CAM (n = 38) while the rest received placebo (carrier only, n = 19). Patients' attention and anxiety were physiologically tested at baseline, 2 and 4 weeks during the radiation period as well as 1-month after the end of radiation session. RESULTS: Both groups showed similar levels of anxiety with no significant differences at baseline nor post-radiotherapy. Long-term significant recovery of attention performance was observed in the CAM patients, accompanied by a similar tendency in anxiety level, measured by the eye-blink probability. CONCLUSIONS: This study physiologically validates the attention impairment reported among breast cancer survivors; also, it depicted a beneficial late-effect of a routine CAM on attention dysregulation. The suggested non-invasive physiological measures can physiologically monitor patients' psychological and cognitive well-being as well as evaluate the beneficial effect of CAM in breast cancer patients by assessing their coping ability to support the treatment plan. Thus, the results have potential clinical implications on patients' and survivors' quality of life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NIH, NCT02890316. Registered July 2016, http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov.

Palliative radiation therapy for symptomatic advance breast cancer.

In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of palliative breast radiation therapy (RT), with single fraction RT compared with fractionated RT. Our study showed that both RT fractionation schemas provide palliation. Single fraction RT allowed for treatment with minimal interference with systemic therapy, whereas fractionated RT provided a more durable palliative response. Due to equivalent palliative response, at our institution we have increasingly been providing single fraction RT palliation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local recurrence of breast cancer: Salvage lumpectomy as an option for local treatment.

INTRODUCTION: The best local management for breast cancer recurrence following conservative treatment for breast cancer (BC) continues to be an open question. In this study, we compared patients' outcome after salvage lumpectomy (SL) vs mastectomy for ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1987 and 2014 we identified 121 patients with pT0-2, N0-3, M0 BC who had BCT as their primary treatment, and subsequently had IBTR (unifocal). 47 patients underwent SL and 74 salvage mastectomy (SM) as the local treatment for their 1st recurrence. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 14 years (1-30) from first BC diagnosis. For the SL and SM cohorts, 8 and 10 patients (17%, 13.5%, P = 0.22), respectively, developed subsequent local recurrence as a 3rd event. Although in MVA, woman who underwent SL had higher chances of having a 2nd recurrence (3rd event), P = 0.020, at a median follow-up of 14 years, 95.8% of SL patients are alive, NED, 85% are mastectomy free. 87% of patients who opted for SM are alive, NED. Having re-irradiation following SL did not protect against 2nd breast cancer recurrence (3rd event, P = 0.42). CONCLUSION: Salvage lumpectomy following IBTR, while associated with higher second LR rate than SM is not associated with inferior outcome. With survival >95% at 14 years in the SL cohort, salvage lumpectomy with or without re-radiation, in a selected population (unifocal T), represents an acceptable treatment option for patients in order to delay time to mastectomy without reducing BC survival. Both options should be discussed prior to any surgical decision.