Women’s Health in Oncology

This first issue of Women’s Health in Oncology: Focus on HER2+ Breast Cancer contains cutting edge information on this complex disease. Its 3 in-depth articles discuss the following important issues:

• How do breast cancer subtypes relate to current breast cancer treatment regimens in the early and advanced breast cancer settings? As the various subtypes segregate breast cancers into groups with very different prognoses and clinical courses, this may affect therapeutic options. The HER2 subtype in particular has directly targeted therapies that are available and effective.
  
• Randomized clinical trials have shown a clear benefit to the use of adjuvant trastuzumab in women with HER2+ early breast cancer. Ongoing clinical trials promise to clarify many unanswered questions regarding optimal regimens, including timing of initiation of therapy, duration of therapy, and therapeutic combinations
  
• Testing for HER2 protein expression or gene amplification is recommended in all newly diagnosed or recurred tumors. Accurate testing is of utmost importance in clinical practice since treatment decisions will be made according to these results.

September 2009
	Focus on HER2+ Breast Cancer Overview of Current Breast Cancer Treatment Regimens Conleth Murphy, MB, BCh, BAO; Clifford Hudis, MD; Maura N. Dickler, MD HER2+ Early Breast Cancer Christine Kaiser, MD; Sandra M. Swain, MD HER2+ Testing in Breast Cancer: Reaching Optimal Accuracy Efrat Dotan, MD; Lori J. Goldstein, MD   >> Click here to download this issue