Faculty Bibliography

The management of breast cancer during pregnancy poses unique challenges and requires a multi-disciplinary approach. In this review, we discuss the treatment of breast cancer in pregnancy and recent updates regarding the safety of surgical and chemotherapeutic treatments, including both oncologic and fetal outcomes. The treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy mirrors that outside of pregnancy, with a few important differences dictated by the balance of maternal versus fetal health. Overall, surgical treatment, neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, and/or adjuvant chemotherapy are feasible in most women during pregnancy. Further research to determine the safety of these therapies in pregnancy-associated breast cancer is warranted.

The consequences of patient identification errors due to specimen mislabeling can be deleterious. We describe two near-miss events involving mislabeled breast specimens from two patients who sought treatment at our institution. In both cases, microscopic review of the slides identified inconsistencies between the histologic findings and patient age, unveiling specimen identification errors. By correlating the clinical information with the microscopic findings, we identified mistakes that had occurred at the time of specimen accessioning at the original laboratories. In both cases, thanks to a timely reassignment of the specimens, the patients suffered no harm. These cases highlight the importance of routine clinical and pathologic correlation as a critical component of quality assurance and patient safety. A review of possible specimen identification errors in the anatomic pathology setting is presented.

IMPORTANCE/OBJECTIVE:Cancer occurs in 0.05% to 0.1% of all pregnancies. Despite literature reporting good oncologic and fetal outcomes in women treated for cancer during pregnancy, as many as 44% of gynecologists would offer termination, and 37% would not administer chemotherapy or radiotherapy in pregnancy. OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:The aims of this study were to summarize current recommendations for the treatment of cervical and ovarian cancers in pregnancy and to review updates on existing knowledge regarding the safety of surgical and chemotherapeutic treatments in pregnancy, including both oncologic and fetal outcomes. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION/METHODS:A detailed literature review was performed on PubMed. RESULTS:The treatment of gynecologic malignancies during pregnancy mirrors that outside pregnancy, with a balance between maternal versus fetal health. Fertility-sparing surgery can be offered to stage IA2 and low-risk IB1 cervical, stage I epithelial ovarian, germ cell ovarian, or sex-cord stromal ovarian tumors. Delayed treatment can be offered for stage IB1 cervical cancer. Neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant chemotherapy can be given for advanced gynecologic cancers with good disease-free survival without significant adverse neonatal outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:A multidisciplinary approach and improved education of providers regarding the surgical and chemotherapeutic treatments in pregnancy are needed in order to fully inform patients regarding treatment options. Further research in women who are pregnant is needed to determine the safety of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures used in the nonpregnant woman. RELEVANCE/CONCLUSIONS:This article reviews and supports treatment of gynecologic cancer during pregnancy, calls for additional study and long-term follow-up, and justifies improved education of patients and providers regarding treatment options. TARGET AUDIENCE/BACKGROUND:Obstetricians and gynecologists, family physicians. LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OBJECTIVE:After completing this activity, the learner should be better able to (1) review general principles in the management and treatment of gynecologic cancers in pregnancy, (2) review the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer in pregnancy, and (3) review the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer in pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE:To determine rates of axillary dissection (ALND) and nodal recurrence in patients eligible for ACOSOG Z0011. BACKGROUND:Z0011 demonstrated that patients with cT1-2N0 breast cancers and 1 to 2 involved sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) having breast-conserving therapy had no difference in locoregional recurrence or survival after SLN biopsy alone or ALND. The generalizability of the results and importance of nodal radiotherapy (RT) is unclear. METHODS:Patients eligible for Z0011 had SLN biopsy alone. Prospectively defined indications for ALND were metastases in ≥3 SLNs or gross extracapsular extension. Axillary imaging was not routine. SLN and ALND groups and radiation fields were compared with chi-square and t tests. Cumulative incidence of recurrences was estimated with competing risk analysis. RESULTS:From August 2010 to December 2016, 793 patients met Z0011 eligibility criteria and had SLN metastases. Among them, 130 (16%) had ALND; ALND did not vary based on age, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, or HER2 status. Five-year event-free survival after SLN alone was 93% with no isolated axillary recurrences. Cumulative 5-year rates of breast + nodal and nodal + distant recurrence were each 0.7%. In 484 SLN-only patients with known RT fields (103 prone, 280 supine tangent, 101 breast + nodes) and follow-up ≥12 months, the 5-year cumulative nodal recurrence rate was 1% and did not differ significantly by RT fields. CONCLUSIONS:We confirm that even without preoperative axillary imaging or routine use of nodal RT, ALND can be avoided in a large majority of Z0011-eligible patients with excellent regional control. This approach has the potential to spare substantial numbers of women the morbidity of ALND.

BACKGROUND:Reexcision rates in patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for early-stage invasive breast cancer are highly variable. The Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) published consensus guidelines to help standardize practice. We sought to determine reexcision rates before and after guideline adoption at our institution. METHODS:We identified patients with stage I or II invasive breast cancer initially treated with BCS between June 1, 2013, and October 31, 2014. Margins were defined as positive (tumor on ink), close (≤1 mm), or negative (>1 mm), and were recorded for both invasive cancer and ductal carcinoma-in situ (DCIS) components. Reexcision rates were quantified, characteristics were compared between groups, and multivariable logistic regression was performed. RESULTS:A total of 1205 patients were identified, 504 before and 701 after the guideline adoption (January 1, 2014). Clinical and pathologic characteristics were similar between time periods. Reexcision rates significantly declined from 21.4 to 15.1 % (p = 0.006) after guideline adoption. A multivariable model identified extensive intraductal component (odds ratio [OR] 2.5, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.2-5.2), multifocality (OR 2.0, 95 % CI 1.2-3.6), positive (OR 844.4, 95 % CI 226.3-5562.5) and close (OR 38.3, 95 % CI 21.5-71.8) ductal carcinoma-in situ margin, positive (OR 174.2, 95 % CI 66.2-530.0) and close (OR 6.4, 95 % CI 3.0-13.6) invasive margin, and time period (OR 0.5, 95 % CI 0.3-0.9 for post vs. pre) as independently associated with reexcision. CONCLUSIONS:Overall reexcision rates declined significantly after guideline adoption. Close invasive margins were associated with higher rates of reexcision than negative invasive margins in both time periods; however, the effect diminished in the postguideline adoption period. Thus, we expect continued decline in reexcision rates as adherence to guidelines becomes more uniform.

BACKGROUND:The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) guidelines include incorporation of fertility preservation guidelines in the care of breast oncology patients. This study aimed to examine the baseline knowledge and preferences concerning fertility preservation among women of childbearing age with newly diagnosed breast cancer at the time of their initial visit to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). METHODS:A questionnaire on reproductive history, fertility knowledge, and preservation options was administered to women 18-45 years of age with newly diagnosed breast cancer at MSKCC between May and September 2011. RESULTS:The inclusion criteria were met by 60 women eligible for analysis who had a median age of 40 years (range 20-45 years). The findings showed that 50 % of the women either desired children in the future or were unsure whether they wanted children, with 9 % reporting that they received information about fertility preservation options before their MSKCC visit. Women who had never been pregnant were more likely than those with prior pregnancies to consider having children in the future (p = 0.001) and to contemplate fertility preservation options both before (p = 0.001) and after (p = 0.0002) cancer treatment. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Early referral allows patients to take advantage of fertility preservation options while preventing delay in the initiation of systemic therapy. Referral by the breast surgical oncologist at the time of the initial visit has the potential to increase fertility knowledge because it appears that many women have not yet received fertility information at this early treatment stage.

Despite advances in estimating prognosis and predicting response to adjuvant systemic therapy, the status of the axillary lymph nodes remains a critical component in initial surgical planning and in determining therapeutic strategies for patients with breast cancer. Buoyed by evidence from multi-institutional randomized clinical trials, the last 2 decades have witnessed remarkable and practice-changing advances in our approach to the axilla. This review concentrates on the current best practice in axillary management for both node-negative and node-positive patients, with particular focus on the evolving management of the axilla in the era of neoadjuvant systemic therapy.