Breastcancer.org Podcast

The 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium featured five days of research presentations, educational sessions, and advocacy meetings. Dr. Matthew Goetz, noted breast cancer researcher at the Mayo Clinic, explained the top research presented that will make an immediate difference for people diagnosed with breast cancer. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Goetz explain: a study on inavolisib, a promising new treatment for advanced-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer that’s stopped responded to tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor how the immunotherapy medicines Keytruda (chemical name: pembrolizumab) and Opdivo (chemical name: nivolumab) can be used to treat early-stage, triple-negative breast cancer overall survival results from the MONARCH-3 study on Verzenio (chemical name: abemaciclib) why overall survival is such an important study end point

In 2022, the American Society of Clinical Oncology released guidelines on exercise for people being treated for early-stage cancer. But when those guidelines were developed, there wasn’t enough research on exercise in people with metastatic cancer. So Dr. Anne May decided to do that research. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. May explain: the design of the study the type of exercise the people did what the people thought about exercising her advice for people with metastatic disease who want to start exercising

The Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score test is used to help people and their doctors make decisions about whether radiation after lumpectomy surgery to remove DCIS would offer more benefits than risks. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Seema Khan presented results from the E4112 study, evaluating the ability of the Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score to accurately predict which women would benefit from radiation after DCIS surgery and which women could safely skip radiation. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Khan explain: the design of the study, including why a prospective study is important the results how the results fit into the current context of DCIS care

Dr. Kelly Shanahan, trained as an OB/GYN, has been living with metastatic breast cancer for 10 years. For many years, she tried to join a clinical trial. In 2021, she finally did. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, she told us about her experience. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Shanahan explain: why and how she joined a trial what she’s experienced while being in the trial why clinical trials are important to her personally why clinical trials are important for everyone

Dr. G. Thomas Budd, an oncologist and Dr. Justin Johnson, an immunologist, are collaborating on research looking at a vaccine to prevent triple-negative breast cancer. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, they presented a poster on the encouraging first results from three small studies. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Johnson explain: how the people in the study are responding to the vaccine why having an immune response to the vaccine is important the protein the vaccine targets

At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Hatem Azim presented a new analysis of information from the POSITIVE trial, which found that younger women diagnosed with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer could safely pause hormonal therapy to try to become pregnant. His new analysis looked at whether the women could use fertility preservation and assisted reproductive technologies (ART) without increasing the risk of the cancer coming back (recurrence). Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Azim discuss: the types of fertility preservation and ART used which techniques were the most successful the results of his analysis

Scalp cooling can help people keep some or quite a lot of their hair when receiving a chemotherapy regime that can cause hair loss. At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Richard Paxman, CEO of Paxman Scalp Cooling, explained the updated patient assistance programs his company offers. Listen to the podcast to hear Richard explain: the Paxman Patient Assistance Program other resources Paxman offers where to get more information on scalp cooling if your medical oncologist doesn’t have any

Breast cancers that are lymph node-positive are usually treated with chemotherapy before surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy). If those cancers become lymph node-negative after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, there’s been a debate about whether to treat the nodes or not. A new study has practicing-changing results: Nodal radiation isn’t need. Dr. Marisa Weiss, Breastcancer.org chief medical officer and founder, and radiation oncologist, explains the findings. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Weiss explain: why there has been debate about how to treat this type of breast cancer the study results what the results mean for patients

CDK4/6 inhibitors are used to treat both early-stage and advanced-stage hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer. The CDK4/6 inhibitors are: Ibrance (chemical name: palbociclib) Kisqali (chemical name: ribociclib) Verzenio (chemical name: abemaciclib) At the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dr. Stephanie Graff moderated an educational session to help people and their doctors decide on treatments after a CDK4/6 inhibitor has stopped working. Listen to the podcast to hear Dr. Graff explain: how the oral SERD, Orserdu (chemical name: elacestrant), might be used how PARP inhibitors, such as Lynparza (chemical name: olaparib) or Talzenna (chemical name: talazoparib) might be used why using a CDK4/6 inhibitor after another CDK4/6 inhibitor probably won’t be used

Living with metastatic breast cancer can bring many losses: not being able to ride bike, missing events, losing friends, just to name a few. This podcast is the audio from a special Virtual Community Meetup featuring guest moderator Kelly Grosklags. Listen to the podcast to hear Kelly and Community members discuss: how to move away from the “what if” to the “what is” what to say to friends that don’t understand your involvement in metastatic support groups how they learned to live with metastatic disease