Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility, early toxicity, and clinical outcomes of early-breast cancer patients in a single-arm, phase I/II study of an ultra-accelerated, four-fraction schedule of minimal breast irradiation (4f-AMBI) using a multicatheter, minimally-invasive, intraoperative tumor bed implant (MITBI) during breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Methods and materials: Eligible women aged >40 years with clinically and radiologically confirmed, unifocal invasive or in situ ¿3 cm tumors were considered as potential candidates for MITBI during BCS. After the pathology report, patients who met APBI criteria received ultra-accelerated four-fractions irradiation (6.2 Gy BID x 4fx over 2 days) with perioperative HDR-brachytherapy (PHDRBT). Early complications, toxicity, clinical outcomes, and cosmetic results were analyzed. Results: Of 89 patients initially implanted, 60(67.4%) were definitively included in the 4f-AMBI-protocol. The median age was 64.4 years; the median CTV was 32.1 cc (6.9-75.4 cc), and the external-V100 was 43.1 cc (12.87-107 cc), representing 5% of the breast tissue irradiated with a median CTV D90 of 6.2 Gy (5.6-6.28 Gy). The entire local treatment (BCS&MITBI-4f-AMBI) was completed at a median of 8 days (4-10 days). The rate of early complications was 11%. There were no major complications. Acute skin-subcutaneous G1 toxicity was reported in 11.7%, and late G1 toxicity on 36.7%. After a median follow-up of 27 months (11-51 months), the local, elsewhere, locoregional and distant-control rates were 100%, 98.3%, 100%, and 100% respectively. The early-cosmetic evaluation was excellent-good in 94.5% of patients evaluated. Conclusions: Ultra-accelerated, four-fraction, minimal breast irradiation (4f-AMBI) using a minimally-invasive tumor bed implant procedure is safe, dosimetrically feasible, and shows small irradiated volumes. This program provides low toxicity rates and excellent short-term clinical and cosmesis outcomes.

Background: Primary breast cancer (BC) has shown a higher immune infiltration than the metastatic disease, justifying the optimal scenario for immunotherapy. Recently, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors has demonstrated a gain in pathological complete responses (tpCR) in patients with BC. The aim of our study is to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of the addition of dendritic cell vaccines (DCV) to NAC in HER2-negative BC patients. Methods: Thirty-nine patients with early BC received DCV together with NAC conforming the vaccinated group (VG) and compared with 44 patients as the control group (CG). All patients received anthracyclines and taxanes-based NAC (ddECx4 -> Dx4) followed by surgery +/- radiotherapy +/- hormonotherapy. Results: The tpCR rate was 28.9% in the VG and 9.09% in the CG (p = 0.03). Pathological CR in the triple negative (TN) BC were 50.0% versus 30.7% (p = 0.25), 16.6% versus 0% in luminal B (p = 0.15), and none among luminal A patients in VG versus CG, respectively. Impact of DCV was significantly higher in the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) negative population (p < 0.001). PD-L1 expression was increased in patients with residual disease in the VG as compared with the CG (p < 0.01). No grade > 3 vaccine-related adverse events occurred. With a median follow-up of 8 years, no changes were seen in event-free survival or overall survival. Phenotypic changes post DCV in peripheral blood were observed in myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), NK, and T cells. Increase in blood cell proliferation and interferon (IFN)-gamma production was detected in 69% and 74% in the VG, respectively. Humoral response was also found. Clonality changes in TCR-beta repertoire were detected in 67% of the patients with a drop in diversity index after treatment. Conclusion: The combination of DCV plus NAC is safe and increases tpCR, with a significant benefit among PD-L1-negative tumors. DCV modify tumor milieu and perform cellular and humoral responses in peripheral blood with no impact in outcome.

Purpose: To evaluate our institutional experience of minimally invasive tumor bed implantation (MITBI) during breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to deliver peri-operative high-dose-rate brachytherapy (PHDRBT) as accelerated minimal breast irradiation (AMBI) or anticipated boost (A-PHDRBT-boost). Material and methods: Patients older than 40, with clinical and radiological unifocal DCIS < 3 cm were considered potential candidates for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) and were implanted during BCS using MITBI-technique. Patients who in final pathology reports showed free margins and no other microscopic tumor foci, received AMBI with PHDRBT (3.4 Gy BID in 5 days). Patients with adverse features received A-PHDRBT-boost with post-operative external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). Results: Forty-one patients were implanted, and 36 were treated and analyzed. According to final pathology, 24 (67%) patients were suitable for AMBI and 12 (33%) were qualified for A-PHDRBT-boost. Reoperation rate for those with clear margins was 16.6% (6/36); this rate increased to 33% (4/12) for G3 histology, and 66% (4/6) were rescued using AMBI. Early complications were documented in 5 patients (14%). With a median follow-up of 97 (range, 42-138) months, 5-year rates of local, elsewhere, locoregional, and distant control were all 97.2%. 5-year ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence rates (IBTR) were 5.6% (2/36), 8.3% (2/24) for AMBI, and 0% (0/12) for A-PHDRBT-boost patients. Both instances of IBTR were confirmed G3 tumors in pre-operative biopsies; no IBTR was documented in G1-2 tumors. Cosmetic outcomes were excellent/good in 96% of AMBI vs. 67% in A-PHDRBT-boost (p = 0.034). Conclusions: The MITBI-PHDRBT program allows selection of patients with excellent prognoses (G1-2 DCIS with negative margins and no multifocality), for whom AMBI could be a good alternative with low recurrence rate, decrease of unnecessary radiation, treatment logistics improvement, and over-treatment reduction. Patients whose pre-operative biopsy showed G3 tumor, presents with inferior local control and more risk of reoperation due to positive margins.

Debido a las limitaciones de la mamografía de cribado, especialmente en mamas densas, ha surgido una nueva técnica complementaria: la tomosíntesis. Esta técnica, al ser tomográfica, permite aumentar la detección de cánceres ocultos en la mamografía a la vez que puede disminuir los resultados falsos positivos provocados por superposición de imágenes. En este artículo revisamos el papel de la tomosíntesis en el cribado, analizando los 3 principales ensayos clínicos prospectivos que han tenido lugar en Europa: el ensayo OSLO, el ensayo STORM y el ensayo MALMÖ. Aunque la técnica mamográfica empleada es diferente en el estudio MALMÖ, los 3 han demostrado un significativo aumento de la sensibilidad (32, 34 y 43%, respectivamente), existiendo más diferencias en cuanto a las rellamadas (+32%, ¿27%, +43%). A pesar de que el tiempo de lectura se incrementa, parece que la técnica es coste-efectiva y contribuye poco al sobrediagnóstico, por lo que la tomosíntesis está llamada a jugar un papel importante en el cribado del cáncer de mama.

Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fused with prone 2-[fluorine-18]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in primary tumour staging of patients with breast cancer. METHODS: This retrospective study evaluated 45 women with 49 pathologically proven breast carcinomas. MRI and prone PET-CT scans with time-of-flight and point-spread-function reconstruction were performed with the same dedicated breast coil. The studies were assessed by a radiologist and a nuclear medicine physician, and evaluation of fused images was made by consensus. The final diagnosis was based on pathology (90 lesions) or follow-up¿¿¿24 months (17 lesions). RESULTS: The study assessed 72 malignant and 35 benign lesions with a median size of 1.8 cm (range 0.3-8.4 cm): 31 focal, nine multifocal and nine multicentric cases. In lesion-by-lesion analysis, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 97%, 80%, 91% and 93% for MRI, 96%, 71%, 87%, and 89% for prone PET, and 97%. 94%, 97% and 94% for MRI fused with PET. Areas under the curve (AUC) were 0.953, 0.850, and 0.983, respectively (p¿<¿0.01). CONCLUSIONS: MRI fused with FDG-PET is more accurate than FDG-PET in primary tumour staging of breast cancer patients and increases the specificity of MRI.

La mamografía es la técnica habitual para el cribado poblacional del cáncer de mama. Sin embargo, la sensibilidad mamográfica disminuye mucho en las mamas densas, pudiendo ser de tan solo el 50%. En estos casos la ecografía complementaria puede jugar un papel importante al mejorar la sensibilidad, llegando a tasas de detección de cáncer de hasta el 0,3%. Sin embargo, la ecografía disminuye la especificidad y aumenta la tasa de rellamadas y de biopsias. La ecografía manual es operador dependiente, obliga a emplear mucho tiempo de radiólogo y no permite una revisión retrospectiva. La ecografía automatizada permite solventar varias de estas limitaciones, por lo que puede llegar a emplearse en el cribado como técnica adicional a la mamografía, especialmente en el caso de las mamas densas.

Purpose: To assess the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of free-hand intraoperative multicatheter breast implant (FHIOMBI) and perioperative high-dose-rate brachytherapy (PHDRBT) in early breast cancer. Methods and Materials: Patients with early breast cancer candidates for breast conservative surgery (BCS) were prospectively enrolled. Patients suitable for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) (low or intermediate risk according GEC-ESTRO criteria) received PHDRBT (3.4 Gy BID × 10 in 5 days). Patients not suitable for APBI (high risk patients according GEC-ESTRO criteria) received PHDRBT boost (3.4 Gy BID × 4 in 2 days) followed by whole breast irradiation. Results: From June 2007 to November 2014, 119 patients were treated and 122 FHIOMBI procedures were performed. Median duration of FHIOMBI was 25 minutes. A median of eight catheters (range, 4-14) were used. No severe intraoperative complications were observed. Severe early postoperative complications (bleeding) were documented in 2 patients (1.6%), wound healing complications in 3 (2.4%), and infection (mastitis or abscess) in 2 (1.6%). PHDRBT was delivered as APBI in 88 cases (72.1%) and as a boost in 34 (27.8%). The median clinical target volume T was 40.8 cc (range, 12.3-160.5); median D90 was 3.32 Gy (range, 3.11-3.85); median dose homogeneity index was 0.72 (range, 0.48-0.82). With a median followup of 38.4 months (range, 8.7-98.7) no local, elsewhere, or regional relapses were observed; there was only one distant failure in PHDRBT boost. No major (acute or late) RTOG grade 3 or higher were documented in any of the 119 patients treated with PHDRBT. Cosmetic outcome in APBI patients was excellent or good in (87.0%) and fair or poor in (11.9%) while in boost patients was excellent or good in (76.4%) and fair in (23.5%). Conclusion: The FHIOMBI-PHDRBT program does not add complications to conservative surgery. It allows precise selection of APBI patients and offers excellent results in disease control and cosmetics. It also offers logistic advantages because it dramatically shortens the time of local treatment and avoids further invasive procedures.

Background. Curettage mastectomy is indicated as a palliative treatment in locally advanced breast cancer. We present our experience with the use of a DIEP flap reconstruction following extensive mastectomy. Methods. We report the case of a patient with very advanced local breast cancer that was subsidiary to aggressive palliative surgery after chemotherapy. Results. It was considered that the closure that could be performed with the latissimus dorsi muscle was unsuitable, therefore a DIEP flap was performed. The patient was discharged uneventfully. Conclusion. The DIEP reconstruction offers great cutaneous extension. It can be a resource in highly selected cases of locally advanced breast cancer in which surgery becomes the main treatment.

Introduction: Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) with multicatheters after lumpectomy for breast cancer (BC) may be an alternative to whole breast irradiation in selected patients. The aim is to show our 5 year experience. Method: Between June 2007 and June 2012, 87 BC patients have been evaluated for APBI. Inclusion criteria were: age over 40 years, unifocal tumour, infiltrating ductal or intraductal carcinoma, tumour size smaller than 3 cm and no lymph node involvement. Complications, cosmetic results and local and distant recurrences were evaluated. Results: Treatment was completed in 48 patients and contraindicated in 39. The average age of treated patients was 59 years. Operating time was 123. min with 9 implanted catheters in each patient. No complications were observed during surgery or radiotherapy. Patients were discharged from hospital after 4 days. Tumour size was 11. mm. Of these, 35 were infiltrating ductal and 13 intraductal carcinomas. A total of 44 patients received adjuvant treatment. Mean follow-up was 22 months with no evidence of local or distant recurrence. The cosmetic outcome was good or excellent in 66% of cases. Conclusions: APBI with multicatheter placed after lumpectomy for BC is feasible and safe but requires a strict selection of patients.

Objective: To compare two series of patients with breast cancer, one staged using preoperative MRI and the other staged using conventional techniques, analyzing the changes to treatment, the number of mastectomies, and the number of reinterventions due to involvement of the margins. Material and methods: We reviewed 600 patients divided into 300 patients with preoperative MRI (series 1) and 300 without preoperative MRI (series 2). We recorded the following variables: age, menopausal status, tumor size on pathological examination, multiplicity and bilaterality, surgical treatment and type of treatment, the administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and reintervention for involved margins. We used Student's t-test and the chi-square test to compare the variables between the two series. Results: The mean age of patients in the two series was similar (51.5 and 51.8 years, P=0.71). The mean size of the tumor was smaller in series 1 (16.9 mm vs 22.3 mm) (P<.001). More multiple tumors were detected in series 1 (28.7 vs 15.7%) (P<.001). The rate of mastectomies was lower in series 1 (25 vs 48%) (P<.001). Oncoplastic and bilateral surgeries were performed only in series 1. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was administered more often in series 1 (30.7 vs 9.3%) (P<.001). The difference in the number of reinterventions for involved margins did not reach significance (7.2% in series 1 vs 3.2% in series 2) (P=.095). Conclusion: When MRI was used for staging, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and oncoplastic surgery were used more often and the mastectomy rate decreased. Despite the increase in conservative surgery in patients staged with MRI, the number of reinterventions for involved margins did not increase, although there was a trend towards significance