Cancer – Breast – Page 4 – OncWonk – Dr Bier's Oncology Research Reviews

Digital infrared thermal imaging (DITI) of breast lesions: sensitivity and specificity of detection of primary breast cancers

December 13, 2025

| Cancer - Breast, Mammography - Mammogram, Screening

Comment: Although the concept of thermograph sounds great, the results are not. A fundamental conflict exists between the “health halo” surrounding digital thermography and the reality of the outcomes. Proponents argue that DITI can identify early metabolic shifts, yet the data confirms that it fails at the most basic requirement of a screening tool: identification of […]

Hyperglycemia and Chemoresistance in Breast Cancer: From Cellular Mechanisms to Treatment Response

December 9, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast, Cancers, Chemotherapy

Comment: A solid, though non-systematic, review that effectively compiles preclinical evidence showing how hyperglycemia drives chemoresistance via metabolic reprogramming (the Warburg effect). Crucially, it reminds us that aggressive glycemic control is a clinically relevant intervention. The Wonk Debate – Audio Critique & Clinical Commentary: Summary: Clinical Bottom Line This narrative review synthesizes preclinical and clinical […]

Hyperglycemia during Adjuvant Chemotherapy as a Prognostic Factor in Breast Cancer Patients without Diabetes

December 9, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast, Cancers, Chemotherapy

Comment: This study again reinforces that we need to view blood sugar through the lens of oncologic outcome. Hyperglycemia is a driver of cancer recurrence, so modulating sugar intake during chemotherapy is a low-toxicity, low-cost strategy that somehow is still controversial despite all the research supporting it. Since sugar consumption is the primary lever for […]

Metformin for the treatment of breast cancer: a scoping review of randomized clinical trials

December 6, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast

Comment: This review maps the landscape of metformin trials and ultimately highlights the lack of evidence for its routine use. Only one trial (NCIC CTG MA.32) showed a survival benefit, and strictly within the HER2+ subgroup. Critically, the review lacks a risk-of-bias assessment, complicating the interpretation of smaller ‘positive’ studies. Furthermore, the largest trial reported […]

Standard-dose vs fixed-dose capecitabine in patients with advanced gastrointestinal and metastatic breast cancer.

December 3, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast, Cancer - Colon

Comment: With the caveat that this is an abstract and not the full study, this trial is a crucial validation of the “less is more” principle that come up frequently. The significant improvement in Time to Treatment Failure (TTF) with the Fixed-Dose (7/7) schedule confirms what proponents of metronomic chemotherapy have argued for years: the […]

Radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery for elderly patients with early-stage breast cancer: A national registry-based study

December 1, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast, Mastectomy-Lumpectomy, Radiation Therapy

Comment: This study complicates the de-escalation narrative we see surrounding radiation for breast cancer. While randomized trials have proven we can omit radiation in low-risk settings, this data suggests that ‘real-world’ safety may be lower than trial safety. This may be because the registry included patients with higher tumor burdens (up to T2/N1) and unmeasured […]

Actigraphy-measured sleep disruption as a predictor of survival among women with advanced breast cancer

November 28, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast, Sleep

Comment: This is a study I go back to again and again as it’s well designed and demonstrates how important quality sleep is not just for quality of life, but for a significant improvement in overall survival.We have many tools to help with sleep, including reminding people of the importance of it. This study highlights […]

Soy Isoflavones and Breast Cancer Risk: A Meta-analysis

November 26, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast

Comment: This meta-analysis offers another powerful, data-driven affirmation of what the most up-to-date research has been telling us: consuming soy isoflavones is safe, and may even be protective, for women concerned about breast cancer. The narrative around soy has been dominated by mechanistic concerns and rodent studies instead of a focus on human data. Current […]

Association Between Precautionary Behaviors and Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema in Patients Undergoing Bilateral Surgery

November 25, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast, Mastectomy-Lumpectomy

Comment: This study offers yet more reassuring data to challenge the long-held mythology surrounding lymphedema precautions. For years, the conventional wisdom has dictated a strict avoidance of blood pressure cuffs, blood draws, and injections in the at-risk arm. However, this rigorous prospective analysis confirms what many clinicians have suspected: routine, necessary medical procedures are not […]

Receptor Conversion in Distant Breast Cancer Metastases: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

November 23, 2025

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| Cancer - Breast

Comment:⚠️ This systematic review and meta-analysis consolidates the global data, providing moderate certainty evidence that the receptor status of a breast cancer is far from static. The findings confirm that the tumor we treat at the metastatic stage is often biologically different from the primary tumor excised years earlier. The high conversion rates are not […]