This trial is evaluating whether pertuzumab will improve 3 primary outcomes and 6 secondary outcomes in patients with Breast Cancer. Measurement will happen over the course of Up to 18 weeks (time of definitive surgery).
This trial requires 65 total participants across 2 different treatment groups
This trial involves 2 different treatments. Pertuzumab is the primary treatment being studied. Participants will all receive the same treatment. There is no placebo group. The treatments being tested are in Phase 2 and have already been tested with other people.
The physical signs of [breast cancer](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/breast-cancer) could be localized or systemic. The presence of a mass suggests local cancer involvement. Breast cancer can be associated with malaise, anorexia, weight loss, nipple deformity, and a new malaise. More alarming signs of systemic cancer involvement include a palpable mass, lymphedema, skin atrophy, and hepatomegaly.
The American Cancer Society predicts that 1 in 2 American women will be diagnosed with [breast cancer](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/breast-cancer). Additionally, the American Cancer Society estimates approximately 300 new diagnoses of breast cancer will be made in 2012.\n
The cure rate for breast cancer remains very low (28) for women without node metastases. The cure rate is about 45% for women with node metastases. The use of tamoxifen decreases the possibility of recurrence in a large group of women with node metastases and tamoxifen may help these women have fewer recurrences.
There is a high level of racial variance in the distribution of breast cancer incidence in the USA, with Hispanics having the highest rates, and this is due to different disease stage at diagnosis.
A number of medications are used for [breast cancer](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/breast-cancer), including: hormone therapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and trastuzumab. The best treatment depends on the size of the tumor, overall condition, and general health of the patient. It is important to take into consideration that patients may benefit from psychological therapies and that they also need information about the treatment in order to take full advantage of it. Cancer can have a profound effect on patients and their families' lives. It is important that patients need to know that their cancer is being treated and what treatment is going to be provided in the future while still looking forward to recovery.
There are many factors at the cellular level that confer a greater likelihood for cells in the mammary glands to develop [breast cancer](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/breast-cancer). They include altered gene expression, mutated oncogenes and loss of tumor-suppressor genes, including the p53 gene. Although smoking is well established as being responsible for several types of cancers, we currently lack sufficient data to establish whether this is also the case for breast cancer. Clearly, more research is required to adequately confirm its association with breast cancer. However, it is also clear that a large percentage of breast cancer cases may be prevented by eliminating breast cancer risk factors.
Pertuzumab has the most frequent side effects (in more than 80% of patients) of all agents, although more common with higher doses, and these effects are manageable with appropriate medication. The most common in women with HER-2/neu-overexpressing breast cancer in Phase II and III clinical trials were the following:\n- Anemia (20%), usually transient, mild to moderate\n- Alopecia is the most common type of hair loss, but usually less severe than in anti-epidermal growth factor-2 (EGFR) agents such as erlotinib.
Although familial breast cancer may have an important genetic basis, the proportion of families with a documented mutation is low, suggesting that further genetic investigations to discover new tumor-suppressor genes are urgently needed.
Pertuzumab may induce a clinical benefit in HER2-positive breast cancer when taken with trastuzumab. Pertuzumab and trastuzumab could combination potentially serve as a safe and effective therapy in the patients previously treated with taxane chemotherapy. Patients with residual disease after a taxane based therapy (e.g. anthracycline or combinations) might be eligible for PERT in combination with trastuzumab (TRAC-P, NCT01385089).
We found that more than half of breast cancer patients develop axillary disease and half develop this disease within 10 years of diagnosis. The time interval between tumor detection and axillary pathology (median interval 11 months) has been shortened in recent years. Because this may be indicative of decreasing rates of sentinel node biopsy, the time to axillary metastatic disease may be underestimated. Prospective validation of current staging system is important because it may enhance prognostication and treatment approaches.
Women who are older than 50 have a higher mortality than women who have their first diagnosis of breast cancer before age 50. The average age women develop breast cancer in the United States is 47 years. The highest rate of breast cancer occurs in African American women (49.9 years; 95% CI, 47.1-51.9 years) and white women (49.4 years; 95% CI, 46.9-52.8 years) diagnosed before age 50; by age 70, almost three quarters (75.8%) survived to age 90 of that year. Most women (88%) survived for at least five years with their disease.
These data provide evidence to support genetic and environmental factors for breast cancer causation and also to propose the effects of hormones on disease risk. While the exact mechanism of breast cancer growth and progression are not fully understood, research in this field has advanced over the last two decades, and there is now convincing evidence that many breast cancers are caused by genetic mutations or by environmental exposure to various toxins and hormones. The current debate in the medical literature is concerned with the risk factors for the development of breast cancer and its prevention and treatment. In the United States, approximately 1 in every 8 women will develop the disease during their lifetime, and women are twice as likely to develop breast cancer on the left as on the right.