BJMO - 2024, issue 4, june 2024
K. Punie MD, G. Jerusalem MD, PhD, I. Deleu MD, A. Gombos MD, T. Feys MBA, MSc, F.P. Duhoux MD, PhD
HER2 overexpression has been a therapeutic target in breast cancer (BC) for many years and the development of anti-HER2 therapies has markedly improved the outcome of patients exhibiting high levels of HER2 expression. In this, the HER2 status of patients was traditionally defined in a binary fashion, in which patients with high levels of HER2 expression were classified as HER2-positive, while all the rest were denominated as HER2-negative. Despite being classified as HER2-negative; the majority of these BCs do express some level of HER2. Until recently, however, these low levels of HER2 expression did not have any therapeutic implications. This has changed with the publication of the DESTINY-Breast04 (DB-04) study in which trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) was shown to significantly improve the progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with HER2-low metastatic BC. These findings require a recalibration of the treatment paradigm for patients with advanced BC. Furthermore, the increased interest in HER2-low BC led to questions on the biology, epidemiology, heterogeneity, and prognostic relevance of HER2-low disease and confronts physicians with the challenge of incorporating the treatment of HER2-low disease in the rapidly evolving treatment landscape for patients with hormone-receptor-positive (HR+) and triple-negative BC (TNBC).
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2024;18(4):141–51)
Read moreBJMO - volume 10, issue 2, april 2016
B. Dekeyser MD, M. Haagdorens MD, I. Deleu MD, E. Van Hul MD, E. Beerens MD, D. Van der Planken MD, K. Hendrickx MD, L. Verstraeten MD, Y. Geussens MD, W. Lybaert MD
A 54-year old man presented with a new-onset headache, phonophobia, tinnitus, blurred vision, and nausea. Further imaging and histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of an olfactory neuroblastoma. Olfactory neuroblastoma or esthesioneuroblastoma is a rare type of cancer, originating from the basal stem cells of the olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity. The patient received a maximal possible surgical resection of the tumour, followed by adjuvant chemo-irradiation. Given the absence of neck metastases, no prophylactic treatment of the neck was done. Recent studies state that standard treatment of esthe-sioneuroblastoma consists of surgical resection, followed by local radiotherapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended for the locally advanced tumours. As for the treatment of the neck, current consensus is to perform salvage therapy when neck metastases are present.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2016;10(2):69–72)
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