Breast Cancer News Quiz

What clinical risk factor has been found to be most prevalent for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women? What population sees a benefit of oophorectomy for preventing breast cancer? Test your knowledge in our latest quiz.

Question 1:

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The correct answer is: B. BRCA2 mutation carriers

A recent study of 350 newly diagnosed breast cancers in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation found that “oophorectomy was not associated with breast cancer risk compared with women who did not undergo an oophorectomy,” the authors reported. However, a stratified analysis found “the effect of oophorectomy was statistically significant for breast cancer in BRCA2 mutation carriers diagnosed prior to age 50.”

Question 2:

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The correct answer is: A. Lower risk

In a study presented at the European Cancer Congress 2017, investigators reported that “DCIS patients had lower risk of dying of all causes combined compared to the general population and seem to represent a generally healthy subgroup. The absolute risk of breast cancer death was low at 3.9% for 15 years. The risk of dying from breast cancer among women treated for DCIS alone was only slightly higher than that in the general population. These results suggest that a history of primary DCIS has no negative effect on overall survival.”

Question 3:

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The correct answer is: D. HR-positive/HER2-negative, HER2-positive, and triple-negative

The study, conducted at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, found that “continuous RCB index was prognostic within each phenotypic subset, independent of other clinical-pathologic variables.” RCB class was used to estimate 10-year relapse-free survival rates for each phenotypic subset. For HR-positive/HER2-negative patients the rates for the four RCB classes (pathologic complete response, RCB-I, RCB-II, and RCB-III) were 83%, 97%, 74%, and 52%, respectively; for HER2-positive patients, the rates were 95%, 77%, 47%, and 21%; and for triple-negative disease patients, they were 86%, 81%, 55%, and 23%, respectively. The study authors recommend external validation of these institutional findings.

Question 4:

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The correct answer is: B. Breast density

Breast density had the largest effect on the population-attributable risk proportion for breast cancer. The study found that 39.3% of premenopausal and 26.2% of postmenopausal breast cancers “could potentially be averted if all women with heterogeneously or extremely dense breasts shifted to scattered fibroglandular breast density.”

Question 5:

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The correct answer is: D. 17%

The study also showed that overall, 14% of total postmenopausal breast cancer was attributable to weight gain of more than 5 kg since age 18.