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Background: Ultrasound is more widely used than mammography for early diagnosis of breast cancer in China as most Chinese women have small and dense mammary glands. This study compared the diagnostic performance of ultrasound and mammography for breast cancer among Chinese women with suspected breast lesions. Methods: From November 2019 to November 2021, we compared the results of ultrasound and mammography for breast lesion diagnosis in 2737 consecutive participants with suspected breast lesions; all patients underwent biopsies. We measured the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy separately. Results: Among the 2737 participants, 2844 breast lesions were detected, including 1935 (68.0%) breast cancers and 909 (32.0%) benign lesions. Of the breast cancers, ultrasound detected 1851 (95.7%), whereas mammography detected 1527 (78.9%). The sensitivity of ultrasound for breast cancer diagnosis was significantly higher than that of mammography (95.7% vs. 78.9%, p < 0.001), whereas the specificity was significantly lower than that of mammography (42.9% vs. 62.3%, p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic curves revealed that ultrasound was more accurate in detecting breast cancer than mammography (76.8% vs. 71.3%, p < 0.001). Age, body mass index, and breast density did not influence ultrasound sensitivity and accuracy. Conclusions: Ultrasound is more sensitive and accurate than mammography and detects more breast cancers with a lower specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The de-escalation treatment in patients with low-risk HER2-positive early breast cancer (eBC) is an attractive strategy to avoid unnecessary treatment and improve the quality of life of patients. Pyrotinib, a novel irreversible pan-HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), has shown efficacy in patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. Meanwhile, nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel reveals survival benefit over solvent-based paclitaxel and eliminates the toxicities associated with the solvent. However, the efficacy and safety of pyrotinib in combination with nab-paclitaxel as adjuvant therapy for low-risk HER2 + eBC patients have not been evaluated.Methods: This is a multicenter, open-label, single-arm phase II study. A sample size of 261 patients with tumor ≤ 3 cm, lymph node-negative (N0) or micrometastatic (N1mi), HER2 + breast cancer will be recruited. Eligible patients will receive nab-paclitaxel 260 mg/m2 once every 3 weeks for 12 weeks and pyrotinib 400 mg once daily for one year. The primary endpoint is invasive disease-free survival. A sub-study will be conducted to investigate different prophylactic strategies for diarrhea, which is the most common adverse event of pan-HER TKIs. One hundred and twenty patients from the main study will be randomly (1:1) allocated to receive loperamide either during the first cycle (4 mg tid on days 1-7, then 4 mg bid on days 8-21) or the first 2 cycles (4 mg tid on days 1-7, then 4 mg bid on days 8-42). The primary endpoint of the sub-study is the incidence of grade ≥ 3 diarrhea.Discussion: This is the first prospective study of pyrotinib in combination with nab-paclitaxel as adjuvant therapy for patients with low-risk HER2-positive eBC. It would probably provide robust evidence for de-escalating strategy of HER2-positive eBC and appropriate management for pyrotinib-related diarrhea.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04659499 . Registered on December 9, 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: HER2 dual-blockade combined with aromatase inhibitors (AI) is a promising strategy to improve progression-free survival (PFS) in hormone receptor (HR) positive, metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Pyrotinib is a novel irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor/HER2 dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor. However, there is scarcity of data on the effectiveness and safety of pyrotinib combined with trastuzumab and AI as first-line treatment in a metastatic setting.Methods/design: The present study is a prospective, randomized, open-label trial. 198 patients with HER2+/HR+ MBC will be recruited. Eligible patients will be allocated (2:1) to either an experimental group (pyrotinib + trastuzumab + AI) or a control group (trastuzumab + AI). Allocation will be stratified by 1) time since adjuvant hormone therapy (≤ 12 months/> 12 months/no prior hormone therapy); 2) lesion sites (visceral / non-visceral). The primary endpoint is PFS.Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective randomized controlled trial to assess dual HER2-blockade with pyrotinib in the metastatic setting. This study will provide valuable evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of pyrotinib when combined with trastuzumab and an AI as first-line treatment for MBC. Moreover, it will also evaluate the feasibility of endocrine therapy as an alternative to chemotherapy in providing de-escalation therapy with less toxicity for advanced HR+/HER2+ patients.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT03910712 . Registered on 10 Apr. 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed at evaluating the quality and readability of online information about breast cancer written in Chinese.Methods: An Internet search was conducted for "breast cancer" in Chinese using the Baidu search engine. Website quality was evaluated using the DISCERN instrument, and readability was evaluated using the Chinese Readability Index Explorer (CRIE). Higher DISCERN score indicated higher quality of websites, while higher CRIE score indicated lower readability of the content of the websites. We also investigated the effects of website producer category, and the associations of search engine ranking with DISCERN and CRIE scores.Results: A total of 49 websites were included. The mean overall DISCERN score was 50.27 ± 4.14, and the mean CRIE score was 6.78 ± 0.16. Websites produced by non-profit organizations had the highest overall DISCERN scores, while those produced by private individuals had the lowest CRIE scores. Search engine ranking had no significant correlation with website quality or readability.Conclusions: The quality and readability of breast cancer websites in Chinese were not satisfactory, and they varied among different website producer categories.Practice Implications: Website producers should seek to provide more accurate, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand information to better meet the needs of breast cancer patients. In addition, search engines should revise algorithms to promote websites with higher quality and accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]