Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ is a large teaching hospital, one of the largest in Europe. Research and teaching help us to maintain high standards of excellence for both the patients and those trained within the hospital. Medical students can be commonly seen within the clinic setting, as part of their learning opportunities and we are grateful to you for allowing them to be involved with your consultation, however, if this makes you feel uncomfortable in anyway, please inform one of the clinic staff.
Research
The Ä¢¹½tvÊÓƵ Breast Care Unit is a large regional unit and we have several national trials running within the unit at any one time. One way to improve treatments and push the frontiers of medicine is to become involved in a clinical trial. Some trials can offer a direct benefit to you, and some trials may not directly benefit you but may help your relatives or other cancer sufferers in the future.
Who can be in a trial?
The offer of entry into a trial is done on an individual basis, taking a number of factors into account. We will provide you with information regarding specific studies that may be open to you and you will have the opportunity to talk to a specialist trials nurse to help you decide if you wish to be involved in a particular study or not. Declining the offer of entry to a trial will not influence your treatment or treatment speed in any way.
What does it involve?
All the treatments used are the same ones commonly used in the treatment of breast cancer. Â The difference a trial may have from standard treatment might for instance be a different timing of the treatment or a different technique for delivery of a treatment. Sometimes being part of a trial may require more visits to the clinic, or additional tests. Â It will never delay your treatment.
Storage of your tissue
We may ask for your permission to store your unused biopsy tissue anonymously. This will enable us to have a tissue bank of information that may be useful for further trials and potentially improve future treatments for breast cancer.
Current breast cancer trials
POETIC
Normally, if your breast cancer is receptive to the hormone oestrogen, after surgery you will be given an anti-hormone tablet to block this effect to try and reduce your risk of local and systemic (spread to the rest of the body) recurrence. If you are eligible to enter this trial, there may be the opportunity of taking this tablet 10-14 days before your operation and 14 days following surgery. This trial is only open to women who are post-menopausal. It will not alter the type or timing of your surgery, but your tumour will be looked at with this in mind, to see if taking the tablets for a short period of time before the operation has changed the microscopic appearance of the cancer in any way. The hope is to identify those patients who will get the biggest benefit from taking these tablets and those who may need an alternative treatment.
Ephos-b
This trial  is only open to women whose HER 2 receptor status is obviously positive from their initial core biopsy. Herceptin is an intravenous drug given to women who are HER 2 positive. This trial is looking at Herceptin and a similar drug called Lapatinib, (a tablet) given before the operation verses no additional pre-operative treatment. Similar to the POETIC study, there will not be any difference in the type of surgery you will be undergoing, but your tumour will be examined to determine if there have been any microscopic changes or benefit.
Neo-Excel
Normally, if your breast cancer is receptive to the hormone oestrogen, after surgery you will be given an anti-hormone tablet to block this effect to try and reduce your risk of local and systemic (spread to the rest of the body) recurrence. This trial is only open to postmenopausal women and if you are eligible for this trial you will take a 16 week course of an anti-hormone tablet, normally used in breast cancer, with the potential addition of an anti-inflammatory tablet, before you have your surgery. You would be closely monitored over the 16 weeks and there is the possibility that this trial may result in you requiring less extensive surgery than when first diagnosed if the cancer has shrunk.
Import High
Some women having post surgical radiotherapy for their breast cancer will require an additional boost. This means they have 4 weeks of radiotherapy instead of 3 weeks. There may be the opportunity to enter IMPORT High, which is a national study investigating giving boosts at the same time as the their other radiotherapy. This can reduce the number of times you have to attend for treatment.
FAST Forward
Standard breast cancer radiotherapy is given daily over 3 weeks (15 treatments) to women who have had a wide local excision to reduce the risk of local recurrence in the breast. This national trial is investigating giving treatment over one week using new techniques. You may have the opportunity to reduce the amount of treatments you need if you are eligible.
FH02
This is a national study helping to look at the frequency and age at which we undertake mammograms in younger women with a family history of breast cancer. If eligible for this study, you would start having mammograms as early as age 35 along with annual clinic appointments with examinations