Breast cancer in young women - Special Issue

Breast cancer arising at a young age is particularly challenging and is considered one of the hot topics in breast cancer nowadays. This is owing to its aggressive nature and unique biology, which is in direct challenge with the needs of these women, not only for long-term survival but also for adequate quality of life including fertility, sexuality, bone health, cognitive function and many others.

In recent years, there have been considerable amount of research dealing with breast cancer arising in young women. This includes discoveries that the biology of the disease appears to be different and enriched with aggressive breast cancer subtypes and also unique biological processes. In addition, long awaited researches on the duration of hormonal therapy and potential role of bisphosphonates in the adjuvant setting have been published. Controversies and challenges related to managing breast cancer during pregnancy have been addressed by a series of large cohort studies and registries have been revealed. Also, the long awaited question of safety of pregnancy following breast cancer diagnosis has been addressed in recent published work as well. All these hot issues and others are going to be the focus of this special issue of the Journal of Thoracic Diseases on breast cancer in young women. This special issue discusses topics related to epidemiology, prognosis, and biology in addition to open questions regarding adjuvant hormonal therapy and bisphosphonates. Furthermore, there are dedicated articles related to the issue of pregnancy and breast cancer, sexuality issues and also the important role of genetic counseling. Authored by experts in the field, we believe these articles would serve as a very important resource on this very challenging disease.

Here is a list of articles that is included in this special issue, with their respective authors:

❖ Breast cancer in young women - Special Issue
Hatem A. Azim Jr, Fedro A. Peccatori

❖ Epidemiology and prognosis of breast cancer in young women
Hussein A. Assi1, Katia E. Khoury, Haifa Dbouk, Lana E. Khalil, Tarek H. Mouhieddine, Nagi S. El Saghir

❖ Breast Imaging in the Young: the Role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Breast Cancer Screening, Diagnosis and Follow-up
Dorria Saleh Salem, Rasha Mohamed Kamal, Sahar M Mansour, Lamiaa Adel Salah, Rasha Wessam

❖ Breast cancer in the young: role of the geneticist
Ashley H. Woodson, Jessica L. Profato, Jennifer K. Litton, Kimberly I. Muse

❖ Bisphosphonates In The Adjuvant Treatment Of Young Women With Breast Cancer: the Estrogen Rich Is A Poor Candidate!
Hamdy A. Azim, Nermine S. Kamal, Rafaat A. Malak

❖ Hormonal therapies in young breast cancer patients: when, what and for how long?
Alexandre Christinat, Simona Di Lascio, Olivia Pagani

❖ Treatment of breast cancer in young women: do we need more aggressive therapies?
Giuseppe Cancello, Emilia Montagna

❖ Premature menopause in young breast cancer: effects on quality of life and possible treatment interventions
Ann H. Partridge, Shoshana Rosenberg

❖ Challenges in managing breast cancer during pregnancy
Flora Zagouri, Theodora Psaltopoulou, Constantine Dimitrakakis, Rupert Bartsch, Meletios-Athanassios Dimopoulos

❖ Fertility counseling of young breast cancer patients
Matteo Lambertini, Paola Anserini, Alessia Levaggi, Francesca Poggio, Lucia Del Mastro

❖ Sexuality and breast cancer: prime time for young patients
Ana Catarina Pinto