Medical Sciences Commons^™

The Molecular Landscape Of Early-Stage Breast Cancer With Lymph Node Metastasis, Farhad Ghasemi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Axillary lymph nodes (ALNs) are the primary site of metastasis in breast cancer, and their involvement has implications in disease staging, prognostication, and treatment decisions. A non-invasive modality of assessing the risk of ALN metastasis can improve care in patients with early-stage breast cancer by omitting the morbidity and costs associated with axillary surgery.

This thesis explores the molecular landscape of early-stage breast cancers with ALN metastasis and shows the potential of tumour molecular signatures in predicting ALN involvement. After a systematic review of the literature, we use data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to develop molecular signatures correlated …

Prenatal Care Providers’ Experience With Pre-Test Counselling For Nipt In Ontario: Counselling Challenges And Support Required, Leichelle A. Little

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) is a prenatal test that has experienced unprecedented commercial development and transformed prenatal care. The Ontario Ministry of Health presently funds NIPT as a first-tier prenatal screening option for high-risk singleton pregnancies and all twin pregnancies. Individuals who do not qualify for public funding or would like to screen for additional conditions can pay for NIPT privately, starting at approximately $495-$550 (CA) for baseline panels. Prenatal care providers such as family physicians, maternal-fetal-medicine specialists, obstetrician-gynaecologists, residents, midwives and registered nurses have an increasingly important role in offering NIPT in Ontario. Although these healthcare professionals do not …