Hongchao Pan, PhD, on an Update on 5 Years of Endocrine Therapy for Early Breast Cancer
2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Hongchao Pan, PhD, of the University of Oxford, discusses an analysis of 86,000 women in the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group database, which showed that the risk of distant recurrence 20 years after a diagnosis of node-negative, estrogen receptor–negative early-stage breast cancer in women who discontinued endocrine therapy at 5 years is likely to be about a third lower now than in his group’s previous report (Abstract GS2-04).
Ralph R. Weichselbaum, MD, of the University of Chicago, summarizes a plenary lecture in which he presented data that could guide future clinical strategies: studies supporting the basis and classification of oligometastatic disease, including breast cancer; and basic and clinical data on radioimmunotherapy (Abstract PL2).
Madeleine M.A. Tilanus-Linthorst, MD, PhD, of Erasmus University, reports data from the first randomized trial comparing MRI breast cancer screening with mammography in women with a familial risk. Because MRI screening detected cancer at an earlier stage, it might reduce the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and decrease breast cancer–related mortality (Abstract GS4-07).
Icro Meattini, MD, of the University of Florence, discusses study findings that showed the less-invasive partial-breast irradiation using intensity-modulated radiotherapy after surgery may be an acceptable choice for patients with early breast cancer, as it is cost-effective, safe, and efficacious when compared with whole-breast irradiation (Abstract GS4-06).
Joseph Sparano, MD, of the Montefiore Medical Center, discusses three challenges:
- How can gene-expression profiles and other diagnostic tests be used to guide the use of adjuvant systemic therapy?
- Is it time to reappraise active surveillance?
- Are there diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that can identify tumors at highest risk of metastasis, and novel therapies that can block the spread of disease?
Miguel Martín, MD, PhD, of the Gregorio Marañón Institute and GEICAM, discusses phase III study findings that showed no improvement in progression-free survival with palbociclib plus endocrine therapy vs capecitabine in patients with hormone receptor–positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer whose disease progressed on aromatase inhibitors—although the drug combination was generally better tolerated than capecitabine (Abstract GS2-07).
