Abstract
The use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) for the treatment of primary breast cancer has constantly increased, especially in trials of new therapeutic regimens. In the 1980 s, NST was shown to substantially improve breast-conserving surgery rates and was first typically used for patients with inoperable locally advanced or inflammatory breast cancer. Investigators have since also used NST as an in vivo test for chemosensitivity by assessing pathologic complete response. Today, by using pathologic response and other biomarkers as intermediate end points, results from trials of new regimens and therapies that use NST are aimed to precede and anticipate the results from larger adjuvant trials. In 2003, a panel of representatives from various breast cancer clinical research groups was first convened in Biedenkopf to formulate recommendations on the use of NST. The obtained consensus was updated in two subsequent meetings in 2004 and 2006. The most recent conference on recommendations on the use of NST took place in 2010 and forms the basis of this report.
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Acknowledgment
We thank the independent BANSS Foundation, Biedenkopf, Germany, for financial support, and the GBG GmbH, Neu Isenburg, Germany for logistical support of the meeting. All members of the panel had input in the discussion and formulation of the article. This consensus symposium received financial support from the BANSS Foundation, a nonprofit body based in Biedenkopf an der Lahn, Germany. Both the symposium and the preparation of this article was conducted independent of the pharmaceutical industry. The report was drafted in its entirety by the meeting participants without any paid assistance.
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Kaufmann, M., von Minckwitz, G., Mamounas, E.P. et al. Recommendations from an International Consensus Conference on the Current Status and Future of Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy in Primary Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol 19, 1508–1516 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-011-2108-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-011-2108-2