Ian Krop, MD, PhD, outlines his institution’s approach to utilizing neoadjuvant therapy in patients with HER2+ early breast cancer.

Neoadjuvant Treatment Options in HER2+ Early Breast Cancer

Video content above is prompted by the following question(s):

Please discuss your general approach to using neoadjuvant therapy to escalate or deescalate therapy for patients?

Videos

Ian Krop, MD, PhD, outlines his institution’s approach to utilizing neoadjuvant therapy in patients with HER2+ early breast cancer, and Melinda Telli, MD, discusses the role of surgery.

A panel of experts on breast cancer provide insights on challenges encountered during the diagnosis of HER2+ early breast cancer.

Challenges in Diagnosing HER2+ Breast Cancer

Video content above is prompted by the following question:

What are some of the challenges you face in diagnosing HER2+ early breast cancer?

A panel of experts on breast cancer provide insights on challenges encountered during the diagnosis of HER2+ early breast cancer and discuss the role of immunohistochemistry and FISH testing.

Kandace McGuire, MD, associate professor of Surgery, UNC Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, UNC School of Medicine, discusses refinements needed in surgery for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer during the 2016 OncLive State of the Science Summit on Metastatic Breast Cancer.

It is important to consider age and the overall health of a patient when deciding whether surgery is an optimal treatment option, McGuire explains. Additionally, for many years, palliative surgery has been offered to patients. This is an option for patients whose primary tumor site is painful or otherwise uncomfortable for them.

However, more aggressive surgical approaches need to be conducted on patients for whom researchers believe could have a survival benefit from it. This includes breast surgery, axillary surgery, and radiation therapy. 

However, there is also a subset of patients who may benefit from less surgery or no surgery at all. There may come a time where there may be a risk stratification device that could guide practitioners in which surgical approach is best for individual patients. Therefore, more clinical trials need to be conducted to see who will benefit from which technique.

Dr. McGuire on Refinements Needed in Breast Cancer Surgery

Kandace McGuire, MD, associate professor of Surgery, UNC Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, UNC School of Medicine, discusses the evolving role of surgery in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer during the 2016 

 State of the Science Summit on Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Surgery has evolved over the past decade quite a bit, McGuire explains. Debulking surgeries were found to be associated with improvements in survival in patients with other tumor types, leading researchers to believe the same could potentially be thought in breast cancer. Therefore, retrospective studies showed these survival benefits and that patients who responded well to their systemic treatments could then be eligible candidates for surgery.

However, results of prospective studies showed that there was no difference in survival outcomes in patients who underwent debulking surgery versus those who did not. Today, surgical oncologists are putting careful thought into which patients are most appropriate to have surgery.

Kandace McGuire, MD, associate professor of Surgery, UNC Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology, UNC School of Medicine, discusses the evolving role of surgery in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Kandace McGuire, MD

Articles

Neoadjuvant Treatment Options in HER2+ Early Breast Cancer

Challenges in Diagnosing HER2+ Breast Cancer

Dr. McGuire on Refinements Needed in Breast Cancer Surgery

Dr. McGuire on Evolving Role of Surgery in Metastatic Breast Cancer