Dr. King on Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer

Tari King, MD, FACS, chief of Breast Surgery, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham Womens Cancer Center, discusses the role of a multidisciplinary team when considering neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for patients with breast cancer.

King says it is important to understand treatment is very multidisciplinary now, and all members of the team should be involved with decisions upfront. If a patient is considered for NAC, the breast surgeon should determine if that patient will be a candidate for breast conservation before and after treatment. A clip should also be based in the tumor to later identify the tumor bed during treatment, King notes.

Additionally, there needs to be an assessment of the clinical node status, whether the nodes be positive or negative. Imaging must also be done both before and after treatment, using high-quality imaging techniques. All of this will impact surgical recommendations at the completion of NAC, King says. All members of the multidisciplinary team must work together from the beginning to best take advantage of the different areas of expertise, as well as optimize loco regional outcomes for patients with breast cancer.

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