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Highlights from the 15th St Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference 15–18 March, 2017, Vienna: tailored treatments for patients with early breast cancer

2017; Cancer Intelligence; Volume: 11; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3332/ecancer.2017.732

1754-6605

Consuelo Morigi,

Breast Lesions and Carcinomas

The 15th St Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference was held in Vienna for the second time, from 15th-18th March 2017.4000 people from 105 countries all over the world were invited to take part in the event.The real highlight of the conference was the last day with the International Consensus Session which was chaired by around 50 experts on breast cancer worldwide.With reference to data from scientific research, the consensus panel tried to offer guidelines for the management of breast cancer with the aim of providing patients with optimal treatment.The topics covered focused on the treatment of breast cancer, consideration of surgery, radiotherapy, neo-adjuvant, and adjuvant systemic therapy for breast cancer, as well as genetics and prevention of breast cancer.In particular, in terms of precision medicine, an important topic of the conference was 'is it possible to think that it could become routine in clinical practice to use immunotherapy and targeted therapy based on genetic signatures?'In view of personalised therapy, it is important to take into consideration women's treatment preferences.It is also important not only to offer guidelines which help breast cancer experts all over the world to choose the proper treatment for women with breast cancer but also to discuss the pros and cons of the therapy with the patient.This allows for a better understanding of the disease.'From the maximum tolerable to the minimum effective treatment: it is essential to escalate treatment when necessary and to de-escalate when unnecessary'.These few words could summarise the meaning of the 15th St Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference.