J. De Grève MD, PhD

Highlights in Oncology 2012

Summary

2012 has been a rich year in progress on cancer care. Many studies highlighted this year capitalised on the growing insight into the complexity of cancer to develop sophisticated treatment approaches, including combinations of targeted drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers and expanded use of targeted drugs to multiple forms of cancer sharing the same genetic alteration. This article is based on the clinical cancer advances 2012 article published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and lists the most important advances made in the different fields of oncology that are most likely to impact daily clinical practice.¹

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7:10–14)

Concerning a previously published Introduction

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7:3-7)

The changing role of the axillary dissection in the treatment of breast cancer

The aim of this article is to highlight the recent changes in the surgical approach of the axilla in breast cancer patients. Axillary staging is dominated by the sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy, which is now widely practiced in clinically node negative patients. Most authors believe a SLN biopsy may even be performed in patients with a large or multifocal tumour, before neo-adjuvant systemic therapy, during pregnancy, after prior excisional biopsy and after prior mantle field radiotherapy of the breast. Intra-operative assessment of the SLN is recommended as it can identify half of all positive lymph nodes. It is generally accepted that it is safe to omit an axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in patients with a negative SLN or with only isolated tumour cells (<0.2 mm) in the SLN. Moreover, in a subset of patients with a micro-/macrometastasis in the SLN it might not be necessary to perform a completion of ALND. We suggest to accept the option of omitting completion of ALND in frail patients with a positive sentinel lymph node on final pathology OR in these patients with, on final pathology, one or two positive SLNs AND a grade I or II tumour smaller than 4 cm AND adjuvant radiotherapy on the whole breast or chest wall. In conclusion, an increasingly tailored surgical approach is guiding the management of the axilla for women with early breast cancer. (BELG J MED ONCOL 2012;6:87–95)

The 34th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

From the 6^th – 10^th of December, San Antonio, TX was again transformed into the world’s capital in the fight against breast cancer. The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) were the joint organisers of this 34^th edition of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. This year’s meeting attracted nearly 8,000 participants from over 90 countries and again proved to be the number 1 breast cancer meeting in the world. This report does not aim to summarise the entire meeting but aims at discussing the highlights of the meeting. (BELG J MED ONCOL 2011;6:73–76)

Highlights in Oncology 2011

2011 has been a rich year in progress on cancer care. Items already mentioned last year have been confirmed in full papers and are entering daily clinical practice. This article summarises the highlights in oncology of the past year.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2012;6:38–41)

Highlights in Oncology 2011

2011 has been a rich year in progress on cancer care. Items already mentioned last year have been confirmed in full papers and are entering daily clinical practice. This article summarises the highlights in oncology of the past year.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2012;6:38–41)