5 groundbreaking developments that has revolutionized the management of breast cancer.

1. First up, recent advances in breast cancer surgery, Breast Conservation Surgery for early breast cancer and whole breast reconstruction after mastectomy – More patients are opting for BCS and reconstruction, which means they can maintain their breast’s appearance and feel psychologically comfortable post-treatment. The best part? There’s no compromise on safety!
2. Next is Sentinel lymph node biopsy: This procedure is performed when there are no detectable lymph nodes in the axilla at presentation. By identifying and removing the initial level axillary lymph nodes for biopsy, we can avoid removing higher-level nodes if they’re negative. This significantly reduces the risk of lymphedema, or arm swelling. Sentinel lymph node biopsy can be performed with both mastectomy and breast conservation surgery.
3. Next is Avoiding Chemotherapy in low-risk stage I breast cancer: Did you know that chemotherapy can be avoided in certain low-risk Stage I breast cancer cases? For tumors that are <2cm, which are low grade, strongly hormone receptor positive and lymph node negative are candidates for avoiding chemotherapy. In these cases, breast cancer recurrence scores are available for deciding on need of chemotherapy. These tests include Oncotype Dx, Endopredict, mammprint and CanAssist. If recurrence risk is low on these tests that chemotherapy can be avoided. Even in triple negative breast cancers that are <0.5cm, chemotherapy can be avoided on individual basis.
4. Radiotherapy is getting shorter with Accelerated partial breast irradiation which reduces the duration of radiation therapy to 5-7 days. It can be planned along with the surgery and radiation got complete in the time while patient is recovering from surgery. Carefully selected patients include those >60 years, Hormone receptor positive, low grade and no involved axillary lymph nodes.
5. Fifth include perioperative interventions: Single depot injection of progesterone before surgery and injecting local anesthesia all around cancer lump just before removal. Depot progesterone injection before surgery is not universally followed but it has shown advantage of 10% in lymph node positive operable breast cancer in published study. Similary local anaesthesia injection all around the cancer lump before removal resulted in around 4% improvement in survival and is cost effective method.

These emerging technologies not only enhance cancer control but also improve the quality of life for patients. If you or someone you know is facing breast cancer, be sure to discuss these options with your healthcare provider.