Prof Maria Cardoso talks to ecancer about her talk at BGICC 2022: The optimal approach after neoadjuvant treatment: The Lucerne toolbox.

She begins by explaining the Lucerne Toolbox and how it allows for better ways to approach surgery after neoadjuvant treatment. She says the purpose of the toolbox is related to the fact that although we know that neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy in breast cancer have the same overall survival, with more patients with complete pathological responses, we still don't have this translation for surgery and there are still too many mastectomies after neoadjuvant treatment.

Prof Cardoso then goes on to explain that the toolbox has been divided into several work packages that are directed to different phases of treatment. Those include diagnosis, before treatment, during treatment, after treatment, and evaluating results.

She concludes by saying that for surgeons that treat patients who go through neoadjuvant treatment, this paper is one of the most needed to have come out in the last year and urges everybody to read it.

Read the full paper here