Staging and Management of Breast Carcinoma
摘要
Breast cancer may be sporadic or familial. Familial breast cancer is associated with BRCA mutation. Most commonly, breast cancer presents with a lump. Triple assessment (clinical, radiological, and tissue diagnosis) is the main diagnostic modality. Breast cancer is staged as per eighth edition of the AJCC TNM staging system. The molecular classification is based on ER, PR, and Her 2 neu status. Broadly, breast cancers are categorized into early breast cancer (EBC), locally advanced breast cancer (LABC), and metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Surgery is the main treatment modality for EBC and LABC. In EBC, upfront surgery is preferred either MRM or BCS depending upon the various patient and tumor factors. For all BCS, postoperative radiotherapy is mandatory, whereas adjuvant chemotherapy is given in all patients with a tumor size more than 1 cm. For LABC, initial treatment of choice is systemic therapy, followed by BCS or MRM. PORT is given to all patients with LABC. All hormone receptor-positive patients should be treated with tamoxifen for 10 years irrespective of menopausal status. But aromatase inhibitors are given in hormone receptor-positive postmenopausal women. In any patients with TNBC subtype, initial treatment is NACT followed by surgery. Similarly for HER 2-positive patients, NACT is the preferred initial treatment modality, followed by surgery. After completion of treatment, every patient should be followed up 3 months for 2 years, then 6 months for next 3 years, and yearly thereafter. The follow-up should be lifelong. Evaluation of the treated breast (in case of BCS) and the opposite breast should be done with yearly mammogram.