Join Ingrid Mayer, MD, and Ingrid Meszoely, MD, as they present their multidisciplinary expertise on a range of cases pertaining to Breast Cancer - Advanced Disease.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American women. The American Cancer Society estimates that 235,030 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,430 will die of the disease in the United States in 2014.

Patients with metastatic breast cancer consist of a heterogeneous group whose clinical outcome varies depending on tumor factors, such as hormone-receptor and HER2 status and other factors, such as comorbidity and age, and anatomical site of disease. All patients with metastatic breast cancer receive systemic therapy. In certain circumstances, treatment may also involve surgery or radiation. Systemic therapy includes the use of endocrine therapy, chemotherapy, and/or HER-2 targeted therapy. Better understanding of the metastatic pathway in breast cancer has led to development and approval of several new systemic therapy agents in this setting such as everolimus, pertuzumab, and ado-trastuzumab emantansine.

Based on the drug new approvals and emerging clinical trial data, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines for Breast Cancer  have included new recommendations for patients with HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer.

Selecting the optimal systemic therapy depends on the tumor burden, patient symptoms, and several other clinical factors. It is important to help clinicians understand the available and emerging clinical data and apply these in selecting the most efficient treatment strategy for patients with metastatic breast cancer of specific tumor types.