Dr. Krop on the Impact of Recent Advances in Breast Cancer

Ian E. Krop, MD, PhD, chief, Breast Oncology, Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers, clinical research director, Breast Oncology Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the impact of recent advances in breast cancer.

Receiving a cancer diagnosis is still very traumatic and disruptive to a patient, even if physicians can assure them their prognosis is bright. However, the progress that has been made in the last 5 to 10 years across all tumor types has been incredible, Krop says. With the rise of immunotherapy and targeted agents, diseases such as melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, and non—small cell lung cancer now have the effective treatments that did not exist less than a decade ago.

In breast cancer, the biggest advancement has been in the way oncologists can discuss personalized therapies with their patients and make sure the patients aren’t overtreated or undertreated. Improvements in genomic testing have also allowed patients to have a better outlook on their prognosis.