Manual of Recommendations for the Diagnosis, Therapy, and Follow-Up of Patients with Breast Cancer of the Tumor Center Munich - a Regional Hands-On Publication

Abstract

The revised 11th edition of the Manual of Recommendations for the Diagnosis, Therapy, and Follow-Up of Patients with Breast Cancer of the publications series of the Tumor Center Munich (Tumorzentrum München, TZM) is an excellent example of a regional hands-on publication which, while based on national and international guidelines, does not replace these. By virtue of countless additions and revisions in the course of 10 editions, the 'blue tumor manual for breast cancer' has matured into a hands-on reference work which throughout Germany has found its place on the desks of physicians, and has thus gained a reputation reaching far beyond the TZM. The reputation of this manual is on the one hand founded on the professional competence of the individual authors and project group members. The great strength of the project group, however, surely lies in the broad spectrum of expertise of more than 180 experts of all kinds of specialties, whose continuing interdisciplinary exchange in the course of the present revision has again led to a result which is arousing interest far beyond Munich. This article summarizes some of the TZM project group's own positions on data collection, prevention, adjuvant systemic therapy, and follow-up treatment in an exemplary fashion.

Fig. 1

Munich Cancer Registry: breast cancer, relative survival in relation to pT (n = 22,541); relative survival is an estimate for tumor-specific survival (Engel et al. [5]).