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Review
. 2021 Oct:59:144-156.
doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2021.06.010. Epub 2021 Jul 1.

Diagnosis, biology and epidemiology of oligometastatic breast cancer

Jean-Louis Lacaze  1 , Richard Aziza  2 , Ciprian Chira  3 , Eleonora De Maio  4 , Françoise Izar  3 , Eva Jouve  5 , Carole Massabeau  3 , Anne Pradines  6 , Gabrielle Selmes  5 , Mony Ung  4 , Slimane Zerdoud  7 , Florence Dalenc  8
Affiliations
Review

Diagnosis, biology and epidemiology of oligometastatic breast cancer

Jean-Louis Lacaze et al. Breast. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Does oligometastatic breast cancer (OMBC) deserve a dedicated treatment? Although some authors recommend multidisciplinary management of OMBC with a curative intent, there is no evidence proving this strategy beneficial in the absence of a randomized trial. The existing literature sheds little light on OMBC. Incidence is unknown; data available are either obsolete or biased; there is no consensus on the definition of OMBC and metastatic sites, nor on necessary imaging techniques. However, certain proposals merit consideration. Knowledge of eventual specific OMBC biological characteristics is limited to circulating tumor cell (CTC) counts. Given the data available for other cancers, studies on microRNAs (miRNAs), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and genomic alterations should be developed Finally, safe and effective therapies do exist, but results of randomized trials will not be available for many years. Prospective observational cohort studies need to be implemented.

Keywords: Biology; CTCs; Definition; Incidence; Observatory; Oligometastatic breast cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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