[GEFPICS' guidelines for management of breast cancer tissue samples in the neoadjuvant setting]

Ann Pathol. 2019 Dec;39(6):383-398. doi: 10.1016/j.annpat.2019.04.004. Epub 2019 Jun 27.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Neoadjuvant therapy is an increasing treatment option in the management of breast cancer. The tumor response to neoadjuvant therapy, especially the pathological complete response, is a validated endpoint frequently used in clinical trials. However, there is still a lack of standardization for the surgical specimen management in the neoadjuvant setting. This leads to heterogeneity in the specimen handling and might lead to significant bias for the prognostic assessment of patients or in clinical trials. The GEFPICS group, composed of expert breast cancer pathologists, herein presents guidelines for the management of breast and axillary specimen before treatment (management of biopsy, items of the pathological report) and after neoadjuvant therapy (specimen handling, histological assessment of response, items of the pathological report and response grading systems).

Keywords: Breast cancer; Cancer du sein; Guidelines; Neoadjuvant; Néoadjuvant; Pathological response; Prélèvement; Recommandations; Réponse pathologique; Tissue sample.

Publication types

  • Practice Guideline
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Biopsy / methods
  • Biopsy / standards
  • Breast / pathology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / chemistry
  • Breast Neoplasms / mortality
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / therapy
  • Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / standards
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Female
  • Frankreich
  • Humans
  • Lymph Nodes / drug effects
  • Lymph Nodes / pathology*
  • Lymph Nodes / surgery
  • Medical Records / standards
  • Microscopy
  • Neoadjuvant Therapy*
  • Neoplasm, Residual / pathology
  • Prognosis
  • Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy / methods
  • Specimen Handling / methods
  • Specimen Handling / standards*
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Tumor Burden / drug effects

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor