The meaning of residual disease in breast cancer

Ian Krop, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, shares insights into the implications of residual disease and its utility as a biomarker in breast cancer. Several large-scale trials have provided supporting evidence of the prognostic nature of residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy. In HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer, where residual disease has the greatest prognostic value, patients with a pathological complete response have substantially better outcomes. Prof. Krop also highlights the benefits of residual disease in optimizing treatment plans by identifying patients who would gain from therapy escalation or de-escalation. A number of studies testing these approaches are ongoing. This interview took place during the 17th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference.