Preoperative therapy in invasive breast cancer: reviewing the state of the science and exploring new research directions.

InMarch2007,theNationalCancerInstitute(NCI)sponsoredaState oftheScienceConferenceonPreoperativeTherapyinInvasiveBreast Cancer. The major goals of the conference were to review current clinical standards and to identify opportunities for future research. The conference did not seek to develop a consensus statement or a clinical guideline, but it did attempt to characterize appropriate clinical care. Importantly, an additional conference objective was to explore how research in the preoperative setting could be used to accelerate progress in the development of new and more effective treatments for individuals with breast cancer. In patients with operable breast cancer, randomized trials have demonstratedthatpreoperativeandpostoperativechemotherapy(us