Dr. Chagpar Discusses Benefit of Primary Tumor Surgery in Breast Cancer

Anees B. Chagpar, MD, FACS, associate professor, Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, assistant director, Global Oncology, Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the potential benefit of primary tumor surgery for patients with breast cancer.

Roughly one-fourth of patients with metastatic breast cancer will present with distant metastatic disease along with their primary tumor, says Chagpar. These patients may benefit from surgery. Retrospective studies have shown that patients with estrogen receptor-positive disease, those with fewer distant metastatic sites, and have bone-only disease benefit from surgery. Chagpar says that there is a suspicion that the benefit observed was due to a selection bias, as these are niche groups of patients.

Chagpar says results from new randomized trials should provide an answer to the question of which patients benefit from surgery of the primary tumor. Previous randomized controlled trials have investigated whether surgery of the primary tumor can improve survival. However, findings were mixed.