Back to June 2009: Updates from the 2009 ASCO Annual Meeting
What do you most HOPE to hear about at next year's ASCO?
- Question from samita: What do you most HOPE to hear about at next year's ASCO?
- Answers —Beth DuPree , M.D., F.A.C.S.: That I don't have to be a breast surgeon anymore!
- Nicholas Robert, M.D. : There is something we haven't talked about tonight, which is the use of intravenous bisphosphonates. There was some exciting work from Austria that suggests the use of intravenous bisphosphonates, especially the use of Zometa (chemical name: zoledronic acid), could reduce the risk for recurrence of metastatic disease. There is a much larger study addressing this same question that hopefully we will hear about at next ASCO to provide more information on the potential benefit of intravenous bisphosphonates in early breast cancer. We know that the use of bisphosphonates is important to preserve bone health in postmenopausal women; it would be very exciting to learn that it can also reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence.