De-Escalation of Breast Cancer Surgery Following Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy

Breast cancer treatment has seen many advances in recent decades, lessening the morbidity to patients, while improving outcomes. Central to these gains has been the introduction of breast conserving surgery and neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST). There is a considerable interest in further de-escalation of the treatment of breast cancer, which is being studied in several ongoing randomised trials. We aimed to appraise the current literature regarding the various aspects of de-escalation of surgical treatment of breast cancer after NST, and attempt to prognosticate the future course of breast oncotherapy.