How Patients Can Find the Latest Breast Cancer Treatment Updates

Breast cancer treatment is advancing rapidly, says Dr. Erika Hamilton, board-certified medical oncologist and director of Breast Cancer and Gynecologic Cancer Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute.

She notes that the field is moving so fast it can be hard to keep up, but social media platforms like X (formally known as Twitter) and professional guidelines from the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) provide valuable tools for clinicians and patients to stay informed about the latest developments.

According to Hamilton, breast cancer care today is almost completely different from how it was treated a decade ago. New therapies are not only emerging but are also being moved earlier in treatment lines when they show benefit for metastatic patients. She stresses that this fast pace of progress is encouraging because it means patients are experiencing better outcomes.

Hamilton encourages patients to remain positive and hopeful as ongoing advances continue to improve survival and quality of life.

Transcript

With the breast cancer treatment landscape evolving so rapidly, what are some of the best ways for clinicians and patients to stay current with the latest advances?

That's tough, because the field is moving really fast. I think some of the social media outlets can be quite helpful. I actually find Twitter really helpful, even for when you can't go to a particular conference to see kind of what the buzz is about. And then some things like guidelines, you know, following the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines or the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) guidelines can help us stay up to date, and help our patients stay up to date about what's new and how things are changing.

I think the takeaway is really to be positive. There's so much that's getting better. Breast cancer is moving fast. We not only have new agents, but we're quickly trying to move these agents up into earlier lines when they prove to be beneficial for our metastatic patients. So it's a quickly emerging field. We treat breast cancer almost completely differently than we treated breast cancer a decade ago. And I think this is really exciting, because it means our patients are doing better due to these advances.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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