High-Risk Breast Cancer

The many advances in breast cancer research, as well as the large quantity of published material, make it very difficult to gain insight into the global aspects of cancer management. To follow and understand all the new developments is becoming a major challenge. For this reason, the editors decided to bring together a group of top researchers in breast cancer to provide a comprehensive, yet readable conceptual review of the state of the art of breast cancer diagnosis and therapy. The proposal to focus the review on the quantitative assessment of the risk at diagnosis, the determination of which may permit selective therapies for individual patients, was met with enthusiastic approval, resulting in the present volume with contributions by the leading investigators in the field. While the volume relating to diagnosis, published re­ cently, focused on efforts leading to refinement at diagnosis of risk criteria sensitive enough to reliably distinguish the low- and high-risk categories, the second volume, by provid­ ing a review of the main problems and results of therapy given to high-risk patients, can be considered as a continua­ tion of the first book. A refined risk assessment at diagnosis and the application of the most suitable treatments to well­ selected individuals are the most important steps towards avoiding the present worrisome reality of overtreating the low risk and undertreating the high-risk patients. The first few chapters of the present volume offer an insight into the general management of early breast cancer.