NIH Will Hold New Consensus Conference on Breast Cancer Therapy

National Cancer Institute
Monday, 24 January 2000

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is planning a Consensus Development Conference on Adjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer in Bethesda, Md., on Nov. 1-3, 2000. Registration for the conference begins today.

Conference participants will consider new information on chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and other aspects of treatment that have emerged in recent years. Like other NIH consensus conferences, the meeting will culminate in recommendations for clinical practice.

"A substantial amount of new data has become available since the last consensus conference in 1990," said Jeff Abrams, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, which is organizing the meeting. "NIH decided the time was ripe
for another consensus conference because studies in the last decade have raised issues that need to be factored into treatment decisions."

During the conference, a panel of experts from outside NIH will hear presentations from leading researchers and then consider questions on specific topics, such as the selection of chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal therapy. The agenda, now under development, will also include the clinical use of prognostic markers and quality-of-life issues. The conference will cover both node-negative and node-positive breast cancer.

Media may register for the conference by calling Caroline McNeil at the NCI press office at (301) 496-6641. Health professionals, researchers, patient advocates, and other members of the public may register by sending an e-mail to breastcancer@prospectassoc.com or by going to the NIH Web site for consensus conferences at http://odp.od.nih.gov/consensus. Additional information is available by calling (301) 592-3320.

For more information, or to contact National Cancer Institute, see their website at: www.cancer.gov