The importance of histological assessment after  neoadjuvant therapy and the need for standardisation

Neoadjuvant therapy is increasingly being recognised as a management option for patients with primary invasive breast carcinoma; this may take the form of primary endocrine treatment or primary chemotherapy. Surgical specimens from women treated with neoadjuvant treatments, particularly primary chemotherapy, may cause a challenge for the histopathologist in handling and interpretation and have, in the past, been sampled, evaluated, and reported in a non-standardised way. This limits comparison between clinical trials and potentially provides clinicians and patients with suboptimal prognostic information.
Source: Clinical Radiology - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research