Kevin Hughes, MD, on Breast Cancer Treatment Moving Forward

Kevin Hughes, MD, associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, medical director for the Bermuda Cancer Genetics and Risk Assessment Clinic, and co-director of the Avon Breast Evaluation Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, discussed what he is looking forward to for breast cancer treatment at the 37th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference, held from March 5-8, 2020 in Miami, Florida. 

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So, at this point in time, we’ve done very well in getting rid of mastectomy, we’ve done very well in getting rid of axillary dissection, we minimize our treatments of patients. I’m looking forward to less and less treatment for the same effect on patients eventually. Less radiation therapy, we try not to radiate women over the age of 70 with small early cancers. We’re giving less chemotherapy when the genomic profile suggests a low risk. I think in the short run, it’s decreasing the amount of treatment to get the same impact, and in the long run, eventually curing the cancer with minimal treatment.