Tailoring breast cancer therapies to reduce mortality and improve quality of life: San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2017 (part 1)

The 40th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was convened in San Antonio, TX, USA on 5–9 December 2017. More than 7500 clinicians and scientists from around the world participated in the symposium which featured a range of presentations and keynote talks pertaining to breast cancer screening, prevention, loco-regional and systemic therapies. This two-part report highlights a selection of important studies presented at this premier breast cancer event with part 1 focusing on dose-intense radiotherapy, perioperative endocrine therapy, duration of bisphosphonates, immunotherapy, ovarian function suppression and acupuncture. The second part of this report will discuss a range of topics related to de-escalation of loco-regional therapies, the significance of complete pathological response, older patients and CDK 4/6 inhibitors, circulating tumor cells and plasma DNA as a tumor marker.