Guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment of advanced breast cancer in China (2022 edition)

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among women all over the world. In 2020, there were about 416 000 new cases, and more than 117 000 deaths of breast cancer in Chinese female. Of the new cases of breast cancer each year, about 3% to 10% of patients have distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis. Of the early-stage patients, about 30% developed into advanced breast cancer. The 5-year survival rate of advanced breast cancer was only 20%, and the median overall survival was 2-3 years. Although advanced breast cancer is difficult to cure at present, we can alleviate the clinical symptoms of patients, improve their quality of life and further prolong their survival time by applying new therapeutic drugs and optimizing treatment models, to achieve the purpose of long-term survival with tumor. It is very important for patients with advanced breast cancer to choose the reasonable treatment plan, and because of the lack of standard recommendation for the treatment of advanced breast cancer after the first- and second-line rescue therapies, according to the research progress of breast cancer at home and abroad and the update of real-world clinical data, the Chinese expert group analyzed, discussed and summarized the relevant research data, updated the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of inoperable locally advanced and recurrent or metastatic breast cancer on the basis of the 2020 edition, and formulated the "Guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment of advanced breast cancer in China (2022 edition)" for clinicians' reference.