Advances in breast oncology: the 2002 ASCO meeting

At this year's American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting, a number of important advances in breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention were reported. In this article, we review these current developments, focusing particularly on the ASCO technology assessment report--which discussed the adjuvant use of aromatase inhibitors in breast cancer--and other significant studies which were presented or updated: the role of taxanes in neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy; current concepts regarding the timing of hormonal therapy during adjuvant chemotherapy; and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) as a target for disruption in breast cancer treatment and prevention. With regards to advances in surgery, we review studies which were presented concerning the evolving role of sentinel lymph node biopsy in the management of the axilla in breast cancer, and review the latest meta-analysis on this subject presented at the meeting.