[Role of surgery in metastases from breast cancer]

Patients with distant metastases from breast cancer have always been considered terminally ill and as such candidates for palliative treatment only. However, due to new therapeutic modalities in oncology, survival in these patients has improved. Furthermore, in 5% of patients, metastasis from breast cancer is limited to a single solid organ (oligometastatic state). Because of these two factors, surgery is now being performed as a component of multidisciplinary treatment for hepatic, lung and bone metastases from a primary breast tumor. In the present article, we review the different published series, focussing discussion on two issues: selecting candidates for liver, lung or bone resection, and identifying prognostic factors for recurrence and/or survival following surgical excision of metastases to these sites.