[Neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer]

Neoadjuvant treatment is the standard therapy for inflammatory and locally advanced breast cancer but is also applied in patients with primary operable breast cancer to facilitate breast-conserving surgery. Disease-free survival and overall survival are equivalent between patients treated with preoperative chemotherapy and patient receiving the same regimen postoperatively. Nevertheless, pathologic complete response can be a predictive indicator of long-term outcomes. Initially encompassing chemotherapy, it is actually extended to hormonotherapy for hormonoresponsive tumor and to targeted therapy such as trastuzumab for the HER2 positive tumor. The neoadjuvant approach of breast cancer will provide better understanding of breast cancer biology and promote translational research. In this paper, a review of the role of preoperative treatment in the management of breast cancer disease is discussed.