How can prognostic and predictive factors in breast cancer be used in a practical way today?

Since the 1995 St. Gallen conference the standard prognostic and predictive variables have not changed. Good treatment planning (and clinical trial entry and stratification) can be made on the basis of TNM staging, age, and ER and menopausal status. Three years from now, in 2001, this situation will have changed enormously. This will be achieved by better designs for prognostic studies, studies of predictive factors with definitive data from large, statistically powerful cooperative group trials, and perhaps simple computer-based tools to make projections and present data clearly. These advances will lead to still better-individualized selection of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer patients.