Numerous cancer conferences concentrate solely on cutting-edge research. Over the last 19 years, Dan Osman has sought to differentiate the Miami Breast Cancer Conference by also addressing the daily practical clinical challenges encountered in breast cancer management. Since 1988, the “Breast Cancer Update” audio series has also focused on the interface between re s e a rch advances and clinical decision-making by featuring interviews with leading breast cancer investigators.

For this 19th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference – through unrestricted educational grants from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Roche Laboratories, and Genentech Inc. – we attempt to further address the many current controversies in breast cancer management and help illuminate how research advances are translated into clinical decision-making. In December 2001, we launched the main component of this project – a random, national telephone survey of 100 surgeons and 100 oncologists.

These physicians were queried about their clinical management practices in breast cancer. To maximize the information obtained, the sur vey generally queried only 20 physicians per case, so moderate statistical variation can be expected. Our purpose was to obtain a basic snapshot of practice patterns and to promote discussion and debate about how these results compare to the responses of our meeting attendees and faculty to similar questions posed through interactive keypad questions.

Dozens of case scenarios were presented to these physicians. Select initial results from the survey are included in this workbook, as part of the “Controversies in Breast Cancer” section, and in our educational poster exhibit, which will be displayed throughout the meeting. In addition to the results from the patterns of care survey, the “Controversies in Breast Cancer” section and the educational poster exhibit include edited comments from research leaders interviewed for the “Breast Cancer Update” audio series. In many cases, these “sound bites” add even more complexity to the highly controversial subject matter.

The full report on this unique patterns of care project will be mailed to all Miami Breast Cancer Conference attendees in May 2002 as a special print supplement to the “Breast Cancer Update” audio series. Included in this report will be the results from approximately 100 interactive keypad polling questions posed during the meeting and the responses from faculty members.

In order to allow attendees to ponder the cases being p resented during the meeting and take notes, this year’s keypad questions are provided in the workbook. Also, in-meeting newsletters – with the keypad results from the previous day – will be distributed on Friday and Saturday mornings. Finally, a reference supplement is being provided with key journal articles and a summary of open b reast cancer trials listed on the NCI’s PDQ database.

The meeting workbook and the reference supplement are also re p roduced on the BreastCancerUpdate.com website, w h e re underlined text links to hundreds of journal articles , abstracts, and protocols. The Breast Cancer Update exhibit – located adjacent to the registration area – has several computers with high-speed internet access allowing attendees to access these references. To obtain additional information for our post-meeting report, we have posted a “Miami Breast Cancer Conference” survey on the website . Those who complete the on-line sur vey will receive a complementary copy of a special 300-page supplement about breast cancer from the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

It is perplexing that massive funding is committed to the establishment of new standards in cancer therapy by basic and clinical research; yet, relatively minimal resources are allocated to assure that patients benefit f rom these advances. In many years of surveys in a va r i e t y of venues, we have consistently observed that about 20% of practicing physicians establish practice patterns that are outside the norms of consensus conferences and major practice guidelines. A quick perusal of the Miami Meeting patterns of care study again confirms this finding, and the challenge for research leaders and educators is to identify methods to effectively bring the fruits of research labors to all breast cancer patients.

– Neil Love, MD
Editor, Breast Cancer Update

The following faculty members worked with the Breast Cancer Update team on this project and are presenting their own cases at tumor panel discussions.

Patrick Borgen, MD Stephen Jones, MD Kathy Miller, MD Richard Margolese, MD Terry Mamounas, MD Frank Vicini, MD

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