Assessing Impact of Loco-regional Treatment on Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer at Presentation

Traditionally metastatic breast cancer patients are not offered loco-regional treatment except in cases of fungation or bleeding. However, scientific evidence for such omission of loco-regional treatment in metastatic breast cancer patients is lacking. On one hand, studies have shown that removal of primary tumor at times leads to complete disappearance of metastases and improvement in survival in renal cell carcinoma patients. However, such studies have never been performed in other solid tumors. On the other hand, there is a strong body of evidence in experimental settings that show that removal of primary tumor allows growth of metastasis. There is lack of similar data in humans in clinical settings. Offering loco-regional treatment in metastatic breast cancer patients in a setting of randomized controlled trial will help in improving survival of such patients and understanding the natural history of breast cancer.