At this SGBCC(18th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference 2023, 15-18 March,Vienna),We were very glad to interview Professor William Gradishar, from Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. He shared with us his views on the debate of surgery of the primary for stage IV disease.
Oncology Frontier: Just now, the topic of the debate you participated in was“Surgery of the primary for stage IV disease”，please share your insights。
William Gradishar: Data show that surgery in that setting enhances overall survival. The topic came up again throughout the remainder of the meeting, and there might be certain kinds of patients that have more likelihood of benefit, although it hasn't been proven yet.
So to date, all the trials have failed to demonstrate a survival benefit, whether you're HER-2 positive or triple negative, by doing surgery.
So I think until we have data that supports that, it's still something that shouldn't be done as a routine practice.