6th and 7th International consensus guidelines for the management of advanced breast cancer (ABC guidelines 6 and 7)
Fátima Cardoso, Shani Paluch–Shimon, Eva Schumacher-Wulf, Leonor Vasconcelos de Matos, Karen A. Gelmon, Matti Aapro, Jyoti Bajpai, Carlos H. Barrios, Jonas Bergh, Elizabeth Bergsten-Nordström, Laura Biganzoli, Maria João Cardoso, Lisa A. Carey, Mariana Chávez‐MacGregor, Runcie C.W. Chidebe, Javier Cortés, Giuseppe Curigliano, Rebecca Dent, Nagi S. El Saghir, Alexandru Eniu, Lesley Fallowfield, Prudence A. Francis, Sandra X. Franco Millan, Jenny Gilchrist, Joseph Gligorov, William J. Gradishar, Renate Haidinger, Nadia Harbeck, Xichun Hu, Ranjit Kaur, Belinda E. Kiely, Sungbae Kim, Smruti Koppikar, Marion Kuper‐Hommel, Frédéric Lecouvet, Ginny Mason, Shirley Mertz, Volkmar Müller, Claire Myerson, Silvia P. Neciosup, Birgitte Vrou Offersen, Shinji Ohno, Olivia Pagani, Ann H. Partridge, Frédérique Penault‐Llorca, Aleix Prat, Hope S. Rugo, Elżbieta Senkus, George W. Sledge, Sandra M. Swain, Christoph Thomssen, Daniel Vorobiof, Peter Vuylsteke, Theresa Wiseman, Binghe Xu, Alberto Costa, Larry Norton, Eric P. Winer
Abstract
This manuscript describes the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) international consensus guidelines updated at the last two ABC international consensus conferences (ABC 6 in 2021, virtual, and ABC 7 in 2023, in Lisbon, Portugal), organized by the ABC Global Alliance. It provides the main recommendations on how to best manage patients with advanced breast cancer (inoperable locally advanced or metastatic), of all breast cancer subtypes, as well as palliative and supportive care. These guidelines are based on available evidence or on expert opinion when a higher level of evidence is lacking. Each guideline is accompanied by the level of evidence (LoE), grade of recommendation (GoR) and percentage of consensus reached at the consensus conferences. Updated diagnostic and treatment algorithms are also provided. The guidelines represent the best management options for patients living with ABC globally, assuming accessibility to all available therapies. Their adaptation (i.e. resource-stratified guidelines) is often needed in settings where access to care is limited.