Phyllodes Tumors of the Breast: Addressing the Gaps in Consensus Recommendations for Clinical Management

Excerpt

Consensus guidelines represent a valuable resource for clinical decision-making. Evidence-based consensus guidelines reflecting current expertise can improve implementation of current best practice to provide optimal outcomes for patients.¹ Phyllodes tumors are rare primary breast neoplasms classified from benign to malignant, and have widely variable biologic behavior.² Due to the higher frequency of benign phyllodes tumors and the rarity of the disease overall, there may be a significant underappreciation of the aggressive biology of higher grade phyllodes tumors, potentially resulting in a lack of urgency, failure to consider the diagnosis, and resultant delays to surgery. This may lead to markedly larger tumors at the time of resection, and worse outcomes. Therefore, upfront clinical decision-making, early diagnostic consideration, and principles of surgical resection are particularly important, as there are fewer options for treatment of recurrent disease and limited effective systemic therapy.³ With few consensus guidelines available, current practice management of phyllodes tumors is highly variable,^4,5 demonstrating a need for more detailed consensus statements to guide clinical decision-making. …