Personalized early detection and prevention of breast cancer: ENVISION consensus statement

In a new consensus statement published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, the European Collaborative on Personalized Early Detection and Prevention of Breast Cancer (ENVISION) Network, with the participation of Dr Zdenko Herceg of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), identifies research areas requiring development to enable evidence-based personalized interventions that should improve the benefits and reduce the harms of existing breast cancer screening and prevention programmes.

The ENVISION Network identified four priority research areas: (i) breast cancer subtype-specific risk assessment tools applicable to women of all ancestries; (ii) intermediate surrogate markers of response to preventive measures; (iii) novel non-surgical preventive measures to reduce the incidence of breast cancer of poor prognosis; and (iv) hybrid effectiveness–implementation research combined with modelling studies to evaluate the long-term population outcomes of risk-based early detection strategies.

The implementation of such programmes would require health-care systems to be open to learning and adapting, the engagement of a diverse range of stakeholders, and tailoring to societal norms and values, while also addressing the ethical and legal issues. In this consensus statement, the authors discuss the current state of breast cancer risk prediction, risk-stratified prevention and early detection strategies, and the implementation of such strategies.

Pashayan N, Antoniou AC, Ivanus U, Esserman LJ, Easton DF, French D, et al.
Personalized early detection and prevention of breast cancer: ENVISION consensus statement
Nat Rev Clin Oncol, Published online 18 June 2020;
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-020-0388-9

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